Page 72 of Splintered Memories
I headed immediately to the hallway once I was free. Three songs were realistically not that long, but it had felt like an eternity when all I could think about was Emersyn’s lips on mine.
When I rounded the corner and stepped into the hallway, my heart leapt, and then fell as I scanned the space. It was empty.
I turned back toward the main room. I hadn’t seen her there; I’d assumed she stayed in the hallway and waited for me.
I did a once-over of the room again, and there was no sign of her vibrant, auburn hair.
Anxiety prickled along my skin like a thousand hypodermic needles. She had to be in here somewhere.
I opened the door to the women’s restroom. I didn’t step inside, but I yelled her name into the echoing void. No one answered me. I listened hard, not hearing any movement from inside. I stepped over the threshold and checked every stall. Empty.
My pulse spiked as I exited the restroom and checked the men’s room. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t there. I even checked the small supply closet, but it was too small for anyone to fit in there.
I stumbled back out to the hallway, walking to the very end where the small seating area was. There was no sign of anyone, nowhere for someone to hide.
Where did she go?
An undercurrent of panic coursed through my system. The feeling that something wasn’t right settled on my chest, heavy and ominous.
I hurried back out to the main room, trying to keep a leash on that panic and anxiety. Things had been quiet for weeks. Ever since the house fire, even the inappropriate trolling comments on her videos had decreased in number. Fox had been keeping an eye on them. There had been no new threats.
I made my way toward the bar, not caring that I was cutting someone off when I spoke to the bartender. “Hey, man, have you seen a girl with red hair and a sparkly green dress recently?”
The bartender was in the middle of pouring a shot into a plastic cup. He topped it off with soda and handed it to the woman behind me before he acknowledged me.
He pressed both palms on the bar as his face pinched in concentration. “Is she kind of short?”
I nodded, gesturing to the middle of my chest. “Yeah, she’s about this tall.”
The bartender nodded, but my relief was short-lived as he said, “I think I saw her leave a little while ago.”
I stiffened. “What do you mean, she left?”
He jerked his chin toward the front entrance. “I’m pretty sure I saw her walk out the door.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Was she alone?” My mouth went completely dry. If she wasn’t in this building, she wasn’t safe.
The bartender nodded.
I didn’t stick around to ask many more questions. I headed straight for the front doors and pushed outside into the night.
There weren’t many lights out here, only one in the small parking lot. I gazed around; she was nowhere in sight. My breaths were shallow as I ran toward the parking lot. There were too many cars, but I looked between each and every one as I made my way to the vehicle we had driven. I had hoped that maybe she just needed a minute alone and went to the car. But she wasn’t there, either.
I was sinking into panic now. A plan began to form in my mind. I needed to talk to my brothers. I needed to move. I needed tofind her.
As I ran back toward the cabin, something tugged at me. I wasn’t sure what it was, but before I went back to the party to gather my brothers, I glanced at the lake.
It was dark and barely visible, save for the fractured reflection of the moon glinting on the surface.
I slipped my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight. The lake wasn’t far away, and I was at its edge in moments. The flashlight from my phone didn’t reveal much—a few frogs skittered from the light, jumping into the water and swimming away. It was cold, the warmth from the day stolen and forgotten by the stars.
Though I knew she wasn’t here, I said Emersyn’s name into the quiet.
Crickets answered me.
I shook my head, aware that I was wasting precious time. But I turned in a slow circle, focusing my flashlight on the ground. I saw nothing but rocks and grass…until something at the very edge of my light’s illumination caught my attention.
I stepped closer, my heart jumping into my throat. On the grass, a short distance away from the lake’s edge, something stained the grass. It was a dark, thick liquid.
