It didn't take long for the big slow drops of rain to turn to a heavy down pour. Erin made no attempt to get out of the weather, she just kept walking. Her clothes became soaked, and the ground beneath her feet turned to mud. A few young guys with their shirts off ran past her carrying the lids to coolers. She followed them and soon found herself standing with a bunch of other festival goers at a makeshift mud slide. They were taking run ups and then using the cooler lids as boards.

There was an excited energy in the air, no one was letting the rain get to them, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Erin let out a long slow breath and tried to steady herself, she didn't want to have fun, she didn't want to allow herself to any enjoyment. She didn't deserve to feel happy. She went to walk away from the crowd, to find a place she could sit by herself but as fate would have it she turned and walked straight into Tom and Dave.

"Hey Shelby," Tom smiled, "have you come to play in the mud too?"

"I was just leaving," she said making a move to step away but Tom stepped back getting in her way.

"Oh, how come?" he said still smiling, "it'll be fun. I'll let you use my lid?" He looked at her like a lost little puppy dog begging for attention. She looked back at the mass of people, at the ever increasing mud puddle. It did look fun, and there was this tiny part inside of her that wanted to try it.

"Okay," she said, "I'll come with you."

She walked with the two boys back to the crowd. Tom went first; there was a child like excitement in him. He took a run up, then dived down, he slid across the mud slick, whooping with excitement. When he turned around he was beaming. He ran back to them and handed the lid to Erin.

"Your turn," he said still smiling. Erin took the lid but she still wasn't sure about it, she walked slowly to the que where people were waiting for their turn but before she could go the venues loud speaker kicked into action.

"Attention all festival goes," a man's voice boomed across the site, "we wish to advise you there is an active tornado warning for the county. In the interest of everyone's safety this evening performances have been cancelled. We ask you all to return to your cars or tents. Further information will be provided when available."

The announcement ended and for a moment everyone was silent, then the crowd started moving. There were people who were scared; there were people who were mad the concert had been cancelled.

"Like our tents are going to protect us from a tornado," she heard several people say.

"They're soft," she heard others say; "it's just a bit of rain."

Tom and Dave were leaning more towards the first group. She handed Tom back the lid to his cooler. "Have you got somewhere safe to go?" he asked her.

"I got a tent," she said shrugging.

"That's not going to do much if a tornado comes through here," he said back.

"No it won't," she said agreeing. The truth was she didn't really care, the idea of a tornado kind of excited her, she didn't really care if the storm came through and flattened her. If that happened it would be what she deserved.

"How about you two?" she asked as they began to walk back to their tents.

"We've got family a couple hours away," Dave said, "we're thinking of heading there for the night."

"You think driving in this is safe?" she asked. The rain was coming down heavy and constant, every now and then you could hear a crack of thunder but not see the lightening.

"Safer than staying in a tent," Dave said and he looked over at Tom.

"Do you want to come with us?" Tom asked, "we're going to leave the rest of our stuff here so they'll be room in the car."

Erin thought about it briefly, the idea of not sleeping the storm out in a tent seemed appealing. "Okay," she said, "I'll come with you."

"Awesome," Tom said smiling, "we're going to head off really soon so if you need to get anything from your tent go get it."

"I don't need anything," she said and she kept walking with the boys. At their camp site she watched them quickly put everything that could be blown away either inside the tent or in the car. They seemed to know what they were doing, in less than ten minutes they were pulling out of the camp site.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Tom asked her again as they drove slowly past the other tents.

"Yeh, I'm good," she said, though she didn't have her phone or her wallet with her. She could make do without, she didn't want to go back to her tent, she didn't want to talk to Landon, she didn't want to finish the conversation they'd started earlier.

As they drove the storm got heavier. The rain hit the windshield so fast the wipers could barely keep it clear. The sky was black with storm clouds, day looked like night, Erin could feel the adrenalin pumping through her body. She'd never seen a storm like this before, and the part of her body that wanted danger was loving it. She wasn't scared, she almost wanted something to happen; she wanted to get hurt because physical pain was easier to deal with. She understood physical pain. The countryside raced past them, they'd been on the road an hour. The thunder was getting louder and they were starting to see bolts of lightning off in the distance.

It was a straight stretch of road, lined on one side with big tall trees. The bolt of lightning struck the tree and then it was falling. They had no time to react, not even enough time to scream, they hit the tree going seventy miles an hour.

…

Erin opened her eyes, it was dark outside, she didn't remember it getting dark. It was still raining, rain was pouring in through the mangled wreck of the car. It occurred to her she should try and get out, get help. She tried to open the door but that one little twist sent pain shooting all over her body. She stopped trying to move and just closed her eyes again. It occurred to her that maybe she was dying; the idea of dying almost made her smile.

…

Jay woke up in the middle of the night to a clap of thunder so loud it made the windows of his home rattle. His heart was racing and he was covered in a cold sweat, he'd been dreaming, having a nightmare but he couldn't remember it. He lay back down and tried to go back to sleep but the storm kept raging and he couldn't relax.

…

Bright lights shone in Erin's eyes, cold hands touched her neck and the side of her face. A soft kind voice spoke to her.

"My name is Nadia, I'm a paramedic. I'm here to help you. We're going to get you out."

Nadia? Erin tried to turn her head to the voice, she was confused, she didn't know what was going but those same cold hands held her still.

"Don't move sweetie," the soft voice told her, "you've been in an accident. I need you to stay as still as possible." She tried to nod okay but the hands still held her head firmly in place. "We're going to put a collar around your neck now. It's going to be uncomfortable but it is there to help you."

More hands appeared more people who she could hear but not see. The collar they put around her neck was ridged and uncomfortable. She tried to lift her arm to move it but someone reached out and took her hands.

"The collar needs to stay on," a new voice told her, "can you squeeze me hands?" She squeezed down hard on the hands. "Good," the voice said, "now you can let go."

She let go of the hands and her arms fell to her sides. All around her she could hear loud noises, banging and scraping, breaking glass and crumpling metal. Through all of it the voice Nadia kept talking to her, telling her it was going to be okay, telling her to hang on. She closed her eyes again, her head felt full and fuzzy, she drifted back into nothingness.

…

When Jay's alarm clock went off he was wide awake and a tired uneasy filled him. His gut instinct told him something wasn't right. It had been four days since he'd spoken to Erin, he wasn't supposed to call her, he was supposed to be giving her the space she wanted but he needed to speak to her, he needed to know she was okay. He dialled her number but it went straight through to voicemail. That didn't surprise him, but it didn't help shake the feeling something wasn't right.

At the station he went straight to Mouse, "I know you've been monitoring Erin's bank and credit card accounts for Voight," he said to his friend.

"No I'm not," Mouse said almost jumping out of his seat, "that would be illegal."

"I know you're doing it," Jay said lowering his voice, "I've got a bad feeling. I need to know when she last used them."

Mouse looked uncomfortable but he spun around on his chair anyway and began entering information into his computer. "Last time she used her card was at a Walmart in Oklahoma a couple days ago," he said pointing to something in the screen. "Does that mean anything to you?"

"I don't know," Jay said trying to work out if there was anything significant to her not using her cards for a few days, "She said she was going to Rocklahoma it could be fine."

"I'm sure she's fine," Mouse said trying to offer some support, "you're not going to tell Voight what I showed you? That guy scares me sometime."

"You have my word," Jay smiled and he patted his friend on the back, "thanks,"

Upstairs he made a b-line for Voight's office, the door was open, he was open for conversation. Jay knocked on the door but didn't wait to be invited inside.

"Have you heard from Erin?" he asked.

Voight put his pen down looked up at him annoyed, "I said I'd tell you if she called, she hasn't."

"Aren't you worried about her?"

Voight let out a big sigh and closed the file he'd been working on, "shut the door, take a seat."

Jay shut the door, took a seat, Voight looked at him earnestly, "I am worried," he said, "but you don't know Erin like I do. She's done this before. I'd thought she'd grown out of it but it would seem not. You need to let her work it out of her system. If you try and force her back before she's ready she'll just dig her heals in and pull away more."

Jay didn't like what he was hearing, he didn't like just sitting there waiting, "How can you be so calm?" he asked.

"Practice," Voight said giving him an almost smile, "Erin ran away a lot when she was young but she always came back. She'll come back this time too."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know Erin," Voight said and he stood up, "come on we've got work to do."

…

Three days later

Jay pulled the address Landon had given him out his pocket; he checked it again against the bar he was parked in front of, this was the place. This was where Landon had said he'd be able to find Erin. He climbed out the car and walked to the bar. It was an average bar he thought, kind of dungy, nothing hip about it, not a place he'd choose to go. He opened the door and there was Bunny, Erin's mother standing behind the counter.

"Jay," she said not smiling at him, "Erin's not here."

"I can wait," he said and he took a seat away from the bar.

"You'll be waiting a long time," Bunny called over to him, "she ain't here."

"Whatever." He was going to wait, he didn't trust Bunny and he didn't believe the words coming out her mouth, Erin was going to be there, she had to be. He'd been waiting a week, he couldn't wait any longer. But wait he did, for two hours he sat there sipping on a single beer, waiting and watching the people come and go from the bar. He was prepared to wait there all night but finally Landon arrived.

"Where's Erin?" he asked walking straight up to the guy Erin seemed to call a friend.

"Don't know," Landon said walking past him to the bar. Bunny had the beer on the counter before he reached it; he took a swig and turned back to Jay.

Jay looked pissed, "what do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean, I don't know she ditched me at the festival. I don't know where she is."

"What?!" Jay felt everything inside of him twist slightly, that bad feeling he had came back hard and fast, "when did you last see her?"

"A few days ago," Landon said taking another sip of beer, "she said she wasn't coming back with me and then she walked off. Left her phone and wallet behind even."

"That didn't strike you as odd?"

"No," Landon said shaking his head, "she's a big girl; she can take care of herself."

Jay wanted to yell at the guy, he wanted to say something hurtful but the guy wasn't good enough for his words. He looked over at Bunny; she was standing back watching them, an almost smug look on her face.

"You're both terrible," he said looking from one to the other, "you're supposed to be looking after her."

He walked out the bar with his anxiety at fever pitch, he needed Erin, he needed to find her. He hopped in his car and started driving but he didn't go home, he drove past the station, the light was still on in Voight's office. He stopped the car and made his way to his superior's office.

"I need to take some time off," he said as he walked through the open door into Voight's office.

Voight looked up at him and let out a loud sigh, "why?" he asked, "I've already told you, you need to give Erin space."

"I'm sick of giving her space," Jay said feeling frustrated, "no one has heard from her in a week and I can't shake the feeling something terrible has happened. I need to find her."

Voight looked back at him, he looked annoyed, and frustrated, but also resign to the inevitable, "fine, take furlough, see if you can find her but I'm telling you if she doesn't want to be found you're going to have your work cut out for you."

"I know," Jay said, he wasn't at all naive about what he was getting himself into, "but I can't keep sitting here waiting."

He walked back to his car and drove to his home; he packed a bag and was on the road that night.

AN: Jay is on the road J. Would love it if you could leave some reviews. Happy to hear any feedback or suggestions or requests J