Take My Hand

18 Lost Without A Trace

The first five days I jogged around the property when I got home from school. The first time, the new bodyguard tried to stop me. The second time he followed me around. After that he ignored me and waited at the front of the house.

He was shitty. He called me 'sir' and acted like I was a problem child before I even did anything. It didn't matter if I was a pain in the ass or not, he shouldn't have acted like that. I was polite. Actually I was quiet. Ames said it was creepy.

He shadowed me like... actually nothing like Sasha. He was intrusive. He stuck out like a sore thumb and made people mad by forcing them to wait for me. He wouldn't let anyone so much as touch me. Not in the hallways or at the house.

I purposely gave Ames a hug at school just to piss him off. I also high-fived Pete in the kitchen when I snuck away to grab a sandwich. I was no longer permitted in the 'staff areas' apparently. I scoffed at the order.

What they really meant was that I was supposed to act like their betters. I was supposed to hang out with 'my own kind,' which to me just meant their loser friends' kids. I was set up on no less than four play dates with them and forced to attend by the new bodyguard.

It was hell. I moped. I hated my life. I wanted to look for the man who made it better. I wanted Sasha back. With all my being I missed him. I wanted to hear him order me around, or tell me off for swearing.

I could just pull my hair out with the way the so called adults in my life were acting. They looked at me with pity, but did nothing to make it better. They made me jump through hoops without listening. I was forced to go to a psychiatrist even, but it was such bullshit.

I sat in the room and stared at the clock for the entire 45 minutes while the guy tried to ask me questions. Sometimes he would purposely say something to piss me off, but I knew what his game was. He was being paid by my parents to either fix me or frame the love of my life.

Not happening. I got up when the time was up and walked out without having said a word. If they wanted to waste their money that was their problem. On the way back though, I found a reprieve from my boredom. The library.

I know. How cliché. But it really was a way for me to get away. My parent's couldn't fault me for going to such a place. My bodyguard got bored of watching me read after the first thirty minutes and then wandered off to flirt with the girl at the front desk.

I found a comfortable little alcove near the back that had a computer bay right next to it. Once the idiot left, I spent all my time looking for him. I knew just enough about him to start, and not enough to make it easy.

I went through website after website with all the little pieces that I had. I kept track in my head. The language he spoke? Russian apparently. That made finding the spelling of his name a little easier.

I had figured out how to spell his last name, but I didn't know that his first name was a nickname until two days later. Time wasted looking for Sasha when I should have been looking up the name Aleksándr. I thought it looked a bit strange to write it, but that was what I had to find.

His folks were old school. Even if he went by Alex or Sasha, all his information would be under his legal name. It was when I was looking up Aleksándr Petrykin that I finally found pictures that looked like him. I felt the flutter in my chest like butterflies when I looked at them.

It was him. The man I loved. The man who loved me first and showed me how to be a better person. I wanted to reach through the screen and hug him. But I couldn't. I still couldn't touch him. Not while I didn't even know where he was.

I could find him though. My thoughts buzzed about in my head as I considered things. If he wasn't here anymore, then where would he go? I could almost guarantee that my parents would prevent him from getting another job in the city, so where...?

I clicked a few links, and then found his social media. There was some stuff from his sister and mother on the site, generic enough but... I clicked to look on their sites. Jackpot. They listed schools attended and workplaces currently working at for anyone to see.

I grinned and opened another tab. After searching the different places, I came to a conclusion. They were both in the same city right now. What are the chances that Sasha would go home?

Even if they were bad, there was the chance that they would know where to find him. That was just enough for me to feel hope again. It was just enough for me to carve the city name into my thoughts with determination.

I closed the browser windows and cleared the history again to be safe. Only two minutes after I had started to read again, the idiot showed up to take me to dinner with my parents. I reluctantly followed him out.

It was another stupid expensive restaurant. I sat miserably in the booth between the two of them while they played 'happy family' in front of their acquaintances. I growled under my breath as my mother refused to pass me a menu and ordered my food again.

I ate all the appetiser salad and the side of rice, but poked at the main dish without enthusiasm. It looked mushy and had flecks of black in it that I couldn't identify. I wasn't going to even try to eat it.

"You are going on a date with Jessica tomorrow night." My father announced as we were driving home. I turned my head and glared at him.

"Don't look at him like that. It's your own fault for getting mixed up with that slum trash." My mother said with a sideways glance and her nose buried in her phone.

"Don't call him that." I said in a short, clipped tone. She rolled her eyes and ignored me. My nerves were stretched taught with anxiety just being stuck in the car with them. As soon as I had an opportunity to get away, I ran for it.

The idiot chased me as far as my bedroom door, before I slammed it in his face and locked it behind me. My panic was creeping up into my throat. I took big gulps of air, and sat on the floor next to my bed.

I had to get out of here. I couldn't do this anymore. Not without him. I leaned my head back on the side of the bed and closed my eyes. I tried to picture him in my mind's eye. I reached out one hand and when there was nothing there, I decided.

They said I tried to run away before. Well now I was really going to.

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