Disconnected

Chapter Five-Sadowa

The drive to Sadowa was only supposed to take about two-ish hours but due to "a few minor miss communications," their ETA was going to be about an hour longer. Everyone was tired yet happy to be nearly at the cottage. Ashton sat behind the wheel of their rented SUV with Michael beside him in the passenger seat, leaving Luke to sit next to Calum in the back. Calum had fallen asleep about twenty minutes into the drive with his face squished against the window. Luke could see Cal's breath fog up the window and then disappear every few seconds or so.

Michael and Ashton chatted away about their families and whatnot. Luke spent his time gathering his thoughts about the certain somebody who was plaguing his mind in more ways than one.

She was under tremendous pressure, Luke could feel it; there was something inside of him saying that the ache in his gut, the one that came and went, didn't belong to him. He wished so badly that there was some way that he could relieve some of her stress for her. Luke had never felt her so strongly before, it was like their connection was growing. He half wondered if it meant that he was physically closer to her. Or maybe she was dealing with a stress far too strong for her body to handle and it was trying to pass some of it off his way. Luke had heard of that happening before with other types of soulmate connections, ones like mutual physicals and such, but never with the connection that they shared. Then again, it was a rare connection, one which wasn't studied as much as the typical matching tattoo on the body of your soulmate.

"How's she doing?" Calum's sleepy voice interrupted Luke's train wreck of a thought. The blond glanced over a little ways at his friend who must have just woken up. Calum had his elbow resting on the door to support his head as he watched Luke with heavy eyelids, a tiny bit of stubble shadowing his jaw line.

"She's alive, that's about all I know." Luke mumbled, not bothering to expand on his worries.

"Still singing that song?"

"The Jack Johnson one, yeah she is, though she's been quiet for the last five hours." Luke told Calum while tapping his pen against the notepad resting on his thighs. He was keeping the notebook handy since his laptop was packed. He wasn't going to miss the time and song if she did start signing. If this was the only way he could think of to track her down, then he sure as hell was going to be dedicated to it.

Luke was at the point where he was worried about falling into a deep sleep in case he missed something. What if she tried singing a song that might give him a clue, lyrics from a small local band that she had seen in her hometown? What if she started writing a song, her own music? What if he lost the chance to hear her voice?

That was what had been making Luke more anxious than anything. Now that he'd heard her voice in bits and pieces, like cut up ribbons with missing parts, he needed to hear her again, he craved it. Luke would gladly never sing again if it meant he could hear her sing. All Luke wanted to do was bathe himself in the sounds of her voice, to close his eyes and have the words of her song run through his ears, echoing, lightly, flowing over every inch of his skin, every hair of his body, every pain in his heart. He missed her so much that his heart began to hurt and mourn for a loss it had never known.

But he hadn't heard her in weeks. Just goddamn Jack Johnson! Luke was beginning to detest the song and Johnson himself. Every time he heard it in his mind his stomach would flutter and leap about making him feel slightly nauseous especially if he was standing upright. Whether it was his own mental connection to the song or hers, was beyond him.

Luke looked out of the car windows, leaning his head against the glass. The surface felt cool against his skin. The sun was just starting to come up over the tops of the downtown shops and restaurants. At the end of the road he could see stripes of pinks and peaches that faded into the pale blue of the early morning sky. At least it won't be dark when we get there he thought to himself.