How to Stay Afloat

~43: Where He Can't Find Her~

CHAPTER 43:

Where He Can't Find Her

~~**~~

As I emerged from the pool, droplets of water cascading down my body, my eyes instinctively scanned the crowded bleachers for her familiar face. A frown creased my forehead when she was nowhere in sight. Fallon never missed any of my tournaments, and today, being the final, there was no way she hadn't shown up.

My teammates surrounded me, congratulating me for an amazing final lap, but all I could think about was Fallon. I had tried calling her before the tournament had started, but it had gone straight to voicemail. The urgency to find her intensified, but the upcoming team relay held me back; everyone was depending on me.

I'd just have to go and look for her after the tournament.

~~**~~

My teammates screamed in victory, their faces lit up with joy. We'd won the team relay which has put us in first place. We'd won the tournament.

I laughed as Colton pulled me in for a hug. His usually stoic face was pulled into a shit-eating grin.

"Where's your girlfriend? You both are usually joined at the hip." He called out over the noise of our teammates.

My grin faded.

I was about to respond when suddenly Caroline's excited squeal broke through. She flung her arms around Colton's neck and he caught her around the waist, chuckling.

"Good job out there." She told him and then turned to me. "You too Hasting's, not bad."

I gave her a polite nod.

"Hey, Caroline?" I asked, "Have you seen Fallon?"

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No, I thought she was with you."

I could feel my heart sink.

Where are you Sunshine?"

I excused myself and made my way into the locker room. It was mostly empty. The news channel was playing on the TV mounted on the wall at the far end.

My phone vibrated in my bag and I quickly fished it out expecting it to be Fallon. But an unknown number flashed across the screen.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi. Is this Archer Hastings?" An unfamiliar woman's voice answered from the other end.

"Yes." I frowned.

"Hello Archer, this is Helen Isiah, we met during your interview at the University of Florida. I just wanted to call you personally to congratulate you." I could feel my heart thudding wildly in my chest, "After careful consideration, we have come to the conclusion that you'd be a perfect fit here and I would like to wholeheartedly welcome you onboard the University of Florida as part of our Mechanical Engineering Program. We look forward to you coming to study here with us Mr. Hastings."

I could feel the blood rushing in my ears.

I made it.

I'd finally made it.

I could finally have my happily ever after with the woman if my dreams now.

"Thank you so much." I smiled. "I'm looking forward to it too."

I was still grinning when the call ended.

This is finally happening.

Everything is finally falling into place.

Fallon and I were finally getting out of this place and starting fresh.

A familiar picture suddenly flashed across the television screen and I could feel everything inside me freeze.

It was a picture of my house. My parent's house.

I could barely breathe.

"Gunshots were heard coming from the Hasting's estate this afternoon." The news anchor spoke monotonously. "The perpetrator has been identified as Isaac Johansen, the father of Damien O'Malley's final victim. He has accused David Hastings of bribing the jury in the O'Malley case. It is being assumed that David's son, the defense Lawyer working on this case, had known nothing about his father's actions."

My breath started to come out in gasps. I couldn't move.

The anchor's voice turned somber. "There is another update, there seems to have been a serious injury as a result of the events that unfolded today. The victim has not been identified but it has been disclosed that they have been rushed to the hospital, sources say that the victim is a young female, probably a high-school student unrelated to the Hastings, it is still unclear what she was doing there."

My legs nearly give out from under me.

No

No

No

This could not be happening.

Not again.

Not again.

My phone vibrated and I answered without looking away from the television screen.

"Archer." A desperate voice sounded from the other end. It took me a moment to realize that it was Shanaya who was speaking. "Archer are you there!" She spoke urgently.

"Yes." My voice was barely above a whisper.

"You need to get to the Huntington Hospital now." She instructed.

"I'm on my way there as well." She said. "You need to get there as soon as you can."

It was like everything was happening in slow motion.

My eyes were still glued to the screen so when the camera panned out, I saw it.

Everything inside me screamed out in agony.

A red convertible. Fallon's red convertible. Parked outside the black iron gate of my parent's house.

"Archer I'm so sorry to tell you this, but it's Fallon." Shanaya's voice broke.

My legs were moving even before she had finished the sentence. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

"She's been shot."