The Scientist

Chapter 5, The Clues

  I played everything as cool as I possibly could, knowing I'd sound like a lunatic if I mentioned anything. It was so surreal. To live in a world where no one else was going to remember what had taken place. Keanu was gone. I had come to grips with that before he even left. Now, I had to find him. I had to make him remember.

    I had no idea where to even begin looking. New York, maybe. I figured he'd be there. He had a briefing, 22 hours. My best bet would be that he was in New York.

    Keanu only left his mark on my bank account. I got online to check my balance, going to purchase a plate ticket. My bank account had roughly fifty thousand dollars in it. I took that as a sign. Take the money and come find me. Come rescue me. That's exactly what I planned on doing. I didn't explain it to my parents, only to my boss. I told her there was a family emergency, that I had to go out of town, and she was perfectly fine with it. I packed a bag, making plans to fly out of Atlanta on the red eye, leaving me roughly two hours until I needed to leave. I remembered the book, the one Keanu was reading about the time traveler.

    I picked it up, flipping through the pages, hoping for anything. A note, a 'fuck you'. Anything would have eased my mind at this point. And then, I spotted it. I flipped through once more, paying closer attention to the pages when I saw the words, underlined boldly. I knew I hadn't done it, and the only other person who knew of the book's existence, was him. He'd underlined a passage that just happened to be in my book, an excerpt from another. First Among Sequels, was where the quote was from.

            HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY NOSTALGIA ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE?

    Bingo. My first clue to finding him.

    I thought, and thought, and thought. I had no idea where I would go that he knew about. The Marina? I knew no one would remember me from there, so it was a long shot. And then it hit me.

    The spot. My paintings. I bet he was there.

    I hopped in my car, speeding on the backroads because I would immediately have to leave to board my plane after I investigated. I practically ran to the path, turning the corner and hoping to see him standing there, waiting for me. But he wasn't. All that I was greeted by was the rushing water and graffiti below one of my paintings. It was fresh from the looks of it, and in a handwriting that could only be recalled as familiar.

 
        HOUR TO HOUR, THE GATE IS STRAIGHT

    Another clue? I recognized the bit from a song, but I couldn't recall exactly where. I ran back to my car, hopping on the interstate and catching my flight right on time, managing to find a room in the hotel Keanu had stayed at when he first came to New York. I really needed to sleep, that was for certain. But I didn't know how long it would be until he was on the move again, and I had to act quickly. I wasn't sure exactly what the graffiti on the wall meant. It was from a song by The Doors, and other than that, it's all I knew. I had requested an uber, money being no object, just to look for anything familiar that Keanu might want me to seek out.

    The driver was a lady, very nice, middle aged. She had lived here her entire life, and knew the place like the back of her hand. I chatted with her a while, explaining vaguely why I was here, asking her where I would go in town if I wanted to spot some celebrities hard at work.

    "Hun, I actually just had a celebrity in that very seat. I can take you where I took him?" I nodded, happy that she had so much information. "What's the place called?" I inquired, trying to recall Keanu mentioning anything about New York. She turned a sharp right, lighting up a cigarette. "It's called The Gate. It's the only place around here that's open until 6 AM." She pulled into an empty lot, asking if I'd need a ride when I came out. I told her if she wanted to be back in an hour, I would make it worth her while, and she promised, she would be back.