HERO COMPLEX

v. a lukewarm mess

[SEBASTIAN]

It was 12:30 in the morning and Collin was still not home.

Considering his obsession with getting eight hours of sleep and the way he rushed out of the dorm about ten hours ago, it was safe to say I was getting worried. I had paced every inch of our small dorm about three hundred times, attempting to distract myself.

Everything I did only made my worry multiply. My phone began blowing up with the news of the bombing at the Rockefeller Center and my heart dropped to the floor, remembering the mysterious girl and her graffiti message. Had I accidentally caused this? My hands grew clammy as I looked at pictures of the damage and saw the hopelessness on Riptide's usually kind face. The people affected by the bomb were being detained for their own safety, from children to grandparents.

I spent the next hour regretting every decision I had ever made. My dad texted me asking if I had anything to do with it and I responded with the horrible truth. He replied that he was proud of me, with a heart emoji of all things. A heart emoji. I went and vomited in the bathroom.

By midnight my nerves were completely shot and whatever sanity I had left was long gone. My brain had exhausted itself coming up with every possible bad situation, but I forced myself to get it together, at least for Collin's sake.

I finally texted him.

Ten minutes passed with no reply. I sent more texts, trying to keep my cool.

I gave up on not being a stalker. Thirteen calls and about twenty more texts later I gave up on reaching him through his phone. I had to actually find him. Picking up my phone, I made one more call to the only friend I had made so far.

Renae picked up on the first ring, which was surprising. "Hey Sebastian," She said and I could hear the romantic comedy playing in the background.

"Hey Renae, I have a weird favor to ask of you. Can you meet me at the library in five?"

"Of course. You're a lucky guy though, I'm putting my hallmark movie marathon on hold just for you."

I laughed despite the other worldly amount of stress that was weighing down on my body. "Thanks girl, see you soon." I hung up, threw on some actual pants and raced down to the twenty four hour library.

Renae was waiting for me on a couch near the front as I ran in, looking flawless in comparison to my ratty outfit and labored breathing. She gave me a moment to sit down and collect my thoughts before asking questions.

"Okay, what is going on? I mean this in the nicest way, but you look like you've been ran over by a dumpster truck."

"I feel like it too. I think my roommate, Collin, is missing."

Her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Define missing."

"As in he ran out of the dorm frantically around two in the afternoon and hasn't been back since."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Are you sure this isn't normal behavior? You've only known the guy--what? A week?"

"I know, I know, which is the only reason why I haven't called the police and filed a missing persons report." My tone became more serious. "I just have a gut feeling that something is wrong."

Renae took a sip from what appeared to be coffee. "Okay, then let's have a casual search party."

"Casual search party?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah you know, like we start with social media and the obvious places on campus. And we go together so it doesn't look like we're stalking him."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll start with snap maps."