German Boy

Chapter 39: The Hunt Begins

After getting a room, I didn't bother to change clothes. I was too sleepy and was so excited for the other day. The hotel was almost full. There were four rooms left and we were lucky enough to get one of them.

There's a 42-inch Television, a table, and three chairs that are perfect for us, an empty closet, a refrigerator, two double deck beds, and a balcony where another set of three chairs with a table are placed. It's designed for a small family, I guess.

It's great for its price. Taylor occupied the upper part of one of the double deck beds and Sofia stayed on the lower part of it while I took the lower part of the other one. We decided not to unpack our clothes. We weren't sure how long we would stay here. But more likely, we'll check out first thing tomorrow morning.

Sofia was fast asleep the moment we made it there. Taylor and I both went silent, trying to sleep. I'm not sure if it was the bed, the idea of sleeping in a new room, or my excitement for our hunt for Ven but I couldn't sleep. I turned to see Taylor and found her staring blankly at the ceiling. Probably thinking of the ones we left for the ones we're searching for.

"So, what's the plan?" She must have noticed me stand up from the bed and sit on a chair beside the table.

"Remember that notebook Ven left for me?"

"What's with it?"

"Ven wrote a list of the places where I might encounter him. And we'll go there one by one," she simply nodded and stood up from lying but remained seated. "Can't sleep too?" She smiled with another nod from my statement which was supposed to be a question.

"I was just thinking of the possible places where Ven went and the most possible reason why he ran away." Does that mean she's clueless about Ven's condition? Ven hasn't told them yet? It's just me? She snapped out of her deep thinking and faced me. "Anyway, did he also mention the reason about all of these in that red notebook thingy?"

"So far, there aren't any. But maybe it's somewhere between the pages I haven't read,"

"You haven't read the entire notebook yet?"

"He said there to read one page at a time,"

"Alright," she responded.

"So where will we be heading for tomorrow?"

"Let's begin with all the hotels. We will search for every single hotel here in Australia." She frowned at my sentence. "Wait, are you serious? All the hotels here in Australia?"

"They aren't that many. It goes with something not exceeding three hundred,"

"Okay, but why the hotels only? What about Apartelles, Motels, Transient houses, apartments, or even a condo?"

"He mentioned it in the notebook. He'll be staying in a hotel. One that's not too popular. And I have four suspects, based on his description." Why is it that when I'm not trying to make words rhyme, they do? But when I try to, they don't. "So, we'll be visiting those four hotels first. And if we won't find him in any of those, then we will immediately begin looking over the other hotels here in our country."

I frowned in realization. "Hold up, did you not read the notebook?"

"Ven's sensitive. He ran away already, I don't want to frustrate him if ever he finds out I did. Thus, you're my friend so I immediately understood why it was addressed to you."

Does that mean he only left clues to me and not to his family? Which can also possibly mean that he just wants me to find him and no one else. Sorry, Ven but I can't do this on my own.

"Ummm, what if he's not in any of the hotels here?"

"That calls for plan B," she tilted her head slightly, a sign that she also wants to know about it. 

"We'll switch to the resorts. And based on his descriptions, I can't be wrong. There's only one place where he could be. But if I have mistaken it, then we'll proceed with the other beaches." I sighed before continuing.

"The bottom line here is that my suspicions and predictions should better be right. Because it will take us more than a week to find him if they aren't."

"Sounds weird but, if we still didn't succeed this time, what's next?" She responded with another question for me to respond to.

"We'll be visiting our last and final destination. And I am a hundred percent sure that he will be there."

"Then why don't we just go to that place where you're sure to find him?" She asked.

"Because I haven't figured that place out yet."

"Then how can you be so sure that he will be there when you don't even know that place yet?" She emphasized her question.

"You know what, your brother left a jigsaw puzzle for me to solve. And I'm not even halfway done with it. I'm still trying to figure this out. His clues aren't complete yet. We need to go searching for the resorts and the hotels because I'm hoping that he left a clue there."

"I don't understand." I knew she wouldn't. But even I, myself was clueless about how to explain things to her.

I tried to be direct to the point. "Well, in the notebook, Ven said that he's been saving up for quite some time for a small house he built here in Australia. But I'm not sure where exactly that is. In my observation, he's been giving me clues all along about where that house is. I'm sure that as the days go by, I'll be able to find deeper clues with deeper meanings that can stand as a tool to help us find him. That notebook, I know there's something about it. There are more notes written there than we think."

She lied back down, and I did the same. Randomly finding the urge to sleep. "Why don't you just skim through the pages immediately? Ven won't know anyway if you did or you didn't." She suddenly asked.

"That's cheating. I want to play this game he put up in the right way,"

Even if I feel like peeking at those pages ever since the day that I got it, when I saw his note saying not to, I told myself not to. No. No. No. A big no. Just no.

"Taylor, can we visit Bean Leaf tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'm craving some Caramel Macchiato too,"

I sighed, "I just feel like he might be there."

"Did he say that in that notebook too?" She asked.

"Yeah, he said that I might randomly encounter him thereof in any grocery store, ATM, mall, or barbershop. That's why we need to check those from time to time if ever we fail with the three plans"

"Okay, I get it now." I smiled at her agreement.

My uncle once told me that not being able to sleep just means two things: Excitement or fear. And right now, I feel both. I'm excited to begin searching for Ven but at the same time, I'm scared of failure.

What if we never find him? What if he doesn't want to be found? What if we might not notice the other upcoming signs and clues that we'll encounter on our way?

At the end of the day, once more, I was left on a bed, facing the ceiling, flooding my mind with all these what-ifs that are all about Ven. Since he's been gone, he's all I think about. Even then, I used to think about him all the time. But not as frequent as now that I can't even sleep because of overthinking, fear, worrying, and somehow... the adrenaline. The thrill I feel because of this.