Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
Hope ya like.....
                          

                          
Chapter 8: 
                          
We drove to Dave's house in silence. I didn't want to go to my house because I would have to face my parents- they were there with Jake right now -so Dave said I could stay at his again.

We pulled up in the driveway and went inside. Dave led me up to the room I'd stayed in last time. 

"Dave?" I said once we got to the guest room. 

"Yeah?" He asked. 

"Stay with me. Please." I said. I was afraid to be alone after all that had happened. 

"We can go to my room, my bed is bigger." He told me. I nodded and he led me to his room. I ignored the sudden nervous feeling in my stomach. Why would I be nervous about sleeping in the same bed as Dave? We were only friends, it wasn't like. . . well, you know. 

It smelled like it always had: of pine. It was the air fresheners his mother put throughout the house. Every room had a different scent, and she never mixed them up. 

I sat down on Dave's bed. It was huge, almost twice as big as the king sized bed in the guest room. 

"Where do you find beds this big?" I asked Dave. 

"Ask my mother, she buys the furniture." Dave laughed. 

I yawned and crawled under the covers. "It's late." I said, "I haven't slept in two days."

"Me neither," Dave said. 

"Why didn't you sleep?" 

"I was worried about you," He told me with a small smile. I laid my head on the pillow and closed my eyes. 

"Good night." I said. 

"Night." Dave replied. 

Somehow, even in the big bed we were laying in, I ended up right next to Dave with his arms around me. I buried my face in his chest and breathed in his scent before falling asleep in his arms. 

I woke up in the morning to find Dave staring at me. 

"You know, it's rude to stare." I told him with a laugh, remembering what he'd told me the last time we'd slept in the same bed. 

"I guess I'm rude, then." Dave replied. 

"I'm hungry." 

"You're always hungry." Dave said with a smirk. 

"Oh shut up." I slapped him playfully. I sat up and looked around the room. It still smelled like pine. 

We went downstairs and Dave's mom was eating some kind of low-fat cereal that's supposed to be healthy. Dave pulled out some Cocoa Puffs. 

"Your'e going to get fat, you know, eating that stuff everyday." His mom said. 

"Oh, mom." Dave replied, rolling his eyes. 

"I'm serious! It's bad for you!" She said. 

Dave poured himself some anyways, then got a bowl out for me. 

One thing about Dave's mom is that she is a nutrition-nut, as Dave and I like to call her. She has to read every food label and count her calories so that she gets exactly two thousand a day. One time, she accidentally miscounted, and ate two thousand fifty calories that day. She went insane and had to run five miles to burn them off, then she had Dave pick her up so she wouldn't burn any extra calories by walking home and 'unbalance' her diet. 

Insane? Just a little. 

Dave and I started eating as his mom went on about her diet and how unhealthy we were. Dave tried to change the subject once, but was unsuccessful. 

Once we finished, Dave grabbed his keys. 

"Where are we going?" I asked. 

"You want to see Jake, don't you?" Dave said. 

"Oh! Yes!" I ran out to the car in the blink of an eye. I'd totally forgotten about seeing Jake. He was safe now, and I hadn't been able to talk to him since they found him. 

We drove to my house. All the while, something inside me was bugging me. I had a feeling that something was wrong. 

But what could be wrong? They found him. He's safe now. What could possibly be bugging me? 

"Dave, somethings wrong." I blurted out. Things like this I would usually tell Dave, and it just came out instinctively. 

"What's wrong?" He asked. 

"I'm not sure, I just have a bad feeling." I said. Dave didn't reply. 

We rode in silence the rest of the way. The whole time, something was itching at my brain, warning me of something. 

When we got there, I should've expected to see the police car, the flashing lights, the caution tape.  But somehow it took me by surprise and my heart started pounding in my chest like a loud drum. I thought it was going to beat right out of my chest any second. 

"What's going on?" I asked, to no one in particular, since Dave was the only one there. I just asked it because I needed the answer. I needed to know that Jake was still safe. 

Dave parked across the street. I got out slowly, cautiously. Almost like something was going to attack me when my feet touched the cement. But nothing did, so we walked up to the house. 

I opened the door to find my parents sitting in the living room, chatting with the police officer. 

"What's going on?" I asked. My mother stood up and walked over to me. 

"Come outside. I need to speak with you privately." She said, grabbing my arm. 

"Don't touch me." I shook her off. "Where's Jake?" I demanded, refusing to step outside with her. Dave stayed behind me, unsure of what to do. I looked around the room at the officer, and my dad. There was no sign of Jake. 

"That's what I need to speak to you about." She said. Because it was about Jake, and because Dave was poking me in the back and telling me not to object, I stepped outside with her. Dave waited inside by the door. 

"Where is he?" I said angrily. 

"Honey, Jake's-" 

"Don't call me honey!" I snapped at her. She stared at me, surprised. 

"Erica, I can call you what I want to. You're my daughter, after all." She smiled. I frowned. 

"You have no right to call me your daughter." I said. "Where is Jake? I need to speak with him."

"Jake isn't here." She said. She didn't look sad at all, so I assumed she knew where he was. 

"Well where is he?" I demanded, a bit louder than I expected it would come out. 

"Jake is missing, he was gone when we got up this morning. There was a note, but the officer took it as evidence." She said. 

I felt the world slow down around me. Jake. Gone. Missing. Again. 

"He's gone?!" I shouted incredulously, grasping the door handle so I wouldn't fall down. The world was turning into a blur. 

"Yes." Was all my mother said before she pushed me to the side and went into the house. 

I fell to the ground. 

Jake was gone. Kidnapped again. But he was just here! I'd just gotten him back! Yet he's slipped away again. Disappeared. Taken out of my grasp. I hadn't even been able to speak to him! 

The tears slid down my face. I was vaguely aware of Dave saying my name, holding my hand, hugging me, trying everything to comfort me. But nothing could comfort me now. Nothing but Jake. But Jake was gone again. And this time I was afraid he'd never be back. 

Then something snapped in my brain. My mother had said something about a note. The tears stopped for a moment. I stood up and opened the door to the house. 

"Where is it?" I said. "The note?" 

"I have it, it's evidence." The officer told me. 

"I want to see it." I said. 

"I can't allow that, it's-" 

"I want to see it!" I said, louder this time. 

"Ma'am, I-" 

"I want to see it!!" I nearly shouted. 

"Okay!" The officer said, pulling something from his pocket. "Just for a moment." 

I nearly ripped the note from his hand. I stepped outside. I didn't want my parents to see me cry in case the tears started flowing. 

It was in a bag, and I pulled it out. I unfolded it with shaking fingers, then read it. It was addressed to me. 


Erica, 

You know the place I want you to meet. Tonight. This time will be different. This time, there will be no escaping. Be there, or he'll be dead. 


I stared down at the paper in horror. I felt like I was reliving the moment when we found the first note. But this time there were no tears. This time there was only anger. 

What did this person want from me? Last time, they tried to kidnap me. What was the point in all this? Who was this person? This evil, cruel, sick person. 

Dave was reading the note, too. When he finished, he looked at me. 

Going to the alley tonight meant I might never see light again. Going to the alley meant I might take my last breath. Going to the alley meant a lot of things, but mostly it meant saving Jake. 

"You can't go." 

"Dave, please don't-"

"You know how this is going to end." He said. I sighed in defeat. 

"Okay." I said. 

I folded the paper back up and stuffed it in the bag. I opened the door and stepped inside to hand it to the officer. It meant nothing to them, they didn't know what it was talking about. 

Before I left, I stared at them. My parents, the officer. Here they all were, chatting and laughing like nothing had happened. But their son was gone, a child could be killed. I could be dead by tomorrow. 

They didn't seem to care. 

I slammed the front door and stormed out to Dave's truck.