Chapter 26: Finding Him
Allen
I couldn't take the waiting any longer. It was just after noon and I still haven't heard anything from Mika. I couldn't wait around any longer, I needed to do something.
The roads had pretty much been cleared, so I felt confident I could leave safely. But that still left Sammy. Did I trust the roads were cleared enough for me to feel comfortable bringing him out there?
I waited another ten minutes, whether it was to see if Mika finally came home or my parents to show up, I wasn't sure. But when neither of those things happened, and I was too restless to consider waiting any longer than that. I needed to go to the police. They would help. I hoped.
Half and hour later, I was pulling into the parking lot of the police station. I was shaking so badly, afraid they wouldn't be able to help me, that I struggled getting Sam out of his car seat because I couldn't undo the buckle right away. As soon as I did, though, I hoisted him into my arms then made my way into the building.
"Can I help you, sir?" a young woman asked when I walked in.
I nodded. "I hope so. Um, I guess I need to report a missing person." The words almost got stuck in my throat. Saying it out loud made it real. I didn't want it to be real.
She nodded her head like it wasn't as big of a deal as it feels. "Okay. Can I have their name?"
"Mika. Uh, Mikael Simmons. He's my boyfriend. I haven't seen him since before the storm started yesterday and he hasn't contacted me at all."
She was typing away at her computer as I spoke, and after a moment, her eyes widened just slightly. "Well, I'm sorry to ask this, but are you sure he's missing? He has a bit of a record of roaming around and doesn't seem to have ever stayed for too long anywhere."
Before I could answer, she went on. "He also seems to be a suspect for a few small crimes. If we send people out to look for him, and we find him, we'll have to bring him in. He's not high on our radar, but if we get a hold of him, we're going to question his past actions."
My heart was thumping wildly in my chest. He had told me that he's broken the law before, but I never suspected that the police were keeping tabs on him for it. I no longer knew what was the best course of action: have the police look for him and risk him being arrested, if what he did was bad enough, or continue to wait for him to come home on his own.
But what if she was right? What if he did leave? If I pushed him away, I'd never forgive myself. But if I sat back and did nothing, believing he decided not to come back, I'd never know the truth. I'd never know if something bad had actually happened to him. I'd never know if he somehow died out in that storm.
No. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be. He was strong enough to survive everything life threw him for the last twenty-three years. He can survive one snowstorm.
But I didn't know for sure.
"Can you at least check the hospitals in the area?" I asked. "Just in case."
The woman nodded, then asked for more details. I told her everything she needed - the last place and time I saw him, where we lived, any place he might have gone, anything that might help.
After nearly an hour, I left after being reassured that they'll call me if they find anything. All that was left for me to do was more waiting. But this time, I was waiting for one of two things - for Mika to be arrested or to be dead. I hated thinking about either option. He didn't deserve either. I needed him to come home to me.
Getting into my car, I noticed a missed call on my phone. I didn't recognize the number, but they did leave a voicemail. I hit play, hoping beyond hope that it was Mika.
My heart sunk when it was a woman's voice that started talking. "Hi, uh, Allen? I hope this is the right number. And I really hope this doesn't sound too strange. Or at least, I hope it makes sense to you. There was this guy on my doorstep... Um, I wanted to take him to the hospital, but he was adamant about not going and kept saying 'Allen' over and over. I thought that was his name at first, until he said 'call Allen Carr'. At least that's what I hope he said, so I did some digging and came across your number. Please give me a call back, if this is actually you and you know this man. If not, could you call me back anyway, so I know to keep trying? Thanks. And sorry."
I nearly dropped my phone trying to call her back. It had to be Mika. It had to be. Who else could it be?
When I finally managed to call back, the phone kept ringing and ringing. Each second that went by felt like an eternity. I almost gave up hope, feeling like she wasn't going to answer me or this was some sick joke when she picked up.
"Hello? Is this Allen? Please tell me you're him."
I laughed. It was forced, but I managed it. I didn't want to sound as worried as I felt. "Yeah. And I believe you have my boyfriend. Is he alright? Where are you? I'll come get him."
"I can tell you're panicking," she said instead of answering any of my questions. I guess I didn't succeed as well as I thought about keeping the emotion out of my voice. "Please don't. He's not dead, definitely not dead. But he is currently passed out on my couch. He'll be fine, eventually."
Then she told me her address and I nearly forgot how to breathe. It was Mika's old apartment. The one that was supposed to be vacated completely.
"I know where that is," I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." I would have said ten, but I had to remember my son was strapped into the backseat. I couldn't risk his life, especially when I now knew Mika was okay, or at least, somewhat okay.
When I got to the apartment, I hurried to grab Sam and walk up the four steps to the door that separated me from Mika. Before I even had a chance to knock, the door swung open, revealing a petite young woman, probably around the same age as me, if I were to guess.
"Allen?" I nodded. "Hi. I'm Audra. He's inside."
And he was. I found him laying on the couch - a different one from the last time I was here, but I was barely paying attention to the decor of the place. "Mika," I whispered, crouching next to him. "Mika, hey. It's me."
"He's been in and out of consciousness all day," Audra said from behind me. "It happens. Mild hypothermia. Thankfully I found him when I did - and only because of my own habit of staying up way too late to watch storms. He was only outside on my steps for an hour - at the most. Good thing I'm a nurse and knew how to handle the situation, otherwise he would have gone to the hospital this morning, with or without his permission."
It was that moment that Sam seemed to realize it was Mika we were next to. He almost fell out of my arms trying to get to him. I held him back, but just barely, and that made him start to cry.
I stood up and turned back to face Audra, gently bouncing Sam on my hip to quiet him down. "He's going to be okay, right?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah. I got him out of his wet clothes first thing - I hope you don't mind I did that with him being your boyfriend and everything. His clothes are here," she gestured to a bag on the floor by the door, "I didn't get a chance to wash them, sorry. Also, he's wearing some of my ex's stuff. Don't worry about getting that back to me, I really don't give a shit."
"You changed his clothes?" It threw me off, not that she did it, but that she was so calm about it.
"Sorry. I'm a nurse. I see everything of everyone everyday. You kinda get used to it all. So don't worry, I didn't look or anything. I was more in a 'get this guy warm' mode than anything else."
Right. I had forgotten she said she was a nurse before. Everything was so jumbled in my head right now. "But is he going to be fine? Will he wake up soon? Why he is sleeping so much?"
She chuckled lightly. "It's an effect from the hypothermia. His body is trying to warm itself up, and the blankets and the sleep are the best way to do that. It wasn't that bad, he just needs to get warm again."
"Can I-" I paused, not sure what I was asking exactly. "Can I move him? Will that be fine? I don't want to bother you anymore than we already have."
"Oh yeah, you can. Or you could try waking him up, see if he could stand on his own."
I glanced down at Mika again. I didn't want to wake him. He seemed to need all the rest he could get. But I was still holding onto Sammy and couldn't carry them both.
After a few minutes, we came to the agreement that Audra would hold Sam while I carried Mika to the car. I carefully placed Mika - who had somewhat woken up and was mumbling something under his breath - into the front seat. Then I took Sam back and buckled him into his car sear in the backseat.
"Thank you for saving his life," I told Audra, as sincerely as I possibly could. "I'll never forget this."
I tried offering her some kind of compensation too, but she refused, saying all she needed was to know that Mika was safe. Of course, as soon as she said that, I thanked her again. And then one more time before I actually got into my car.
I held Mika's cold, limp hand all the way back home. During the drive, I finally let myself relax. He was here. He was alive. He was okay. It's all I could have asked for at this moment.
A/N: Disclaimer - I know nothing about hypothermia. All of this came from the five minutes of research I did before writing this chapter.