Lost (Rhink)

The Journey

     The next morning I woke up to a flood of notifications. All replies to my comment on the video yesterday. I eagerly opened them up, desperately searching for a reply from Link, my Link. My heart fell as I read the replies.

     "Yeah right. You're not Rhett. This account was just made yesterday right after this video was posted."

     "This isn't funny. Link is hurting. A person is missing, this isn't the time to be messing around."

     "Shut up. If you think you're being cool, you're not."

     "Leave."

     "I can't believe you."

     "Seriously? This isn't some joke. Some people will do anything to get attention these days."

     Why didn't they believe me? It was me, Rhett. I sat there under the same tree I had fallen asleep under the night before and cried. I cried and cried and cried until I had no more tears left.

     I turned off my phone and went into a nearby Waffle House. I sat there miserably, eating my breakfast. If no one would believe me, I would just go to California and show them it was me. No matter what happened, I had to see Link. I had to re-meet him. I had to re-get to know him. He knew me, but I didn't know him. It hurt so bad to think about that. Oh, man, I loved him. I really loved him. I loved him more than life itself. I didn't care that I didn't remember anything about him. That he was technically a complete stranger to me. I didn't care that 33 years worth of memories growing up with this spectacular man had gone down the drain through some stupid accident.

     That's the other thing I had to know. What had happened to me? How did I get mixed up in this situation? What had cause the big, bloody wound on my head to appear? How did I get to Texas? And why they hell did I leave Link? It must have been the wound on my head that had caused the memory loss. I was lucky to survive, I realized. After I had woken up, it hadn't just been my head that was injured. There had been bruises and scrapes all over my body. My left elbow still ached to move too much and I walked with a slight limp on my left side. My entire left side was banged up, actually. I couldn't turn around to far, either, because my ribs hurt so much. I tried to think about the possibilities of how I was injured. Maybe I had been beaten. All of my belongings were gone when I woke up, however. No, that wasn't true. I had my wallet, and it was full of money. If someone had mugged me they would have surely taken that huge wad of cash. So what had happened?

     Later that day, I caught a taxi after eating lunch and had him take me to the Airport. I was barely aware of what I was doing. I just had one thought in my mind driving my actions all day; Find Link. Get back to him at any cost. I had to meet him. I had to FEEL him. 

     When I arrived at the airport, I payed the taxi driver and stepped inside. Incredibly, I had more than enough to buy a plane ticket to California. I decided on Los Angeles, since I wasn't really sure what city  he, WE, lived in. As I was in line to pay for my ticket, a horrible realization dawned on me. I didn't have a passport. I couldn't travel. Tears stung at my eyes as I kept walking forward in the line anyway. Besides, I realized, you probably had to buy the tickets ahead of time anyway.

     When I reached the front of the line, I nervously swallowed and asked the woman for a ticket to Los Angeles. She looked at me.

     "Did you buy a ticket ahead of time?" She asked kindly.

     "N-no, m'am." I stuttered nervously.

     She typed some things on her computer. "Well, lucky for you we actually have three spots available on a flight to Los Angeles that departs in four hours. Is third class okay?" She asked sweetly.

     "Y-yes, third class is fine. Third class is fantastic." I blurted out.

     She smiled at me. "Can I see your passport?" (Also not sure if I'm doing this right even though I've flown loads of time before whoops).

     I gulped. "I-I I don't actually h-have one, m'am."

     "You mean you don't have one on your person or you don't have one AT ALL?" She asked, concerned.

     "I don't have one at all." I said quietly.

     She paused for a moment. "I'm sorry sir, but we can't let you fly without a passpo-"

     "Please!" I yelled desperately, tears blurring my vision. "Please, m'am, I'll do anything. There's someone very important I'm trying to get to and I have to see them! Just please let me fly! I'll pay extra! I have enough. More than enough, I just have to go." I said, piling my wads of cash in front of her on the desk. "Please," I muttered weakly. People were staring at me now, but I didn't care. I was desperate. "Whatever it takes," I reminded myself.

     The woman felt sorry for me, she really did. I could see the hurt in her eyes as she took a deep breath and looked up at me. "Sir, I'm so so sorry, but there's really nothing I can do for you. You really can't fly without a passport."

     I felt like I was about to cry.

     "I'm so sorry." She said softly. I stood there for a few seconds, dumbstruck. "Sir, I'm afraid you're going to have to leave now, I have other people waiting..." She said awkwardly. I nodded. I turned around to leave, all hope leaving me. I felt like a balloon that had just been deflated. I was still determined to find Link. This was just a setback, I reminded myself. Still, without a passport, I didn't know how I was going to get to California. I certainly couldn't walk, and I didn't know of any buses or taxi's that would take me all the from Texas to Los Angeles. Everything was over for me, it seemed. I had no other ideas, nowhere else to go...

     "Rhett? Oh my gosh Rhett! Is that you?!"