In the end our happy occasion turned into a sad and anguish filled one. Eventually everyone left for their homes promising to be on the look out for anyone remotely resembling Kit. My parents tried to get me to stay over at their house, but I couldn't. I need to be out there, searching for Kit. What if he was stuck somewhere calling me for help...but where?
They may be our friends but they still had their own lives and I wasn't expecting them to give up their lives for me. I may have to do this on my own. I said that and P'Pha nearly punched me.
"Beam and I have known Kit longer than you. Don't think you're the only suffering due to this unexplained situation." P'Pha had stated angrily instead. His anger reflected on P'Beams face also.
"The city is too big for us to search it by ourselves, so let's contact some radio stations and television stations, get an announcement out there. Ming, send me the most recent picture you have of Kit. I need you to go back home and check that Kit isn't there." P'Pha took command making quick decisions while I stood there feeling lost and dejected. "Yo, stay with Ming so he doesn't do anything stupid." P'Pha added before taking my phone from my shaky hands to send the picture of Kit to himself.
"Do you think it'll help if we report his car as stolen?" P'Forth added.
"That could also work but he may get arrested. That is better than nothing though." P'Pha contemplated loudly.
"Instead of doing that why don't we just include in the missing person advert that he may be driving his car?" P'Beam tried to help.
"But if we do that won't people think he's not missing?" P'Forth tried to reason with P'Beam.
"We can just say the missing person was last seen driving a silver Toyota Camry and include his license plate number." P'Beam argued. Everyone seemed a little tense and everyone wanted to help. I wanted to help too but my mind was blank. I should be the one thinking of ways to save Kit, but here I am, unable to think, let alone act. As my friends divided the tasks among themselves I looked on.
"What do I do?" I asked in a weak voice.
"I told you already. Go home and check if Kit went back there. Check his parents house too."
I nodded before making my way listlessly to my car. Yo came along like he was told to. I could tell that my friends would rather I didn't drive with the state of mind I was in but I know that they could also see the determination in my gaze, the determination to not be left out in the search for my Kit. If possible I would love to be the one who finds him but this is not a competition and I'll get nowhere if I do this on my own. I was grateful for their help, but I couldn't express it at that time.
I drove over to Kit's parents house. When Kit's family met me anxiously at the gate and inquired if I'd heard anything, I had to cause them pain by saying no. I watched in agony as his mum wept in distress. I pulled her into a hug, trying to console her but she was inconsolable. I felt the sobs wrack her body and she appeared frailer than I know her to be.
"Find him. Bring my son back to me." She implored tearfully. "I know some people were thinking he run away but that is ridiculous. Kit loves you too much to do something like that. He was really happy about marrying you. Ming, bring him back."
"I will." I promised solemnly, trying to hold my own tears back. When Kit's dad stepped forward to pull his wife into his arms, I let her go before explaining the measures Kit's friends and I had taken. I reminded them that we included their phone numbers for people to contact them if they see Kit so they should be on the lookout for when a strange number calls them.
Yo and I then drove to my now empty apartment. Kit wasn't there, so we went to the house Kit had picked for us to live in after our marriage. I looked everywhere, but Kit was nowhere. Every few minutes I'd call his phone even though I knew it'll go straight to voicemail.
After that I was somewhat blind to everything going on around me as I tried to think of something that would explain Kit's absence on an important day such as this. I drove around with no particular destination in mind. Just looking for a sign, something to help me find him.
At one point Yo called my attention to the blinking red light on my dashboard and I had to stop for gas. Every silver Toyota Camry I saw, I paid close attention to but none of them had Kit as the driver. Eventually I made my way to the airport, I was hoping to shut the little voice in my head saying Kit run away down. I slowly made a round through the parking lot, searching for Kit's car. I spotted two silver Toyota Camry's but neither of them had Kit's license plate number. And yet I still went inside the airport and randomly searched faces. I took my phone out and showed his picture to some of the staff, asking if anyone had seen him around but no one had.
I sat dejectedly on a bench and the little voice popped in my head again, wondering if he drove away instead. I drove around town a little while longer before making my way to our house.
"Ming, you haven't eaten all day. Let's stop on the way and buy something." I blinked rapidly at Yo. He'd been so silent the whole time I'd forgotten about him. We stopped on the way and Yo bought food.
When he brought me a plate of the food after we got to the house, looking at it made me nauseous. I wondered if Kit had eaten, wherever he is. I couldn't swallow a morsel of the food even when I tried.
Stopping just inside the bedroom, I glanced at the bed we were to share. It's new and does not have a trace of my Kit on it. I opened our shared closet, his clothes hung in there, just like he left it. I didn't sleep a wink that night, wracked with nightmares at what Kit might be going through.
For the whole weekend I spent my time driving around town and checking my phone for any call about Kit or his car but none came until Monday.
I went in to work late afternoon, planning to leave some instructions for my assistant and to sign whatever documents needed my signature. My phone rung as I sat staring blankly at my computer. I picked up quickly and answered with a shaky voice when I saw that the number was one I didn't recognize.
"We were unable to contact the owner of this silver Toyota Camry but this phone number is listed as the second contact. We need you to come to the impound and pay the fees then decide what you want to do with the car." The caller said in short clipped tones.
I flew out of the office without bothering with what I'd originally planned to do there. I tapped impatiently on my steering wheel the entire drive to the impound. This is the first good information I've had since the announcement seeking help to find Kit aired. I'd already received a bunch of hoax calls from people who had nothing better to do with their lives than to exploit other peoples pain.
"Are you sure it's not another prank call?" P'Pha inquired when I called him about the new information while I drove to the impound.
"It's not a prank call." It has to be Kits car because I don't know what I'll do if this turns out to be another ignorant person wanting money they haven't earned. "I'm on my way there. I'll let you know." I cut the call and focused on my driving.
It was Kit's car but the sight of it only served to make me more anxious. The front was badly damaged like the car had crashed into something. The airbags had deployed during the crash and there were traces of blood.
The car was towed to the impound when someone called the police about a driverless crashed car which was obstructing the flow of traffic. At least that's the information I received from the impound. The police had concluded that the car had been stolen and when it crashed the thief abandoned it, hence why the keys had been left in the ignition. They waited, hoping that someone would put in a report for a stolen car, but no one did, which is why it took a while to get in contact with me.
I wished we had some proper crime scene investigation like one sees on tv so they'll swab the car or whatever they do, but expecting this police force to have such resources will be a stretch so we asked for the location where the car had been found and drove there to check it out ourselves.
It turned out to be the exact place P'Forth and I had checked out previously. We spent another thirty minutes just searching the area but it was no use. Someone would have noticed if a bloody person was walking on the side of the road, right? But no such report had been made. We split up and covered as much ground as we could between us, showing Kit's picture to gas stations and the few business' in the area to see if anyone had seen him around but it proved useless. I kept searching even after the sun had set completely, I walked as far as my legs could carry me asking anyone who passed me by if they'd seen my Kit.
It was almost midnight and yet I was still out there, dragging myself around asking if anyone had seen this man around their area. When a familiar car stopped next to me as I waited to cross a street, I ignored it. I would have kept ignoring it if P'Forth and P'Pha hadn't jumped out and bundled me into the car. Even then, I resisted as much as I could.
"I need to find him. I need to find Kit." I tried to make them understand but they weren't listening. "Let me go. I need to find Kit." I screamed at them, but they wouldn't listen. "What if he is badly injured, lying somewhere with no one taking caring of him? What if he is calling for me? I need to find him." I pleaded but they wouldn't let me go. How could they not understand? Someone needs to be out there, searching.
"Ming, calm down. Have you seen yourself? You look like a crazy person. We're taking you home so you can take a shower, eat and rest. You need all the strength you can get if you're going to keep searching like this." I calmed down a little after P'Forth's explanation, even so I could barely swallow the food that was served to me.
My agony continued for a whole week. Searching everywhere I could until I could barely walk and I don't know how they always seemed to know where I was but the only time I took any breaks was when my friends dragged me home to eat and rest.