Searching

He had heard rumors.

But none of them had been true.

Not yet, anyways.

Ten years. Ten years almost to the day since Aravic had last seen her. And that meant that for ten years, he had been looking for her. Her, which in Aravic’s mind, almost always referred to Samantha Thyroid. The most amazing person Aravic had ever met. He missed her so much it literally made him sick. The one person who could truly make him laugh, feel nervous, and question himself. The only person to make him feel love twist his guts into knots.

Sure, Aravic had what most would consider the perfect life. He was married to an absolutely gorgeous young woman by the name of Amber Sweet, a daughter of a business man with semi-long brown hair, hazel eyes, and the perfect body. Ironically, Amber’s dad was business partners with Nathan Thyroid, Sam’s father, and probably the most powerful man in the world. Nathan gave Aravic opportunities that most would kill for, including being next in line for CEO of their company, STECo. So Aravic was rich, married, and not to mention, a very successful athlete. He had been on the hockey team that went to get silver at the Olympics of 2038. But yet, despite everything, despite having what millions could only dream of having…he felt so…incomplete. Ever since Sam left, he just had never felt the same. It was just this totally empty space in his chest, which seemed to take over every single bit of his body when he plugged in his iPod to listen to some music.

Oh God, music…even the thought made Aravic’s heart pound and his throat tighten.

It was a windy night though, on the filthy streets of Denver. Most of Denver wasn’t that bad, but Aravic was in the crummy, older section of downtown, wearing a dark brown trench coat over his dinner suit. He had been tipped off at dinner with his business colleagues, when he overheard a French couple’s conversation. He didn’t understand anything, except for the words, “Sam Thyroid.” They had said her name. He also caught “Denver” and what he thought to be a name of a bar, “Le Terre.” He had no idea where Le Terre was. He checked numerous phone books, but none of them seemed to have the supposed bar listed. So now here he was, walking the streets at almost midnight, searching for a bar that there was only a half-chance existed, and even if it did, there was even less of a chance he would find what he so desperately wanted.

As the cold wind whipped his face, Aravic started to doubt himself. He had walked so far away from his restaurant and now his car…would he be able to find it again, if and or when he found Sam? Because if he did…he wasn’t leaving without her. There were risks involved, but Aravic didn’t care. After all, Sam was technically still on the run. For almost a year after she ran away, she had been on the “Most Wanted” list for being considered a “threat to public safety.” Maybe a threat to public thinking, and definitely an enemy of the Regalist church, but not to the public itself was Aravic’s opinion of the whole thing. The news made it out like she was going to bomb the country or something.

Aravic pulled out his phone to check the time. The bright screen that stung Aravic’s eyes momentarily read 11:45 pm. He pocketed the phone, and decided he would try again some time tomorrow.

But something froze him in his tracks.

A voice singing softly was drifting out of a tiny window set into a building at the sidewalk’s level. Aravic knew that voice. “But you didn’t want me to say goodbye…” He caught those words as he squatted down by the window to the basement room, peering inside.

It was a semi-crowded bar. Voices filled Aravic’s ears with a strange language he recognized as French. And sitting on a stool on the stage, with an acoustic guitar in her lap was a woman in her mid-twenties, with silver piercings, wild black hair, and hard gray eyes.

He had found Sam at last.