Where is She

Cassadrei's POV

Jake finally picks up his phone after the thousandth ring and starts mumbling an apology for being ignorant. I don't have time to deal with his idiosyncrasies now, and from the background noise, it is apparent that Michael has reached the apartment and is reprimanding Jake, suggesting him to throw away his mobile phone as he has defeated it's sole purpose of being used as a medium of communication in desperate states. 

I can't hear properly what Jake has to say and I hastily tell him everything that I know of. Linda was last seen this morning, while leaving her apartment for going to a friend's house….she didn't specify whom. She had manipulated her bodyguards into not following her and as a result of which her father has promptly dismissed those poor fellas. I shake my head in exasperation, how can this girl be so insolent? However, the time to ponder upon is long past…we need to take action. We need to find her. 

"Jake, is there any place that Linda would go if she were in a particularly nasty mood?" I ask.

"She always goes shopping when she's upset." Jake's tired voice answers, "but I don't think she'll go shopping now."

"And whose fault is that?" I ask pointedly.

Then, shrugging old issues off, for Jake seems really shaken by the turn of events, I ask,"Listen... let's not dwell on what has come to pass. We have to find her now. You and Michael check all the nearby shopping malls and let me try other places that I can think of. Keep me updated."

With that I cut the call. 

My mind is shrouded by a myriad of possibilities, each one worse than the last. What if she left the town? Where would she go? She won't be having a dearth of money, I am certain….but there are other dangers for a girl traveling alone, especially for someone as unsuspecting as her. What if she's kidnapped?

I am immersed in my premonition when a slight touch on my shoulder brings me back to reality. 

"Cassadrei, you have to think. What are the places that Linda would go? You are her best friend, you would surely know something. Don't overthink now." Sofosys says gently. 

I scourge my brains, searching for an answer. What are Linda's favourite places? She likes food, but it's highly unlikely that she would go to a restaurant since she's not eaten much in the past few days. I try to think harder, tracing each of our steps throughout the years that I had known her. She likes parties, pet shops, parks, cinemahalls, rivers…..and suddenly it strikes me with a jolt!

Rivers! I remember a distant memory of us walking hand in hand through the river banks, chatting heartily about our lives' dreams as the wind caresses our locks and the steady roar of the river pounds through our ears, rhythmically and methodically. 

The river bank near Selmore, it's an hour from Milton and I can easily take a bus there. Linda's mother used to take her there when she was a child.

"We used to sit here, on this moist grass near the bank, our picnic baskets strewn all over the place." I can hear Linda laugh as she told me the story, "Daddy, mom and me….a happy family we were. I laughed as mom tickled me, she made me crowns with wildflowers and they were the best pieces of jewelry I ever had. We had sandwiches with homemade pickles. Mom used to tell stories about her childhood and for once everything seemed perfect. It seemed like there was not a worry in the world, no world beyond the one we lived now, time frozen in our clocks and all we did was talk the whole day. Even daddy seemed to be so relaxed back then, he would open up to us, crack jokes and for once he won't be getting distracted by his endless business calls. I crave those days, Cassie…. I yearn for that solace I had. I love this place as it reminds me of the peace that I once enjoyed."

It has to be Selmore, I think. I leave at once, Cookie trailing my path and board the bus from the closest bus stop. It's nearly evening and I try to call Linda again, leaving numerous voice messages but to no avail. 

"Look who we have here?" A voice startles me and I realise, I have heard this before. 

"Shawn!" I exclaim, "what are you doing here?"

"Can't board a bus, can I?" He smirks but the smile doesn't reach his eyes. I don't like his tone or his body language. God knows what Linda ever saw in him…. I am so grateful that they broke up. 

Beside me, Cookie starts yelling again. 

"Calm your dog down Cassie, lest I think you are threatening me somehow." Shawn says with a cold voice.

I try to shush Cookie, I don't want any unwanted attention drawn towards me. Cookie keeps shouting nevertheless and inches menacingly towards Shawn. 

"Enough!" I grumble, patience eluding me, "Cookie, I don't have time for your playfulness now! You would cause more harm than good and I need to find Linda fast. So go home and wait there for me. 

The Petrywinkler looks crestfallen, he gives a tiny chirp and hops out of the moving bus. I hope no one noticed, given that the bus is almost empty. Shawn looks at me with his piercing gaze and I shift uncomfortably in my seat. I look at my watch, tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ears and start whistling tonelessly, all the while ignoring Shawn's presence. It's a relief when he gets down at the next stop. 

Selmore is a deserted place, with crowded dilapidated apartments that have been lying vacant for a while now. The most important attraction of this place is the river bank which draws the maximum number of tourists during the picnic season. I trudge towards the riverbanks, idle thoughts crossing my mind as I try to shrug them off. 

The riverside is desolate at this time of the year and I spot the lone figure, with thick red hairs, crouched on her back…. sitting alone at the riverside. Linda! Relief surges through me like a stream through the arid desert and I rush, panting by the time I reach her. 

"Linda, you fool! I was worried sick! Don't you dare pull off such a disappearing stunt again!" I reply in between jagged breaths. 

Linda looks up at me, her eyes puffy and red, "How did you know I am here?" She says. 

"Of course, I know! Well, not immediately but I figured out." I reply, sitting in the damp grass beside her. 

"It doesn't matter now. Does he know?" Linda says with a tiny voice.

"I didn't tell him." I reply, putting my hands across her shoulders, "I wanted to talk to you first. What's going on in your mind Lin?"

A breeze sweeps by, cuddling with Linda's volumnious hairs and she stares with a vacant gaze towards the deep blue horizon where the river becomes one with the sky. 

"I don't know Cassie. I have had breakups before, but none of them hurt half as bad as this one does. I fear that I am losing myself." Her eyes look tired, conveying the pain that's deep rooted in her heart. 

"Lin... I understand." I answer carefully, "Heartbreaks are terrible, they make you feel worthless, futile...they make the days that pass by seem unbearable and each moment is a living agony. But, bit by bit you'll recover. You'll find your soul back, you'll start getting happy again, it'll take time but you have to trust the process and as you grieve, you have to keep hoping that at the end of the tunnel, there is a flicker of light."

"Why did he do it, Cassie? I know I am not easy and I throw tantrums and I…." Linda breaks into a sob before she can finish her sentence. 

I wrap my arms around her, surprised at the knot that's forming in my own heart, and draw her close as she cries quietly in my arms. I don't know how long I hold her, when ultimately she breaks free. 

Wiping the remaining tears from her eyes, Linda says, " I really wanted this relationship to last, Cassie…. Jake wasn't like the other guys. He's different, he's unique and I loved him for it. I don't know where it all fell apart. And, now...now I feel so weak, I feel so petty for crying over a guy I had known only for a few months now."

"No, Lin...you can never be weak if you have loved so deeply. Someone once said to me, that it is your greatest trait to love so strongly that it threatens to obliviate your other senses. True love is all consuming, it makes you vulnerable, it makes you forget yourself, it makes you commit deeds that you, lotherwise would have been incapable of, and in the end it leaves you incapacitated. True love spells destruction, Lin but you should never feel you are weak to have loved so."

Linda stares at me with tear-filled eyes and I feel a foreboding sense of deja vu, looking at her. I was her once, this same grief stricken girl who felt her life has crumbled before her very eyes, her sorrow overcoming her pragmatic senses, consuming her whole, changing her very soul. I know there's no remedy to this feeling, except time. Patience and time and a hope that everything will hurt less as the days pass by.

I gaze over Linda's shoulder, catching a flash of movement from the corner of my eyes, before it disappears into the bushes. I manage to catch a glimpse, the red polo t-shirt and porcupine like brown hairs, a face that should not have listened to what just happened between Linda and me. Despite my attempts at secrecy, Jake seems to have found us.