Follow Me Down

New York was so much quieter without Lizzie around. Even now, as Gordo stared out the window at the distance, he'd count the hours until someone came along and changed his life. Nothing would happen that much he knew, but at least it would be a change from the ordinary. He let out a sigh and sipped on his coffee, staring through the window of his penthouse apartment, and watched the clouds pass by. Quietly thinking to himself, he brushed back his curls and shook his head. Who was he kidding? She wasn't coming back.

After that break up at graduation, nothing would change, and he'd be lucky if she gave him a chance.

As he put the mug on the counter, he heard a soft tap at the door. It was probably Rose, his neighbor, telling him that he needed to move his car again. What he didn't expect was a teenage boy holding an envelope.

"Can I help you?" Gordo asked incredulously.

"Some man handed me this letter and asked me to deliver it to you. He said it was from someone really important that needed to talk to you." He shrugged and held out the envelope that clearly read his name. "You are David Gordon, right?"

Gordo nodded and waited. "Do you know what this man looked like?"

"Nope, he just told me to give you this." He shrugged and walked away after Gordo took the envelope.

When the boy was gone, Gordo peeled off the fold, reading the letter.

Now that I have your interest, how about we play a little game? You know what hide and seek is, right? Well, I'm hiding somewhere in New York, and you have to come find me. Are you up for the challenge? If you find me, I'll give you something special.

Gordo paused and thought about this idea. Who the hell was this man? And why was he giving him something special? He shook his head and went to toss the letter, but then curiosity got the better of him. The handwriting wasn't familiar to him. He shook his head and growled under his breath when he saw the notice at the bottom.

If you want to see your girlfriend again, you'd probably come find me.

Slipping into his jacket, he stared at the letter. On the back was a list of directions.

Turn left out of your apartment complex and head towards Turnbull Street, what do you see that isn't normally there?

Gordo paused and stared at the sign across the street saying something about a grand opening at a movie theatre. The address read 121 Broad Street, so he headed off that way. As he walked by a telephone pole, he spotted a sign with his name on it. He tugged the envelope off. Inside it had a photograph of a building, he recognized it immediately. It was the one he worked at.

When he came to the building he saw Janet, the secretary, typing away on her computer. It took him a moment to notice she stopped to look at him. "Hello, Mr. Gordon," She smiled her usual perky smile and dug through the desk for a small envelope, the size of the ones you get at florists. "This came in for you today."

He shook his head slightly. "Big surprise. They seem to be everywhere today." He took the envelope from her and opened it up, reading the note inside. "This guy is psychotic."

"What guy?" She asked quietly.

"The one telling me to do this stuff to save my ex girlfriend. He's sending me on some wild goose chase to save her, and I don't think he even has her." The note was scrawled in a girl's handwriting this time, the I's were dotted carefully.

My name is Sabrina, and I'm from the north side of Front Street. Find me and I'll give you your next clue.

In the memo at the bottom, he could clearly read the scrawled name. Janet stared at him with dark blue eyes. "Why aren't you calling the cops?"

"It's New York, Janet, what are they going to do? Follow the clues and arrest the guy?" Gordo asked carelessly. "I'll figure this out."

Several moments passed in silence when he heard his cell phone ring. It was Lizzie's house number. He picked it up and listened. "Hey, Gordo, where are you?"

"Work," He commented casually. "Where are you?"

Lizzie laughed loudly. "I'm getting ready to head to work. I called your apartment like you asked but you weren't there."

"Sorry, I got caught up. Can I talk to you later? I'm kind of busy." He hung up after Lizzie answered that it was okay. He pocketed his cell phone and let out a sigh of relief. "At least she's at home. But I'm wondering what this sicko has planned."

Janet shook her head and stared at the note in his hand. "Might want to find Sabrina. You might be timed."

Gordo nodded and held the note in his hand as he ran out the door. He passed several different Sabrina's. How was he going to know which one he was looking for? Front Street was a big place, and there was a huge apartment on the corner, but then he saw the note; "Sabrina's Dog Walking" in the door of apartment 6B. He went up to knock on the door but stopped when a woman came walking buy with a handful of dog leashes. "Are you David Gordon?" She asked, stopping to look at him.

He nodded and knelt down to pet the dog. "Yes, are you Sabrina?"

She nodded and smiled, offering him a flyer for a restaurant. "It's my favorite place to go," She smiled. "You might be lucky and run into someone famous there."

He raised a brow and graciously accepted the flyer. Did the clues run out there? He smiled to the woman again. "Thank you, Sabrina." As he walked away, he noticed something peculiar about the note.

Don't be caught off guard. Always be prepared for a large crowd. Very few people remember this trick. Izzy's café can take care of all your catering needs. Don't be afraid to stop by tonight during our open house.

He carefully looked at the first letter of each sentence. D-A-V-I-D. The note under it was a location, but it wasn't the same as the open house. It was a location for a sister site, on Gordon Street. He face palmed and shook his head. "This guy is crazy," He murmured walking out the door and onto the street.

After several hours of walking, he finally came to the location on the note. Gordon street, the intersection of Gordon and Third. He stared around for any indicator that this man had been here. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he kept walking. That's when he felt a man bump into him. The man didn't offer much, just a subway ticket. "You're going to need this; you don't look like you're from around here."

Gordo handed the man a couple dollars for the ticket and stared at the number on the ticket. 117-231-001. 117 was the location of the subway that much he knew. 231 was where it was headed to. 001 was the platform number. That's what he gathered from that. He descended the steps into the underground subway and headed for platform 001.

On the beam in the middle of the platform was a sign promoting his new movie, Diamond Rain. He wondered what the significance was when he heard a woman behind him. He recognized that voice. Turning to look behind him he spotted Rose, speaking about how the movie must be great. He smiled to her. "Thank you for the compliment, Rose."

"Do you know where it's going to be at yet?" She inquired, staring at his dark blue eyes.

"The showing is going to be at the building I work at. Room six." He paused and thought about that. "Rose, were you asked by someone to talk to me?"

"A young girl asked me where the viewing was for your movie, she said her sister wanted to know." Rose shrugged. "She was nice."

"Oh. Thanks anyway." He stared at the flyer and noticed it was graffiti and wanted to smack the person that did it. No more clues. That's when the train went by and he saw a number written in sharpie in a window. "Jesus, I wouldn't put anything passed this guy anymore."

Call me: 555-121-9919

He reached into his pocket and dialed the number. It wasn't any shock to him that the number redirected him to some Chinese restaurant in downtown Chinatown. What did surprise him was the woman spoke perfect English. "Hi there, you've reached Ming's Diner, how may I help you?"

Gordo froze, unsure of what to say. "I'm not entirely sure if you can help me or not."

She scribbled something down, and then started speaking in Chinese. He paused, trying to decipher her words. The woman spoke again. "Your accent is amazing, where are you from?"

"Hill ridge." He answered. "Why?"

"Is that like…the hill on the ridge? Or is it the hill with a ridge?" She asked.

His mind began to work at full capacity now and he realized why he was asked to call that number. "Your restaurant, it's on the corner of Hill and Ridge street, isn't it?"

She answered him, curiosity lacing her voice. "Yes, would you like to reserve a table?"

"Sure," He sighed in defeat. "I am kind of hungry." That wasn't a total lie. All the running around had made him quite hungry. He checked his watch and came to the conclusion that while it felt like ten minutes, he'd been at this for six hours. It was now noon. He yawned and smiled to himself when the woman told him the table number. "Table 24, huh? Thanks."

She laughed quietly. "It's no problem. I'll see you in twenty minutes?"

"How did you know?" He asked.

"I can hear the subway in the background, so you're not far from here. They just announced platform 11."

He blinked and thought about it, starting to bloom a headache. Twelve o'clock…table twenty-four…twenty minutes…platform eleven…12/24/2011…He growled something incoherent and hung up the phone.

When he arrived at the restaurant, he was less than pleased. He sat at the table, at his meal in silence, and waited for the next clue. There was no next clue. At least he'd assumed such until a small little girl ran by him going on about how her mother was too mean to bring her to Times Square. He realized the significance of the date for the first time that day.

When there were no other clues, he decided to head back to the apartment. Waiting there was a message from Lizzie, saying that she was off of work and would like if he could call. He smiled to himself and dialed the number. Matt picked up. "Matt, is Lizzie there?"

"She went out Christmas shopping." He answered. "She said something about going to some place called Five Below?" He answered and waited. "Oh, and she's going to check out some new store called Christmas Time…it just opened in the Square Valley mall."

Gordo growled under his breath. "Not you too, Matt."

"What did I do?" He asked. "I was just telling you Lizzie went out Christmas shopping."

"Never mind. Thanks for letting me know."

Wandering through Time's Square, Gordo took what Matt had said as a hint. The Christmas lights were hanging gracefully from the gigantic tree; orbs of different colors graced the limbs. He didn't say much as he heard people complaining about the cold weather being roughly five below freezing. He murmured something about the psychotic man who sent him on some random adventure to find nothing in particular.

He paused when he bumped into a tall lanky figure in all red. The figure was wearing a hat made of red yarn, likely made from scratch. The long sweater jacket was a burgundy color against the pastel red shirt and dark blue jeans. Red boots stuck out from under the pants, white fuzz covering the top of them. After taking in the appearance of this person that walked in front of him, he mumbled a sorry and continued on his way.

"It's okay," She answered, her voice small and cracked. "You're in a hurry, I don't blame you."

He spun around to stare at the woman.

She held out her arms and smiled. "Surprise."

"How did you know I was going to do it?" He asked, waiting, watching her dark green eyes dance with mischief. "Matt put you up to this, didn't he?"

"It was all my idea, he just executed it. While you were off doing the scavenger hunt, I was on a plane on my way here." She laughed and ran to him, kissing his cheek. "I missed you, Gordo."

"Lizzie, you always manage to make the holidays brighter." He spun her around, laughter filling the air. "I'm just glad your hints were easier than 'meet me at the airport in ten minutes'. I didn't even know where the airport was."

"Yeah, I figured Times Square was easier for you to find." She held onto his neck and covered him in kisses. "Merry Christmas, husband."

That's when Gordo realized that while they may live on other sides of the country, it was always a treat to see his wife again. Those few times they did see each other every year were what made his life worth living, even when he did feel some psychotic man was keeping them apart. Though, it turned out that psychotic man was actually Matt, so his hunch wasn't too far off.

Then Lizzie handed him a note and he began to wonder if it was another game of Hide and Seek, until he opened it up and read the words scrawled in her perfect handwriting.

Merry Christmas.

I pointed out above that Gordo kept calling her his "ex girlfriend" and referring to a "breakup"…it didn't make sense until the end, and it still doesn't fit really well with the story. I just didn't feel like correcting it. The "ex girlfriend" part was referring to the fact that she's his wife now. The "breakup" refers to her having to go home at the end of every Christmas. At least I think I wrote that…I don't remember.

This is my Christmas story, but there's another one in the works. I just got this idea and wanted to write it out.

Merry Christmas.

-River Tam
-Kitt Wilson