Cabin Fears – Chapter 7: Worry

Day 2 – Tuesday

Chase walks back to the house, opening the door before heading inside. He leans back against the door after closing it, slowly kicking his shoes off.

“When they said you went for a walk, I didn’t think it’d be four hours till you made it back to the house,” Chase hears from the front room, catching his attention to be pegged. “I was about to come looking for you.” He then walks down the short hall, glancing into the room and a small smile forms on his face.

“I needed some time to clear my head and get my thoughts in order,” he answers back as the face simply smiles in return. It was why he made the decision to come over after the latest text from Dale.

“Understandably, as hearing that Randy is behind everything. Do you want to talk?” Chase glances down before glancing up and shaking his head. While it had helped to talk to Regan in the past about his feelings, it didn’t seem like that’d work this time.

“The only thing that’d make me feel better is getting her back in my arms, Regan.” Regan shook his head, understanding.

“You know, I know what you’re feeling – in a small way, of course. It’s kind of the unease, uncertainty, fear, and worry that I remember going through myself when I heard you were missing. Your mind wants to make theories based on the photos that you’ve seen. Your mind begins to try and guess what’s going on with her based on your own history, and based on past events. Your mind tries to piece together this maze when reality, it could be the complete opposite. It’s the fear of your theories that drives you crazy beyond anything.” Chase slowly shakes his head yes as he leans back against the wall.

“When I saw the note that she was missing, there wasn’t much on theories because of the ransom writing. Then when I saw Demi last night, I found myself running a movie in my head of everything that I went through with her. Now since seeing the photo and knowing Randy is involved, I replayed both times that I was with him in my head, even having a shiver escape me. Do you know long it’s been since I’ve felt that?” Regan shakes his head in disbelief, as his heart breaks. He knew how much work it took for Chase to work through everything that happened, from the conversations with friends to the hard work put in with nightmare therapy. Now to see all that coming back in the span of 24 hours of Alyssa been missing, it just didn’t seem fair. Why was everything coming back now?

“You know, it seems such a coincidence that Demi shows up in town when she did. I’m wondering why she didn’t just kidnap you herself that night.” Chase shakes his head as he remembers the conversation they had back and forth. He also found himself reminded of the conversation in Rick’s office a couple weeks after the events in Canada.

“She probably didn’t think she could handle doing that, given how strong and attitude that I showed her. Remember – she never had to physically do anything before, just put in the right spot for Randy. Besides, she said that she came to town before the cops called her for questions and she did go there after the mee-”

“What about the mystery package? She could still be involved in an ‘informant’ way which was her original role, as you recall.” Chase shakes his head no as he opens up his text messages, bringing up what Dale sent him about two hours ago and showing Regan.

“We tried that theory already, but the finger prints on the package don’t match her. They match someone else, and that someone just so happens to not be in the database.” Regan then thinks it over. He knew talking about the feelings wouldn’t ease Chase, but answers to questions could help.

“So let’s put this together. Someone is the ‘informant’ and dropping packages off throughout the area. Randy has Alyssa, but nobody knows where. Then there’s Demi, where she may have a hand in it but doesn’t appear to so far. Now if we could catch the package drop off, we could catch the informant and lead us to Randy.” Chase shakes his head yes as he finally moves away from the wall and sits on the couch.

“The problem is we never have any idea as to when the package will get dropped off. They have just shown up as surprise, if you will. They also know scheduling well as recall the time chosen to go to JR Motorsports – 5am, middle of the night, fully masked, no secur-”

“Please tell me that’s been chan-”

“Dale has a request in, and they’re working on it as they say.” Regan rolls his eyes as he had heard those words before and knew that it usually meant highly unlikely for some odd reason. “It seems we’re pulling their department thin in having protection arranged for myself, Dale, Marie, Elsa, Kelley Jeff, and other key officia-”

“Do they not realize the seriousness of the fact someone went missing and that they’re in danger, and what these people are capable of?” Chase shakes his head.

“Trust me, we’ve been over it with them multiple times. Hence why we’re continuing to push them to their limits.” While Regan had hoped to find some answers, he found himself sitting there empty handed based on the information at hand.

“Well, let’s hope that everybody’s continued efforts pay off and soon. In the meanwhile, if you need someone to talk to or anything, the same rules apply as they always have. I’m here to help you.” Chase shakes his head, accepting. Regan was one of those people he was glad to have in his corner as Regan always pushed the boundaries to help him get the warranted answers to relaxation.

“As always, I appreciate it. I just hope that Marie and Dale aren’t tearing themselves completely apart.” Regan lets out a sigh, having visited them while waiting for Chase’s return from his walk.

“Marie is….well, how this usually goes. She’s an emotional mess and it’s taking a combination effort to help her out, on the part of Karsyn, Kennedy, Megan and Kelley. Dale, though, is more in a solid state – on the surface, at least. You can damn well tell he’s worried, but he’s taking the right steps in trying to find his daughter the best way possible while handling emotions as he needs to. He’s got his people – Jeff, Rick, couple others – so I don’t worry about him. Through all that, L.W. is running day-to-day at JR Motorsports effective immediately till this is cleared up.” Chase shakes his head, accepting. It wasn’t the best situation, but it wasn’t the worst way of handling it.

“Well, I guess that’s not too bad. How about Elsa?” Regan shrugs his shoulders.

“What else can you expect from a teenager? She’s damn tooten worried about her sister in a big way with tear moments and fear moments. I’d say its typical behavior for her age. Karsyn and Kennedy are also helping there, too.” Chase shakes his head, in agreement.

“Jeff told me that I don’t need to worry about anything racing related till this gets sorted out. He also wants to be kept in the loop, for a personal standpoint.” Regan could see that, given how close Jeff was to Dale and Chase.

“You know, it’s strange to see Jeff and Marshall (Carlson) running most of the operation for Rick on a day-to-day basis. I mean, I could see it based on Jeff taking an early piece of ownership and his savyness, but it just seems weird to actually see with our own eyes.”

“Just imagine hearing the boss wants to see you, and realizing that is Jeff Gordon – the guy you had posters of on the walls of the bedsroom, partly looked up to, and at one point took over his ride.” Regan shakes his head.

“To be honest, it’d just seem weird especially when you’d be expecting to see Rick there. So does that mean that he can pull things over your head, easier?” Chase laughs and shakes his head no.

“Although, you know me….” Regan shakes his head with a small laugh.

“Nothing has changed about you at all, to be honest. You’re still the quick respecting little brat that you were when we were teammates.” Chase smiles as he was glad he had managed to keep himself grounded, despite the success experienced through the years. “Now the strange part, though, has to be having Genieve and Ella as teammates?” Chase shakes his head yes.

“That’s just as strange because I can remember going to the track to race, and watching them play around with jokes and laughter during pre-race. Sometimes when I go to talk to them in our weekly meetings, I still want to treat them like the little kids they were then, but I have to remember they’re adults now.” Regan shakes his head in agreement as he goes to stand up.

“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind the kiddie reminders here and there. Anyways, I have to go as I need to make a meeting. So I will see you later, but remember that I’m just a text or phone call away.” Chase shakes his head yes as a small smile forms on his face.

“I appreciate it…and Regan, thank you. This discussion was nice.” Regan looks back with a smile.

“I knew a small distraction would help your mind. See ya later.” Regan then heads out of the house as Chase’s eyes drop back on the phone in his hands. Hopefully it’d be ringing with good news soon.