Live in Color

twenty six - dijon

The first place I go to look for Jericho is the lake from yesterday.

I'm not sure exactly why my first instinct was to go there, but somehow a half hour after the end of the school, I'm sitting in the exact spot that Jericho and I had kissed yesterday, when sparks had been shot through my body and fake promises embedded into my head. Jericho isn't here- not that I had really expected him to be, especially if he had jumped on a bus. I think I came here more for myself than to look for him- to give myself a reminder of what Jericho had been like merely hours ago.

I really needed that reminder right now.

My heart aches and the pressure is back in my chest. I've called Jericho almost ten times but his phone is off. I need Jericho-really bad right now. All I can think about right now is how he left me, even though he promised he wouldn't and even though he knows how it feels.

I have no idea where he could've gone. Arsenio says he couldn't catch the number of the bus Jericho had went on, but he's been calling different people Jericho might be going to just in case any of them have been in touch with him. Arsenio promised to text me if he finds anything while I went off for some time for myself.

I don't realize how long I've been sitting there- ignoring my parents' calls- when I finally get a text from Arsenio nearly four hours later that makes my heart jump.

Arsenio: I know where he is.

I waste no time running out of the forest and to my car, thankfully not getting caught for speeding as I zoom down the road to Arsenio's place. Arsenio is already waiting by the door when I pull up, green eyes even darker than usual as he lets me in. I don't have time to examine just how dirty and cheap his interior looks before Arsenio is leading me over to a tiny kitchen, throwing me a piece of paper.

"This is where he is," Arsenio says. I pick up the piece of paper and see that it has an address scrawled on it. "My friend called me saying they saw him. Just a prior warning, the drive is almost three hours."

"Are you sure he's still here?" I ask, gesturing to the address.

"Oh, he is. Trust me."

I bite my lip, nodding my head slightly. "Are you not going to come?"

Arsenio shakes his head, rubbing at his tired eyes. "He just needs you right now. Just make sure to tell him I'm kicking his ass when he gets back."

I'm in the car less than a minute later, pulling out of the parking lot. I call my parents, telling them that I'm staying at Jamie's to study for our Chemistry final and I wasn't able to answer because I had taken a nap when I first got there. My mom was pretty angry, but thankfully I only got off with a short lecture and a strict time for me to be home.

I keep the radio on and loud to try and occupy the time with something, but all I can seem to think about is Jericho. Was it the Rebels? Did they threaten him? I knew that they were waiting to plan something big- Jericho didn't listen to me, and here we have the consequences. I groan and throw my head back against the headrest.

Whatever it is, I hope it isn't enough to make Jericho switch back to his old beliefs.

Actually, I'll slap him if he does. I'm already almost an hour away from my house, and if he doesn't see that I'm about to drive another two hours all for him, then I don't know what I'll do. I've already done so much, and as much as I don't want to give up, I can't force him to love me.

The next two hours are slow moving and spent on a highway, but finally I enter a town. I furrow my eyebrows- it reminds me of my town in that besides Crooks Street, it's happy and bright. I slow down, following the directions that the GPS gives me on my phone to make sure I end up in the right place. When I finally pull up at my destination, I'm more than surprised.