Night shifts black

The Next Day.

We all fall asleep on the couch this time. I know because I wake up a few times during the night to see Luke asleep on the vertical side, while I share the horizontal piece with Casey. But by the time I get up the following morning, Luke is gone. I wonder if he moved back to his room, since I don’t see him anywhere in the main area of the suite.

I force myself up and stretch, feeling nervous for some reason, but not wanting to totally give in to such an irrational feeling. We had a great night. We’d found an Andis Carver classic, and Luke was in good spirits throughout the movie, joking and laughing with us. So why is my heart pounding in my chest just a few hours later?

I almost laugh out loud to myself at this ridiculous rush of adrenaline as I move to the hallway. The guest room is empty. The office. The extra bathroom. Of course they are because Luke is in his room. Asleep, maybe showering, and I’m going to disturb him because I suddenly can’t breathe and feel like I’m suppressing a scream. I swallow and knock.

No answer.

I knock again.

Nothing.

My hands are shaking now and suddenly I know why. My heart stops as the alarm takes over. What did Elena do with her last breaths? Remind the people she loved most how important they were.

No. No!

I shove through Luke’s door, completely frantic now.

“Luke!” I cry, sudden tears burning my eyes. “Luke, where are you?”

His bed is empty, still made from room service the day before. His bathroom is dark. I turn the light on, but it’s empty, too.

“Casey!” I cry, ru

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Luke! He’s gone!”

Casey looks confused. “What do you mean he’s gone?”

I shrug helplessly, not even sure where to start. “I don’t know. He’s not here! I was worried about him and went to check on him and he’s not in his room, not in the office!”

“Ok, calm down. Maybe he just left to get breakfast or something,” Casey says, but his own voice is wavering.

He puts his arms around me, and we hold each other for a moment, trying to piece together what’s happening and what to do with it.

“Oh, god, Casey. What if he was saying goodbye last night?” I whisper, the words oozing out like venom on my lips. I’m having trouble breathing.

I can feel Casey tense, and hold him tighter.

“No, he wasn’t. He’s fine. He has to be fine.”

I nod, completely numb.

“I’m going to call the front desk and see if they can give me any information. Callie, it’s going to be fine, ok? I’m sure there’s an explanation.”

I can’t even muster a nod this time as he gently pulls away and moves toward the room phone. While he’s doing that, I call Luke’s, but I’m not surprised when it goes straight to voicemail. I try a text, but that doesn’t go through either. His phone must be off.

“Hi, this is Casey Barrett from Room 403. We’re trying to get in touch with Luke and are wondering if he mentioned where he was headed this morning on his way out…sure, yeah, I can wait…” He glances over at me. “They’re going to ask the lobby employees if any of them saw or spoke to him.” His face changes and he turns back to the phone. “Yeah, I’m here…uh-huh…yeah…wait, what? Really…did he say where he was going or what he was doing? Ok…thanks…um, no, that’s ok…thanks for your help.”

He hangs up the phone and stares at me. There’s nothing I like about the look on his face.

“What is it?” I ask, my voice barely audible.

He clears his throat. “They said they saw him leave about an hour ago carrying an old chair. He didn’t talk to anyone.”

I pale. I can feel the blood draining from my face and instinctively rush toward the office. I throw open the door and, sure enough, The Chair is missing. All that’s left are four small indents in the carpet serving as a grotesque monument to its powerful presence. And now, devastating absence.

“It’s gone,” I whisper as Casey comes up behind me. The tears start to fall now, and I inexplicably find myself getting angry more than anything. Furious at Luke for making us love him, coming so far, only to give up at the finish line.

“Callie…” Casey’s arms wrap around me again, and I turn to settle into him. We stand in silence for a long time, having no idea what to say, what to do. We don’t know where to start looking for a suicidal man with a chair, and the cops would just laugh at our “emergency.” So we do nothing because after everything we’ve done over the last month, there’s nothing left to do.

Then, suddenly, a crash.

I straighten, and Casey and I exchange a shocked look before ru

He laughs at us and almost drops the cup carrier and bag he’s holding.

“What’s this?” he asks, but I’m not ready to let go.

“You were gone,” I whisper. “We were so scared.”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “I went to get breakfast,” he gasps, holding up the evidence for our review.

His face changes as he studies us. “Wow, you guys were really scared.”

I nod and wipe the tears from my eyes. Now, tears of relief.

I step back and search his face. “The chair was gone. The lobby employees said you left with it.”

He almost seems embarrassed as I let him go, and he drops the food on the counter.

“Yeah. I returned it.”

I stop. “You returned it?”

He nods. “To Jemma’s. I shouldn’t have stolen it in the first place.”

“But…”

“I don’t need it anymore, Callie. It’s not who I am, like you said.”

I close the gap and give him another giant hug, this time making sure he knows that no matter how bad things get, he is never going to be allowed to leave us. That he is loved too much to be a memory. I still can’t speak, but Casey can.

“Dammit, Luke. Can you leave us a freaking note next time?”