<div class="floatleft">(http://i43.tinypic.com/2aif2na.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Alexander Emerson</strong></span><br/><em>Murphy's Tavern<br/>Day one - Night<br/><span class="bbc_u">Tag</span>: open</em><br/><br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/>'What an absolute nutcase, she is.' Alex had been following Dianna for over three weeks. When she first left Texas she drove to the East. Cris-crossing up and down Arkansas and Missouri. Alex took to memory as he kept a close eye on her. She used to play hide and seek in the woods with him when they were children. He would spend hours trying to find her. For years, he had called her a cheater. When she got old enough to explain herself, he found out that she had just been moving from place to place, quietly. she would wait in total silence, and then move. the concept wasn't difficult to fathom. It was simply that she was particularly gifted at moving without being noticed.<br/><br/>At the fragile age of Twenty-one, his sister appeared to practice the same technique that she used as so long ago. She would stay in one place for only two or three hours at a time, and then move. Back and forth, from city to city, state to state, 'SHE has no direction!' After six days on the road, Alex could no longer remember what state he was in. He had dreams of crossing county lines, low valley's, rivers, and high plateau's. He hardly slept. If he had lost her for only one minute, she would be gone forever. His confidence was focused onto his own doubt. 'I couldn't find her when she was three, how in the hell could i find her when she's twenty-one.'<br/><br/>The worst had been realized on the 923 at around one a.m. the night before. She'd parked her car, presumably to sleep, on the side of the road. Her brother was forced to drive by the Honda to hide himself. He parked off of the road and backtracked to keep an eye on her from the middle of the desert off of the highway. She never caught her presence for a moment, but alas, Alex's exhaustion had finally beaten him. He fell to sleep for over ten hours. In a sudden flurry, he woke up alone in the dirt with the sun on his face. 'How in the hell did I sleep through that?' The weather was cracking his skin, it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon. Dianna's car was gone and the earth sank away from underneath him.<br/><br/>His eyeglasses were gripped in his left hand, hair mistreated, suit jacket still on the ground. His shirt was speckled with white truth, most of it though had been stained in dirt over his slumber. Unable to truly understand his own flaws, Alexander screamed into the desert, angry with himself, and frustrated by his free-spirited sister. His words meant nothing, they were long unspoken sentences that he had rehearsed. 'Dianna was a brat.' - 'So selfish, she has trouble seeing that when the sun is gone, other people can see it.' - 'you're supposed to be my sister, you can't trust me!'<br/><br/>His shouting was irony displaying itself. Alexander was being selfish, and he didn't believe that she would ever come home. He'd lost her in his sleep, and he'd always been the whining babe of the two siblings.<br/><br/>The desert land that he found himself on welcomed only the sound of distance caws, and the hum of an engine reverberating off of the canyon walls. The sound could have been fifty miles away. His tears couldn't come, as much as he wanted them to. Unable to admit it, Alex was only half of a man without Dianna. She kept him honest, she kept him motivated. For so long, his only real purpose was to be a good man so that she would hope to reflect that. His friends used to bust his shit, how much he cared about his social appearance. 'you're worse than the cheerleaders, Alex.' He used to wear suits in high school as well. Everyone was supposed to think him mature, kindly, warm-hearted, and handsome. 'She ran away from the whole family.' He reminded himself. 'Not just you, dad and mom too.'<br/><br/>He was sure that he'd lost her. 'But I'm not giving up.'<br/><br/>Alex was an optimist, a disgusting one at that. He was rather sure that he was close to the grand canyon. However, once he made his way back to the car and down county road 923, he found out exactly how wrong he was.<br/><br/><hr/><strong>Later that Night</strong><br/><br/>Mr. Emerson had been in a black Elantra from 2003. The glossy paint job was covered with dust and mud. It parked in front of the Tavern, Alex had arrived late. Most of the night had been spent driving around Reedland for his sister. Her car was parked in front of Grocery store, right in the heart of the town. 'She hasn't left her Honda alone since she's left.' He wasn't worried about her when he'd first found the car. Now, several hours after that initial reaction, he was terrified. The time had come to make himself public. Dianna had vanished. The tavern was the most likely place she could be at. But, there was a feeling in his gut, 'this town feels like a graveyard.'<br/><br/>He'd covered his dirty shirt with his coat, but only because the night air had welcomed a chilly wind.<br/><br/>As he pushed himself up the steps to the Tavern, he stretched his back and rubbed his eyes. He hoped to find her here, or maybe run into some one that had seen her. Of course, he wasn't sure what he would do if she was. He only knew that he wanted a bed to sleep in. The front seat of his Elantra was the only place he'd managed to fall asleep in for the whole 'trip.' Unfortunately, four of those times, he had been driving. Fortunately, it hadn't killed him yet. He didn't feel like pushing his luck. He knew that Dianna was close. If he had really lost her in this town, some one would have to know where she'd gone.<br/><br/>The front entrance jerked itself open and Alexander felt like a man of the old west. The way that the doors swung, the style of the dining area, the old wooden staircase, and the southern drawal that slipped off of every hard surface and ceiling tile. 'What is it about these cowboy states that ended up being more southern than the south? The accents are gone, the people are smarter, some how. They all ended up with a distinct southern charm.' Unable to focus on much at all, even his inner-conjectures were unimportant to him now. He leaned his elbows against the check out counter, and May greeted him with a soft spot in her heart. Alexander was only half handsome at the time. His tie was loose, the shirt under is coat was still dusty, hair still a mess. It didn't bother the old spirited woman. It glasses were straight enough...<br/><br/>"Evening young man. You look like your lost." She smiled at her own joke and Alexander couldn't help but smile back. She was kind, and her moods were noticeably contagious. "our rooms are either two twin siz-"<br/><br/>"I'm not sure if I'll be staying here tonight." His feet screamed at him for that. The soar sections of his spine only inflamed with hot needles as he put more of his weight on the counter. "I may stop for some food, and...a... drink, but-" Alexander didn't drink anymore. He stood up straight to explain himself "But, I'm looking for my sister. Did a young woman named Dianna Emerson come through the Tavern at all today?"<br/><br/>May racked her brain to try and recall all of the girls that had strolled through. Alexander gave a brief description: "She's got dark skin, and hair, about this high." His right hand was elevated to the point of his own right shoulder. "She is very sociable, you would have remembered if she came in."<br/><br/>May nodded. "I see. No, I don't recall anyone like that. I'm sorry." Her apology was unneeded. Alexander didn't respect it, and waved his hand at her instead of acknowledging her with words.<br/><br/>"I'm gonna see what's on the menu. Now, it's late are you still serving food?" He was leaning away from her now, making way towards the dining room that still seemed about half full of customers. Young Mr. Emerson was entirely too tired to take notice of anyone besides the obvious waitress, a tiny little thing, brunette, not too different in appearance from Dianna. His thirsty pallet guided this attention, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary about Aryanna. He didn't even realize how adorable she was, or how beautiful she would obviously become.<br/><br/>"Of course, go ahead and take a seat, Aryanna will be with you at any moment." May hardly had any business with him, but the sight of his exhaustion and the power of his motivations worried her. "And I wish you the best of luck with your search. I'm sure Dianna's a very lucky lady to have a man like you chasing after her.<br/><br/>He smiled, flattered by the old woman, "She's my sister, but thank you." They separated and Alexander took a seat halfway in-between the fireplace and the bar. He leaned back, putting all of his weight on his buttocks. Calmly, he shook his head. Losing control of his own consciousness again, his eye lids closed without his permission. He was hardly the kind of man to fall asleep in the middle of a public place. Then again, this goose chase had led him to learn plenty of other things about himself that he never once had known about.<br/><br/>His breathe sank low, but he stayed awake, the warm smells of food and perfume kept him interested, and mentally engaged.