Be Alright: Somebody To Love #6

3

Justin’s POV

            I tried to focus on the television and not worry about Madelyn. She’s probably fine, I told myself. Don’t worry about her, I kept thinking. But something was bothering me. I picked up my cell phone and called her, only to get her voicemail.

            She always answers her phone, why isn’t she answering her phone? My brain was running at a thousand thoughts a minute. I wanted to call someone right then. The police. Kenny. My mom. I didn’t know who I wanted to call, but I wanted someone to tell me that she was fine.

But I knew as soon as I got someone else worried, she would walk through the door, perfectly fine. Then she would be angry I had worried, and that I had worried other people. Alright, I thought, if she’s not home by ten, you can call the police, I agreed with my inner self.

            From nine-thirty to ten was the longest thirty minutes of my life. I got up and made the kids’ lunches for tomorrow, their first day of school, so that was one less thing Madelyn had to worry about tonight. By the time I was done with that, it was nearly ten. I sat and watched the clock move so slowly. As soon as the clock read ten, the phone rang. It made me jump, but I answered it quickly, without even checking to see who it was. It had to be Madelyn.

            “Babe, where are you?” I asked, relieved.

            “Justin, it’s Scooter. What’s going on?”

            “Oh, nothing. What do you need?” I was annoyed it wasn’t Madelyn, but I didn’t want Scooter to know that Madelyn was missing. He would jump straight to the worst conclusion or start talking about how the media would handle this.

            “I was just calling to tell you that Stella got the Disney Channel gig. They didn’t even need to see her again. They think she is everything they are looking for. We have a meeting with the producers and directors next week.”

            “That’s great.” I tried to sound excited, but nothing could have distracted me at this point.

            “Justin, what is going on?” He asked as I heard something upstairs. I couldn’t make it out, but it sounded like someone trying to get in to the house.

            “I can’t talk right now. I have to call you back.” I hung up, running upstairs. I followed the noise to Aniston and Stella’s room. The closer I got, I could hear whining. As soon as I opened the door, Norris burst out and down the stairs. I looked at the door, which Norris had just scratched all of the paint off.

            “What the hell, dog?” I checked to make sure both girls were still asleep before I went to see what had gotten into the old dog.

            Downstairs, Norris was sitting by the front door, whining and pawing at it. I looked outside, trying to see if I could make out anything. It was so dark, I couldn’t see a thing.

            “Norris, what’s wrong?” I tried to pet him but he just kept whining and staring out the door. In all of the years we’d had him, he hadn’t ever acted like this. In the last few months, as he got older, he hadn’t done much of anything besides follow Aniston around. Normally we couldn’t get him out of her bed if we tried. So the fact he was downstairs and freaking out was really starting to bother me.

            I tried to call Madelyn again. This time her phone went straight to voicemail. I looked at my watch. Ten-thirty. She was over an hour and a half late. I couldn’t wait any longer. Norris’ behavior had put me on edge. My thoughts were getting the best of me.