Summoned Again?

I felt my mind clear and opened my eyes to see Miss Carlyle with a slightly worried look on her face as she hovered over me. “What is it?” I asked her and she stood up straight.

“I couldn't wake you.” She said. “I shook you and spoke loudly, and you didn't react at all.”

“I haven't slept since yesterday morning.” I said and stood.

Miss Carlyle looked at the gold pendant on my neck. “As soon as I put that on you, you opened your eyes, just like that.” She said and snapped her fingers.

“I'm glad my new product worked.” I said and her mouth dropped open slightly. “I assume we're going to land soon?”

“Yes, sir. In a few minutes.”

“Excellent. Thank you.” I said and walked by her to go to the airplane seats. “How long was I out?”

“Nearly four hours.” Miss Carlyle said.

“How far was it to Denver from D.C.?” I asked and sat down to strap in for landing.

“...and takes a hell of a lot longer.” I joked. “I'm really glad I decided to fly instead.”

“So are we.” She said and left me alone for a moment, then she came back with the folder and sat down next to me to strap herself in. “Here are our contracts.”

“Why are you...” I paused with my hand on the folder as the plane took a sharp dip and I heard the engines whine as we slowed way down. “We really were close.”

Miss Carlyle nodded. “I spent a bit too long trying to wake you.”

I chuckled and took the folder. “I'm glad you listened and put the pendant on me. I might have been unconscious for a long time as my body tries to make my mind catch up on all of the sleep it missed.”

Her eyes fell on the pendant again and she looked at me with a curious face.

“Yes, if I took if off again, I'd be out like a light.” I said. “I can't afford to be unconscious right now, though. I have an important meeting to get to.”

A couple of minutes later, we were on the ground and had taxied over to the small terminal.

“I'm not sure how long I'll be.” I said and unbuckled the seat belt.

“We're at your disposal, sir.” Miss Carlyle said. “One of the clauses in our contract is to be on call when travelling.”

“That's fine and good for me; but, I don't want to leave you all here sitting around and wasting time.” I said and stood up. “If it takes about four hours to travel back home and I want to be there before Crystal gets tucked into bed, we can schedule a tentative leave time for four o'clock.”

“That's four hours from now.” Miss Carlyle said and followed me through the galley. “Wait, who's Crystal?”

“She's the most beautiful little girl you've ever seen.” I said with a grin and waited for one of the pilots to open the door to leave. “Out of the huge mess that my life has become, she's the only bright spot I've got left.”

“She's your daughter?”

“No, I just have temporary custody of her.” I said and she looked surprised. “I'll tell you later when we discuss changing some of the food this place stocks.”

She kept the surprised look and I left the plane with the folder that contained their contracts and stored it when I was out of their sight. After a quick trip through the terminal building, I stepped outside. No car waited for me this time and I was tempted to text Miss Carlyle to complain about it. I laughed and walked away a short distance, checked for cameras, then took my own car out of inventory.

I climbed in and used my cell phone to check for Nat's address. As I drove, I kept using Search to fill in the details and followed the directions on the phone. It took me almost an hour to finally track down the proper address, which left me only two hours to find her and to talk to her. I would need an hour to get back to the plane and then four hours flight to get home in time for Crystal.

I sat in my car, just outside of the large industrial building where Nat's apartment was, and took a deep breath. I was preparing for the worst and hoped that she was still there, somehow. I hadn't thought about what her life would be like after disappearing for six months and I would do my best to track her down.

I got out of my car and left it where it was, parked on the street, because there were too many windows and people around for me to store it. I went to the building and went inside, used Search to get the layout and Detect to see who was there. Six people were in the building. Two were off to the left, one to the right, two above them on the next floor, and one in the far corner on the left.

Her address was apartment four, so I went up the stairs and thankfully, the one on the left was the one I was looking for. The person was laying down in their bed and I thought that was a little odd for the middle of the day. I knocked on the door and waited for a second to see if the person moved. I couldn't see a doorbell anywhere, so I knocked again.

It took ten minutes of knocking before the figure in the bed got up. I was getting a bit frustrated, because they were cutting into my time to look for Nat. I needed to find out where she could have gone from here. She had a week of a head start on me, so I really needed to get a move on. I knocked harder and the figure got up and walked through the apartment as slow as possible.

“Come on, come on! I'm in a hurry here!” I said through the door.

The figure came to the door and paused for a moment before they opened it. I caught my breath, because Nat stood there with a blanket half wrapped around her. Her face was tear streaked and her hair was a mess. She also looked really angry.

“What the hell do you want?” Nat asked.

I was a little too stunned about finding her right away to reply.

“Leave me alone!” Nat spat. “How many times do I have to tell you idiots to go screw yourselves before you stop making fun of me?”

That sentence took me out of my stupor. “You're confusing me with someone else.”

“Really? A business suit, styled hair, and showing up in the middle of the workday?” Nat shook her head. “You're another one of those fucking trash rag reporters looking to get a quote from the crazy woman that claimed she was kidnapped for six months and no one noticed!”

“Wh-what?” I asked, once again stunned.

“Yeah, like you didn't know that.” Nat glared at me as tears rolled down her cheeks. “If you want a quote, you can take your paper and shove it so far up your ass that you can open your mouth and read it!” She pushed on the open door to slam it in my face and I darted my hand out to stop the movement. The thump sound that my hand made on the wood startled her. “Get your ass away from my door!”

“I normally would, after such a great sendoff, except that I'm not who you think I am.” I said in as calm of a voice as I could. “I came a long way to find you, Nat.”

Nat's eyes widened slightly at me using the nickname that only her friends used, then she squinted her eyes for a moment. “Who did you pay to get that information?” She asked and then sighed. “I mean, it's not hard to figure out that my friends call me Nat.”

“Yes, your friends.” I said. “Usually people that you take months to get used to.”

“Okay, now I know you've been talking to someone.” Nat said and didn't try to wipe at her face at all, even though it was covered in tear streaks. “Was it Lorna? She was a nice person until she thought I was going to steal her boyfriend.” She shook her head. “How fucking stupid was she to think that I was hanging around them to get to him?”

“She was pretty fucking stupid, considering your vagina was declared a no penis zone a long time ago.” I said and she caught her breath. “By the sounds of it, you were too subtle by being nice to the both of them. You should have given him the cold shoulder and showered Lorna with compliments instead.”

Nat blinked her eyes at me for about thirty seconds. “How... how did you know that... that I...”

“What? That you're...” I leaned close to whisper. “...gay as a jaybird?” I asked and she nodded. “You only tell your close friends that, don't you?”

“Y-yes.” Nat said and I reached behind my back and made a tissue box appear. I took it out to show her, pulled several tissues from it, then put it back behind my back to store it.

“May I?” I asked and motioned to her face. “I didn't mean to make you cry.”

Nat looked at the tissues and then at my face. “I'm not crying because of you.”

I held the tissues out to her and she took them. She dabbed at her face with them and more tears came right away. She let the door go and stepped back. I took that as an invitation and stepped inside and shut the door. The loft apartment was really an art studio. Paintings, both half-finished and completed, were on the walls, on easels, and leaning against pretty much every piece of furniture in the place.

I motioned to the couch for us to sit down and she nodded, so I walked over to it and sat down on the far corner and well away from the part that looked like it was worn in and had a slight depression in it. Nat walked over, still partially wrapped in the blanket, and sat down in that spot. She wiped at her face again until the tissues were soaked, then she gave up and tossed them onto the coffee table.

I waited for a few moments before I spoke in a soft voice. “Can I ask you why you are crying?”

“I... I honestly don't know. I'm just... really, really sad. It feels like my heart is broken and I don't know why.” Nat said and the tears streamed down her face. “When I came back from... from... I don't know where... six months has passed. I mean, it was like instantly for me. I was standing in my living room and there was a light or something, then when it faded, all that time had passed.”

It didn't take me long to piece that together. “That's why no one noticed. You disappeared from your own home and since you live alone, no one knew. Even the people you keep in regular contact with, didn't really check up on you, after they called a few times and you didn't answer.”

“They all thought I was snubbing them.” Nat said and turned towards me slightly. “When I tried to tell them that I was missing for six months...”

“...they didn't believe you.” I said.

“It didn't take long for the story to get around and then reporters starting showing up. Every goddamn day, all week, and they pestered me for proof that I was gone. Like I could prove it!” Nat huffed and more tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I'm so sorry, Nat.” I said and handed her the box of tissues.

Her eyes flicked to my eyes for a second as she took the box. “You say that so naturally. It's not forced, either.”

“That's because I'm genuinely sorry about what happened.” I said. “In fact, I just flew 1,500 miles to come and see you. I thought I was going to have to search half of Denver before I found you.”

“Wh-what?”

“You don't know how surprised I was to actually find you in your apartment and not out on the street or in a homeless shelter or something.” I said. “Relieved, too. Really relieved. I have to be back at the airport in three hours to get home and I was worried I would use up all the time I had trying to look for you.”

“But...”

“Unlike everyone else, I knew you were missing.”

“H-how... no, why? Why do you believe me?” Nat asked.

“Because I was missing for six months, too.” I responded. “With you.”

Nat caught her breath and just sat there, completely stunned into silence, and stared at me.

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