Manic is on the mat clutching at his shoulder. I felt the ball pop out of the socket, followed by his labrum tearing. His whole arm jumped out like a jack-in-the-box.
He tapped out.
I spin around in the cage, look for Dee’s face among the crowd.
I spot Glass at the table with the other mob bosses. He’s looking at me proudly, clapping his hands.
Blood drips into my eye, and I wipe it away, ignoring the searing sting I feel from the fresh cut on my forehead.
Where the hell is Dee?
There’s this feeling in the pit of my gut, like something has gone horribly wrong, like I’m about to fall through my own body.
My heart starts to race, and as the ref approaches me to declare me the winner, to lift my arm up, I push past him, throw open the gate to the fighting cage.
The crowd goes wild. Everybody gets up, girls rush toward me, rub their hands on me, try to clamber on top of me. Guys call me ‘bro’ and try to high-five or dap me. Men in suits just grin at me, counting the money they’ve made off my blood.
And Conrad Butler’s blood.
I turn around, look back at him quickly in the cage. He’s being tended to by the doc.
Glass’ guards quickly come to me, start shoving people off me, and I spin around until I spot Frank, go to him.
“Frank, where’s Dee?” I ask.
He looks down at the ground.
“Frank!”
He starts to speak, but stammers.
“Fucking tell me!”
“I don’t know, Duncan. She left in a hurry.”
“Was she upset about something?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
“It’s not my place to say, Duncan.”
I narrow my eyes, tilt my head to the side. Not his place to say? What the fuck does that mean?
“Where did she go?”
“She just left.”
“The hangar? She left this building?”
He nods.
I weave myself around him, through the rest of the crowd, and into the back room. I throw on a t-shirt, pull up sweats, check for my car keys, and as I’m about to leave, I notice Dee’s phone still on the table. She must have taken it out and forgotten it.
I grab her phone, then rush outside onto the airfield where all the cars are parked down the runway.
I find the Volvo, gun the puttering engine, speed as fast as the car can out of the area, onto the highway. There’s this feeling of dread I’ve got, like a hole is inside me and sucking me into it.
It’s not like Dee to just leave a fight, and with Frank saying she was upset about something… it just feels off to me.
Something is off.
My phone starts ringing, and I answer it.
“What?” I snarl. It’s Glass.
“Where are you?”
“I’m going home.”
“Why?”
“What do you want, Glass?”
“Why have you left? You need to get back here now. I want to introduce you to some of my associates. They’re new in town.”
“Not now, Glass.”
I hear strain in his voice. “Get back here now.”
I hang up, chuck the phone onto the dash. It rattles about. I might have broken it.
My heart is racing.
Nothing else matters.
I screech to a halt outside my apartment building, just in time to narrowly avoid a taxi pulling out. I take the steps up two at a time, throw open the door.
“Dee!”
There is no answer. I switch on the lights, look around. The apartment is empty.
I go to the bedroom, check the bathroom, then go back to the bedroom. Nothing seems out of pla—
The wardrobe is ajar!
I open it, and see half of Dee’s clothes missing.
What the fuck?
I go back to the bathroom. Her toothbrush is gone, her deodorant, her bottles of cream and other toiletries.
The cabinet is missing band-aids, antiseptic cream. That one makes me really worry.
What the hell is going on? The first thought that crosses my mind is that she’s been kidnapped by one of Glass’ enemies, but there’s no way they’d take her toothbrush or her clothes. They wouldn’t care for her fucking oral hygiene!
No… Dee took them. Dee was just here.
I race back downstairs, get into my car, drive to Glass’ house in Kenilworth.
There’s nobody home here as well. I go into her room, but it’s been so long since I’ve been in here, I don’t know if anything is out of place.
Where the hell is she?
I run my hands through my hair, feeling a growing fear and frustration. It’s a ball inside me expanding. I’m going to explode.
I sprint back out to the car, call Glass on my phone. When he picks up, his tone is frosty.
“What the fuck is going on with you tonight, boy?”
“Where’s Dee, Glass?”
“She left.”
I blink. “Left?”
“I don’t know, she left the fight.”
“Why?”
There’s a pause. “I don’t know.”
He’s lying to me.
“Have you tried calling her, Duncan?”
“She forgot her phone.”
“She probably went back to the college dorms.”
The college dorms!
I drive up there, but am turned away by security at the entrance to campus.
“Can you please get a message through to Caroline Edwards, Moore Hall, third floor, room G,” I tell the guard. Dee’s roommate. “It’s an emergency.”
The guard stares into my eyes for a moment, considers me.
“Christ, I really need you to do this for me.”
“I can’t, sir,” he says, his face stoic, his voice emotionless. “Not until I know who you are.”
“Look, someone I know is missing, and was her friend and roommate. I need to know if she’s seen her.”
The guard, an older man, bearded and tough-looking, shakes his head.
“Not even a message?” I run my hand through my hair, turn away from the guard for a moment, collect myself. “Can’t you just contact her residence administrator or whoever, check if she’s here? She can come here to the gate, talk to me with you watching. I only need to ask her one question.”
He considers me some more, and then relents. “Alright, son. Just hold on.” He goes back into his office, clicks onto the radio.
I wait outside, pacing, and maybe ten minutes later Caroline comes down.
“Duncan?”
“Is Dee here?”
“No,” she says. “Are you two fighting?”
I lick my lips. “No. I just can’t find her. She didn’t come by here?”
Caroline shakes her head, shrugs. “Not that I know of, anyway. I’ve been in our room all night studying. We’ve got a mock quiz tomorrow.”
“If she turns up for it tomorrow, will you text me? I just need to know if she’s alright.”
“Sure.” She takes out her phone, punches in my number.
I thank her, jump back in the car, drive back to my apartment.
The lights are on!
Relief floods through my veins. God damn it, Dee’s back home, and she gave me one hell of a scare.
I run up the stairs, burst through the door.
“Dee!” I cry. My voice almost breaks.
There’s no reply.
I frown, check the bedroom where the light is on. I notice her underwear drawer is open, and it was closed when I left here just half an hour ago. Most of her pairs of underwear are gone.
It hits me, a thump in the chest like I’ve been slammed by a cannonball.
She’s left.
She came back because she forgot something. Maybe a passport she hid in that drawer? Fuck I wish I knew what it was she came back for, but I never, ever looked through her things.
God fucking damn it!
I suck in huge gulps of air, go back to the living room, and there I notice a small black object on the floor. I bend down, pick it up.
It’s the mirror I gave Dee. It’s cracked; she must have dropped it unknowingly.
I turn it over in my hand, watch the small cat wave.
“For fuck’s sake, Dee, where the hell are you going?” I breathe.
…And why are you going?