8: Missing
Startled by the sudden and hurried slamming of his office door, Alpha Adan looks up from his paperwork. Waylen is breathing heavily, pacing about.
“Are you going to tell me what the problem is?” Alpha Adan asks when Waylen doesn’t say anything for a few minutes.
The young man ignores him and continues to pace. The alpha goes back to his work when it’s evident the young man isn’t ready to speak yet.
“How can you remain so calm?” comes Waylen’s voice.
“Pardon me?” The older man looks up from the paperwork a second time.
“You heard me. I ran in here distraught but you’re sitting there like nothing happened,” Waylen says with some bitterness.
Calmly dropping his pen and resting his back in the chair, the alpha intertwines his fingers. “You came in here in a flurry. Naturally, one would expect you to say something to explain the state in which you barged into my office,” he replies.
Waylen’s stare doesn’t waver. Seeing him that way, the alpha sighs and says, “Alright. What’s the problem?”
“That’s what you should have asked all along,” the young man retorts.
“Will you be out with it already?”
“My sister is missing.”
His heart skips a beat. “What?” Alpha Adan asks just to be sure his ears aren’t playing tricks on him.
“She’s missing,” Waylen reaffirms.
Alpha Adan takes a deep breath while swallowing. “It’s alright, calm down.”
“As you can see, I am calm. I’ve already done my panicking,” Waylen says in a calm tone.
“Good. I’d like you to go to work now. My men will look for her,” Alpha Adan assures him.
“I’m sorry about that your majesty but I can’t go to work knowing my little sister wasn’t at home when I woke up. I’d rather join your men to look for her.”
Seeing his resolve, the alpha agrees to it. There was nothing much he could do shit Waylen, after all. The lad tended to be stubborn. Alpha Adan invites the head guard into his office to take charge of things.
“Tell me what happened,” Alpha Adan says to him when the head guard joins them in the office.
With an irritated shrug, Waylen replies. “Well I don’t know, I simply woke up from sleep and decided to check on her before leaving for work today?”
“Her room was empty,” the head guard completes for him.
“Exactly!” Waylen says in a high-pitched voice.
“Did you check the area around your house?” Alpha Adan asks.
“Yes, I did. She’s nowhere around there.”
“I want you to be in charge of the search for her, Lucius,” Alpha Adan says. “Find her.”
“I understand, sir but you’re forgetting something,” the head guard replies.
“And what’s that?” Waylen snaps. The alpha gives him a stink eye, which does nothing to change his attitude.
Ignoring the young man, Lucius says, “It hasn’t been up to twenty-four hours since this girl disappeared. She could have just taken a stroll or something. We can’t just jump into conclusion.”
Rubbing his chin, the alpha sees what his head guard is trying to say. “So you want us to wait a while first.”
“Yes sir. And according to the law, we can’t confirm a person missing unless they haven’t turned up after twenty-four hours,” Lucius adds.
“That’s true.” They both face Waylen. Reluctantly, Alpha Adan says, “I understand what you’re going through, Waylen but what Lucius said is true. For now, we can be on the lookout for her but we can’t commence a search until it’s been up to a day.”
“I hope you understand, young man,” the head guard says sympathetically.
Letting out a breath, Waylen nods. “I guess I understand. I’ll just go home for now. You guys should tell me when you’re ready to look for her.” He stands up to leave but Alpha Adan is having none of that.
“Sit down,” the alpha commands.
“I’m sorry but I’m not needed here. Can you just let me go?” the young man voices darkly.
“I’m sorry about that young Waylen but I am your alpha and my word stands. Walk out that door and you won’t like the shade of me you’ll be seeing.” His red eyes flash in anger.
With a roll of his eyes, the young man sits.
“You can go now, Lucius,” alpha Adan says, dismissing the guard.
Once the door closes, he stands up and circles Waylen’s seat. “I see you’ve grown disrespectful. Is it because I let you run in here whenever you like?”
Silence.
“Or is it because the restrictions I have on my office don’t apply to you?”
Silence.
“Don’t you want to answer? Just a minute or two ago, you were feeling quite brave.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Waylen whispers with his head down.
“I didn’t hear that.”
Waylen dares to look into his face but it doesn’t last. The deep red of his eyes is enough to scare even the bravest of soldiers. He swallows. “I’m sorry, sir,” he repeats, louder this time with a frown on his face.
“Good. Don’t you ever think of disrespecting me again. Now, go to work and make yourself useful,” the alpha orders.
The young man’s frown depends.
“Friend, you’re free to frown from now till tomorrow, it doesn’t change my decision,” Alpha Adan says. He resumes his seat and goes back to the work he left.
As there is nothing left to say or do, Waylen leaves the office without a word.
~~~
Work is slow today. When he got to work, Waylen’s supervisor was furious that he came so late. He was punished with double the day’s work.
Staring at the second chair that’s almost been finished, he sighs. It’s recess time and all he can think about is her.
“We knew something was up with her yesterday,” Kendrick says.
‘Yeah, but she refused to admit it. I wish I had paid some more attention. Maybe we would have been able to figure out her next move, at least,’ Waylen replies.
“Hey Gael! Those chairs won’t design themselves!” the supervisor yells. “Don’t forget you didn’t earn a break today.”
With a sigh, he goes back to his work