| Ephemeral |

thirty-three

Alex

I felt the raging panic pulse through me as a raced to dig more dirt out of the hole. "Come on!" I screamed at myself as I felt like I wasn't moving fast enough.

-

Larce has sent me on a helpless wild goose chase all day, or scavenger hunt, whatever you want to call it.

Most of these clues have been dead ends and im already running low on the time he gave me. I have to find Grayson, the way Larce said it, he's in imminent danger. They both are.

I scrambled into the coffee shop that we always go to together. The last clue Larce's scavenger hunt led me to was a napkin from this place. 

I looked around anxiously but saw nothing pertaining to Grayson's possible whereabouts. I jogged over to the window seat that Grayson and I always chose. 

I looked in the seats, nothing. I looked around the table before I ducked my head under to see if I could find anything, any clues.  Anything that will give me hope.

I found a piece of paper taped to the bottom of the old wood. I snatched it quickly and fumbled it open with shaky hands. There was only one thing written on the paper. 

Jordyn

I furrowed my brows deep in thought before the grimmest puzzle pieces began to be placed together in my head. 

"You have five hours until Grayson runs out of air," Larce's words replayed in my head. "He's in a very cold, dark place," His words kept haunting me.

Grayson is- he's- I have to go right now. 

-

I jumped out of my car and ran to Jordyn's headstone. I saw a fresh rose sitting on top of the crumbled dirt. My heart was aching just looking at his name on the stone.

I snapped myself out of it and picked up the flower that had a note attached. 

X marks the spot. Hope you aren't too late. 

Kindest regards, 

Larce. 

I looked aimlessly, looking for any sign. I felt the wind pick up suddenly and the sound of tree branches hissing in the wind caught my attention. Underneath the tree was a wooden X shape sticking from the ground. 

I looked at Jordyn's grave and quietly thanked him for the sign. There hasn't been wind all day. 

I ran over to the newly dug grave and picked up the shovel beside it. My entire body erupted with terror. What if I'm too late? What if he's dead. What if he isn't even in there and this is just a part of Larce's sick game?

I picked up the shovel and began shoveling dirt as fast as I could. 

My eyes were blurred with tears as I got further down this bottomless pit. My chest was on fire from breathing so hard, from moving pounds and pounds of dirt from the ground.