AFTER YOU SAVED ME // ZESSA

Chapter 22: I Found Something

Zed's POV

It has been three weeks since that horrible phone call. Three weeks since I have seen Tessa's beautiful eyes or felt her ice-cold feet on my legs in the middle of the night as she giggles in my bed.

"Zed, back to work," my professor yells from across the room, as I wipe a tear from my eye. I silently hope no one has seen me crying, clear my throat, and get back to germinating our plants.

Getting back to work, my mind cannot help but wander back to Tessa. Is she safe? Is she even alive...?

Hardin and I immediately called the police after we got her gut-wrenching phone call. However, after hanging up with the police, I immediately received a text from Tessa's number as well.

Tessa: I'm not coming back to school. This isn't working for me. Please just give me my space.

I knew it was fake. I know with every fiber of my being that Tessa has been taken by Dan, despite what her text messages may say.

The police came a few minutes later and took down our statements, saying someone would contact us shortly.

And someone did. A man named Sawyer who works as a detective at the precinct on campus asked to meet with us the next day at the police station.

We went first thing in the morning and were brought into an interrogation room like you would see on TV, fake glass mirror on the wall and everything. It felt like we were the ones in trouble for Tessa's disappearance, instead of innocent witnesses to the crime.

I told him everything, though. From Tessa's strange text messages, to her disappearance, to the phone call in which she accused Dan, Hardin attesting to the call as well.

"That is concerning," Sawyer finally said, writing something down in a small leather notebook he kept in his suit coat pocket. "You'll have to come back tomorrow to file a missing person's report," he mumbled casually, putting the notebook away.

I just stared at him in shock, my heart and mind too broken to react to any more bad news, or the fact that Sawyer was just way too calm about everything. Hardin however... had a different reaction to Sawyers words.

"Are you fucking daft! We told you she's been taken, and you say we have to come back tomorrow!" Hardin yells, standing up suddenly and nearly flipping the metal table we were seated at.

"Calm down son, this is the procedure for when a person goes missing," Sawyer says, standing as well and reaching towards his belt, probably for a gun in typical cop fashion.

"Calm down? You're honestly going to tell me to calm down? After saying we need to come back tomorrow and have a chat about Tessa being kidnapped, instead of getting off your lazy ass and finding her now!" he shouts, practically spitting as his arms gesture wildly beside him, his face growing increasingly red.

"I won't warn you again," Sawyer says, eyes looking towards the camera in the corner of the room, as if he was giving some sort of signal.

Just then, two police enter, their presence intimidating as they loom over Hardin and I.

"Oh, fuck off," Hardin says, pushing past them and out the door. "I need to get to a meeting."

By meeting Hardin is of course referring to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, which I am surprised he has kept up with.

I do not blame Hardin for his knee-jerk reaction. The lack of urgency these police officers have over a person who has so clearly been taken is infuriating. Hardin and I just handle things differently – he flies off the handle, where I have a tendency to shut down.

Again, that was three weeks ago, and nothing has really changed. With Tessa's text messages showing she left us on her own accord, the police have not been able to do much. She is still listed as a missing person and they are looking into it, but I can tell a few of the officer's do not believe me and Hardin, convinced we are just a couple of her crazy ex-boyfriends who must have teamed up to form some extremely weird stalker fan club, or something like that.

Even her friend Anna is gone. She was listed as missing as well after she failed to show up at work. Dan probably got to her, too.

On top of that, we have not been able to get a hold of her mother in Europe. The police have not either, which also worries me. How have both gone missing, and so far apart from one another?

"Zed, go ahead and take fifteen minutes," I hear from somewhere across the room.

Looking up, willing my eyes to focus, I see my professor staring at me, his head slightly cocked and arms folded.

"What, sir?" I ask, trying to concentrate on him and my work.

Letting out an exasperated breath and walking over to me, he places a firm hand on my shoulder. "I know you're going through something, Zed. Just go take a break and get your thoughts together so we can finish this lab," he says solemnly, patting me twice on the shoulder and walking away.

"Sorry..." I mutter, realizing he is right. I put my pipette down and make my way to the door. I leave my lab coat on the table near the exit and walk out of the building and into the cold October air.

I take a few deep breaths, looking up at the cloudy sky covering our campus, and try not to break down. It is almost like I can feel her all around me, the cold wind bringing back the memories we made last winter before we knew anything this horrible would happen.

I am on my 7th deep breath, pictures of Tessa laughing and singing horribly clouding my brain, when my phone starts ringing.

Hardin flashes on the screen.

That is another thing I was not expecting from this whole ordeal, to be speaking with Hardin – daily; both of us consumed with finding Tessa even if it means working together after our tumultuous past.

"Hey," I answer, sitting down on the bench beside the chemistry building, placing my head in my free hand, elbows resting on my knees.

"Hey. I found something. Meet me at your apartment," he says, and hangs up without another word.

A/N: I will be back after the holidays! Everyone stay safe and Happy Holidays from me to you =]