The Neighbor

Torture

    For the next few days, Blade and I didn't speak to each other. I hadn't even seen him since our fight. I was avoiding him and perhaps he was avoiding me too. I wasn't sure, but it didn't make a difference. How could I be guilty and angry at the same time? I had wanted to follow him so many times, but each time I came close something intervened. I needed to know who he really was, what he was trying so hard to hide. Why would someone be afraid to give their real name? I knew I would have to wait a while to find these answers. I needed something else to focus on. Per usual, I buried myself in my schoolwork and social life. I'd study most of the day and whatever time I had left was spent at extravagant parties, but it didn't fill the void the way it usually did. I was running on empty.

    My phone rang loudly. I lifted it up, looking to see who was calling me. When I saw the name, I quickly sat it back down as if it were burning a hole in my hand. I would call her later. I had a feeling she wanted to talk about her love life, and I was not in the mood. I was shocked to find I was hurt. I was used to letting people go, and it was never easy, but this time was different. It felt like someone died and I was in mourning. I would put the hurt in a locked box in my mind, convincing myself it had all been a dream. Just as I convinced myself that Blade wasn't real, I'd get a call from Niki telling me what a good time they had. I wanted to be mad at her, but I always said I was okay, that I could handle it. I didn't want to accept that maybe I couldn't.

    "Amaya!" I heard loud, fast knocking on my door. I scooted my black, spinning chair away from my desk and shut my laptop. I raced to the door, feeling a little nervous. Niki rarely came over and when she did, she never acted so frantically.

"Niki, what's wrong?" I could tell by her face that something was not right.

    She stood in the doorway, nearly hyperventilating. She grabbed onto my shoulders for support. "I don't know what to do."

   "Okay, it's okay, come sit down and we'll figure it out." I said, helping her to the couch. I handed her a cold water and sat next to her, waiting patiently.

She took a sip of the water. "It's Blade. He's gone."

My heart sank. "What do mean? Did something happen?"

     She chugged half the bottle of water before she spoke again. "I don't know Amaya. He just disappeared." She stopped, saw the confusion on my face and decided to go on. "He quit coming over two days ago. I went to his apartment to make sure he wasn't mad at me or something, and no one answered the door. So, I went down to the lobby and asked the man at the front desk if he'd seen Blade. He told me he went out late 3 nights ago and hasn't been back since. I don't have any way of getting in touch with him. He was always weird about giving his number out and stuff." My eyes widened. He wouldn't give her his number? Looking at her worried face, I couldn't tell her that I had his number, it would've broken her.

    I swallowed. "Okay, we'll find him. He's probably just with a friend and forgot to tell you. You know how guys can be." I forced a laugh. "Do you know what kind of car he drives?"

    She nodded eagerly. "Yeah, he has a silver Corvette. Isn't that awesome? I actually have a picture of him standing by it when he was showing me it." She giggled a little. "He had no idea I was taking a picture of him. When he found out he begged me to delete it, but I just couldn't." She scrolled through her phone until she found it and handed it to me. I was overjoyed to see the full license plate number was in the picture. My heart lurched when I saw him. Even though it was just a picture, it made me miss him so much. He had to be okay, because if he's not then neither am I. I collected myself before I said anything else, not wanting to worry her anymore than she already was. 

    "This is perfect Niki! I'm going to send it to myself." I handed her back her phone and opened the image on my own. "Do you have any idea where he may have went? Did he ever mention visiting anyone, or anywhere he thought about going?"

   She pondered this, sipping her water. "Well, one time I overheard him saying something about heading to Clementine while he was on the phone. That was the place I mentioned to you the last time we talked about this, when we were having salads."

    I've tried to block that day out of my mind, but I didn't remember her telling me that. I quickly pulled my phone out and googled Clementine. A few different locations popped up, but I choose the closest, thinking that he may have moved here because it was closer to somewhere he intended to visit  frequently. I clicked on it; Clementine Residence I quickly typed the address into my phone.

   "I found a Clementine's that's about 45 minutes away. I think we should go check it out and see if he's there. It's at least a place to start. If it's a dead end, we can file a missing person's report. I'm not sure if it's been long enough for the police to look too far into it though." I went to my room and threw some sweats and a hoodie on over my pink silk nightgown. On my way down the hall I picked up my keys and headed back to Niki's apartment. She was standing by the door.

She looked down at her feet. "Do you think he's trying to move there?"

I thought for a  moment, I hadn't even thought about that possibility and I couldn't afford to think about it now. "If he is, we'll talk him out of it."

   We walked out and started to make our way out of the building when we heard a booming voice, "Honey, can we talk? Please?"

    We turned around and Nikayla stiffened. She hadn't seen Landon since she kicked him out and now here he was, just a few feet from her. His eyes were red and tear streaked. I hadn't seen him in person, but he still had made sure he was present in my life. Landon had grown desperate. He began calling me every night, blaming me for their failed marriage, telling me I'd pay. I could only calm him down by agreeing with him, saying that I knew what I did was horrible and I felt badly about it. I had to stifle a laugh every time the words came out. I had to admit, seeing him here scared me. People who felt they had nothing to loose were the most terrifying.

    Nikki looked at her feet as she said, "Okay, you have ten minutes, but that's it." My blood boiled, didn't she understand we didn't have ten minutes? For all we knew Blade was laying in a ditch right now.

   "Actually Landon, we have somewhere we need to be right now. It's very important. Can this wait until we get back?" I didn't usually intervene, but this was way too important. Landon stared at me through crazy eyes.

  "It's not up to you!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "She's my wife, MINE!" He pounded his fist hard against the wall. Nikki flinched.

"Just one minute Landy." She said sweetly and took my hand.

   "Are you crazy?!" She whisper-yelled at me. "He's not stable. If I don't talk with him..." She cut her sentence off; unable to say the words aloud.

     I nodded, "I don't like the idea of leaving you alone with him, he's dangerous." I looked at her pleadingly, but I knew she was right.

  "It's my mess, let me clean it up. I won't be able to move on until I do." I have never respected her more than I did in that moment. She was stronger than I ever gave her credit for.

"Are you sure?" I touched her arm gently.

She nodded, "Go find Blade. He needs you."

    I squeezed her tightly and whispered, "Be careful." She smiled at me and turned to face her fuming ex. I tried to call Blade before I did anything drastic, this was an emergency. He didn't pick up. I watched them walk into her apartment, then headed to my car and hit GO.