You Have 86,400 Seconds To Find Me

1:17pm (So Baby, Run)

I was leaning up against the side of a cotton candy stand called Fluffy Joe's when I saw her. She was wearing a yellow sundress, a light blue jean jacket over it and her hair was tied up in a lose pony-tail. She was standing approximately a hundred feet in front of me, sipping out of what looked to be a large blue cup. It was probably an ICEE. Macy loved blue ICEEs. Slushy drinks had always been her poison of choice. Even though I was standing a significant distance away, I knew that the girl standing next to the Tilt-O-Whirl, drinking a blue ICEE was Macy. I could tell just by the way she was standing, the way she cradled her cup in her hand. I had found her. There she was. 

I took off toward her like lightening, never averting my eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was lose her in the crowd. The closer I got, the more I knew. It's her, it's definitely her. Macy. As I was weaving and swerving my way in and around the crowd of people, every step bringing me closer and closer to my reason for existing, a teenage boy with dark brown hair and glasses banged into my arm, causing me to drop my cell phone to the ground. 

"Oh hey, sorry," he said, as he bent down to pick my phone up out of the dirt. "Didn't mean to run into you like that," he said, smiling apologetically. I turned quickly toward him, smiling back even though all I wanted to do was ignore the bastard and keep running. "It's okay. Don't sweat it," I said, as I took off running again. Except that when I looked back to the spot where Macy had been standing only a few seconds before, she was gone. 

Had I imagined it? Was she really even there? Had my lack of sleep the night before finally begun to mess with my head? No! She was there! You saw her, Max! My subconscious was yelling back at me. You're not crazy! You know what you saw. It was Macy. You know Macy. She's your best friend! You know it was her. It was definitely her! 

I ran after her, toward the spot where she had just been, by the Tilt-O-Whirl. I stopped for a moment, standing in the very spot I thought she had stood. No, the spot I know she had stood. I looked to my left, then to my right, looking for the sun. Looking for anything yellow that caught my eye. She was just here, she couldn't have gotten very far. Before my brain could even send the signal to my feet, my feet were moving. I was running, running faster than I had even ran in my entire life. Macy, where are you? Where did you go? Didn't you see me running toward you? 

Ugh, this sucks! She was right there! I was so close! If only four-eyes had been paying more attention to where he was walking, I would not have looked away. I would not have lost my focus. 

After running around the entire park once again, with no sign of Macy, I had no choice but to stop. My legs were on fire, my throat dry. I bent forward and rested the palms of my hands on my knees, trying to steady my breathing. I couldn't believe it. It had taken over three hours of searching to get here, just to get a glimpse of her, and I has lost her. 

Again. 

When my heart-rate finally slowed, I stood back up, shaking my head. I had never been more angry with myself than I was in that moment. I could not believe I had been so stupid. I shouldn't have even looked down. So what if my phone fell? I could always buy another phone! There will never be another Macy if I were to lose her today. I let out an angry sigh and sent out a group message.

Max: She's here. I saw her. She was standing next to the Tilt-O-Whirl.  

Kelly: WHAT? Where is she now????

Sam: Did you go after her?

Max: Yes, but some four-eyed freak banged into me and I lost her. I tried to follow her but she was gone.

Sam: Did you see what she was wearing?

Max: She was wearing a yellow sundress, a light blue jean jacket and her hair was up in a pony tail.