The Narrator

22 - I Always Knew I Had A Face For Radio, Not TV

Journal Entry

December 30th, 11:47 PM

I couldn't do it.

Why am I such a failure?! Alex is counting on me and I can't do a thing!

At least I'm not going to be alone this Sunday. Five days away. At least there will be professionals there.

Daniel said the nearest Front Matter wouldn't be able to help and the second was too far to make it in time.

So it looks like the Lehman Authors were going to be on their own.

I was (and am) such an embarrassment to myself. I caused this problem and I can't even fix it. I can't even help fix it.

Wake up call at six again. No time to waste sleeping.

Or trying to sleep.

I was working with Shakespeare the next day, trying to spark even the slightest skill within myself. Needless to say, I was failing.

I didn't think this would be so hard. I thought maybe I'd struggle a bit at first but I figured I'd get it pretty quick. I mean, in books and movies the heroes learn to use their magic, powers, the Force, whatever, pretty damn near instantly. I couldn't seem to do anything that fast.

"Traaaaaavis!" I recognized Daniel's voice calling from the living room. Shakespeare and I were in the kitchen.

"Yeah," I called, trying to focus on making Shakespeare open the fridge.

"C'm'ere! Quick!"

"One sec..."

"NOW!"

Shakespeare's jaw suddenly dropped. "Oh... God." She rushed toward the living room and I followed her, wondering what was going on now.

When I stepped into the room, Shakespeare and Daniel were staring at the TV. Daniel had evidently been watching the news.

"Look, Man!" Daniel exclaimed. "You're on TV!"

I stared at the screen and my jaw dropped. There was my picture, a rather unflattering school photo, with the headline: Missing Teen.

"-checked into Lincoln Medical Center four days ago. Surprisingly, no staff members can remember and there were no records stating why Travis was checked into the hospital at all. Staff members say he was abducted from the hospital by another teen and a woman. This security footage shows the teen throwing Travis Bailiff into the truck and driving off, returning minutes later, picking up the woman. It is unclear as to who these people are or what their intentions are but citizens should be on alert for Travis or his abductors. We will continue to monitor this story as it unveils. Coming up next we have our top story, a man from Brooklyn claims he was tricked out of-"

"Turn that off," I muttered. Daniel quickly muted the TV, giving me an apologetic look. Shakespeare bit her lip, glancing at me. I let out a long sigh, running my fingers down my face. "What do we do?"

Shakespeare shook her head. "For now, nothing. We already have enough on our plates as it is. We'll deal with this once we get Flora Malarkey back. You're in hiding now anyways so nothing will change. Daniel, ring Tolkien and tell her what's happened. Tell her and Alex to be careful. There might be footage of them circulating. Travis, let's go practice."

Damn. Shakespeare just grabbed the situation by the horns and drove it into the ground. I'd never seen someone think so calmly and quickly before.