Here To Steal Your Heart

Chapter 2 - Don't Find Me

The night was no longer young. It was ten minutes before 11 PM, about 3 hours after the appalling incident had occurred. The walls spoke to the entire atmosphere of the apartment and the clocks echoed her ticks to the ears of the dumb walls. Nothing seemed beautiful in the eyes of the beholder and victim of the unforeseen disappearance of the one that acted as a two-edged sword in her life’s diary; healing her soul’s diseases but also piercing her soul and making it go through hell. The room that once accommodated her entire being has become an estranged one that hunts her beautiful soul.

Jane notices Emily's worried and heartbroken expression. She was full of disarray. Initially, they were to sit at home to discuss the plan but she suggests they go somewhere in town to map out the entire plan. 

As they stepped out of the glass door of her apartment, they met with Jones and Rick; the brother and acquaintance of Jon respectively. They had come to enquire of the recent moments he had spent with her before his mysterious disappearance.

“We’re not here to waste your time. I can see you have had enough stress tonight but we just need a few minutes with you.” Rick said politely after they highlighted from the car to meet them at the door. He was dressed in a navy blue suit that was expensive for his class. His apparel blended with his black shining shoes. As a man in his early thirties, he had a decent sense of fashion that usually fit the atmosphere of the season and occasion. 

“Good evening.” Jones gave a bright smile, extending a handshake with the duo. He has a humorous kind of personality regardless of the situation at hand. The display of his overtly hilarious mood could be misleading to anyone who meets him for the first time. Being a young man in his mid-twenties, his average height and dark-skinned colour merged with his hair, making him appealing to most women but his sense of fashion was nowhere close to the trends of the modern day. He wore old clothes despite the decent income he earned from his consultancy business.

“How are you doing?” Emily responded to his handshake, looked away from his grinned face as she advanced towards opening her door with the keys she took from her jacket. She wondered why he appeared with a bright smile even when the occasion does not call for joy or laughter. “Jones, you seem happy contrary to the vanishing of Jon.” She challenges the bizarre mood with which he responds to the discomforting situation as they all entered the sitting room.   

The sitting room was painted with a plain cream colour. The only electronics in it were a plasma television set and a few home theatres and speakers. The furniture was old-fashioned but well maintained and neat. Their footsteps reverberated loudly on the stoned-made tiles. A medium-sized rectangular black rug lies at the centre of the floor. The few implements in the sitting room were set in the right place leaving enough space to occupy ten times the gadgets in it.  

“So tell me, what were the last discussions you had before he went missing?” Rick questions Emily as a detective would do to a suspect. He sits on the sofa like he owns the house.

“Nothing much. He only told me he had some unfinished few deals. Promised me that we’ll tie the knot after the deal has been resolved.” She struggled to utter between her sobbing lips.

“What's it all about?” Jones interrupted their conversation and yawned in a manner that look like he was making jest of the situation.

“I have no slight idea. He wanted to make it a surprise for me when everything gets resolved.”

“When last did you hear from him?” Rick stands up to get a bottle of water on the table at the centre of the sitting room.

“We chatted a few hours ago. He was supposed to be here to spend the weekend with me as promised. But, he never showed up.” Emily speaks with confidence in her voice.

“Did he call you to give an excuse? Where did he say he was going to?” Jones rushed to speak the words from his mouth.

“After a reasonable time of waiting, an anonymous caller beeped me on phone. He was being chased. While on the run, he conveyed a message to me. Said Jon couldn’t make it again tonight. That’s all I know.” She added as everyone carefully paid attention to her words. 

“Can you please discuss this on phone later? We have somewhere to go. Time is running fast.” Jane rose, took Emily by the hand as they advanced towards the door, preparing to leave.   

“The city runs 24/7 and you’re making this kinda statement like you don’t know where you live.” Rick responded to Jane in an authoritatively yet polite manner.

The four moved towards the door leaving the sitting room empty as Emily banged the door and locked it with her keys as they went their separate ways.

“My bro don't do drugs, no dirty deals just his transport company business. Why could he disappear without saying anything to anyone? Not even me.” Jones curiously asked as Rick enters the car. He occupied the driver’s seat.

“Does he owe any heavy debt?” Rick responded after a deep breath. His question wears confusion and perplexity on Jones face and heart as they zoomed off.

*********

The entire street was filled with the atmosphere of the festive season. Blocks of snow filled the bumpy icy roads. The decoration of Christmas trees and other related products were the main items that took over the designs at the front of every store and bar and other social places.

As they walked down the glamorous busy streets, they talked about their childhood memories and those awkward moments they had in college; How they often sneaked to watch the local basketball games without their parents’ permission and sneaked back to the house late at night without getting caught.

“Jane, where we are heading to?” Emily stopped to express her displeasure over the long boring talk.

“Can you please trust me for a moment?” Jane confronts her.

“Trust is non-existent in my world!”

“Not at this moment. I need you to do this for me.” She opened the door as they both entered a restaurant in the heart of the city.

They had walked a few miles for about thirty minutes to get there.

The neon signs of the city mixed with the blue lights of the restaurant. The glory of the young teenage boys and girls engulfed the atmosphere as the ocean waves hovers over the seashore with no trace of dry land. As they took a seat in the restaurant, a waitress attended to them to take their order. 

“We are here to see Madam Arcade.” Jane spoke with a partial bright smile.

“Okay. I’ll get her here in a few minutes.” The waiter softly spoke with a cool smile as she slowly head towards the restaurant’s bar.

“Tell her Jane seeks her presence here!” She shouted as the waiter left.

“What are we doing in a teenage clubhouse?” Em’ talked softly after the waitress left to fetch Madam Arcade.

Within a few minutes, a short woman with a chubby body shows up. The waitress that attended to Jane and Emily accompanied her.

“Here they are.” The waitress said as she left her to discuss with the duo.

“Madam Arcade. That’s what everyone calls me. Except her.” She said to Emily with a big grin on her face as she points at Jane while also struggling to extend the empty chair backwards with her hands.

“But she called you ‘Madam Arcade’ tonight a few minutes before you got here.” Emily bluntly said as she raised her head with a forceful smile on her face.

“She’s Emily.” Jane introduced her casually.

“Oh Em’, we are in this together. I can’t watch you give up on love just like that!” Madam Arcade spoke with a great sense of humour.

“You've told her all the ups and downs I’ve been through?” Emily mutters under her breath while facing Jane squarely. 

“We’re here to get help. Don’t talk in such a manner. She runs a foundation that brings people who’ve had multiple heartbreaks together. She has faith that they could win each other back to love based on their past traumatic experiences with love.” She whispers to Emily.

Jane smiled and turned her focus to Madam Arcade, acting as if they never discussed anything secretive. 

“I hope you guys are good together?” She spoke softly in an unsure tone.

“Yeah. It’s something simple and we’ve got this figured out. We handled it already.” Jane’s response assured her that everything was under control.

“Em’, let me hear your story.”

“I’ve had worst nightmares with love and trust. Had my first date when I was sixteen. Three months later, we broke up. Ever since then, I never had anyone in my life that I stayed.” Her eyes flipped with tears as she spoke softly. “I’m twenty-five and I’ve had over twenty heartbreaks. I recently had the seventh one this year. I’m not the bad one; They are!” Her voice shivered and she tries to dry her tears with her bare hands.

“There are stories that are worst than this and we solved them. Let’s meet in my office tomorrow at 10 AM. We’d talk better.” Madam Arcade assured her with a genuine and peaceful smile as she dries Emily’s tears with the purple handkerchief from her black purse.

“Jane, I’m leaving. You only brought me here to mock me.” She said thinking Madam Arcade never took her serious for once. "Her smile shows no compassion." She said to herself. Suddenly, she stood from her chair and walked out of the restaurant like a soldier marching off to war.

“Don’t worry Madam, I’ll talk to her and we’d see you tomorrow.” Jane hurries off to catch up with Emily. Her eyes travels down the road as she steps on the dusty snow streets but her friend was out of sight. She wasn’t hard to spot amongst the crowd. Had she gone somewhere else? Jane walked as fast as her feet could carry her. She aimlessly looked around if she could spot Emily but she never did. She got to her apartment and found the door open.

“Emily! Em’! Em!” She screamed as she bagged into the sitting room through the main door. Advancing towards the mirror in the bedroom, she checked her stressful face on the mirror only to see a white envelope hanging on the wall behind her. She swiftly turned back, headed for the wall and grabbed the envelope. Only for her to find an A4 paper folded to contain the envelope. She opens the paper and the title reads; DON’T FIND ME, I’M GONE. “To where?” She said in a perplexed manner.

Why would she disappear like her alleged lover? Initially, Jane had an undisclosed plan on how they would find Jon and the reason for his sudden disappearance. She wished she had told her this before she left. They both disappeared in one night! – She cannot take the blame for the first. Regarding the second, she regrets her actions.

Jane pulls out her phone from her trouser's pocket, dialled her friend's line, it ranged but she did not pick up. Her hopes went high again. “We could still reconnect!” She screamed to herself.