Play Pretend

18: Race Against Time

18: Race Against Time

Connor Rogers

Erik was gone.

He wasn't in the ring.

He wasn't escaping among the crowd.

There wasn't a secret fall-in tunnel in the ring.

He just vanished.

The entire gym went into a state of uproar.

"Where is he?!" I bellowed at Jason, who happened to be standing at the side of the ring.

"I have no idea!" He yelled back over all the noise, "there was that blackout and he's just gone!"

"Come on you guys!" Max was by the gym exit, waving his arms frantically, "the car's here! We got to go!"

Jason took off into the crowd, and I jumped off the ring after him. We both yelled "FBI!" at the same time, and that seemed to bring the students back to their senses. They jumped out of the way, allowing their fake classmates through.

Leila's black jeep was waiting outside, and we both jumped into the back before she slammed the gas. We sped off for the highway.

"Which way?!" She screamed from the driver's seat.

"We don't know," Aaron looked rather calm, even though his eyes said otherwise, "head straight for Port Thirteen."

"What the hell happened back there?!" I asked, adrenaline still swirling in my head, as I tried to slip my FBI uniform on over my shorts while the car swerved wildly for the next lane.

"We don't know," even the commotion got TJ speaking.

I stared at the clock at the console – 5:45pm.

“Did anyone see Eleanor?” I decided to ask all of a sudden. That made everyone silent.

“No we didn’t,” Leila finally answered. She and Max were exchanging glances through the rear mirror. I frowned.

Someone was not right.

“What happened to her?” I pressed, leaning forward.

“What?” She looked panicked, “no! No… Nothing. She’s just at home, I suppose.”

“Something’s wrong!” I nearly bellowed, “what’s happened?!”

The two shot each other another dodgy look, before Max answered, “Eleanor at the Port.”

I felt as though the ground was being tugged out from under my feet, and a violent surge of bile surfaced from my stomach. I barely managed to roll down the windows before throwing up outside. Everyone looked away.

My head was still spinning, and I took a few gulps of air desperately, willing myself to act normally.

This isn’t right… Eleanor wouldn’t… That means she knew Erik was a criminal…

And she’s in on this.

We plunged into a tunnel, and I whipped my phone out, my stomach still churning madly. I scrolled down to her name and started texting, despite of the other’s protests.

I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to straighten things out.

I wanted her back.

HEY ELEANOR, IT’S ME, CONNOR. I KNOW I LIED TO YOU EVERSINCE WE’VE FIRST MET, BUT IT’S MY JOB, AND I WANTED TO FULFILL IT. PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE.