Tiny Little Fractures

Chapter Fifteen

I got to the address a half hour early. I’d been biding my time all day long in an attempt to find something to do to keep my mind off of it. I was uneasy and restless all day. What if Jon was waiting for me there? What it he was just going to leave me another clue? What if someone was waiting for me inside of that warehouse and it was just someone’s cruel way to get me out of the picture? What if someone came out and knocked me in the back of the head?

I parked my car down the street and thought about waiting until the exact time to go inside. Jon was punctual. He was a doctor so he always said he had to be. There had to be a reason he’d given me that specific time. But then I saw a group coming down the street. Two women in glittering dresses and two men with fake tans and gold chains. They seemed out of place on the otherwise empty street.

I watched them head toward the building and then it finally made sense to me. There were no clubs in the area that I knew of, but these two couples looked like they were going to a club. And it was too early (and they appeared far too sober) to have just left one. So I climbed out of my car and followed them down the street to the warehouse.

Sure enough, they disappeared inside of the same metal building. The door was unlocked. Of course. Why didn’t I figure it out before? Well, I never went to clubs anymore anyway. But I remembered my mom telling me about some secret clubs she saw on TV. People only got invited via word of mouth. They would pop up in warehouses and empty buildings just for one night. They would be gone by morning. Which would explain why there was no business address before. The club hadn’t existed yet, and it would be gone the next day. I only had the one night.

I could already hear music thumping inside. I was early, but maybe I could get a drink to calm my nerves. So I headed to the door and pulled it open. Thankfully, I didn’t need to know a secret note or prove my worth like the entrance to the Emerald City. There was a single hallway inside and aside from the music getting louder, there was no sign of a party or the club. I stepped down the hall until I reached a freight elevator at the back. There was a man bringing it back down. He was a large guy with the word “security” on his shirt. A bouncer.

“You going up?” he asked as he looked at my ratty jeans and sneakers. I was a seventh-grade social studies teacher. And I dressed like a lazy seventh-grade social studies student. But I nodded anyway. “You got ID?” I reached into my bag and pulled it out. He checked to make sure I was old enough and then handed it back over. He motioned me toward the elevator and I stepped onto the platform.

The man shut the gate and sent the machine rattling up to the top floor. The music steadily got louder as I approached the party. My heart began to beat quickly alongside the heavy bass. What if he was waiting for me? What would I do if I saw him? That was simple. I’d be the happiest woman alive.

The elevator stopped in a lobby. It was still grungy like the outside, but there was something kind of artsy and hipster about the grunge. The loud music, lasers, and abstract paintings made it look like some sort of elite club where the cool kids hung out in warehouses, dancing to dubstep and partaking in illegal uppers.

I stepped off of the elevator and headed toward the open iron door. The entire warehouse was already full. The music was so loud my eardrums were already starting to ache. The whole dance floor was located under a balcony that stretched the length of one side of the building. There were chairs and tables on the top floor where I was, but most of the crowd was below in a swarm of sweaty grinding bodies. The DJ was in a corner of the bottom floor and there was a bar at the other end.

I decided the best place for people watching was the balcony on the other side of the dance floor. I would be able to look at the ground and the entrance at the same time. The only problem is that there was no way to reach it unless I pushed my way through the sweaty dancing. I guess it was worth a shot.

I headed down the metal stairs and out onto the dance floor. I felt out of place, and I knew I looked out of place. Everyone sparkled in dresses and jewelry, and I stood in the middle of a dance club in a messy ponytail and a plain t-shirt. I decided to head right to the other side so that I could get out of there as quickly as possible. I pushed my way through the crowd but kept my eyes open for anyone familiar. Aside from being occasionally groped and squished, and almost coaxed into dancing, there was no one.

I looked up to search the people looking out over the balcony. A couple seemed to be looking around for friends or someone. A man with a goatee stood close by. A few girls were eyeing the man with the goatee. I began to push toward the stairs again with something else suddenly hit me. The goatee man had been watching me, but my eyes slid right over him.

I looked back up at him again. For a moment, it didn’t register. Then I suddenly felt my entire world shift out of focus. I had hoped, but I had been prepared to be wrong. The man was tall with broad shoulders and thick arms that held onto the metal railing. He was dressed in a suit with the buttons of his shirt undone and no tie. His hair was dark, overgrown, and wavy. He fit in with this kind of crowd. He looked like he belonged.

But something was off about him. His beard was too dark. His mouth wasn’t shaped correctly. The dark loose waves threw me off and he was dressed so unnaturally. Like he wasn’t comfortable. It was the eyes that caught my attention, though. I never forgot them. Hazel blue and striking even from a distance. I froze and watched him, but he didn’t move. I wondered if I was seeing a ghost. Maybe I was hallucinating. Maybe I was dreaming again. But then he gave me a warm smile and lifted one arm to put a finger to his lips. As if silencing me. Or asking me to be quiet.

Then he turned around and slipped right out of my sight. I hurried after him, throwing people aside instead of politely asking them to move out of my way. I half flew up the stairs and reached the balcony above. My eyes swept over every face, but he wasn’t there. There was only one staircase, and I knew he couldn’t have gotten passed me.

But there was a nearly invisible door on the other side of the balcony. I rushed toward it and slammed my body against the solid metal, but it didn’t move. A stencil on the door read, “Employees only.”

“Where’s any employee?” I shouted at the closest bystander.

“There aren’t any,” she told me as she slowly swayed her body to the music. “They just rent out the space. No one here has access to employee areas.” I slammed my fist against the door and the girl jumped.

“Did you see anyone go through here?” she shook her head.

“I just barely got here.”

“f**k!”

I had one more hope. There was an alley on the other side of the building. If I hurried, I might be able to catch him. Maybe he was even waiting for me there. I ran back across the balcony and down the stairs. I got a lot of shouts after me and someone even shoved me, but I kept going.

I rushed back up the other balcony and froze again. The elevator was at the bottom and there was no call button. How the hell was I supposed to get down? I turned to another bystander.

“How the f**k do I get out of here?” I asked him.

“There’s a back staircase. I can show you,” he told me.

I didn’t wait for him to show me. He motioned toward the other side of the balcony and I bolted in that direction. I slammed my body into the thick door just like the other one, and probably bruised my shoulder. Only this time it actually opened and I rushed through it, barely touching my feet to the floor. I reached the narrow hallway at the bottom and hurried toward the door that lead to the street. I might have even hit someone on the way out. I didn’t care. I hit the sidewalk and didn’t stop running until I reached the alley.

But it was empty.

The employee side door was there. A bright pink flyer was taped to it. I stepped toward the door and tried the knob. It didn’t move. Aside from the foul smelling dumpster the back alley was bare.

“Where are you?” I whispered. There was no answer. Just the sound of a car on the street and the flyer on the door tapping against the iron as a breeze rolled through the alley.

Why would anyone put a flyer on an unused back entrance? I looked up again and read the flyer. It was the date and location of a charity costume party. To be more precise, a masquerade. Every party goer was required to wear a mask and formal wear. And there was a $50 donation fee to enter.

I wouldn’t have thought it was there for me if I didn’t see the circle around the date. There was a line stretching to the side of the paper with a thinly drawn arrow. It was narrow and curved. The way he used to draw them. I ripped the paper off of the door and turned it over.

“Be careful,” it said in that same familiar handwriting. “They won’t be too far behind.”

I felt my heartbeat begin to slam into my ribcage as I realized what kind of situation I might be in. All those mysterious faces I’d seen following me around for the past few years. I always thought it was just the police, waiting for me to admit some crime I didn’t commit. But it wasn’t. They didn’t have time to follow me around. They’d given up on Jon. Why would they still follow me?

So I was right. Jon was alive. He was hiding. And they were watching me because they knew he would come back for me. I had to be careful because it appeared that he finally had.