CH 2: The Eye wall
A/N: The area just outside the eye of a hurricane, for those of you who didn't already know this, is the most intense part… And if it's you're first time through the eye wall, there's a period of calm (the fabled 'eye of the storm'), and you get hit with it again.
Oh, btw. For my reviewer who said 'put it down'… What does that mean?
"Mom!?" I yelled, a little worried now.
No answer.
I hurried up to check by her computer. Her wallet was there, and so was her cell phone. She ALWAYS carried her cell phone with her.
Calm down. She's just… out taking a walk. I thought, Maybe she got fed up with her fellow reporters, and left her phone here. Yeah… that makes sense… I'll give her 15 minutes, and if she doesn't come back then, that's when I'll panic.
15 minutes passed. Still, no sign of my mother. Within 10 minutes, I was already panicked, but I didn't do anything because I'd promised myself I wouldn't do anything rash.
I picked up the phone. I would call Matt first, and get his advice.
"Hey!" Sora said as she picked up the phone. Matt had been dating her for two years now. For some reason, she loved him, even though he was hardly good to her. She gave him flowers, he never gave her flowers. He clearly didn't love her, so I was puzzled as to why he even stuck with her in the first place… or why she stuck with him. But it really wasn't any of my business, and it definitely wasn't relevant.
"Hi, Sora. Can I talk to Matt, please?"
"Matt?" I heard her say, "T.K is on the phone. He wants to speak to you."
A few moments later, Matt asked me, "What's up?"
"Mom is… missing, I think. She left her cell phone and wallet at home, and I've been waiting over 15 minutes since I got home, and she's still not back yet!"
A moments pause, "That sounds bad. First of all, where were you, and about how long were you gone for?"
"I was talking to Kari, her parents cruise went missing today. I was gone for about 45 minutes."
"T.K… Have you thought that you might be panicking because someone you know, and love," He inserted the second part teasingly, of course, he was totally unaware of me and Kari's relationship, "parents went missing, and so you're afraid it might have happened to you?"
"Matt, mom NEVER leaves her cell phone at home."
"That's why I'm not just saying, 'you're panicking over nothing.' Still, it strikes me as … odd that both of you should have similar, incredibly unlikely events, happen to you on the same day."
"I don't know either. What should I do?"
"Hey, I'm not done asking questions yet."
"Right."
"When you entered the house, was the door unlocked?"
I hadn't had to unlock the door. I didn't realize that it was fishy until now, because I had thought she was home, and she didn't lock the door unless she was away, and then in the instant chaos that followed, the door not being locked had simply been forgotten.
"Yes."
"Alright… This is bad. Hey, dad? T.K says … My mother… is missing." I heard Matt shout everything after this is bad. The pause around "My mother" was probably because Mom was a tender topic around Dad. "I don't know. It doesn't SOUND like she was kidnapped, but yet that's the only logical explanation…"
A few seconds pause.
"Alright, T.K, thank you. I'm going to come pick you up, and then we'll sort this mess out."
"Thanks, Matt."
"No problem."
It took Matt about five minutes to reach the house.
"Alright, so, what are we going to do?"
"Dad's called the cops, and sent me to pick you up. I'm sure it's been a hard day for you, and the last thing you need is somebody cross-examining you.
"Thanks. Seriously, that makes life easier for me." I said, getting in.
As he drove towards my father's house, Matt turned on a CD of his band. It was a recording of one of his first concerts, the one from Christmas of the last year in which we had been in the digital world. Of course, the recording didn't have the song that Matt had been interrupted by a digimon during, because he had edited that one out.
Which brought me back to an earlier thought: Why did Matt stay with Sora anyway if he didn't like her.
"Hey Matt. I noticed something. You don't seem to have any feelings for Sora. Why are you still with her?"
Matt laughed, "You'd like to know that, wouldn't you?"
"Why else would I ask?"
Matt laughed again, "T.K, that was 'I'm not going to tell you.'"
"I know that. I was saying, 'I'm not going to take that for an answer.'
"Yes. I was saying 'I'm not going telling you ANYWAY."
"Whatever."
He turned the music up a little.
Of course, now I was REALLY curious. Why wouldn't he answer?
"Alright, Matt. What are you trying to 'protect' me from?"
"You probably don't want to know."
"You're not…"
"Yes, we are. Oh come on, T.K… I'm an adult. So is she. There's nothing wrong or illegal about it."
"You win. I didn't want to know that… Ugh…"
"Oh come on. Like you've never looked at a girl and thought about her that way."
"There's a difference between THINKING a girl is hot and actually doing her, Matt."
"Yes, T.K." He rolled his eyes, "Still, you don't get to play innocent."
"What else am I supposed to say?"
"Almost anything else."
"Right, like 'That's cool'… Whatever, Matt."
"Maybe you shouldn't have asked then."
"I still don't understand why you date her if you only want-"
"Because Sora is hot, and because she isn't that kind of whore."
"Matt… Shut up." He was starting to piss me off. Matt, no matter how much I loved him, was highly immoral, and a complete jerk.
"What, am I embarrassing you?" And now he was teasing me. God, I hated when he did this.
"No, you're offending my sense of righteousness."
"Aww… Is Teeks being self-righteous? So cute!"
"Shut… UP!"
"Make me, blondie."
"You're blond, too, you dumb-ass."
"Aww… Teeks is swearing."
"Matt, seriously. Your being a jerk!"
"Yeah, and you're being self-righteous."
"What do you think Sora would say if she heard you called her a whore, Matt?"
"She won't hear that, will she?"
"Not if you shut up."
"I thought you were the righteous one… Blackmail! Seriously, man, that's the lowest of low."
"Perhaps you shouldn't say things that are tasteless if you don't want to get blackmailed."
"Fine, fine. I get it, I'll shut up."
"Thank you."
It was silent the rest of the way to my father's house. I didn't exactly like the silence, but really, it was much better than hearing what Matt had to say about Sora.
When we got there, I saw my father in hand-cuffs.
"Hello. Officers. You weren't thinking about arresting someone who couldn't have committed the crime he's being accused of, now would you? I mean, unless he can be in two places at once, I sincerely doubt he's the kidnapper." Matt said, sounding acidic and poisonous.
"He's the only person with ANY sort of motive. The courts will decide whether or not he was somewhere else. Sorry, but rock stars like yourself have little respect for the law, so I'm not going to take your word for it. " the officer replied.
"They're looking for an excuse." Matt whispered to me, "Dad broke a corruption scandal, so they're looking for a way to discredit him."
My fist clenched involuntarily. For once, at least, Matt looked like he was angry, too. Sadly, there was nothing I could do about it, no words I could say that would help, so I watched helplessly as they took my father away.
"Where do I go now?" I asked Matt as they left.
"I'll take you in. It's been a hell of a day, hasn't it?"
"Yeah… if only Kari had a place to go, too."
"If I can leave the two of you alone, I'll take her in too. However, if I catch the two of you so much as TOUCHING when I come home from something, I'll kill you both." He said, with a slight smile on his face.
"Matt… Uh… She's my girlfriend."
"Oh. Congrats, I guess. No touching her sexually, then. We have a deal?"
"Yes, hypocrite. We have a deal."
"Whatever… And I'm not a hypocrite. I'm just trying to keep you from hurting yourself."
"Alright. You know I'm not actually thinking about… that yet with Kari."
"Yeah, yeah… Just don't call me a hypocrite."
"Alright, alright."
"You should call your girlfriend then. One moment, I'm going to go talk to Sora."
"Right."
End Ch 2: The eye wall.