Somewhere Behind

Christopher Part IX

"Where could she be?" I thought, those were the only words coursing through my brain. "If Hunter or Spencer did anything to her I, I..." I was in such a rage I couldn't even think straight.

"Chris..." Natalya said touching my shoulder gently. "We'll find her, it's gonna be okay,"

"It's not okay Natalya, we have no idea where she is, she could be dead for all we know," I yelled.

Natalya backed away from me, frightened by the tone of my voice.

I let out my breath, I didn't even realize that I had been holding it in. "I'm sorry Natalya, I didn't mean to yell at you, it's just that, I need to find her and make sure she's safe," I said.

"Yeah it's okay, C'mon lets go and look for her, maybe we should inform the police," she said.

"The police?" I scoffed, "What good are they? They can't even find the person who shot Uncle John, we're better off figuring this out ourselves."

"But..." Natalya answered.

"Anyways," I interrupted. "I think Dwayne knows where they hang out, lots of people come to his boat rental shop, he must know something."

"Alright, let's go." She muttered and strolled over to the door.

We left Angelica's apartment, closing the door behind us, and went back out into the cold night. It was now already way past midnight and I knew Aunt Clara won't be too pleased about us roaming around town at this hour.

We sprinted over to the car and drove off to Dwayne's house. He lived in a condo in a small development off Fermont Drive on a small street called Kingsley. There was a small pond in the center of the complex and a nice walking path around the area. It was far enough off the major highway to be quiet.

We parked the car in the driveway and trotted up the stairs, I had tried calling Dwayne's cellphone but there was no answer. I gently knocked on the door and called out Dwayne's name slowly, trying not to wake up any nearby neighbors.

I knocked two more times to receive no response, just as I was about to shout out his name. I saw a light switch on in the living room.

"Who is it?" I heard Dwayne call out.

"It's me, Chris, Natalya's here as well, open up will ya," I said.

"What the heck are y'all doing up at this hour?" he asked as he unlocked the door.

The door opened and I could see Dwayne standing there yawning wearing a white tank top and green shorts.

"So, you guys coming in or what?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," I said and walked into the house, the interior of the condo was warm and had a calming effect.

"What's that wonderful smell?" Natalya asked.

"Oh that's some lavender incense I got from a friend of mine it was imported from Sri Lanka, it helps you sleep," he replied.

"Dwayne..." I interrupted, "We need your help, do you know anyone from Hunter's bike gang or where they hang out?"

"Can't say I do Chris," he said, he paused for a couple of seconds. "Oh wait, I know these guys who come to my shop every few weeks for spare parts for their boats like they come on their bikes and I think I've seen them hanging out with Hunter, but there are many bikers in these parts I can't be sure and even if I did I have no clue where they would hang out, sorry Chris."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

"Shit," Natalya cursed.

Dwayne and I turned around to look at her. She looked like she was about to explode.

"I almost forgot, I remembered when Dwayne talked about the bikes, I saw one of the men hide a bike in one of the bushes at the beach and cover it with sand and leaves," she said her face flushed with excitement.

"What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I yelled.

"Well I forgot about it, I told you now didn't I," she replied hastily.

"C'mon let's go find it, Dwayne you coming?" I said standing up.

"Hold up, hold up, are you thinking of looking for a bike at this time of the night? You crazy bruh?" he asked me an astonished look on his face.

As I was about to reply "Yes!".

I heard Natalya say, "Dwayne's right Chris, let's go in the morning it's really late now and my mom would be worried sick if we don't go home soon,"

I thought about what she said and realized that there was no point in arguing any further. "Oh alright," I said exasperatedly.

"Wait for a second, you guys didn't tell me what had happened," Dwayne said.

"Oh yeah, I'll fill you in tomorrow, swing by our place, I'm guessing you don't have work tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yeah, I have the day off,"

"Okay then, goodnight Dwayne, see you tomorrow," I said as we went out the doorway of his house and walked over to my car.

He stood in the light of the doorway and went back in as we drove off.

We went straight back home and silently crept into our apartment. Aunt Clara was still passed out on the couch luckily. If she had known what had happened she would've gone ballistic.

My stomach rumbled from the lack of food, discarding it I went over to my room and sprang onto the bed. The second my head hit the pillow I was asleep.