The Search

His heart raced. He was panicking. Where was it? He threw the stacks of newspapers to the floor. Nope not there. He frowned.

"When did you last have it?" It was his Mother's voice in his head.

"Well if I knew that I wouldn't be searching!" He said to the empty room.

He snapped his fingers and leaped over a stack of books on the floor. He missed the top couple and they fell into some dishes with a crash.

He cursed and stumbled to his feet. The man ran down the tiled hallway careful not to upset the tower of Rubbermaid totes. They were a rainbow. Red ones were holiday, blue was for books, yellow was for his old Lego sets. They were neatly stacked to the side.

He got to his bedroom, careful to tip toe past the dirty clothes on the floor. He got to the nightstand.

Nope, not there!

He glanced around at the bedroom. Hard to find things in this cluttered room. One day he will have to clean it up. But today, clutter would win.

As he turned to leave he caught sight of an old yearbook from High School. He gently removed it from the pile like he was playing Jenga. As he flipped through the pages he was transported to a different time. Friends forgotten, Teachers half-remembered and his first love.

Whatever happened to Lisa? He recalled her laugh, he loved making her laugh. They had first met in drama class. He can still picture them sitting on the orange carpet trying to plan out their scene.

What was he doing? This wasn't helping his search. He gently put the yearbook down as to not disturb the memories within and moved on.

Back down the tiled hallway this time slower. Something shiny caught his eye. What was that? He looked more carefully. Oh it was a red Christmas decoration. What this doing out here?

The man noticed the paint was chipped. That's easily fixed. The man went to his basement and looked through dozens of paint cans. Found the perfect red paint.

He played Michelangelo and painted the decoration. He felt pride swell in his chest. A wonderful feeling of accomplishment. He held up the newly painted decoration up to the light. It looked brand new.

The man climbed up the stairs with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. As he reached the top step a different feeling swept over the man.

Dread....what was he searching for again?