'Storm Warning' (5 Minute Freewrite)

Five fifteen, the alarm clock screams insistently, and then, after what seems like an interval of two seconds, five thirty.

Shit! Really? Alan will kill her if she’s late into work again. Lexi stumbles blearily out of her bed and into the hall, her hands reaching out for the bathroom door. These 7 a.m. shifts will be the death of her yet...

Her phone stops her in her tracks, vibrating insistently against her bedside table. Oh, for God's sake. Who is ringing her at this hour? Lexi trudges resentfully towards the sound.

Oh no ... Tyra's name is on the screen. Play it cool, Lexi. Play it cool... She clears her throat, takes a deep breath, and picks up her phone.

'Hey, Tyra. What's up?'

'Hi. I'm sorry to be calling right now, I just ...'

'It's okay. I've just gotten up for work, actually.'

'Oh right, right ... work.'

'Everything okay, Ty?'

'It's about ... well, something happened last night.'

'What?'

'Last night.'

'What about it?' Lexi says breezily, though her heart begins to pound. She didn’t say something she shouldn't have, did she? Does Tyra know about the ... no, she couldn't. No matter how drunk Lexi was, she would never have said that.

'Have you seen Colin? Or heard from him?'

'Um ... no. Why?'

'There was ... um ... there was an argument. I can't get into it right now, but ... basically, there was an argument between Colin and his dad after he got home, things got blown way out of proportion ... and now nobody knows where Colin is. And the helicopter is gone. I wouldn't call you right now if it wasn't urgent, Lex. His parents are so worried. And so am I. I can't believe he would go off like that without telling me, I can't believe –'

'Oh God, Tyra. Look, I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe he just needed to clear his head. Going out on the helicopter soothes him, sometimes. He –'

'Yeah. You'd know.'

'What?'

'I know something happened between you. No – stop. don't interrupt me. I don't want to discuss it, I don't have time to be mad at you right now. All I want to know is: have you heard from him since last night?'

'I ... I haven't, Ty. Listen, please just let me explain, just for a minute –'

'He never goes out on the helicopter for this long. And there was a storm last night. I'm so afraid he got caught up in it, I can hardly breathe –' Tyra's voice breaks.

'Oh, Tyra...'

'Just let me know if you hear from him, Lexi.'

Tyra hangs up.

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This story was a response to @mariannewest's most recent freewrite prompt, 'helicopter'.

Image Source: Pexels.com