Together forever

chapter-19

Dread.

It crept into me as a simple feeling of uneasiness but soon, it spread like a wildfire consuming me from inside out.

Its been more than a week since I reached my home. With every passing day, the fear for something, something unknown, something big kept growing and growing that now I had no place for any other thought in my head other than reasonless worry.

I kept calling the guys atleast twice a day to make sure they are fine. I have been calling Aaron in every 3 hours and everytime he reassures me that he is still at his cousines place workong over something.

When he got to know that I cut my trip short, he was angry. He was careful not to give out anything, however I could hear fear in his voice. After making sure that I would be careful for the hundredth time that day, he finally relaxed. He promised to be back by the end of the week. Or probably earlier if his 'work' is done and I was holding onto that promise tightly.

But now, I am torn. Its almost 5 AM in the morning but I am worried sick. The urge to call him and make sure he is fine kept growing with every passing second but common sense was stoping me from reaching my phone. I am sure he had a heavy day. He sounded really tired the last time I called him. What ever this thing he is doing, its taking a toll on him and he needs his sleep. Disturbing his sleep because of my overly imaginative head is stupid.

Controlling my insane desire to call him, I crawled back into bed hoping to catch some sleep before sun rises.

After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, I gave up my quest to sleep and gave into my urge to call him. By then it was already 6, which I think is a reasonable time to wake someone up because your head wont stop making stupid scenarios.

Reaching my phone with uncertainity, I dialled his number. My heart threatened to jump out of my chest as soon as I heard his voice, but through voicemail. This cant be happening. Aaron never keeps his phone off at nights. Definitely not when he is miles away from me. His worry about my safety wont let him do it.

I knew there are other possibilities. May be his phone is dead. Or may be it got crushed in some small fight or something. But my mind wouldnt take anything. The worry which was earlier nagging at me now turned into a full fledged tornado making my world shatter.

I kept calling but all in vain. With every unanswered call, the questions in my head kept growing. Panic gripped me tight and with the shred of sanity left in me, I called Ray hoping he would know something. Anything. But he didnt. However, that didnt stop him from reassuring that everything would be fine. He promised to be at my place within minutes and true to his promise, he was in my room before I knew.

Together we kept calling Aaron but the result was always the same. Although he put up a brave front, I knew Ray was as worried as I am behind that facade. Even he knew this wasnt normal for Aaron.

There wasnt anything we could do though. We didnt knew his cousin's phone number. We knew nothing about his whereabouts other than the fact that they are in Spain. That left us with nothing to do other than simply waiting for him to call back.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours but there was no sign of Aaron. Nothing at all. With every passing second, my chest grew tighter. Aaron would never go a day without calling me. Everyday he made sure to call me as soon as he woke up. Not today though.

A whole day passed with me huddled in a corner of my room with worry clawing at me. A day turned into 2 and then a week passed in a blur. A blur of motions as everyone tried to reach Aaron. Tried to find his where abouts and came up empty.

Mase knew something we didnot and he was not telling us. And to see him so frantic multiplied my fear. Mase was always in control. Mase and Aaron were the pillars of our group. Solid and steady. Never letting world see his emotions. However, to him losing his mind multiplied my fear by infinity. He always had somewhere to be, something to do. Ray and Joe pretty much lived in my house to make sure I dont do anything crazy. Mase made sure he visited them atleast once a day, making promises of making things right. Promises that were meant to soothe our worry but they only managed to increase it.