The Elementalist

Gracie Weiss- Los Angeles, California

12:20 am PST

Gracie's mouth went dry, and her heart skipped a beat before it started to pound hard and fast in her chest. Her whole body was tense, and she looked between the three of them before she looked solely at Jim. "What is going on, Jim?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Who are they?" She gestured toward the men that were sitting on her couch.

Jim hesitated and looked at them before he looked at her, and her eyes grew sadder while he looked at her. "They're friends, Grace," he said and tucked his head closer to his chest. "Please, go ahead and sit down in that chair. We have a few minutes before y-"

A phone rang, interrupting Jim from finishing his sentence. He bit back an annoyed sigh and looked at one of the men, who looked very sheepish but didn't seem to take the phone out of his pocket. "Go ahead and take the phone out of your pocket so that you can give it to her. He doesn't like to wait too long."

The man hesitated but did what he was told to do and reached for the phone that continued to ring. He bowed his head and held it out for Gracie to take, but Gracie didn't move toward him or the phone.

Jim licked his lips and looked at the phone before he looked at her. Pain and sadness filled his eyes while he studied her as if he knew what was going on through the young female's head after they had worked with each other for so long.

"Go ahead, and take the phone from him, Grace," he said, with a small hum in his voice, and he tucked his head closer to his chest while a smile appeared on his face. "It's fine and safe. I promise."

Gracie hesitated before she started to walk toward the man with the phone in his hand. She didn't say a word and stopped in front of him before she took the phone from that man. She looked at Jim and did not answer it, even though he said it was safe for her to do so.

Her eyes were wide and filled with fear, and her mouth became dry. It felt as if she had swallowed a ton of sand when she didn't.

Was he sure that this was going to be ok..?

"I am sure that it is ok, Gracie," Jim said and nodded in confirmation to her silent question. "Go ahead and answer the phone call. You will be safe and will learn about something that I can't talk to you about until you are done with that." He gestured toward the phone in her hands, and Gracie frowned and narrowed her eyes while she studied him.

Finally, Gracie bit back a tired sigh and slowly nodded, releting. She didn't say a word and walked over to the other chair and sat down in the chair, and the phone continued to ring. She hesitated and licked her lips before she answered the call and placed the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper while she furrowed her brows, cocking her head to the side. "Who's this? What's going on?"

"If this is Gracie Weiss, please, press four," a robotic voice said as soon as she said something, and Gracie narrowed her eyes and looked at Jim with a small scowl on her face.

"What is this, Jim?" she asked, and Jim raised an eyebrow in question while he waited for her to say something else. "This robotic voice wants me to press four."

"Please, press four," the robotic voice said in her ear.

"Then go ahead and press four," Jim said and nodded, biting back a small smile. "You are supposed to hear someone else after you press the number."

Gracie hesitated before she slowly nodded. She pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed four before she placed the phone back to her ear, hoping that she would be able to have her questions answered soon.