Mayday, mayday

This is an emergency

Mayday, mayday

You've gotta let me leave

I'm laying here, inches away

But you can't hear me call mayday, yeah, yeah

------------------------

(Kristina's P.O.V.)

Matt smiles at me as he shuts the hotel room door. He gently grabs my hand as we walk towards the elevator and I couldn't hide the smile on my face. Maybe it's because he is my first relationship or he makes me feel amazing or he's just so awesome, but no matter what, there's always something new I'm learning about him. No one could hurt me when he's by my side. No one could bother me, find me, or even track my steps if they want to with Matt by my side.

The elevator stops on the first floor and we step out together. Matt then signals for me to follow him out into the warm Tampa night. The hotel doors shut behind us as a golden sunset begins to put on a show as the stars start to twinkle all over the horizon. I look up at the stars as Matt leads me towards the outlets.

"I didn't think Tampa could be more beautiful," I mumble to myself.

Matt replies, "It will look better soon though."

I laugh as we cross the street and walk through Tampa. About fifteen minutes into our walk, we arrive at the outlets in Tampa. I start to look around at some of the stores and restaurant as Matt asks me, "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm just amazed that these stores and restaurants reflect Tampa's culture."

Matt laughs, "I forgot for a moment you aren't from here. Okay, where do you want to go?"

"Wherever you want to go, Matt."

He looks at a sign for a pizzeria: 'Fabrica Pizza' and asks, "Does that sound good to you, Kristina?"

"Yes," I reply.

We walk into the small restaurant and sit immediately. Matt quickly glances over the menu but places it down as he looks at me. I look over the menu, and I ask Matt, "What are you going to get?"

He smirks and replies, "My usual."

I laugh a little bit, "Okay. I'll just order whatever I find on here then."

Our waiter approaches us and starts to tell us about their daily specials. After he gives the daily specials, Matt orders a water and I do as well. The waiter nods and walks away to put the drink order in their system. He comes back with two waters and asks, "What would you like to order?"

Matt replies, "I'll have the footlong meatball parmesan sandwich with provolone cheese on it."

The wait jots down his order and looks at me as I ask, "Can I do two slices of pizza with meatball on them?"

He nods and walks away. Matt looks at me and asks, "Wait, you like meat?"

"Yes."

He laughs and blushes a little, "Please don't kill me, but I thought all girls ate rabbit food. Salad, fruit, stuff like that."

I laugh, "Alright. Let's get something straight here: salad is the absolute worst thing on this planet. Fruit depends on the day and where I get it from. Why did you think that?"

Matt sighs, "Well, just uhhhhh past relationships, you know?"

"Ah, gotcha."

"So, I never got to ask you...well anything about yourself. I mean, the deep stuff like favorite color matters, but who are you?"

"What do you mean Matt?"

"Maybe it's too soon to ask you, but what's your story?"

I close my eyes, my heart pounds as I think Is this normal? I can't breathe and why me?

Once I calm down with a deep breath I begin, "I mean, I lived as normal as a life as I could. My family, we moved from place to place. It was just a part of the family business. I met Evelyna, my friend, here in Tampa, through writing."

Matt looks at me, "I...wow that's awesome!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, way better than staying in a single town to grow up."

I laugh at Matt, "You grew up in Canada though!"

He retorts, "True, but you grew up in America though."

"Noted," I laugh as the waiter brings out some rolls and butter for us to munch on. We both reach for a roll but grab the same roll.

Matt lets go of the roll and I place it on my plate. We both laugh as he grabs another roll from the basket. I unwrap my silverware, grab a packet of butter, unwrap the butter, take my knife and place it in the butter. The butter eventually ends up on my roll and Matt's smile is the widest it has ever been.

"What's so funny?" I ask him.

"Nothing, I just realized something."

"What did you realize?"

Matt looks at me, "This is a dream come true."

I smile back at him as the waiter brings out our food, and wow! I am blown away by the huge portions. My two slices are covered in meatball slices and I couldn't believe it. I take a bite of the first slice, and it feels like I'm in heaven.

It's weird, maybe it is the food or the environment or...forget it. I am so happy to be here with Matt. Happy barely describes my feelings right now. Bliss could be somewhat close, but it feels like I'm flying. I don't feel anything and nothing else matters in the world other than Matt.

"Kristina, you okay? You seem lost..." Matt looks at me.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I was lost in thought, sorry about that Matt."

He laughs, "You're fine. I was worried the pizza was too much for you."

"Not at all. It's delicious."

I eat my final bite of the first slice and begin the second slice. Matt chuckles a little bit to himself, and he returns to eating the monster sub. We both finish our meals and the waiter brings the check. I grab it from the end of the table as Matt gawks at me, "I thought I was supposed to pay for the first date..."

I smirk, "I like to mix things up a little. I got tonight."

He looks at me, "Oookay?"

I pay for dinner and we walk out of the restaurant as the lights shine from Tampa. I look up at Matt and smile as his hazel-blue eyes reflect all of Tampa's beauty in them. There are plenty more mysteries, sure, that I don't know about with Matt. I want to get to know him better though.

"So, Matt can I ask you a question?"

He laughs as we begin to make our way towards a fountain in the middle of the outlets, "What's up?"

"What is one thing that I should know about you?"

"What do you mean, Kristina?"

"I don't know. What's just one thing that's really important to you?"

As we reach the fountain and sit down near it, he grabs my hand and replies, "Probably that playing in the NHL has been my dream since I can remember. You?"

"Hmmm, I guess the one thing someone needs to know about me is that I care a lot about my family. That doesn't include my biological family though, it can include friends as well."

"That's awesome!" Matt exclaims as we look into the dancing waters of the fountain.

The water dances up and down in all sorts of colors: red, green, yellow, blue, orange, purple, and so many more. It's funny they almost look like fireworks. They shoot so high with the music in the background. Some of the songs I recognize, but others I do not. Matt has a small smile on his face along with some redness.

"You doing okay, Matt?"

He nods, "Anywhere else you want to go?"

"Anywhere with you right now works for me."

He hugs my body as we continue to gaze at the fountain. After the water settles down, he slowly gets up and leads me around the outlets. Matt tells me, "Let me know if you see a store that's interesting."

I laugh, "I'm just happy to be with you."

He smiles as he sees a sports store, "I found the store we need to go into!"

"I was just going to say a sports store! It's like you know," I playfully retort.

We enter the store, and for the offseason, that store sure has a lot of Lightning gear. Shirts, stickers, hats, and more stock the shelves of the little store. Not only do they have Bolts gear, but they also have some gear for the Syracuse Crunch as well.

I start to wander around towards the Bolts' gear, and I smile when I see the shirts of players currently on Tampa's roster. I walk over to the Crunch's section next and see if they have a certain shirt of one of my favorite players. Sure enough, they did have good old number 22 with 'PECA' on the back of it. I secretly grab the shirt, a Crunch ballcap, a Tampa Bay Lightning journal, and a Crunch hooded sweatshirt and go to the cash register. Matt is standing outside of the store waiting for me to finish up. I pay for everything and the cashier hands me my new Bolts and Crunch merchandise and I walk out the door.

"Matt, where did you go?" I call out.

No one replies. I quickly pull out my phone and call his number. He doesn't answer, and I call him again. Sirens start ringing out around the outlets as I mumble, "We can't go on a normal date now, can we?"

Police start to swarm around me and two members come up to me almost screaming, "She was the last one seen with him!!"

"I'm trying to look for my friend right now!"

A woman police officer comes up to me and sternly asks, "Were you the last person with Matthew Peca?"

"Yes Ma'am," I reply.

"When did you last see him?"

I look at my phone, "No more than ten minutes ago. He walked out of the store I was in while I was browsing. When I was checking out of the store, I saw him right outside the window. As soon as I glance down, he's gone. I thought he wandered off somewhere, but I don't know where he is. Please, you've gotta believe me!"

"Calm down Ms... You're going to be okay. Do you have proof of your purchases?"

I grab the receipt from the bag, "It's right here."

She looks it over, "You didn't hear him struggle or anything?"

"No Ma'am," and I start to look around the area.

Nothing unusual, no signs of fighting, just a whole lot of nothing. I needed to know if he is okay or not now, and then I can form a plan from there.

"Do you know where he is staying at in Tampa?"

"Yes Ma'am, he's actually staying right across the room from me in the hotel closest to Amalie Arena. I don't know where he is!"

She escorts me to the patrol car and I get in the back door. As soon as the back door slams shut, the sirens start to blare as we race towards the hotel. Three tense, long minutes later, I feel the police car slowing down as I see the front doors of the hotel. The officer opens the car door and we walk inside the building.

I thought the car ride was tense? Imagine having three to five police officers surrounding you in a small, moving room as you wait for it to stop. The elevator takes forever to reach the fifth floor, and as soon as it does, I bolt to Room 5543 and try to push the door open. Tye answers the door, "Yes?"

"Have you heard from Matt lately?"

"No, I thought he was with you!"

"Son of a--"

The police come charging into the room and Tye looks at me in shock, "What the hell?"

"Matt went missing."

"Are you sure he didn't wander off to the bathroom or something?"

I glare at Tye, "He hasn't been picking up his phone or anything! And not ever two minutes after checking out, the police were swarming the area as if it was free doughnut day or something!"

Tye takes a deep breath, "Wait, what happened?"

"Matt and I walked into a sports store side by side. I walked towards the Bolts stuff and when I went to go check out, he was standing outsi...."

"Outside, you mean?" Tye asks.

"Wait a minute, what if someone took him inside the store and an imposter was sent outside to stand guard. That would explain why the police came so quickly. He's been gone...I'm the worst!"

I storm out of the room back to my hotel room, and as soon as I open the door, Shannon looks at me along with Evelyna.

"Are you okay?" Shannon asks.

"Matt's gone."

"Gone as in?"

"Something happened to him and I don't know who did it."

----------

(Matt's P.O.V.)

I could barely remember walking to the sports store with her. It feels like I am wobbly the whole time. Everything spins, and when we move away from the fountains to the store, I could barely remember that.

Kristina walks into the store and I follow behind her. I feel sick and I look around for somewhere to sit down for a moment. My vision continues to blur as I look around the store for her. I see her by what looks like to be Lightning merchandise, but the bright lights in the store bother me even more.

"I'll be right back!" I say.

I walk outside the store as she continues to look around, oblivious to the world and what evils it holds.

"Our plan's going wonderfully, wouldn't you say so?"

I look around behind me, but someone gags me. Foam starts to cover my mouth and the rest is a black blur. I can pick up voices though, just a few scattered ones here and there.

"Oh my god! Someone was just kidnapped!"

"Call the police!"

"They won't find you where you're going."

I feel nothing. Everything begins to drown out and blend together as one more thought crosses my mind before I blackout.

Is she okay?

------------    

Woooo!  Chapter 9 is where all of the drama begins!  I hope to have one more chapter up this week, but know that I will hopefully be writing a ton of imagines in my other book.  Hope everyone has a lovely week!