Black Waters (Frank Ocean Love Story)

Chapter 二十三

Christopher’s View.

We decided to return to California after the university incident. Mia seemed to want to take a short hiatus on this whole search mission, and I felt the same way. And anyway, I have pending work to take care of down there. So all around, the trip back home was beneficial.

As soon as we stepped out of the cab from the airport, I saw that I had three missed calls from Clancy. Somehow, he must’ve figured out that I was back. But how? It’s not like I have a trail of paparazzi behind me. I’m not that type of celebrity.

“I haven’t been to California in a minute,” Mia said as we strolled through a pavement in the forest. It led to my house.

“It’s crazy how I’m always here, and you sometimes come here. I could have been thinking about you, wondering where you were, and you would be in the same place as me.” I said. It was just a spoken thought. Mia nodded, maybe in agreement, or absentmindedly.

Tuesday night was quite a night. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, Mia was gone. I went crazy searching for her in that hotel. But she came back before I did anything irrational. She told me she visited that Reagan Manor place to search for Forrest, but didn’t find him. I was glad she didn’t tell me where she was going before she left. I would’ve just gotten my hopes up.

“My house is way back there. The one with the wooden roof.” I said, pointing to the shack-like house up ahead of us. Mia nodded when she saw it. The house had a flat bamboo roof, with artificial bamboo exterior. The inside wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the outside. The house itself wasn’t nearly as beautiful as anything around it. The woods, with their faint croaking bugs and earthly scents, were a perfect haven. It was always difficult for me to leave.

Suddenly, Mia tripped on a twig on the ground. She swore harshly.

“You ok?” I asked softly.

“Yeah. I don’t know. It’s not that twig. It’s just that ever since Wednesday, the day after I went to that club, I’ve been feeling like somebody is watching me.” Mia seemed to be a bit annoyed with herself, or the unknown force that’s ‘watching’ her, as she said this. I didn’t reply.

Since I only had to get a thing or two from the house, I didn’t let Mia come all the way in. She stood in the foyer while I went to the back, to my bedroom. It wasn’t very interesting; it just consisted of the normal things a bedroom would have. On the bedside table was my planning book, where all the information concerning Tyler’s album and my upcoming album were kept. Then there were the spare keys to Tyler’s place, and my old phone.

I checked the phone, which had three missed calls on it. I didn’t even remember anyone still had that number of mine. All the calls were from Hodgy, so I called him back right away. It was funny how he hadn’t even crossed my mind for such a long time.

I dialed the number slowly and lazily; I didn’t expect him to pick up the phone. When he did pick up, I was genuinely surprised.

“Hodgy?” I asked. He didn’t reply, but I could hear him breathing on the other line. “I got your missed calls. Is everything okay?”

Instantly, I felt like something was wrong.

“Where are you now?” Hodgy breathed eerily into the phone, no type of upward inflection in his voice.

“I’m in Cali. You’re here too, right? Is there something you need?”

There was a long pause. I didn’t even want to say his name again to see if he was there, because he was. His low, heavy breathing was reassurance that he was only thinking.