Mr. Valentine's Heart

Another Deadend

~Alexi~

I’m sick of traveling the country in order to find my wife. I need to get her back home as soon as possible. I miss having her by my side, and I plan to make sure that I never lose her again. The next time I get her home, she will never even think about leaving me again.

I step out of the SUV and look at my surroundings. There doesn’t look to be much in this town, but you can never judge a book by its cover. Terrance is where they say Cherise traveled, so I plan on tearing this town apart until I find her. “Sir, no one saw her at the bus station.” I nod and walk along the sidewalk with my hands in my pockets.

This loneliness is all-consuming, and I hate it. Before her, I was fine. I lived each day to the fullest, and I’ve completed everything I set my mind to. Meeting her threw everything in a tailspin. I became consumed by Cherise and could never figure out how to live without her. Now she’s done, and no one has seen her.

No one ever sees her. Everywhere I’ve gone, no one has ever seen her. No one in the pack saw her leave, and it got to be more than annoying. I was surprised when someone saw her at the last bus depot, but now it seems like I will hit another dead end. I stand still on the street and watch people walk by. I have no idea where to go from here, but I’m not giving up.

My contact found no trace of Cherise in this town. No trace means that there’s no one that she knows in this place. The question that comes to mind is: Why did she come here? “Novak!” He runs up to me and stops, waiting for my orders. “What towns surround this one?” I watch him pull out a tablet and type on it.

“That would be Cyprus, Jewett, and Misty Falls.” My body stills at the sound of the town names. Misty Falls is very familiar to me. I drop my head and sigh. How the hell did she end up on this side of the country, so close to Misty Falls?

I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Dr. Reynolds. She takes a while to answer and sounds irritated when she does. “Am I bothering you or something?”

“Well, I am in the middle of something.”

“I need you to be available soon.”

“How soon is soon? I have some stuff going on that I need to focus on.” I let a growl rip from my throat.

“I don’t give a sh.it about whatever you have going on! I’m going to need you and soon. I think I know where she is and when I find her, I need her to forget everything fu.cking thing that isn’t me!” There’s silence on the phone for a while as I pace up and down the sidewalk.

“Fine! As long as this doesn’t interfere with what I have going on, I will be available. You are lucky that I work for you or else you’d be on your own.”

“I’d watch myself, if I were you. I can easily change this arrangement if it’s no longer benefitting me. I hired you to do a job and, obviously, you didn’t do the job well. You need to get it right; you owe me that at the very least.” She doesn’t respond; she just ends the call instead.

I put my phone in my pocket and look up at the sky. She has to be in Misty Falls if we can’t find her out here. How she knew to come here is beyond me, but that means that something didn’t go right in the process.

The idea that the process didn’t go well angers me beyond reason. The process has been off since the beginning, which is why it took us five years before we could let her ‘wake up’ and join the pack. I was assured that the procedure worked and that she wouldn’t remember anything we hadn’t programmed her to remember.

I considered hiring a dark witch to handle this, but I didn’t. Dr. Reynolds assured me that she had this well in hand, and I believed her. I should have known that she wasn’t the one for the job when we had to keep her under for five years. Since it was a new procedure, I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

This was supposed to be perfect, a flawless way to get what I want. I had everything worked out, and all I needed to do was get her pregnant. I had a witch coming in to administer a spell that would ensure that she would be with me and I could make sure I got her pregnant. When I put a baby in her, she won’t be able to walk away from me. That’s what I strive for, to have her completely dependent on me. I haven’t let go of that plan yet. There’s still time to make my dream a reality.

My phone ringing interrupts my thoughts. I pull my phone out and look at the ID. As much as I don’t want to talk to anyone, I know I can’t ignore this call. I’m constantly being checked up on. It’s annoying, but at the same time, I couldn’t live without it. I guess I should be lucky that I have someone who cares so much about me. Even on my darkest days, they are there for me. I don’t think I will ever get used to the care that I’m given, but I will always make sure to remain worthy of feeling it.

I connect the call, standing still on the sidewalk. “Hello?” I position the phone against my ear and look straight ahead. “No, I’m still a little down, but I know where I need to go.”