Mr. Forgettable #Wattys2016

31

Larkin had always been the worrier. She was the type of person to stress when they had nothing to stress about. So imagine Larkin flying to Des Moines, wondering if her father was even still alive. For all she knew, he could be lying dead on the cold stone floors of the convention center already. And Larkin would have been too late. She wouldn't have been able to stop it.

Larkin tried to put those thoughts out of her mind. She knew her only focus should be getting to Des Moines and stopping George Fredericks from doing any more damage than he already had. Her conscience would kill her if someone else was injured in this ordeal. Heck, she would kill herself out of guilt.

She cinched her arms tighter around Finn's neck as he flew faster. She knew he was doing this for her, for her father, for the sake of her family. She knew that he would do anything in his power to help her, but Larkin feared that nothing would be enough.

The noises of the city engulfed Larkin before she could see it. Her sensitive hearing allowed her to listen in on the streets. As the skyline of Des Moines approached, Larkin's anxiety increased. She was so close. Am I close enough? Am I fast enough?  Before she knew it, the conference center where the debate was to take place entered her field of vision. Despite her best efforts, the only thing she could hear from inside was the chatter of the crowd filling the auditorium. She wasn't able to make out any specific words or identify her family among the masses.

Before she had  time to start another round of worrying, Finn had flown to the front entrance of the center. Larkin was immediately intimidated by the massive, glass revolving doors leading into the center. She didn't know why. She'd been there before; she'd gone through those exact same doors only one week ago. 

But this time, she knew something could go horribly wrong. She knew that what lay behind those doors might not consist of a happy ending for her whole family.

She also knew that the longer she waited outside the closed doors, the slimmer her chances of saving her father became. So, Larkin, being decisive for once in her life, strolled through the doors and through the lobby without stopping once. She could hear Finn trailing behind her, as well as the excited whispers from the people milling about in the lobby. 

"Look at the supers! What are they doing here?" the people would say. But no one attempted to stop the two heroes on their quest for the elevator, so Larkin didn't worry about it. 

Larkin jabbed her finger onto the up button for the elevator and muttered to Finn, "Confidence gets you places."

He nodded, a sly grin visible on his face. "If you act like you belong, no one's going to stop you."

They stepped into the elevator together, and Larkin wished that it would move faster so that she could get to her father sooner. When the door finally dinged on their floor, Larkin rushed out, and began the journey to the auditorium.

"We'll need to get backstage, somehow," she told Finn. "Once George goes out to his podium, we won't have a chance to stop him." 

With each step closer to her father, Larkin heard her blood rushing in her ears, and her heartbeat pounded faster with each step. She had to make it in time.

"How do you plan on getting back stage? Don't you need a pass for that?" asked Finn. 

The two supers reached the large glass doors to the auditorium, but they continued past, searching for an entrance to the backstage. "We'll do what we did in the lobby. We will walk right in. I am not stopping for anyone," Larkin said, scanning the hallway they were walking through for a door that lead to her destination.

After a few seconds of walking, Larkin found the door she was looking for. It had no label, but she could hear the sounds of prep for the debate going on inside. She could distinctly make out both her father's and George Fredericks's voice. I'm not too late.