LOOKING FOR FAITH

       Ethan came back that evening ready to make things up with Faith. He slowly made his way to Faith's bedroom. The room was empty, he went over to the bathroom, but she wasn't there. 

      "Faith?!" he called and went over to the kitchen, she wasn't there either. 

    He went to his bedroom, she had gone there in the morning after the fight, but she wasn't there. He searched everywhere in the house but he didn't see her. He took his phone and dialled her number but it went to voicemail. 

      "Hey, Faith, where are you? Call me when you get this, please." 

     He waited for a while, pacing around, sitting down, then standing, then he picked up his phone again and dialled her number, but to no avail. He went back to her room and looked for anything, maybe a note she left for him, about her whereabouts, but there was nothing. 

       He dialled Nora's number, it rang and no one answered. He went over to the bedroom again and wrote a note for Faith. He took his jacket and left the house. 

       Nora was looking at her wedding dress and Danny had gone out with the wedding planner to check out for any faults.  The doorbell rang and she stopped what she was doing and strained her ears. The doorbell rang again and she went downstairs to check who it was and saw Ethan at the door. She opened the door. 

      "Hi," she said looking surprisingly at Ethan because of the way he was looking past her. 

       "Hey, Nora, please can I speak to her, I know she is here, I just want to say I'm sorry." 

      Nora was confused.  "Who?" 

      "Faith, Faith, please I know I messed up but please..." 

        "Wait, what are you talking about? She is not here." 

       "Please, I know she told you not to let me in but you can help us get back, please." 

        "Ethan, I don't know what you are saying but Faith isn't here!" 

     Ethan stopped and looked at her. The look in her eyes told him that she wasn't lying. She was serious. 

       "Faith isn't here?" he asked slowly. 

       "No, she isn't. We met earlier today, but she left a couple of hours ago." 

        "What?!" 

       "Isn't she at home?" 

    Ethan turned around in frustration.  "Her phone is not even going through." 

    Nora went and picked up her phone from the dining table. "I guess I will call her. Oh, my God, you've been calling me." 

      Ethan paced around in frustration, fisting his hands on his waist. Nora dialled Faith but her recorded message was all she received. 

       "Oh, my God, she wasn't serious about what she said earlier was she?" Nora asked herself. 

      "What did she say?" 

      "I don't know, I thought—she said it was only a thought." 

      Ethan was agitated.  "What did she say?" 

     "She said she was going to give you some time to clear your head." 

       "What?! My head is cleared already. Nora, please, I need to find her." 

       "I will call Charlie to see if he knows anything." 

       "It's all my fault," Ethan said and put his hand to his head. "I will go look for her." He started leaving. 

       "Ethan wait! I will go with you, let me tell Danny." Nora dialled Danny.  "Hello, babe." 

        "Yes, babe, what's up." 

        "Babe, I... Faith is missing, I need to go look for her." 

       "What? Where are you now, I just drove into the compound." 

     "Oh, I'm in the house, We need to go search for her now." 

     A few minutes later, Danny hurried to the house, he saw Ethan by the door but Nora went upstairs to put on better clothes. 

     "What's up, man?" Danny said and shook his hand. 

     "I don't know. I am looking for Faith, I don't know where she has gone off to."

       "Calm down, she might be somewhere..." 

      "That is it! I can't calm down. She is pregnant! God, I f*cked up." 

      Nora came down and hugged Danny.   "Babe, please, if Faith calls tell her that we are worried about her." 

       "Sure, I will. Take care of yourself. Nora, are you going to be in the same car with Ethan?" 

      Ethan turned and Nora was confused.  "Yes, why not?" 

       "No, you can't," Danny said. 

       "Why?" Ethan inquired. 

      "Because you are furious enough, I don't want you to crash the car. I want my bride still intact for the day after tomorrow." 

       Ethan laughed despite himself.  "Nora, you can choose what you wanna go in. My car or your car." 

       "Alright, I will go with mine," Nora said. 

       "Mr bridegroom, I will return your bride intact." 

      "You gave me your word. Good luck then." 

     Ethan and Nora left. Nora dialled Charlie again. He answered almost immediately. 

      "Hey, Charlie. Do you have an idea where Faith could be?" 

       "Faith? Thought she went home?" 

       "No, she didn't. It's Joshua home yet?" 

       "No, no. Wait, Faith didn't go home? Was she serious about going off somewhere?" 

        "I'm so scared right now. What if she had been kidnapped?"

       "Kidnapped? By who?" 

       "I don't know, it's just a thought. These kinds of things happen in the movies all the time." 

       "I'm sure no one would want to kidnap Faith relax. Have you called her yet?" 

        "She is not answering. I just want to know if she is with Joshua/Douglas, whatever his name is." 

       "You could just use one of them, I will understand anyway. I don't think she is with him, I got off the phone with Douglas, a few seconds before you called and he never mentioned anything like that. But I will just check to be sure." 

        Nora hung up. She didn't know where she was driving to. She would have been better in Ethan's car because she didn't trust herself with driving alone. Her whole body was quivering and the sudden thought of Noah kidnapping Faith kept nagging at her and her instincts were never wrong. Should she go over to his place? Would it be dangerous? Whatever happens, if she didn't see Faith or get to hear from her tomorrow, she would risk it and go over to Noah's. 

      "Dear God, do you even want me to wed this year at all?" she whispered and huffed. 

      Ethan kept dialling her number but it wasn't going through. He was frustrated and he kept hitting his hand on the steering in frustration, making his car honk severally. Everything was fine until he overreacted when she broke the news of her pregnancy to him. Just when he thought everything was fine, now tragedy had struck again. He blamed himself. How could he even treat a woman he loved so much so cold? 

      He had been mad at her and he had sent the wrong message to her. She was right, Axel was right, they were in it together, she didn't bring the pregnancy to herself, it took the two of them to make the baby? What has he done? 

       "Dear God, please let her be okay, wherever she is," he muttered. 

      He should have just tried to find out why she missed those pills, he shouldn't have just let anger take the whole of him. What was he going to do? His mother would hate him if anything happens to Faith. She had wanted that grandchild. He had not even told her about the pregnancy at first because he was angry. What had he thought? His reason for not wanting a baby was valid, but he overreacted. Where could she possibly be? He thought of where Faith could go when she wasn't okay. But he couldn't remember anywhere. 

      Maybe, she travelled to Iowa to her mom's place. Who was he kidding? How could she travel all the way there just because of a little fight? Wait!  He pulled over to think it through. Faith has always craved a mother and she could do anything to get back to her mother. She could travel miles just to be comforted by her mother, Faith could do that. But then Nora's wedding was in two days, could she have gone without even informing Nora? 

       Could she have gone anywhere at all without informing Nora? Did she tell Nora not to tell him where she was? Is Nora not really aware of her whereabouts or was she too good an actress? No, he didn't think Nora could be acting that out. If Faith just disappeared without telling Nora or Charlie, could it mean something had happened to her? He shook his head to blot out the thought that something had happened to her. He won't forgive himself if anything should happen to her. 

      He took out his phone and contemplated whether to call Faith's mother or not. What would she think of him? What kind of a man gets angry that his fiancée got pregnant. 

      "I'm sorry, Faith," he muttered and placed his head on the steering for a while. 

    He raised his head again and decided to summon the courage and call the woman. If Faith did not even tell her mother, then he has to be worried. He dialled Faith's mom and she answered as if she was sitting by the phone. 

       "Hello, M rs Childress." 

   What do you think? Do you think Ethan overreacted even though his reason was valid? Where do you think Faith could be?