When the world is bleeding sunset red.

Apple cinnamon crimson bled.

Never before and never since

Have I ever loved you more than this.

- R.D.Burger (circa 2018)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hank drove back to Rio's flat with Anna's key in his possession. When he got inside, every drawer, every cupboard and every closet stood with its door fully open. The casual state of clutter was no worse, but things had definitely been rifled through.

That's strange.

Hank went through some of things himself. He found a storage closet that held luggage. Certain pieces were missing.

Missing because of Leanne?

She had the luggage for her trip already packed this morning, and sitting in her room. This closet showed recent activity.

"Rio?" Hank called out. Bumbles appeared, and rested his head on Hank's foot. "Where's Rio?" Hank asked the dog.

Bumbles wiggled his eyebrows, looking sad. Hank removed his foot from beneath the dog's chin and continued his search. Although the doors and drawers in Leanne's room also stood wide open, things from Rio's room had been removed, mostly clothes and personal items.

Hank gasped. She's gone!

He called her and instantly got her voice mail, indicating her phone was off. Quelling panic, Hank called Leanne, thinking maybe Rio had gone to visit her. Leanne didn't answer, but it was mid-morning in Switzerland and she was probably at work. He left a vague voice mail message for her, urging her to call back. He called Anna next and then Aika, but nobody answered their phone.

"Dang it," he cursed. "Where's Rio?"

The dog barked and ran in circles, then sat by his leash near the door. Hank didn't need further clues.

"Let's go," he said.

He drove the Bentley back to Aika's with Bumbles in the back seat. Once there, the dog ran around in the grass by the service road while Hank pressed the buzzer to Aika's apartment. Again, nobody answered.

"What the heck?"

Although it was late at night, surely someone knew he was calling. He wandered after Bumbles, heading towards the woods while staring at his phone. He thought perhaps Aika would be in her glade, but he found it to be empty after walking its perimeter. Bumbles searched as well, finding crickets and tree frogs while enjoying himself immensely.

Without Aika and her naked distractions, Hank marveled at the beauty of the place. The glade had the perfect pitch to aid in drainage when it rained. Trees surrounded it on all sides, with a fence blocking access to a freeway far away, and the rest of the world beyond.

Despite his concern about Rio, Hank grinned. Bumbles was hilarious, and Hank enjoyed the afterglow of having swooned over Anna at the bar, and cuddling with Aika in her tub. They were very different women, with Aika being sweet and silly, and Anna spicy hot. Time spent with Aika was like eating candy, and Anna was the sugar rush.

Hank found the spot where Aika had stood while staring him down when he had first entered her glade. He laughed out loud while following her trail of footsteps in the grass. The crescent light of the moon clearly showed the depression his body made on the ground when she tackled him, and then took off his boots. He walked her random path until he got to the spot where she had broken into a run. Now running himself, when he arrived at the spot where she felled him, he pretended to catch her instead, lifting her high off the ground. He twirled with his arms in the air, and Bumbles joined the fun, jumping straight up and down while yipping quietly.

Hank plopped onto his back in the grass. He pretended to hold Aika's body in the air over his face.

"Where'd everybody go?" he asked his pretend Aika.

Bumbles grew still and lay at Hank's side, sneaking his head under a hand. "I don't know what to do," Hank confessed to the dog while petting him.

Hank figured he ought to do something, since everyone he'd met recently had been doing so much for him. He pondered the PEP Genius lessons he'd learned from Milton and Rio and Aika while listening to the distance noise of the faraway freeway. Little more than the rumble of a truck ever made it to the glade, as nature reigned over the land.

The sound of a jet plane taking off grew in the night sky. Laden with cargo and fuel, its silhouette shone under the crescent moon, lights flashing on its wings. Hank thought about the people on board, hurrying to be somewhere else. He practiced what Aika had taught him, and reached out to them with his mind.

Constantly, his thoughts turned to Rio. Why did you leave? Where are you going? Who do you hope to see?

The jet flew high over Hank, heading out to sea. Please don't leave me, Rio.

"You're one of my best friends," he said as if she could hear him. "Maybe my very best friend."

A stiff breeze began to blow, growing louder than the rising jet. Bits of trash and organic matter swirled into a cloud, crossing the glade towards Hank. He got up and scrambled away, but the wind-borne debris rose into the sky before it was able to strike him. The noise the treetops made indicated that the wind was growing stronger as it climbed. He hunkered down in the grass in case it returned to bowl him over.

When the wind hit the jet, it visibly lifted the craft. The pilot seemed to over-correct because when the wind finally passed, the jet's nose dipped down.

Bumbles whined as a second—and much stronger—blast of wind roared overhead. When this one struck the jet, the sound of its engines faded. In silence, the craft twisted slightly before gently drifting down. It began losing lift and, in desperation, the pilot tried using gravity to get airborne again.

"He's not gonna make it," Hank said to Bumbles as the plane approached.

The dog seemed to sense the straits the craft was in. He whimpered and hid behind Hank. The pilot pulled the jet out of its dive and performed a lazy half circle, attempting to return to the airport. But all hope was gone and he lost control. The jet slowly spun, falling like a leaf.

Heading straight for Hank.

Nearly as long as a football field, and almost as wide, the plane loomed large overhead. Hank stumbled and panicked and ran as the craft filled the world with terrible noise, hitting the ground behind him no less than thirty meters away. After its landing gear sheared off, the jet slid on its belly until it disappeared in the trees, where it was shredded to bits. Fuel and parts of the fuselage, and then grisly horror, rained down all around.

Turning night time into day, the stench of an instant inferno choked the air from Hank's lungs. He turned around and ran towards the crash, hoping to rescue survivors, with most of the wreckage hidden from view in the trees.

He dug out his cell phone to call 911. "Oh my God, please help," he said, stepping over ruts and debris as he ran.

He lost his footing and nearly fell. His phone flew from his hand and disappeared in the tall grass.

"Shit!" he screamed as loud as he could, entering the woods near where the jet had tore in.

Heat smacked his face when the fuselage came into view. The flames quickly grew as the fire expanded. Saplings crackled like popcorn, and a towering pine tree ten meters high burst entirely into flames.

The blaze forced Hank to retreat. He and Bumbles ran for their lives as sap boiling in the pine tree caused it to explode.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back in the Bentley and driving fast, Hank watched a dozen emergency vehicles racing towards the scene. He thought about turning around and pounding down Aika's door, but the streets behind him were being blocked off. Not knowing what else to do, he returned to Rio's flat and continued searching for clues to her whereabouts.

He turned on all the televisions to watch them report on the crash. Every local station already had reporters on the scene, but none were able to get any closer than a block or two from Aika's apartment. All that could be seen from these vantage points was a fire raging out of control behind a bank of trees.

Hank and Bumbles were filthy, and stunk like burnt jet fuel. After drinking some of Leanne's wine to calm his jangled nerves, Hank stripped naked and threw his borrowed clothes into the garbage. He found the white bathrobe Leanne had loaned him yesterday, and took it and the dog into Rio's bath.

Bumbles behaved like a good boy as Hank scrubbed him from his nose to his toes. After drying the dog and giving him a mat to sit on, Hank scrubbed himself as well. Now clean and more or less over the ordeal, he refilled his glass of wine and ate some leftovers he found in the refrigerator, feeding some to Bumbles as well.

The news broadcasts playing on all the TVs began offering more information. The jet had just taken off from the airport on a nonstop flight to Tokyo before it crashed. It was owned by American United.

"Oh!" Hank exclaimed in surprise, loud enough to startle Bumbles. Leanne had information posted on the fridge stating her business flights were also with American United. Hank attacked her laptop, sitting next to him on the dining table. He searched its internet history and found websites for the airline among those most recently visited. The television also gave the doomed flight's number. He found recently visited sites on the computer bearing the same number.

He beat on the laptop until he figured out how to email Leanne.

Rio's gone and and an airplane crashed!

He paced the room in nervous circles, waiting for Leanne's response. Mercifully, it came in seconds.

Hank? What's going on? What's the problem?

A plane crashed at the airport, and I don't know where Rio is. I'm afraid she might have been on it.

Leanne didn't email back as quickly as she had the first time, and panic welled again in Hank. He felt relief when a small box opened up on the laptop bearing a still image of Leanne's face. A dialogue box also opened.

Put on the headset and talk to me.

Hank dug through the stuff on the table and found the headset. He plugged it into the laptop and opened the dialogue box. The still image of Leanne came alive.

"Calmly tell me what happened."

"Leanne? This is Hank."

"I know. I can see you. Nice outfit."

Hank looked down and closed his borrowed robe. "Where's Rio?"

"I don't know, Dear. You tell me. What's this about a plane?"

Hank couldn't contain his emotion. "Oh! I don't know what happened! A plane crashed and I'm sure everyone's dead. It was heading for Tokyo, and Rio may have been on it."

Leanne smiled professionally, hiding her concern. "Why would Rio be going to Tokyo?"

"There's luggage missing, and stuff of hers, and I found on your laptop that she looked up this flight's number, at least."

Leanne's smile grew smaller. "I don't understand…"

"Milton's been missing for days, and you saw how she stormed off this morning. Aika told me she was running away!"

"Aika? Anna's friend?"

Hank nodded, speaking more calmly. "Yes. After you left I went to Aika's and she told me Rio might leave. When I came back to your place I found some suitcases missing, and information on your laptop about the airline, and about the exact flight that crashed."

Leanne's smile disappeared. Her tan skin grew ghostly pale, in contrast to her makeup and burgundy hair. She busied herself with things off camera, like her cell phone and such.

"Hank," she said with calm urgency. "Have you seen the news?"

"Yes! They're talking about the plane!"

"Have you seen other news? International news?"

"Uh… I don't know. I don't think so. Why?"

"Planes are falling everywhere. This is the third one I've heard about today. Airports are shutting down, fearing terrorism and stuff."

"Oh God," Hank whispered under his breath.

"Look, I'm gonna get out of here. Fuck this place. I'm leaving."

"What should I do?" Hank asked, confused.

Leanne began speaking more or less to herself. "I don't care if they fire me. Zurich is still allowing flights. I'm coming home even if I have to swim the ocean to get there."

"What should I do?" Hank repeated.

Leanne couldn't resist acting coy. "Well, first you should put on some pants," she teased to relieve the tension.

"Leanne. Please."

"Get dressed and go to the airport. Tell them you're Rio's husband or brother or something."

"How will I pull that off?"

"Go in my dresser, or maybe my nightstand or desk. Find my address book. It's big and beige, and has butterflies on the cover."

"Butterflies?"

Leanne blinked at Hank's response. "Yeah. Blue ones, I think. You'll find information about Rio in it—her birthday and I.D. numbers, and past addresses and stuff. Take that crap and a photo of her, and find out if she was on that plane."

"Okay."

"Keep your phone with you at all times. I'll try calling her, and I'll call you to tell you when I'll be home."

"Uh… Leanne. I… I'm sorry. I lost my phone today."

Leanne rolled her eyes. "Jesus Christ. Well, I'll call Anna or something. Get in touch with her. And take my laptop. I can email you on it."

Hank felt ready to cry. "Okay."

Leanne switched into counselor mode. She leaned in and spoke firmly.

"Listen to me, Hank, and don't be scared. Everything will be all right. We don't know what happened, so stay calm until we learn more. You'll find what we need at the airport, so go there and report back to me."

Hank breathed hard to calm himself. "Okay."

"Get a hold of Anna, and Aika, too. You said Aika knew this would happen."

"It's like she predicted it."

"Whatever. The world is going to Hell, starting with that stupid truck that almost killed me this morning."

"I know."

"Find out what happened to Rio. I'm depending on you."

"I know. Please hurry home. We miss you very much."

"Okay. I love you, and miss you guys too."

Hank signed off and poked around Leanne's room until he found her address book. Sitting with it on the sofa, he copied the information about Rio onto a pad of paper, to help with remembering it. The television reported on where family members were being told to gather, and he wrote that down as well.

Sitting on a shelf above the television in the living room were photos in picture frames. Hank picked up a snapshot where Rio and Leanne were mugging for the camera. They appeared to be enjoying a holiday at sea. His heart leapt for the women as he clutched the photo and tried not to cry. Rio looked so happy. She was wearing fun clothes and laughing fully. Both girls held silly drinks in their hands.

"Please don't be dead," Hank begged the little Asian woman in the photo. "I'm sorry. I want to be with you."

Hank loved up Bumbles a bit and told him to guard the flat. "You stay here," Hank said. "I'm going to find Rio and bring her home."

God, at least I hope so.

Hank gathered up his information, Leanne's laptop and the photo of Rio. He put them on the dining table near the front door before heading off to get dressed. Bumbles yipped and ran in circles, wanting the door to be opened.

"Stay here," Hank said again.

He then heard the sound that had excited the dog. Keys were jangling in the hallway. He placed his ear on the door. Someone was definitely out there.

Hank heard a familiar sniffle and flung the door wide open. Broken and sobbing fully, wearing a long gray business jacket over a short pleated skirt, Rio was crying so hard that she couldn't work the lock to her apartment. A carry-on bag across her shoulder to seemed ready to drag her down. When she saw Hank in Leanne's fluffy white robe, merely standing and staring at her, laughter mixed with the flow of her tears and wracked her entire body.

He caught her before she crumbled to dust and pulled her into his arms.

The Book of PATIENCE - Chapter ONE

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