What She Knew

What She Knew

Jenita Bonisa

What if a simple confession saved a life? Will Ellie make the right choice in time?

What She Knew

Jenita Bonisa A Quick Read

Part One

Acknowledgments

To all the people in my life who influenced the characters in this book. To my niece Iliana Collado, who is my writing buddy. Her love for writing inspires me. To my other niece Mariella Collado, who read the manuscript and gave me a thumbs up. I am forever grateful for their continued support.

Prologue

“I think this might be it for me in my lifetime. He took me into a random room. It's very cold and something tells me I will not be going home tonight,” Rachel said to herself when she started to awaken.

She lay there on the bed feeling like she had been hit by a train. Her head was throbbing, and her mouth was dry. Whatever she had just eaten felt like it was making its way back up. She could hear what she thought was arguing behind the closed door. Though she could not make out what they were saying or arguing about. The sound reminded her of watching Charlie Brown with her parents, which made her even more anxious about where she was. But where was she? What happened to her? The last thing she remembered was, what did she remember? It felt like her eyes were in charge at the moment. They kept closing when all she wanted to do was stay awake and figure out where she was. She could not remember much, but she had the distinct feeling that she was in imminent danger and needed to get out of there.

The voices quieted, and she wondered where they went. Were they coming in for her? She was very still so that she could hear what was outside the door. When she thought they were no longer in the hallway outside her door, she tried rolling over and out of bed, but it felt like her limbs were heavy bricks. How would she be able to get out of here if she couldn't move? If only she could just remember where she was and why she was in this room. She knew she had to calm herself down so that she could think rationally. She didn't want to start panicking and screaming like they did in the movies only for the perpetrator to get upset and hurt them even more. No, she needed to gather more information before she reacted. She decided to practice her breathing technique that her health and wellness teacher taught the class. She inhaled a slow deep breath, held it in for five seconds, and then slowly released it. She did this several times as she closed her eyes and tried to remember.

Moments later, she started to regain a glimpse of the night's events. She was at a party, there was dancing, kids were drinking, and people were everywhere. She remembered having a fruit punch. As if a movie was playing in her mind, she suddenly remembered it all. She tried to sit up in bed but then realized it wasn't that her limbs were heavy bricks, no, she couldn't move because all four of her limbs were tied to the four-post bed. In terror, she realized why she was here. He had knocked her out when she was trying to escape. She panicked as she realized that she was in danger. No matter what happened next, she knew that she had to find a way out before it was too late.

Charlie Chapter One

She walked out the door in great anticipation. Her heart was thumping, and she could hardly breathe. All she knew was that she was holding Mason Lattimer's hand as he escorted her to his car. She barely made it through the "meet and greet" her parents had insisted on earlier that day before she could leave with him. It was the most grueling half hour one could imagine. Her mom kept smiling, while her dad kept drilling him with questions. Ingram, her 5-year-old little brother, kept running towards him and yelling, boo. It was so embarrassing that she thought she would sweat through her shirt.

But she made it through that awful display of family time and now she was ready to spend an entire hour and a half out with the cutest boy in school. She had just had her 17th birthday, which was the age her parents allowed her to start dating, not without limitations though. She could only spend at most an hour and a half alone with him at a time. She was not sure what the time limit was about, whatever her parents thought could or could not happen within an hour and a half would happen if she wanted it to. We all know what her parents were trying to avoid, but setting a time limit was few-tul. However, she appreciated her parents' efforts in trying to keep her safe. She wished they trusted her to make good decisions and stopped putting so many obstacles in the way of her happiness and allowed her to grow up. But she could not think about this right now she was happy to be spending time alone with Mason. She had dreamt of this moment for a long time, and she could not believe it was finally here. As if on cue, Mason nudged her.

“Charlene, are you ready?” Mason asked her.

She hated that name, her mom named her Charlene after her favorite great aunt. She said that the name was special and that she would be blessed with this name. Seeing that she could not protest and request a name change, she gave herself the nickname, Charlie. Yes, to her, Charlie West sounded so much better than Charlene Elizabeth West. So now people, save for her parents, call her Charlie.

“Why are you calling me Charlene? You know I hate that name?” she looked at Mason with his curly dark hair and his dark eyes, his wayward smile, and her heart melted. She loved the way his skin looked like freshly made creamy caramel candy. At this point he could call her anything he wanted.

“Sorry, Charlie,” he slowly pronounced her name. “You looked a million miles away. I needed something to get your attention.”

“Well, you got it, yes, I am ready. Let's go, we only have a little time, so we need to make the most of it.”

"Oh, I am sure that we can be a little late."

“No. No we can't, they will not let me out of the house again if we are. I need them to trust me so that...”

She stopped mid-sentence. She was not sure if it was okay to tell him how much she wanted to do this again. If she finished her sentence, it would be presumptuous of her to think that there would be a second date.

“I just want to earn their trust so that I can do more than take Ingram to his playdates, and for ice cream. Once I save up for a car, I want to be able to go to more places on my own. If I am late today, my chances of getting out of the house will be extinct.”

“Well, you are the perfect child, aren't you? Do you do all of your chores and make minimal noise at home as well?”

Mason opened the door to the driver's side of the car and slid in as he made fun of her. He winked at her, and she smiled.

“I am not perfect, I am smart. While you keep getting grounded, I will be free to do what I want.”

"Oh, I don't get grounded. My parents have to be home for that." She laughed out loud, climbed into his car, and buckled her seat belt.

She noticed him as he shook his head and ran his hands along the steering wheel looking around his car admiring the red leather seats his parents recently had installed.

“Am I included in the, 'do whatever you want to do?' He leaned his head towards her and looked directly into her eyes and asked fictitiously.

As she stared back at him it felt like there was a roller coaster in her belly. Her hands started to shake and sweat so much that she had to wipe them on her jeans. Was Mason Lattimer about to kiss her? Wait, did she want him to kiss her? She was not ready for that. They had only talked in the classroom and a little on the phone. She had helped him with a physics test, but that was all. She had never kissed a boy before, and she did not think that she was ready. She was surprised that he even asked her out and now he might even kiss her. She started to worry that things were moving way too fast.

She remembered the day that she noticed him at school. He was leaning against the lockers looking at his phone. She wondered if he was a new transfer as she had never seen him before today. She couldn't tell but he did not look like a member of a band, not a bookworm, a jock, or even emo. He was just there, like her. She was only involved in one club at Engle High, and that was journalism. She kept to herself mostly as high school kids came with lots of drama and silly conflicts. She would rather listen to true crime podcasts and music to pass her time when she was not in classes. True crime was her passion, and she was looking into becoming an investigative journalist who focused on solving cold cases.

So, when one day unexpectedly she saw that he was wearing a Daily Grind T-shirt, from one of her favorite true-crime podcasts, she nearly lost her lunch. It was a clear sign to her that he was her soulmate. Now all she needed to do was to get Tracy Bellmont to stop flaunting herself around him. It was like her only mission was to get his attention all the time with her perfect long blond hair and everlasting long legs. She had a model's figure, and she knew it. Compared to Tracey, she might as well be an ogre. She never thought of herself as beautiful, but she never considered herself ugly either. She had average curly black hair, average almond-shaped black eyes, and average slim build, and she dressed in average clothes. She would be the best description of a plain Jane.

And what was up with the touching? She touched him on the chest as she laughed at his jokes and grabbed his arms. Charlie was sure that Tracy was checking out his biceps when she did this because she would have done the same thing. She was sure that he spent most of his free time lifting weights or on any muscle building exercise. He had biceps that looked like massive hills sitting on his arms and wore shirts that exposed the bulge in his arms.

Besides his beauty, something about him made her insides weaken at the sight of him. She was not sure what it was about him that did this to her. She found herself staring at him during their lunch period, and any time she could when they were passing classes. She had one class with him, but he was usually surrounded by jocks and cheerleaders. Sometimes he would catch her staring, but he was so cool that he would smile back at her. The sparkle in his eyes when he did it made her feel like they were the only two in the room. She pretended at least that they were in love, and he looked for her through the crowd just to say, hi. But she was not that bold and every time he would catch her looking at him, she quickly turned away.

Charlie once again looked away from him as if something so important caught her eye outside her window. She glanced at herself in her cellphone mirror. She was happy to know that her curls were still popping. She loved the way that her dark hair complemented her dark skin. Her dad often told her she looked like Nia Long with curly hair, one of his favorite actresses. She didn't see it, but she knew who Nia Long was and considered it a compliment. Suddenly, Mason shifted in his seat, which brought her back to their conversation. She then realized that she needed to change the mood in the car.

“So where to?” she said cutting the tension in the car.

“So, I am not included?” Mason laughed and sat back in his seat. He revved up the engine and pulled off.

“I like spending time with you, so that is why we have to do everything right, okay.”

“I promise, I will be a Boy Scout, and we will get you home on time.”

"A Boy Scout, huh?"

“I'm a good guy. And I know how to set fires and bandage a wound.”

“Good to know, Boy Scout Mason, but where are we going?”

“It is a surprise; I wanted today to be special,” he said, as he grabbed her hand.

She welcomed the gesture and was excited to spend the next hour with him. If Tracey Belmont could see her now. She wondered what she would have to say. She also thought about what she would say to handsy Tracey the next time she started flirting with Mason. She looked over at him driving them to their special date and felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

Mason Chapter Two

Mason woke up to his mom screaming. This was nothing new for Mason because his mom had a loud voice and it always sounded like she was screaming when she opened her mouth. It did not matter whether she was upset or just saw a cute baby, if her mouth was open, it was loud. Her whole family was like this. She had two brothers and two sisters. Get them all together and it was like a loud concert of screaming.

Mason rolled over in his bed, took his pillows, and covered his ears. He thought this would mute out his mom's screams, but it did not work. As he sat up in bed he heard another scream. He realized that his mom actually sounded like she was in distress. He quickly jumped out of bed, grabbed his shirt, and headed towards the stairs. When he heard the sound of glass breaking, he stopped dead in his tracks. Mason feared his mom was in trouble.

Where was his dad? He didn't know but he had to figure out what was going on. He slowly walked through the narrow hallway that led to the stairs. As he approached the landing, there stood in front of the kitchen window, a tall heavy-set man fully masked and fully gloved, with a club in his hands. He kind of resembled the Michelin Man except he was wearing all black. Mason leaned over the railing and noticed his mom was only inches away from the intruder. Her hands were raised, and she was asking him what he wanted.

Mason rushed downstairs to defend his mother. When the intruder noticed Mason coming towards him, he waved the club and told him to stop.

“Mason!” she screamed once more for him to stop.

Mason stood between the intruder and his mom and did not know which direction to take. He wasn't sure if he had the manpower to overtake this massive Michelin guy or not. He could stand in front of his mother and protect her, or he could charge the intruder and try to take him down.

Mrs. Lattimer gestured to Mason to join her on her side of the kitchen away from the intruder.

“Come here Mason, come here now.”

"Mom what's going on?"

“I'll tell you what's going on,” the intruder said.

Mason's mom let out a breath and shook her head. She put her hands down and was more relaxed as if she no longer felt threatened.

“No, no. Mason, go back upstairs.”

“Let him stay, he needs to hear this.”

“No, go upstairs Mason, now.” she screamed.

He looked at her all dressed and ready for work, in her expensive suit and dressed like she had just stepped out of a magazine. He slowly looked at Michelin Man and then back to his mom. She seemed to be calmer as if there wasn't glass all over the floor and a large man standing in their kitchen.

“Mason, go upstairs to your room, and I will come talk to you later.” “But.” He looked towards the intruder and back to her.

“It's okay, I think I know what this is about, and I don't think he is here to hurt either one of us. Now go, please.”

Mason slowly walked upstairs as he kept his eye on the intruder. He sat on the top stairs where he could not be seen.

"So, are you here about my husband?" his mom asked.

“No, I am here to see you. I would not have broken the kitchen window, but you kept screaming and wouldn't let me in. Sorry about that,” he apologized.

"What do you need me for?"

“I wanted to ruin your husband's life like he has ruined mine by telling you what he has been up to.”

“Let me guess, you caught him with your wife and wanted to let me know as if I did not already know. You are not the only man who has tried to warn me of my husband's transgressions. You are just the only one who has broken a window to do so.”

"So, you know that he cheats on you?"

“Absolutely, he doesn't know that I know, and I would like to keep it that way. As far as I am concerned, he thinks that I think that he is a devoted, hardworking husband. I say hard-working because he is never around, and when he is, he is not present.”

“How do you live like this?”

“Because as far as I am concerned, he thinks I am here for him when I am only here for the money. He makes good money and shares it well. So, I can do what I want and apparently, so does he. Look, I know you were looking for tears, but the only tears that will be shed today are yours if you don't get out of my kitchen. I am sorry about your wife, but if you come here again, I will be pressing charges and sending you a bill for damages.”

“I am sorry about the window; I will pay for it.”

“No need, my husband will pay for it. I'll break another one for you, so the bill is higher.” She threw her coffee cup as hard as she could at the window until it shattered. “I have to make up a story about the broken window anyway. The story will sound better with two broken windows. Now, please leave.”

As soon as the intruder left, Mason ran down the stairs to his mom.

“So, Dad is at it again?” He looked at her and the mess in the kitchen. “I don't get why you don't just tell him that you know and leave him. Where is he anyway?”

“Your dad left for Georgia early this morning. He will be there for a couple of days for a meeting.”

“Yeah, sure, this is messed up. I need to get ready for school.” “Okay, well you are on your own for dinner tonight. I have an event.” “Yep,” he said going back upstairs.

He thought about Charlie from school. He was going to ask her out but was a little apprehensive. Was she the right type of girl to date him? He could tell that she liked him, but was that enough? Could he convince her to go out with him?

The problem was his parents were not like Charlie's parents. His dad threw money at him and thought it made up for him not being around. His mom tried hard to be present, but all she knew to do was take his stuff away from him if he upset her. She cared more about the boards she sat on and how society looked at her than having an actual relationship with her only son. He was left to his own devices most days. His parents usually left him alone as long as there were no phone calls from school or he didn't end up in jail. The one thing he knew that both his parents would do was bail him out of trouble. So, they threw money and freedom at him to keep him out of trouble. This strategy never worked for Mason, because it seemed he was always in some type of trouble at school.

He was embarrassed by his homelife and wanted badly to escape the loneliness and crazy crap that kept happening. This was not the first time someone approached his mom about his dad, and he feared the gestures would get more and more dangerous. He never brought friends over to his house, not even from his previous high school. He was embarrassed and didn't want anyone to know that he was basically abandoned. He thought they would wonder why his parents were never around or why he Door Dashed all his meals and ate alone. He vowed never to allow another person to know how he longed for a family meal at the table like he watched on television shows or sit and watch a movie together snuggling on the couch. As a seventeen-year-old boy, he knew that this sounded childish, but this had always been his dream since he was little. He just wanted to be seen and to feel loved.

After getting dressed, Mason looked at himself in the mirror and immediately knew what he wanted to do. He punched himself several times in the chest until he felt some sort of relief. He knew exactly how hard to hit and where to hit himself in order to hide the bruising. He was usually careful not to

cause too much bruising, but he really did not care because no one would ever see the bruising. No one was ever home to notice him, let alone his bruises. He took a deep breath, fixed his hair, and walked out the door. He pressed his foot on the gas pedal and sped out of his driveway, down the street, and was off to school. It was time for him to put on a show. Once he got to school, he had to play the cool kid, who had the perfect life. By now he was so used to it that he was becoming an expert. In fact, he was actually starting to believe his own lies.

The Tuesday before

Ellie Chapter Three

“Today is the day that I am going to do it!” Ellie said to herself. She packed her book bag for the day and went into the kitchen. She popped a bagel in the toaster and poured herself a glass of milk.

“Hey, sweetie.”

Ellie looked up to see her dad walking into the kitchen behind her.

"Good morning, Dad. Where is Sarah?"

“She is in our bedroom getting dressed. And I wanted to talk to you before she came in for breakfast.”

“Why? What did I do wrong?” she sat down and stuffed her mouth with her bagel and drank the rest of her milk. She looked at her dad as he looked uncomfortable.

“What is it Dad? How can I be of help to princess Sarah today?”

“Ellie,” her dad said, annoyed.

“What, I swear she complains about everything that I do. Nothing is good enough for her. I am trying Dad, I am. But no one asked me if I wanted to lose my family and split my life between two people who said that they would love each other for life. This is not fair.” She tried to hide the tears that threatened to leave her eyes by turning away from her dad. Then she turned around to face him. “There I lodged my complaint. Now what is hers?”

“Listen, I understand that this is hard. But please will you try a bit harder to get along with her? She feels like you hate her.”

“Well at least she is intuitive.”

“Ellie!” her dad said, raising his voice a bit yet still trying to keep the conversation quiet.

“Fine, I don't hate her, but I hate this. I gotta go,” Ellie looked towards Chase's room and yelled out to him. “Chase, get in here, we're going to be late.”

Chase was Ellie's twin brother who hated school and used every excuse not to go. He would rather spend his time on learning things that he would actually need than on the watered-down, suppressed information they tried to pass off as education at Engle High School according to him. Ellie was convinced he would discover the cure for some kind of disease someday. But for now, he remained to be her nerdy little brother by twenty minutes, who always had his sandy blond hair perfectly in place with a fresh low taper fade, a button-down shirt, slacks, and jacket on top. For some reason, his claim was that he was making a statement to the world. What statement exactly, Ellie did not know.

She thought he could be a ladies' man if he paid attention to girls at all. He was too focused on all the things in the world. He inherited hazel green eyes from their mom. He had his mom's sandy brown hair as well. Save for the darker skin color, he would look nothing like his father. Ellie always wished she got Chase's skin complexion and his gorgeous hair. She had curly dark hair that could sometimes be unruly. She had to use so many products in her hair; they should buy stock in the company. Her complexion was fair, but she felt like it did not match her dark hair. It was like Chase and Ellie were opposites. He had dark skin with light hair, and she had fair skin with dark hair. Her body had not yet filled out like all the other girls at school had. At times, she felt like she looked awkward with her short legs and round mid-section.

“Okay, so last chance Ellie.” Chase walked into the room and spotted his dad at the breakfast table eating cereal.

“Good morning, Father, don't you miss those elaborate breakfasts Mom used to make each morning? Princess Sarah makes you eat this ultraprocessed, overly sugary dry stuff for your nutrients in the morning. What about protein and fiber, and good-tasting food?”

Ellie cracked a smile and stifled a laugh.

“Oh, you both are double trouble this morning. Hey, while I have both of you, did you hear anything about that missing girl from Engle High?” “Missing, when?” Ellie questioned.

“Friday night she went to some party and has not been seen since. Ellie, you may know her, Rachel Hamilton?”

“I mean, I know who she is, but I don't know her,” Ellie turned away hoping her dad did not notice her hands shaking. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she knew what had happened to Rachel. She just hoped that she was wrong.

“Chase, what about you?” Dad turned towards Chase oblivious to Ellie's unease.

"Dad, do I look like I know any of those people at that institution?" "No son, you don't. I thought I would ask. Have a good day kiddo." “Of course, give our love to the princess,” Chase teased.

Dad shook his head and walked out of the kitchen and towards his bedroom.

“Thanks,” Ellie said giving him a high five.

Chase was her best friend. Other than her boyfriend, if you could call it that, he was her only friend. They shared mostly everything with each other. Everything but one little secret that would destroy her whole family even more than her parents had destroyed it if she did not get a handle on things. She made up her mind that yes, today would be the day that she broke it off with Josh. She could no longer do this to herself. Chase knocked over a glass on the kitchen counter, which brought Ellie back to the conversation.

“What were you saying about a last chance, Chase?”

“Last chance to invest to help me finance my new planet-finding expedition.”

“Hard pass, let's go.” They picked up their bags, yelled out to their dad, goodbye, and headed out the door to catch the bus for school.

Detective Price Chapter Four

Detective Price checked his phone for what seemed like the hundredth time. He tried to figure out if he had forgotten something important. His wife was a surgeon, and he was not sure if she told him that she was on call last night. All he knew was she was not lying next to him. He knew that both he and his wife had been busy lately. When he was coming home, she was leaving. But he prided himself on keeping up with her schedule. So, he knew that she was not on call and should have been home next to him. He had tried calling her, but every call went to voicemail. Even his text showed that she had not read them. Was she stuck at the hospital like usual or was she somewhere else, he thought to himself. Was she okay? He didn't want to freak out, but it was not like her to ignore his calls or not come home. He didn't want to let his mind wander too far, but one could only conclude that if she did not have an emergency at the hospital, then she probably was doing the one thing he hoped that she was not.

He rolled over in bed and shook his head at the massive room he was now sleeping in, or trying to sleep in. He would have been comfortable in their old three-bedroom, ranch-style home, but Jill, his wife, had to have the most expensive house on the street. She had always chased the biggest and the best and wanted to be the best, which is why, in college, he was not surprised that she was a med student when he met her.

Their love affair was instant. He loved her chocolate brown eyes and her chocolate long brown hair that she always wore back in a tight bun. She was confident and assertive, which surprised Darren because he typically went for the quiet type. But there was something about Jill that caught his eye. He knew the moment that he saw her that he would marry her.

She didn't make it easy for him, though. The first time he asked her out, she turned him down. He was patient as he watched her date guys that looked good on paper but turned out to be way too into themselves. He was grateful every time one of her dates ended up being scum, as she would name it. He figured he would keep trying to ask her out, but he knew patience was key.

Finally, one night he was studying at the library, and she happened to walk past his table. It was late at night, which was his favorite time to study. It was quiet, dark, and there was very little distraction. But this night he welcomed the distraction. He looked up to see Jill walking towards him and decided this was his next opportunity.

“Hey, Jill, right?” He remembered saying.

“Yeah, Hi Darren,” he was stunned that she knew his name still. He just thought she had forgotten.

“Yes, what are you doing here so late?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he remembered her smile as she responded.

He remembered this conversation like it was yesterday. That encounter led to many other conversations. They talked all night in the library and went to breakfast afterwards as they talked through the night. Darren remembered that it was still dark and how tired he was but did not want to leave her. He loved being in her presence. Ever since that day, he had never gone one day without either talking to her or seeing her.

Tonight, he felt like a piece of him was missing. Whenever she was not going to be home, she would at least call him. They had been married for ten years, and he had grown accustomed to her being there in some way. Being a surgeon, he knew that she would be busy and was okay with her schedule. They always managed to make it work and leave time for each other.

But Darren felt something in the pit of his stomach that told him there had been a shift in their marriage. He really did not have to use his detective skills to figure that one out. Something was wrong, and he could feel it. Darren tried hard to get a few hours of sleep. He had to be up in a couple of hours. After a while, when he realized sleep was not going to happen for him, he got up and took a shower. He sat at the bar with a cup of coffee and tried to call Jill again when he heard a key turning in the door.

“Jill,” he said jumping up to greet her.

“Hey, I didn't expect you to be up,” she said, taking off her pumps and dropping her bag and keys at the door.

“What did you expect, Jill? I have been calling you. Where have you been?” He swiveled in the chair he was sitting in to face her.

“Ugh, you know where I have been, Darren. I was at the hospital.”

“Were you busy?” he noticed her face had relaxed a bit as she released the breath of air that she was holding.

"Yes, I was, I am a surgeon, remember."

"Too busy to call and check in?"

She grabbed her face and wiped off imaginary sweat, and when she dropped her hands to her side, he could tell that she was annoyed with him. He knew this conversation probably would not end well, but he needed to know where she was. He had his suspicions, but he desperately needed to be wrong.

“Darren, you are not a child. I don't need to check in with you.”

“I was worried sick about you. It doesn't bother you that I have been up all night waiting for you to get home and trying to figure out why you were not answering my calls. Were you ignoring me?”

“For the Love of God, you sound like a needy child.”

"And you sound like you are evading the truth. What's going on, Jill?"

“Nothing, I am tired, and I need to get to bed. I have evening rounds and a ton of paperwork,” she said, walking away from him towards the stairs.

“Jill,” he called after her. “I am not crazy, I know that something is off between us, and I don't feel like you are being honest with me, so please tell me what's going on?”

He stood right behind her, waiting for an explanation.

Jill stopped before she reached the bottom of the stairs, and when she turned around, he noticed that her face was filled with tears. He reached out to her, but she pushed him away.

“What's wrong?” he said in a concerned tone. He stepped back and put his hands in his pockets.

“I am sorry, for not calling you back Darren okay. You don't deserve that. The truth is...”

Jill was cut off by Darren's phone ringing. He thought about letting it go to voicemail, but Jill turned and walked away. This time, she didn't stop when he begged her to stay and talk to him after his phone call.

“Detective Price.” He cleared his throat and hoped the caller couldn't detect that his heart was somewhere in his stomach, because what he knew for sure was his marriage was over.

“Detective Price?” the voice said on the other end. “This is Margret Hamilton. I got your number from a friend. I know that I should wait for the police to do their job, but my daughter is missing, and I don't know what else to do.” “Mame.”

"Margret."

“Margret, I am not sure what you want. There are protocols that you must go through.”

“I have already contacted the police. I am currently supposed to stay home and keep my phone on to hear any updated information as they do their investigation, but I can't just sit here. She is my only child, and she would never run away, which is what they were suggesting.”

“Again, what is it that you want me to do?”

“I would like for you to look into this case for me.”

“I am not sure if this case will be assigned to me or not. I am not at the precinct yet and this is the first that I have heard about it. What is your daughter's name?”

“Rachel, Rachel Hamilton. She is a junior at Engle high School, and she went to a party with her boyfriend on Friday. She never came home. He said he dropped her off at home around eleven, but she never came home. I went to bed early and did not know she hadn't been home all night.”

Darren heard what he thought sounded like Margret stifling a cry and imagined her wiping away tears and trying to hold it together.

"Okay, this is what I can do: I can request to work on your case. Let me get to the office and make the request. Can we meet later this afternoon?"

“Yes, thank you so much.”

“Well, don't thank me yet, my captain hates when we request cases, but don't worry, he owes me a favor. So, try to stay calm, and I will see you later.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Wait! How is she?” he whispered on the phone.

Margret paused for a second, and then she responded. "She is much better thanks to you. I will let her know you asked about her."

Darren had known right away who Margret was talking about. He had helped a domestic abuse victim escape her husband. He hung up the phone and looked towards the stairs. He wanted to finish his conversation with Jill, but he also knew he needed to leave. There was a missing girl, and he needed to make good use of his time if he was going to convince the captain to give him this case and find the girl in time. He decided to take his chances. He needed to settle this with Jill in order to have a productive day.

He walked up the stairs and into their bedroom. Jill was sound asleep, and, at that moment, he decided that the conversation would need to wait. He would just have to find a way to get through the day without wondering if his wife was leaving him or, worse, had fallen in love with someone else. He tried to convince himself that she was only tired, but her tears made him think otherwise. Something was terribly wrong, and he desperately needed to know what it was. But it would need to wait until they both returned home. In the meantime, he did the only thing he knew to do. He picked up his phone and typed in a message to his wife; “I love you.”

Chase Chapter Five

The Wednesday before

He walked into the journalism office and saw Charlie sitting in front of the room. He loved these meetings before classes. They mainly discussed the school newspaper, but what Chase liked most was being able to see Charlie. They were both Juniors, and he thought she was a pretty cool person. She loved true crime, which is why they focused a lot of their stories around true crime. He would much rather discuss politics, but at this point, he didn't mind.

Charlie was the president of the club, and Chase felt like she did a great job with distributing work and coming up with great leads. He wasn't really a fan of school, but this club made it worth it. It only happened twice a week, but with all the work they put into getting the school newspaper together, they ended up getting together more often. They worked closely with broadcasting and were on a tight schedule to get all the news together for that team. Chase didn't care how much work he had put into it; he just liked the fact that he got to hang out with Charlie. He walked in and headed her way.

“Hey, Charlie.” he said.

“Hey, Chase. How's it going?”

“Well, you know, the institution calls.”

She started laughing. “You know what I think?” She said, putting a large piece of paper on the board with the words, This week's stories. “I think you secretly like school but are too ashamed to admit it.”

Chase smiled and thought to himself that he did have a secret, but it was not about school. Instead of sharing his thoughts, he changed the topic.

“So, what are this week's stories about?” “Well, we can wait until the others get here, but I 'd like to brainstorm some topics. We are getting a little stale with our stories. We need to be more exciting before we lose our audience.”

“Charlie, you do know that people prefer videos to newspapers these days?”

“I know, which is why we disseminate the information electronically as well. People still read Chase.”

“Correction, you and I still read, I think reading is now a thing of the past.”

“So maybe, that's what we write about. We find out why so many people our age have stopped reading, and maybe we could discuss some of the benefits of reading in the article and start a get back to reading movement.”

“I think that sounds like a great idea,” said a voice coming from behind them. Then more students trickled in.

“Hello everyone, Chase and I were just discussing a potential topic for this week's news article.”

“Yea, she wants everyone to start reading more,” Chase said rolling his eyes.

Charlie laughed and hit Chase on the arm playfully. "It's more than that. I want to know what keeps us from reading more."

“When you say reading, do you mean like important informative works or fiction, you know, pleasure reading?” asked Mika. Mika joined journalism because her mom was in journalism. She worked for some local station in Indiana.

“Anything, obviously, I would advocate for true crime novels, but that is not everyone's cup of tea.” Charlie said, looking at everyone.

"Okay, so how should we gather this data?" Chase asked.

“We could hand out surveys to collect our data,” another journalism student said.

“But what if people are not willing to take the surveys, then what?” asked Chase.

“You make a good point, Chase, I think we offer them something, you know like help with Algebra or something. You would be good with that. Would you be willing to tutor?”

Chase wanted to say for you Charlie, I would do anything. But instead, he just told her that he would agree to help with tutoring if there were students who would trade their survey for tutoring help. “Perfect, what else do we have to offer to get 100% participation?” asked Charlie.

The group came up with many ideas that might work. Although Chase thought they would get closer to 80% participation than 100%, he admired Charlie's tenacity and her will to get what she wanted.

Soon they were all leaving. Chase looked at Charlie and noticed that she had stopped packing her things and was staring at the door. Chase followed her gaze and saw Mason Lattimer walking past the door. Gross, he thought. He hated that she stared at him like that. There was something about him that rubbed Chase the wrong way. He knew it was not feelings of jealousy. No, the feeling he got when Mason was around was much more than that. He just wondered why. All he knew was it was a good idea to stay away from him, and he wished Charlie would too. He waited for her to pack up her things so that he could walk her to her next class.

Charlie Chapter Six

Charlie sat at her desk in her physics class and could hardly concentrate. She noticed the moment Mason Lattimer walked into the classroom. She wondered if he knew that she was madly in love with him. He had only said a few words to her, but she daydreamed about having long conversations with him and the two of them taking intimate walks in the park.

“You might want to wipe your mouth, you're drooling,” Tracy stood over Charlie's desk handing her a tissue. “We see you staring at Mason Lattimer. Forget about it girl, he is way out of your league.”

She walked away laughing as Sasha and Leah followed behind her laughing as well. Sasha and Leah pretty much followed Tracey around and did whatever she told them.

“Hey idiots,” Charlie called after them and they all turned around. “The mean girl thing is played out. How about you come up with something a little more original next time?” Charlie hated girls like this and wished they would think for themselves. But on more than one occasion she witnessed them being ridiculously rude to other girls. It was really pathetic to watch. In 2025, were there still girls acting like this?

“Oh, do you mean like telling Mason about your crush on him? That's original right?” said Tracey.

In that moment Charlie visualized herself punching Tracey Belmont in her face to keep her from telling her secret. She would get a kick out of watching her head bob back when her fist contacted Tracey's face. And when her head returned, she could just see the blood all over her face and the tears flowing down her cheeks as she screamed in pain. But she was too far from Tracey, and Mason probably already heard what she had said. At this, Charlie was mortified and hoped that by some miracle Mason did not overhear the conversation. She looked in his direction, and to her horror, he was staring right at her. He gave her a wink and stood up to walk over to her. Instantly, her mouth dried and she panicked. She looked towards the door to see if she could run out of the room. This could not be happening to her. What had he heard? What is he going to say to her? She needed to leave the classroom, but she couldn't move. He never took his eyes off her as he walked in her direction.

And then, as if he were her savior, Mr. Blunt, the physics teacher, walked in with his briefcase and asked the class to be seated so that he could start the class.

“Mr. Lattimer, that means, you too. Please have a seat so we can get started.”

Mason pointed to Charlie and then swiveled around as if he were skating on ice and returned to his seat. Charlie let out a breath she did not know she was holding. She looked around the room to take inventory of how many people had been looking at this terrifying scene. Tracey and her goons found another poor soul to harass. And to her surprise, there was only one stare from a girl she would never have expected to be staring. Ellie Wilmont stayed to herself and was never in any drama or never really said two words, which is why she was surprised to see her staring at her as if she was trying to warn her about something. Charlie felt a little eerie about the entire chain of events. But that stare from Ellie really had her paranoid. Ellie looked away and never even tried talking to her for the entire class period.

Just then Mr. Blunt announced that there had been a missing student, Rachel Hamilton. She heard people talking about it in the hallways and was shocked that it was true. Was Rachel missing? Something told her to look back at Ellie, and when she did, she noticed a look of unease on her face. She needed to talk to her. Everything inside her told her that Ellie knew something she needed to tell her, but what?

As soon as the bell rang to dismiss the class, Charlie jumped up and made her way over to Ellie. She needed to know if her intuition was correct. She needed to know if Ellie was trying to warn her about something.

Ellie jumped up as well, and she ran out of the classroom like she was trying to avoid Charlie. Charlie stood in the classroom in confusion. She watched Ellie bump into Josh Brent. Josh was a super senior, and he was bad news, which was why Charlie was surprised when he leaned over to kiss her cheek. She had no idea that she knew him, let alone allowed him to kiss her. But Charlie noticed another thing about the encounter between Ellie and Josh. Ellie did not seem like she was comfortable with the entire exchange. She could tell that Ellie was telling Josh something that he did not like. He kept shaking his head as she kept her head down.

“Hey, Charlie, right?”

Charlie heard a voice speaking to her, but the scene in front of her was too mind-boggling to look away. It was like watching a natural disaster unfold right before her eyes. She blinked and tore her eyes away from the girl she barely knew.

“That's right,” she turned towards Mason and realized who she actually was talking to. She took a step backwards to give herself more space between them. She had never been this close to him and was not sure how she would respond with him being so close to her. Why hadn't she run out of the room as soon as the bell rang? Was she that intrigued by Ellie's drama that she totally forgot about what happened earlier?

“I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me prepare for our next physics test.”

“You want my help? How do you know that I can help you?” Charlie looked around the room to see if anyone else was seeing this or if she was dreaming again.

“You look like you know what you are doing in this class. Am I wrong?” Mason sat on the desk next to her and looked directly into her eyes.

She looked at him for a while before answering him. Could she do this? Of course, she could. If she helped Mason with his physics, that was guaranteed time she would get to spend with him.

"You are not wrong. I love physics. I can help you."

She left feeling both excited and confused. She was not sure what had just happened, but she was so excited to have Mason's number and was even more excited about spending time with him soon. The test was coming up so that meant Charlie would get to see Mason soon outside of the halls of school.

She was so wrapped in her thoughts that she forgot about what she had witnessed earlier with Ellie and Josh. She started to question herself first with the warning look she thought Ellie was shooting her, and then to the uncomfortable conversation it looked like the two of them were having. And if Charlie was not mistaken, she was sure she saw Josh grab Ellie's arm right before Mason interrupted. Maybe she should drop it. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. But Charlie usually listened to her intuition, and her intuition was screaming loud and clear that something was wrong.

Mason Chapter Seven

Mason stood in the mirror in his bathroom, inspecting the bruises on his chest. He remembered the pleasure in the pain as he beat his chest. He was ready to do it again, but he knew that he had to pace himself. So, he searched for another way to feel pain. He had his favorites.

He remembered when he stumbled upon this type of relief. The first time he engaged in self-harm, he really believed it was an accident. He was a first-year student and got into a fight with the biggest bully at school, Zane Crider. He knew Zane was bigger than him and probably ate boys his size for breakfast on a daily basis. He spent most of his time in the office or at home on an extended vacation, or like the school liked to call it, suspension. On this day, Mason was tired of him picking on everyone and being rude, so he stepped up to him. At this point he had never been in a fight before. Zane did eat Mason for lunch that day. Mason ended up with a broken nose and bruised ribs. That day, his parents showed up for him and pressed charges against Zane, which took care of the school's bully for a couple of months.

But it was not the fact that his parents showed up for him that made Mason feel seen. No, he got the most pleasure from the bruises that followed his beating down. It made him feel both alive and seen. He felt like a real person walking this earth. He loved this feeling so much that he knew he needed to have more. This would explain all the fights he ended up in later that frustrated his parents. This would also explain his behavior change. Mason no longer needed his parents to notice him. He knew how to make himself feel. He knew that the answer to his pain was pain.

He reached into his drawer on the vanity and pulled out a rubber band. He placed the rubber band around his wrist, pulled it back, and let it go several times. Again, he knew his limits and made sure never to leave a bruise on his wrists. This was his secret, and no one needed to know. He didn't want to explain why he was doing what he was doing. Most times, he wasn't even sure why himself. All he knew was that the pain he felt inside was released when he administered pain to himself. This way he could deal with it right away. He didn't want to wallow in sadness all day. He was a man and men didn't cry or get hurt. Men dealt with it, and that is what he was doing. It was no one else's business.

Once again, he was home alone. His dad was still out of town, and his mom was nowhere to be found. He would repeat his daily evening routine when he was not out with his buddy. He would work out in his immaculate home gym, shower, and then Door Dash his favorite meal. This had become his routine early on. He wasn't really into playing sports. He did like playing piano, but his dad told him that he needed to find another hobby, because playing music, just like crying or being sad, was a waste of time. Mason thought about getting back into piano without his dad's approval, since he usually was not around. His dad would never know if he played the piano or the banjo.

Who cared how he spent his time anyway? If Mason could control what his father spent his time on, it would be with him and his mom. He often wondered if his dad was playing house with another kid and his mother. This angered him. Sometimes, he wished he could kidnap both his mom and dad and make them care about him. He wished they paid attention to him and told him that they loved him. He needed to calm himself before he got too angry thinking about it.

Just then, his phone rang. He recognized the number and smiled. "What's up?" he answered the phone in a nonchalant tone. "I'll check now," Mason opened his laptop, clicked on a few buttons, and smiled at the pictures that popped up. "How much for this one? When? Bet, send it."

Ellie Chapter Eight

The Wednesday before

Ellie lay on her bed, careful not to wrinkle the comforter. She liked things in a certain way in her room. Clothes had to be folded neatly in her drawers, and her shoes were always on the shoe rack in the closet. All doors needed to be closed and everything in its place. Her floors needed to be clean and free of clutter. But when she got home, her only desire was to lie on her bed. She did not want to get under the covers; she just wanted to lie there, but she did not want the messy bed. She could have sat at her desk, but the way she was feeling when she got home from school, she wanted nothing more than to lie on her bed and observe the patterns in her ceiling. She wouldn't be making a formal observation; she would be thinking of Rachel. Please be safe, Rachel, she said to herself. She couldn't help but feel responsible.

She would also be reflecting on the conversation that she had with Josh. She was proud of herself for breaking it off with him, but she did not feel the relief that should have come with the breakup. Josh was upset when she told him, which is what she expected, but he did not respond the way that she thought he would. Of course, she knew he would take it badly, but she never expected him to grab her the way that he had. He tried reasoning with her and telling her that he wanted her to stay with him, but then he just let it go and walked off. It was as if she were not really free of him. She thought of all the awful things that he made her do, and it made her cringe and hate herself for going along with it. Why didn't she refuse like any other intelligent human being would? Why didn't she leave the moment she found out? She knew why. He was the perfect guy in the beginning. He treated her like she was the only person in the world. He listened to her and talked to her for hours. She felt like she had a genuine connection with him, which is why it took her so long to realize who he really was.

Ellie felt tears filling her eyes. Something was still bothering her even though she walked away from her terrible mistake. She thought of Charlie from her physics class, and she instantly knew what she needed to do. Did she have the courage that she needed? Where would she even begin? Should she tell her about Mason Lattimer?

Ellie felt the tears spill out of her eyes and roll down her cheeks. She reached up and wiped them away when she heard the doorbell ring. She jumped out of her bed. She knew that her dad and Sarah went to dinner and would be home late. So, she had no idea who could be at her door. Chase was in the kitchen cooking dinner. It was his night to cook. They usually took turns cooking when her dad and Sarah were out. Before Ellie could fully wipe away her tears, Chase opened her door and looked at her with concern.

“What?” Ellie said, as she smoothed out her body print on her bed.

"Are you okay?"

“I am fine, what 's up?”

Chase spoke slowly, never taking his eyes off his sister. “Dinner will be ready in a few, and you have a guest.”

“Chase, you should have led with that. Who is it?” Ellie pushed past him, and Chase returned to the kitchen. Ellie stopped immediately when she saw him standing at the door.

"Hi." “What are you doing here? I told you it was over, Josh. You need to leave.”

“I know and I respect that now. I just need one favor, and I will be out of your hair forever.”

“A favor? What kind of favor?”

Josh looked at Ellie and then at Chase who was listening to the entire conversation. He was stirring spaghetti sauce but had no idea that the spoon was not even touching the sauce. His eyes were glued to Josh and Ellie. He wondered why he heard Ellie crying in her room just now, and what favor Josh needed from her.

“Can we talk? Alone?” Josh took her hand and walked her back to her bedroom. He closed the door behind him as she sat at her desk, and he leaned on the wall next to her.

"You have five minutes and then you need to leave."

“Fine, Ellie, I need you to go on a double date with me tonight.”

“What no, I told you it was over, and I am never doing any of those things again. You promised you would never make me do it again. And do you know where Rachel is?”

Josh gestured to put his hands over Ellie's mouth. When she jerked backwards in her chair, he retreated and put his hands on his hips. He took in a deep breath as if he were getting frustrated. He put his head down and then looked back up at her. She noticed the look that he had in his eyes standing in front of her. This look was one of the many reasons she broke up with him.

“Rachel? Ellie, you need to mind your own business if you don't want to get hurt.”

This pushed Ellie to her breaking point. She had to get him out of her house right away. She didn't need to hear the answer to her question, because she was sure he had something to do with it. Rachel was at the same party she was at, only she did not come home. If anybody knew where Rachel was, it was Josh.

"Josh, you need to leave," she walked over to her door to open it.

“Did you forget what I have?” he said, smiling at her.

She stopped right before turning the doorknob to her bedroom door. How could she forget? She was just hoping he would go away. But she knew she could not get rid of him that easily. She wished she could just run from him and never see him again. Then again, she wished she had told her parents what was going on from the very beginning. Who was she kidding? Her mom was trying to find the fastest way to divorce her dad, while her dad was trying to find the fastest way to get into Sarah's pants.

In this moment, she blamed her dad for her being in this situation. She was so focused on him hurting her mom and moving out of the house that she missed the red flags that Josh was flying around in front of her that her mom had always talked to her about. How could she have been so stupid to get involved in something like this?

"You promised to destroy them."

“I know, but I just need this one little favor, and they will be gone forever. I promise.”

“You have already made this promise. Why can't you find someone else to do it?”

“Because you already know what to do and I don't have time to find someone else. Look, I have the pictures here right now on this thumb drive. We will wash the site clean of all your pictures, and I promise tonight will be the last favor I ask of you. Come on, all you need to do is talk to the other girl, make it look real, for one little dinner, and at the end of the night, I will call my buddy and tell him to close your account.”

She stared at him for a moment as she contemplated his proposal. Could she trust that he would leave her alone after this? She remembered what she declared before he arrived tonight and wondered how this could fit into her plan. And then she thought how wonderful it would be to be rid of all this mess. She would never have to worry about it again. But she couldn't just help herself; she needed to be in a position to help others as well. If she did this, she would no longer need to worry. She made up her mind she was going to trust Josh one last time; she just hoped that she was not making another mistake. If this was a mistake, she knew that this might cost her life.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “I will go with you for one hour, no more. By the end of the night, you will surrender the pictures to me, and you will never speak to me again. Do we have a deal?”

Josh stared at Ellie for a bit before he answered as if he were reading her mind. He could tell something was wrong and was afraid that he would need to take other measures with her. “Ellie, you aren't planning on opening your mouth about this, are you?”

“Are you kidding? If I did the entire world would know what I did. I don't want this to come out just as much as you don't. No, I just want out, that's all,” She hoped she sounded convincing and not as afraid as she actually was. She wasn't going to tell anyone, but neither was she going to let another innocent girl get hurt.

Ellie and Josh walked towards the front door.

“Hey, where are you going Ellie?”

“I have to leave for a bit. I will be back soon, okay?”

“What about dinner? I don't want to eat alone.”

“I'm sorry Chase, I have something that I need to do.”

"With this guy? I thought you guys broke up?"

“Hey, dude, chill. I will have your sister back soon okay lil bro?”

“My name is Chase, and no it's not okay. You want to know why Josh? Because I know you are a bad dude, and my sister can do way better than you. How she ended up with you, I have no idea. But what I do know is, if you hurt her, I will come for you.”

“Chase, I will be fine, okay. Save me a plate and I will eat it later. We have to go.”

There was a long pause, and then Chase made a gesture with his hands as if he were releasing them.

“I'll be fine,” Ellie reassured him one last time. She walked out the door with Josh. As she turned the key to lock the door behind her, she prayed that she would be keying this same door an hour later, safely.

Detective Price Chapter Nine

The Thursday Before

Darren was grateful for the distraction of his case. Mrs. Hamilton's daughter, Rachel, had been missing for too many days now, and he only had a few leads. The volunteers he had arranged were getting tired of looking for Rachel and her parents were demanding more from him. With his failure in finding Rachel, and his wife avoiding him ever since their fight. He was surprised that he could function properly. Jill absolutely refused to talk to him. He really just wanted to know what had made her cry, and where she was that night.

He started the car and made his way home. He did not know what he would encounter when he got there. Lately, when Jill got home, she would immediately shower and climb into bed. He had gotten used to the obligatory good mornings and good nights. He felt her moving further away from him. He even made one last attempt to talk to her. But that ended up backfiring. Instead of the sensible conversation he was hoping for, he accused her of having an affair, which she neither denied nor confirmed. He told her how unfair she was being to leave him hanging the way that she was. He yelled at her, and she did nothing. She just looked at him with those big brown eyes, filled with tears.

As Darren pulled onto his street, he wondered what she could have done that was so bad that she was acting the way that she was. Then he thought hard about what he could have done. He was always getting into trouble for some reason with her, but he always thought that she knew that he loved her and that she could tell him anything.

As he pulled into his driveway, he decided that he had spent enough time on trying to figure things out with his wife. He was going to continue working on his case and hopefully find out what happened to Rachel. He prayed that she was still alive.

As Darren sat at his kitchen table, he spread the files that he gathered from work in front of him. He looked at each piece of evidence, and the only thing he kept coming back to was the night of the party. Everyone he interviewed had similar stories. Since when did that happen? They were too similar, which meant maybe the stories that they were telling him were not true. But how could he prove it? Her D.N.A was found at the house, but he knew that she was there at the party. So, this meant nothing. He stood up and looked out the kitchen window at nothing in particular, but to give his eyes a break. He took a deep breath and hung his head. People don't just disappear Darren, he said to himself. She has to be somewhere. Someone knows something. At that very moment, he knew what he needed to do. He was going to interview each one of those kids again until one of them actually told the truth.

As if on cue, the phone rang, which relieved him from his thoughts and brought him back to reality.

“Hello,” he answered.

There was a long pause before someone spoke quietly. “I know where she is.”

“You know where who is?” asked Darren.

The caller spit out an address and hung up the phone. He quickly scribbled the address on a piece of paper and ran out the door.

Charlie Chapter Ten

As soon as Charlie got off the bus, she raced inside to take inventory of her house. She wanted to make sure that it was presentable for Mason's visit or their tutoring session she would have in a few minutes. She looked around and picked up any embarrassing garment or dirty dish that was left behind. Her parents were usually sticklers about keeping a clean house, but with a five-year-old brother and rushed mornings, it could get a little messy. The last thing she wanted was for Mason to think that she had a messy house.

Minutes later, Mason was at her door with his hands behind his back. When she opened the door to his smile and dark eyes looking directly into hers, she immediately felt like she was in a movie, where the love interest was standing at the door getting ready to display a romantic gesture. She was a little surprised by his stance but ushered him in anyway. He walked in and looked around her house and then produced what he was hiding behind his back. He swung his arm around like he was stirring a big bowl of cookie dough, and in his hands, he held a white chocolate cookie crumbled milkshake. It was her favorite, but she did not remember ever telling him this.

“Wow, is this for me?” she smiled and grabbed the milkshake “It was the least that I could do. You are helping me study for this physics test.”

“Right, we better get started. Make yourself comfortable at the kitchen table. I will get my things.”

Charlie went to her bedroom to grab her book and notebook. She stopped at her full-size mirror on her wall and checked her lips. She wanted to make sure that they were properly glossy. She then checked her hair and fixed any fly away's. She turned to check out her backside. And as she turned around, she was startled by Mason's gaze. He looked as if he were drilling a hole in her with his eyes. She jumped and let out a small scream. “Mason, you scared me.” she said holding her chest. Though she was more embarrassed than she was scared. He had seen her check out her butt. Why did she need to check it out? She couldn't change anything about it if she didn't approve. Ugh! How could she explain this or live it down? And then he says it?

“You are beautiful, you don't need to check yourself out, you always look perfect to me.”

Charlie smiled sheepishly and had no words. She needed to change the direction this conversation was going. She walked towards her door when Mason pushed past her and sat on her bed. This was even more surprising to her. If people knew that Mason Lattimer was not only at her house, paying her compliments, but sitting on her bed.

“We, need to get started. My parents will be home, and I will need to start dinner soon.” she lied. She had never cooked dinner in her life. Her parents usually took care of that. They switched off. Whoever did not pick up Ingram from daycare cooked dinner that night.

"Okay but come here for a second."

She walked over to him slowly, not sure what he wanted. She was so nervous, if her parents came home and found a boy in her room, she would be in trouble for sure. She wanted to scream at Mason to hurry and get out of her room and sit at the kitchen table, but she was also curious about what he wanted.

“Charlie, I am not going to hurt you. I just need to tell you something. It's hard for me to say and I would feel better if you were standing closer to me.”

“What's wrong?” she said moving closer to him.

“Charlie, I really like you. You don't think I asked for your help with physics because I needed it, did you?”

“Yes, I did because that is what you said,” she said taking a step back.

Mason grabbed her hands and pulled her to him. "Wait, wait girl, I am trying to tell you that, I am not failing physics because I don't know the material, I am failing because I can't stop thinking about you." “Mason, I,” should she tell him how she felt, or should she keep pretending that she was cool? She was so lost for words that she could not respond with any other intelligent words than his name.

“I know you like me too; I love looking over at you in class and catching you staring at me.”

Charlie stood there silently. She felt her lunch creeping into her throat. She was mortified that he mentioned her staring at him. She thought that he must think that she was a freak. She could fix this though, she could declare how much she liked him as well, or she could act like she didn't like him and ask him to leave. But why would she get rid of him? Isn't this what she wanted? She never in a million years would have guessed that he would mouth those words to her.

Finally, she found her voice. “Mason, I do like spending time with you. I think you are a really nice guy,” she did it. Now what?

“Great, then go out with me? I will pick the place, and you just bring your pretty little self.”

Charlie had never been on a date before, and she was not used to boys calling her pretty. Her dad always made it a point to tell her how nice she looked, especially at her mother's insistence with her not-so-subtle nudging of the arm in his back. But this was like romantic movie-level stuff.

“Okay, I will ask my parents and let you know, but if we don't get out of my room before my parents get home, I most definitely will not be able to go with you on a date.”

She turned around and led the way to the kitchen. Just before Mason followed her out, he slipped his fingers over an object on her vanity and put it into his pocket.

Later that night as she was getting ready for bed, she thought about Mason and all the events that transpired that afternoon. She couldn't believe he asked her out. She hated that he lied to her about needing help with physics, but she was still so excited about going out with him. Just then, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She was not sure why, but what she did know was that something had unsettled her just now. Was it Mason, or was she still thinking about Ellie? Ellie was not her friend, and she barely knew her. So why was she feeling this way?

The knock on her bedroom door disrupted her thoughts as her mother stuck her head in the door.

“Hi honey, do you have my lip gloss? I couldn't find it.”

"Oh, I am sorry. It's on my vanity."

Mrs. West walked over to the vanity and searched for her lip gloss but could not find it. "Charlene, I don't see my lip gloss."

“Mom, It's right there,” Charlie got up to get her mom's lip gloss. She rummaged through her makeup and brushes, but she couldn't find it either. “It was right here.”

Her mom let out a large sigh. “This is why I tell you to leave my things alone, Charlene.”

“I'm sorry, Mom. I will look for it in the morning. Can I go to bed now?”

“Goodnight, I love you. Please find my lip gloss tomorrow. That was my favorite one.”

"Okay, I will."

She laid her head on her pillow and wondered how she could have lost her mom's lip gloss. She closed her eyes and felt herself start to drift away when suddenly her eyes popped open. The only thought on her mind was a single name. Mason. But why? She debated for another few seconds and then convinced herself that what she was thinking was totally crazy. Why would Mason take her mom's lip gloss? She then rolled over and fell asleep.

Mason Chapter Eleven

Fifteen minutes before present day

Mason looked at the clock and realized he had some time before he needed to pick up Charlie for their date. She was the first girl he dated who didn't have her own car, but he didn't mind. He was looking forward to having fun with her tonight. He looked in his rearview mirror and smiled as he realized he had just enough time to play his little road game.

Mason loved driving on the old rural roads of Indiana in the town of Eastview. They had old buildings that looked like gingerbread houses in their town square. This time of year, corn fields were at their highest point, right before the farmers harvested for the fall. Roads went on forever without a bunch of stoplights. And the leaves on the tree this time of year were all different colors. He enjoyed the deep reds, yellows, and orange colors. Even better the weather was always pretty fair except for an occasional day when the temperature dropped below freezing. There was a little time before winter, and people everywhere would take advantage of the fall colors and weather. On any given day, one could see whole families out on a walk or children playing in neighborhoods, almost like perfect families on television are portrayed. But Mason didn't just love these roads for the colors or the weather. He had other plans for the open roads that stretched for miles.

Mason went to his favorite spot, where the roads were long, had lots of hills, and had corn fields on both sides of the road for miles. He drove as fast as he could with his eyes closed. He would count to five and then open them. Oddly enough, the only time he hurt himself was when one time when he opened his eyes, a deer was darting out in front of him. He had slammed on the brakes but ended up sliding off the road. He bumped his head a little, but he went home as if nothing had ever happened.

Mason closed his eyes for the second time and counted to five. On five, he opened them and saw that he was still the only one on the road. He could see a car coming towards him down the road. so he straightened up the wheel and let out a loud yelp. He was feeling the rush and was ready to go for a third time. He waited until the next car passed before he closed his eyes again and counted to five. This time when he got to five and he opened his eyes, right in front of him was another car at a complete stop in the middle of the road. Mason was so close to the stalled car, and he knew that breaking alone would not keep him from hitting the car in front of him. He pressed down hard on the brakes and yanked the steering wheel to the other side of the road. Suddenly, he looked up to see another car coming towards him. He corrected the steering wheel and returned to his side of the road just in time to hear the other driver's horn in the distance. He smiled and laughed out loud. He kept driving down the road until he turned onto Charlie's street. What a rush, he thought. Driving recklessly like this always seemed to put him in the best mood. He also always felt more confident afterwards.

He felt like he was ready for tonight's date with Charlie. He pulled up to her house and walked to the door. Charlie looked amazing, but it took forever for them to leave. Thankfully, once he met the family, he and Charlie were on their way.

Present Day

Charlie Chapter Twelve

Charlie was surprised when Mason pulled up at a massive house with cars parked everywhere.

“Are we at a party?” she asked, looking around. “Wait. is this Ryan Bolten's party that everyone was talking about this week?”

“That's the one.”

Charlie was instantly uncomfortable and felt a new wave of sweat pool under her arms. She hoped she didn't get sweat stains, and everyone laughed at her. She had to calm herself down. She was not used to hanging out with popular kids. She had no idea that Mason did either.

“Hey, beautiful, are you coming?” Mason looked at her as she sat in a daze.

She snapped out of it at the sound of his voice. “Yes, I am, I am just a bit nervous. I don't usually hang out with this crowd. I wish you had told me.”

She wasn't going to tell him that she wished he'd told her so that she could wear something that would hide the sweat stains when she started sweating from being nervous, or she could have even played sick. Now she was stuck hanging out with people she barely said two words to all year. And wasn't it a party like this where Rachel went missing? Her throat felt like a desert storm at its highest point. It was so dry, she was sure she no longer contained saliva in her mouth, which is why when Jessica said hello to her, the only sound that she was able to produce sounded like a dying mouse.

“Let's get you something to drink,” Mason said, coming to her rescue. She thought he looked at her in sheer embarrassment, which added to her humility. Oh, how she wished she could just turn around and go home.

Mason made his rounds and talked to so many people before he turned around and asked her if she was okay.

She immediately apologized for her behavior and was concerned that he was ashamed of her.

“Why are you apologizing Charlie? You are the most beautiful girl in here. Just relax and try to have a good time.”

This made her feel so much better, but she still had an uneasy feeling. She looked around the room and spotted Ellie and Raya talking. The conversation looked intense. She wondered what they were talking about because it looked like Raya kept wiping her eyes. Mason noticed her staring and interrupted her gaze.

“Hey, come here. I want to show you something,” he took her hand and pulled her into a room down the hall. All four walls were covered with stones, and on one wall, there was water trickling down like a waterfall that led to a basin with lights surrounding it. There were plants in every corner and a wine bar on the other end of the room. The light from the skylight lit the room, which made it feel like they were outside.

“Wow. It is beautiful. I cannot believe Ryan lives like this. Who has something like this in their home?”

“I felt the same way when I saw it. It has a romantic feel you know?” He grabbed her hands and pulled her to him. “I am glad to be here with you.”

Mason wrapped her in his arms and leaned in to kiss her. Was she ready for this now? She thought he was going to kiss her earlier in his car, but now she was almost certain that this would be her first kiss. They were in a beautiful setting, he was being so nice to her, and she thought maybe that she was ready. He leaned further to kiss her, and she met him halfway. She closed her eyes and suddenly their lips touched, she felt like her lips melted within his. Chills ran down her back, and it felt like her legs were going to give out on her. He pulled her in closer to him and grabbed her face between his strong hands. When he finished the kiss, he kept her face in his hands and kissed her on her nose. He stared into her eyes and smiled at her. “That was the best kiss I have ever had. You must be special because I think I am in love.”

“In love, huh? It was pretty great. That was my first kiss, and I am glad that it was with you.”

“Our first kiss, I want to remember this moment forever. I have an idea.” Mason took out his cell phone and took a picture of the two of them together. “Now, let's get one of you by yourself,” he suggested.

“Me, why?” she said, giggling.

“I think you are gorgeous, and I want to be able to look at your picture when we are not together. Look, right over there in front of the waterfall, it's perfect.”

They walked over to the waterfall and Charlie posed with a smile. Mason took the picture and looked at his phone.

“I want another one, but this time let's get a little creative. Let's show a little skin.”

She looked down at the shirt and baggy jeans she was wearing. The shirt was cropped, and she was not sure how to show more skin without stripping down to her underwear.

“More skin? Are you crazy?” she said laughing.

“Come on, girl, get your head out of the gutter. I would never ask you to do something like that. Just like take your shirt off your shoulder and here,” He handed her a tube of red lipstick. “Put this on.

“I don't wear lipstick, Mason. What is this?” Just then, she remembered her mom's lip gloss and wanted to ask him about it. She didn't want to accuse him of anything, especially after that amazing kiss. But she wanted to make sure that her suspicions were not true.

“Charlie, I like you a lot. I just want to know what you look like in lipstick. I love this color and think it would look great on you. You would go from beautiful to a top model with it on. Then I can show people that I am dating a hotty.”

Dating, she thought. Were they dating? Her heart filled with joy, and she forgot all about her mom's lip gloss. She forgot that she really did not want to take pictures either. “Fine,” she said. She took the lipstick and rolled it onto her lips. She pulled her shoulder out of her shirt and posed in a sexy pose for the camera. At this moment, she did feel like a model.

“Hold on,” Mason ran to her, wrapped his arms around her, and gave her another kiss. He kissed her like he wanted to consume her and like he would never see her again. He then jerked back and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Charlie took in a deep breath and was overwhelmed by his attention and charm. “I needed that kiss right away, you are fly girl!” Charlie laughed and turned away from him.

“Uh, uh, girl, don't do that. Look at me, I want to see you. I need one more picture, too. That picture was so fly, but can we get a little sexier? How about you keep your shoulder out? That was good. And put one hand on the top of your jeans.”

“Like this?” Charlie raised one shoulder, stuck out her leg, and rested her thumb on the top of her jeans.

“Yeah, yeah, perfect. Now pull them down a little.”

“Mason, no.”

“Not all the way, you don't have to show anything, just a little, you know, like you are teasing me.”

Every fiber in Charlie screamed that this was not a good idea, but Mason really liked her, and she did not want him to think that she was a baby. So, she moved her thumb down towards the floor, pulling on the top of her jeans just enough to show the lace of her underwear.

“That's my girl. And got it,” Mason walked over to her and landed a sweet soft kiss on Charlie's lips, took her hand and they walked out of the room.

Charlie felt like she left her dignity in that room and was so disappointed in herself. She was sure this was one of those things her parents warned her about. She couldn't say for sure that she did anything wrong, but what she did know was that it did not feel right. "Um, I am going to the restroom. Where is it?"

“Oh, yes it's just down that hallway. I am going to go holler at my boy.”

Charlie looked around, and she walked towards the bathroom. She noticed a line in front of a door, so she assumed it was the bathroom line. She made her way to get into line when she saw Raya sitting alone on a nearby sofa. She was on the phone, but she was extremely upset. She looked like she was pleading for something to whoever she was talking to. She focused her attention on the words she was mouthing when Raya looked up at Charlie and gave her a look. Charlie quickly turned away, and that feeling that she was feeling earlier came flooding back. She needed to find Mason and demand that they leave. She was all of a sudden not feeling so well.

After waiting for what seemed like a lifetime for the bathroom, she rushed through crowds of people to find Mason. She looked in empty rooms and outside on the massive deck as well. She came back in and spotted him talking to Josh. The music was so loud, he couldn't hear her calling him. She kept her eye on him in fear that she would lose him again. She was desperate to get home at this moment.

She finally reached him, and as she got closer, she overheard him say words that she was not sure what it meant. “Yea, she's tight, but I'll get her.” What did he mean? Who was he talking about? She cleared her throat, and Mason stopped talking and turned.

"Babe, hey, what's up?"

He looked at her with a suspicious look on his face. She could tell that he was wondering if she had overheard him. What if she did? Was he saying something that she should not have heard? If so, why? This dating thing was confusing, and so far, she was not sure if she liked it.

“I'd like to go.”

“What?”

“Now, I don't feel well. I need to go home.”

“Come on, Mason, take your baby sister home.”

“Shut up, Josh. Mason?” she folded her arms, and looked directly at Mason.

“Yeah, yeah, we can go.” Mason shook hands with Josh and took Charlie's hand. “Let's go.”

They walked towards the door when Adam fell into them. Mason let go of Charlie's hand and pushed Adam off of them and onto the floor. The crowd around them started screaming. Charlie put her hands over her mouth in surprise. At that same moment, Ellie grabbed Charlie's hand and slid a ball of paper into it. Charlie met Ellie's eyes, and she swore Ellie was pleading with her to keep the balled-up paper that was placed in her hands a secret. She looked up at Mason, and he was smoothing out his jacket. They walked out the door and Charlie was leaving this house first without her dignity, and now without her heart. All she knew was she needed to get home. She stuffed the paper in her pocket and climbed into the car.

The entire ride home, Charlie tried to pretend that she was okay, but it was getting harder and harder because she had nothing to say to Mason. The car ride home was quiet and tense; she just did not know why. She was also anxious to see what this balled-up paper Ellie gave her was all about. It was like it was burning a hole in her pocket.

She quickly got out of the car when they arrived at her house.

“Hey, so when can we hang out again?”

“I will call you,” she said, closing the passenger door and walking into her house.

She tried to go straight to her room, but her parents were waiting for her and wanted to know all about her date. She lied and told them how wonderful it was and how much fun she had. She told them that she was tired and just wanted to go to bed.

She took a shower, put on her pajamas, and climbed into bed. She then remembered the ball of paper. She got up and looked for her jeans that she had taken off before her shower. She looked all around her room, and she could not find her jeans. This could not be happening. She waited all this time to see what Ellie had given her, and now she couldn't find her jeans.

She yelled out, “Mom!”

Her mom came running in like she was protecting her from an intruder.

“What is it honey?” “Have you seen my jeans?”

“Yes, I just threw them into the wash.”

“Mom, no!” Charlie ran past her mom towards the washing machine and hit the pause button.

“What?” her mom asked confused.

“Nothing, I had Calculus notes in my pocket,” she lied again and grabbed her jeans and reached into her jean pocket. It was a little wet. Charlie wrapped her hand around the paper and ran to her room. “Good night, Mom,” she remembered to say just in case her mom thought she was losing her mind. She felt like she had been pretending all evening. She just needed to pretend a little longer because one thing was for sure, she was not okay. She did not like how she was feeling, and she needed to figure out why. She had a feeling that this ball of paper would explain a lot. She just needed to get alone so she could figure it out.

She finally climbed into her bed, laid her head on her pillow, and smoothed out the paper. Some of the letters were smeared and she was not sure if she could make out what it said. She turned the paper in different ways and tilted her head. She made out some of the letters. She could tell there were three words written. The first word was clear. She read the word, don't. The next word, she saw a t that looked like it was sliding off the page, the next letters were too smeared to tell what they were. The last two letters were s and t. The last word was mostly gone. There were only ink blocks and two little words between the ink blocks, and s. She had no idea what Ellie was trying to tell her.

After some time trying to figure out Ellie's message, she put the paper on her nightstand, turned out the light, rolled over, and started to fall asleep. But right before she dosed off, she instantly sat up in her bed, turned on her light, grabbed the paper, and stared at it. She knew what it said. It was like it was as plain as day. Once again, her heart dropped to her stomach as she felt her body temperature rise. She was right. Ellie's note did explain a lot to her. It explained how she was feeling all evening at the party. She read the words out loud. Don't Trust Mason!

Ellie Chapter Thirteen

Ellie walked into the familiar home of Ryan Bolten. She had been here many times before. She wished she could erase the memories of this place and the events that took place here. She gave a nod to Adam, who was watching the door but was already drunk. How he was going to work the door in his state, she didn't know. She looked around and made her way to Raya. She was determined to stop them from hurting any more girls. She had suspicions that Raya was somehow involved, and she needed to know how involved and at what level. Was she a victim or was she the perpetrator? She kept an eye on Raya at school. She watched who she talked to and where she went. And according to her observations, she was sure that Raya was a victim, and she was almost sure that she was in trouble. That is why her first mission was to talk to Raya at this party.

“Hi, Raya.”

“Hi, Ellie. What do you want?” Raya looked at Ellie quizzically because the two of them had only spoken to each other a handful of times. Neither girl had an issue with the other, they just never really hung out.

“Are you here alone?” Ellie asked her.

“No, I am with Brock.”

That name sounded familiar to Ellie, but she could not remember where she had heard the name before.

“Brock? Who is Brock?”

"Brock goes to Lincoln Heights, but he knows Josh and Mason."

Of course, she remembered hearing Josh talking about Brock. She couldn't keep the high schools and names straight. Josh knew a lot of kids from different high schools. Who was she kidding? She knew a lot of them as well. She had met many guys and girls on those awful double dates Josh forced her to go to. She wished she could take it all back, but she couldn't, and the only sense of restitution she could give was exposing them. She was ready to do so; she just needed to be careful. Even though she was worried about the repercussions of exposing them, she had to do it. And something told her that she had to start with Raya.

“Raya, I need to ask you something.”

Raya sat up on the comfortable sofa that she was sitting on, put her drink down and turned toward Ellie. She had given her full attention as if she knew what she was going to ask.

“What is it?”

“We can't talk here but meet me tomorrow at Riverwood Square.”

"Why would I do that?"

“I think you know why. I will just say, you are not alone and I want to help you. If that means anything to you, please meet me.”

Raya felt tears pool in her eyes, but she did not want to be caught dead crying at a party. She knew exactly what Ellie was talking about, but she did not know how she knew. She wanted to meet her at Riverwood Square, a deserted mall where teen runaways hung out to find out how she could help her. But would Brock or Josh find out? She was told not to tell a soul or she and her family would get hurt. She desperately needed to get away from all this, but she did not know how. She quickly swiped her eyes and gave Ellie a quick smile.

“I am sorry, I can't,” she answered.

“Yes, you can. I know you were threatened, but you don't have to worry about that. I can help you,” she said, whispering.

Raya looked around to make sure Josh or Brock were not watching her. "How?"

“I got out,” Ellie's face softened, and she looked ashamed. Raya stared back at her in confusion.

"You got out?" “Yes, Raya. Now, please, I can't say any more right now. People are watching, and we don't know everyone involved. Meet me tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Raya looked down, and grabbed her phone. She could feel it vibrating, indicating an incoming call. She looked at Ellie and held up her phone to let her know she was taking the call.

Ellie walked away with satisfaction. One down and one to go. She turned her head and spotted her next recruit. The instant she saw her; she knew Charlie's nightmare had started. She must have just learned how much of a jerk Mason was. She could spot that look anywhere. She was concerned that she was too late. Then she had a thought. Maybe Charlie would not go out with him again. She could not take that chance; she had to warn her. She checked her pockets for a piece of paper but could not find one. She then looked around the room. She saw a notepad sitting on the desk behind the sofa and ripped off a sheet. She scribbled some words down as fast as she could. She saw Charlie and Mason leaving the party. She quickly walked over to drunk Adam and gave him a gentle nudge, which caused him to fall into Mason and Charlie. She took this opportunity to ball up the paper and stuff it into Charlie's hands. When Charlie looked at her in confusion, she prayed that the hard stare she gave her would somehow translate to her to keep the exchange a secret. Ellie noticed the recognition in Charlie's eyes and was satisfied that she understood. She just hoped that she not only read the message but followed it as well.

Detective Price Chapter Fourteen

Darren tried to stay within the speed limit, but his foot kept taking control. He thought about the department's policy on using his siren to pursue a lead. Was this part of the active investigation, or was some crack pipe playing games with him? He couldn't be sure. He kept hearing Mrs. Hamilton's voice telling him he was not doing enough to find Rachel. All he wanted was to find her and bring her home. Mostly, he just wanted her to still be alive. So, it didn't matter if this was a false lead; he wanted to pursue any lead he could. He had hit a dead end, and so desperately needed a break in this case.

He drove slowly as he approached the address the caller had given him. He expected the G.P.S to take him to a residential area. When Darren pulled up to the address, he was confused because it was a small diner hidden behind a long drive, a small parking lot, and nestled between many trees as if it were hiding. He didn't know this area very well. It took him some time to get there, and the entire area looked like it had seen better days. Most of the homes around the diner looked abandoned or barely standing. He knew this was the type of neighborhood that did not have an H.O.A, because he saw so many infractions that would have caused the president of his H.O.A to have a heart attack. Many of the yards were unkempt, and the grass looked more like fields of wildflowers. Some had boarded windows; he could even see a bed sheet hanging from one of the windows. There was a soft yellow light behind the sheet and a silhouette of a figure what looked like smoking a cigarette. He heard loud music coming from down the street and an occasional dog barking.

Is this where Rachel was? The caller just gave him this address with no other information. Was she in the diner having dinner? Was she alone? Was she buried somewhere outside the diner? If only he could have asked these questions, but the caller was very evasive.

Darren thought about calling for backup, but he didn't want to look like a fool. He didn't want this to be another false lead and involve other people. If he wasted his time, that was one thing, but to get other people involved was another. So, he checked the address one more time. And just as he was about to make his way into the diner, he stopped in his tracks. He could not believe what he was looking at. He had gotten it all wrong. The caller never said who was at the address, but never would he have guessed that he would see his wife and another man sitting at a booth in the diner in what looked like an intimate conversation.

Turning on the car, he pressed down on the accelerator and drove off as fast as he could. All he thought about was how he was right. He knew she was screwing around on him. But why wouldn't she just admit it? He had known her since college. This was not in her character. But then again, he never thought she would cheat on him. What had happened to them? Did he really screw up so badly that he missed all the signs? Better yet, who called and tipped him off about his wife?

He drove through the streets almost like he was a zombie. Everything was blurry to him as he tried reading street signs through teary eyes. He barely remembered his route home. The only thing he knew was after a while he found himself pulling into his driveway.

He put the key into the door, and like turning on a light switch, the anger inside him flared. He started knocking the furniture around and destroying expensive art on the mantle. He picked up their wedding picture and was about to throw it across the room when he stopped himself. He took a moment to look at the picture. This was one of the happiest moments in his life. How did it go so wrong? He looked at his new bride in the photo and stared at how happy she looked, and those pretty brown eyes. He sat down on the couch and observed the mess he had made. Darren was not a messy person and always made it a point to keep a very sanitized and organized home. But at that moment, he did not care. He sat in sadness, holding the picture close to him. He looked around at the mess again, but instead of rushing to clean it up, he allowed himself to cry. He loved Jill so much, and he was not sure how to escape the pain that he was feeling.

Moments later, after Darren felt like he could not possibly shed another tear, he got up poured a glass of wine and searched for his phone. What was he doing? He was not going to stand for this. He needed to be a man and demand some respect from his wife. His tears were replaced with fury. He needed some answers, and he was going to get them. He found his phone and typed out the message to Jill. "Get Home now or don't Bother Coming Home at all. I Know you are not at Work so no Excuses."

Darren set his phone down and grabbed a large trash bag. He no longer had a reason to wallow or sit in the mess that he had just made. He would get his answers from Jill, and then he would find out what happened to Rachel. He was done waiting around for answers.

Mason Chapter Fifteen

Mason pulled up into the student parking lot. As soon as he got out of the car he was met by Josh and Adam.

“What's up Mason?”

“Hey, what's going on guys?”

“We just want to know if you got what we need?”

“Hold your horses, I am still working on it, but I think I got this one in the bag.”

“Really? That's not what we heard,” said Josh glaring at Mason.

“That's all gossip, boys. Trust me, I will have Charlie eating out of my hands by tonight.”

“I don't know, man. Charlie is different. I think you went for the wrong girl,” Adam chimed in.

“Oh, yeah? Then how did I get these?” Mason pulled out his phone and showed Josh and Adam the pictures Charlie took at the party.

“How come you didn't put these up, man? Those are hot,” Josh commented as he took Mason's phone to get a better view.

"Give me my phone. I just want to get more, you know?"

“More, okay I see you. You are tryna be smooth with it.”

“Well like you said, Charlie is a smart girl, but I am smarter. After tonight, she won't know what hit her.”

“Well, your proof will need to be in the pudding, I still don't think you can bag Charlie, especially how she left the party the other day,” added Josh. “What do you mean?” Mason asked, he put his phone in his pocket and walked towards the school's entrance.

Josh stopped him before he was about to enter the school. He pulled him to the side and whispered. “Dude, everyone could see that she was upset when she left. You really need to be careful with her; she could really mess all of this up.”

“Trust me, I got this. You need to be worried about Ellie, Josh; she seems to be a loose cannon these days. I saw her talking to both Charlie and Raya, and what do you suppose they were talking about?”

“Naw, you got it wrong. I got Ellie in check.” Josh said, letting Mason go. They all turned and walked into the building.

"Check you later, gentlemen," Adam said to Mason and Josh.

“Hey.” Josh turned to Mason. “For real, be careful with Charlie, and oh he wants to see us tonight.

"Why?"

“I don't know, man, just show up, alright?”

“Yeah, I got you. Will we get to meet him, or are we doing that secret spy stuff again?”

“You know he does not want to be identified. He's probably like the president of the United States or something.”

“Yeah, probably, later dude.” Mason turned to go to his class and saw Charlie sitting at her desk. She looked uncomfortable, and for the first time, he could see what Adam and Josh were trying to warn him about. Just then, he feared she was on to him. But he could not be defeated. He needed one more chance with her. He made up in his mind that he would persuade her to go out with him one more time. He walked into the classroom, gave her a quick smile, and sat down.

Mr. Blunt put them in groups, and, as luck would have it, Charlie ended up in his group. She was so quiet and barely participated in the group discussion. Mason knew that something was wrong because she normally would roll her eyes at Tracey when she flirted with him. But she was not even phased by Tracey and her flirtatious behavior. Mason knew he had a challenge on his hands. He instantly smiled as he thought to himself. "This was going to be fun."

Charlie Chapter Sixteen

Charlie was nervous about going to school after that crazy party over the weekend. She hadn't talked to Mason since the party. She didn't want to run into him or talk to him. She wasn't ready to talk to Ellie either. She needed time to think about what was going on. Charlie was so freaked out about the note Ellie had given her and what it could mean.

Sitting in her physics class, it was hard to avoid Ellie and Mason. Mr. Blunt decided this day was the best day for group discussions. Charlie was in a group with Mason, and Ellie's group was across the room. Thank God awful Tracey was in her group as well. As usual, she couldn't keep her hands off of Mason. She agreed with everything he said and acted like everything he said was either clever or hilarious. This was one time that Charlie appreciated her tactics. It helped a little, but it still did not keep Mason from constantly looking at her. She kept her eye on the clock and wished the time would move faster than it had been. She faked her smiles and her conversations, but on the inside, she was a wreck. She was starving because there was no way she could eat breakfast this morning with the ball of nerves she felt in the pit of her stomach.

Finally, Mr. Blunt called everyone back to their seats and reminded them of their projects that were due next week. The bell rang, and she instantly charged towards the door.

“Charlie,” she heard Mason yell. What should she do? She could keep walking and pretend she did not hear him, but that idea was washed out when he repeated her name in a song at the top of his lungs. She decided she would rather talk to him than be remembered by her classmates for this embarrassing stunt. She slowly turned around and met his gaze. That same gaze that had her head over heels for him. Just a few days ago she was dreaming about being with him. But after he made her feel gross and uncomfortable, she couldn't remember why she even liked him in the first place. “Hey, Mason.”

"Where have you been, girl? I haven't heard from you."

“Yeah, I was busy.”

"Too busy to call your man."

She couldn't believe he just called himself her man. A week ago, this would have made her smile and feel giddy that he called himself her man. But now all she wanted was to tell him to get lost and that she didn't want to see him again. She couldn't decide why she felt so strongly about her disgust for him, but she knew that taking those pictures did not feel right, and she wished she had stuck to her guns and said, no. Maybe that was the reason she was so disgusted with him. Maybe she did not like who she was when she was with him. Maybe she did not trust his intentions. She started walking through the halls and out the door to the student parking lot as Mason followed.

“So, are we hanging out tonight, or what?”

“No, I can't.”

"Why not? I haven't seen you since the party."

In this moment, she knew that she had to do it. She had to tell him. She couldn't take one more day of this.

over" “Mason, look, I.”

Mason cut her off with a kiss.

She jumped backwards, pushing him away from her.

“Mason, what are you doing?”

“I missed your kiss, girl. What's up?”

“Look, we can't go out again. I think whatever this was, is

“Charlie, wait I am sorry. I just missed you. Come out with me one more time, please.”

Charlie looked at him, and, in the distance, she saw Ellie staring at her again, but this time she waved and motioned for her to come to her. She looked back at Mason and then at Ellie. Today was the day to face all fears she supposed. “Uh, I will call you. I have to go.” She walked past him and towards where Ellie was standing. She looked around but Ellie was no longer in front of her. Where was she? She heard Mason still calling after her. She blocked out his voice as she focused on where Ellie had disappeared. Then she heard a rustle behind the trees. She also heard a voice calling her name. She walked behind the trees on the path, and there stood Ellie waiting for her.

“I can't talk long, but I need to talk to you about Mason. Meet me tonight at Riverwood Square. Do you know where that is?” “Yes,” she said nodding as well.

“Seven tonight, don't be late.” As soon as she said this, she walked off with her head down and disappeared through the trees.

Great, now she had a decision to make. She could meet Mason or meet Ellie. It all depended on what disaster she wanted to face tonight.

Just as Darren cleaned up the last bit of mess that he made, Jill walked through the door. He stared at her with a black plastic garbage bag in one hand and a broom in the other. She stared back at him. He could tell that she knew they were going to have a hard conversation and that he would not accept anything else. He felt confident, but oddly, he felt like spilling his last meal onto the ground. He wondered how this night would end. Would he be sleeping alone tonight? Would she confirm his suspicions? Could they fix this issue? He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but mostly he wanted his suspicions not to be true.

Just then, Jill broke his thoughts with her question.

"What happened?" she said, as she looked around the living room.

“I saw you, Jill,” he said jumping right in. He did not want to leave room for small talk or excuses. He needed answers right away.

"You saw me?"

“Don't do this, you know what I am talking about. I saw you and that guy at that horrible diner tonight, and it looked like you knew him very well.”

Jill immediately started crying. She dropped her keys and purse beside her and held her face in her hands. Darren could see the tears spilling out and onto her fingers. He wanted to go to her and take her pain away, but what about his pain? He couldn't let her get away with this. Who does this? All she had to do was tell him that she was not happy. Why would she go to another man? He asked himself.

“How long, Jill? How could you do this?”

Jill removed her hands from her face and looked at Darren as if she was confused by the words that he was saying, and like she didn't understand the English language.

“How long, Jill?” Darren said, yelling and dropping the bag and broom. Darren usually did not raise his voice, which caused her to jump in fear.

“No Darren, it wasn't like that,” she said holding up her hands as if to calm him down. “I am going to ask one more time? I am sick of your games. How long have you been cheating on me?”

“Darren?”

"Get out!"

“What?”

“I have been begging for you to tell me what was wrong, and you have said nothing to me as if I had done something wrong. You have no idea how much you have hurt me these last couple days, Jill. I mean what did I do to deserve this? I watch you come and go and you say nothing to me. Well, tonight you will talk or you will leave. What will it be? You choose?” he said, looking at her with his hands resting on his hips.”

Jill put her head down and turned away from him. She wiped more tears from her eyes and sat down in the oversized chair next to her. "Okay, let's talk," she said, as she motioned him to join her on the couch next to her.

Darren walked over to where she was sitting. His heart was thumping and he felt like it was falling apart. He felt weak, but at that moment, he still loved her no matter how hurt and upset he was. He really just wanted to grab her and hold her. He wanted to put his fingers through her hair and wipe the tears from her face and hold her until she stopped crying. But at the same time, he also wanted to smash her face, for putting them into this situation. He stared at her and waited for her to speak again. And then after a long moment, she finally started talking.

“It's not what you think, Darren. Yes, I was seeing someone, but I never actually cheated on you. I was very low and didn't know what to do with the pain.”

“The pain, what pain?”

“I lost a patient a little while ago, and doctors lose patients all the time, and it's hard, but we move on, you know. But this patient, her death was my fault.”

I don't understand, how was it your fault?" he asked as he moved closer to her. “I had not been sleeping; I am sure you remember. I was so tired and always on call. A colleague noticed and offered to take my shift, but I didn't want to seem weak. During the surgery, I didn't feel like myself. I should have rescheduled the surgery, but I just kept going like an idiot. It was the last surgery of the day, and I thought I'm finished the surgery early, I could go home and get some sleep. So, I kept going. I was about halfway through when I noticed a lot of blood where it should not have been. The cut that I thought was a good cut was not. Turns out I nicked her ay-or-tuh. My team tried really hard to correct the problem, but there was just so much blood. We couldn't save her in time.”

“How come you didn't tell me about this?”

“I didn't want to bring this home with me.”

“What makes this one different from the other one? You told me about deaths during surgery before.”

“This one was truly my fault. I mean, I didn't admit to any wrongdoing, but I felt so guilty and if I brought it home with me, I knew that I could never escape it.”

“Is the family Suing? Are we being sued?”

“No, unfortunately, the patient did not have any living relatives. The hospital is reviewing the case but have assured me that everything would be okay.”

“So, what, you kill your patient, and then you go screw some stranger to make yourself feel better?”

“Darren?”

Even Darren surprised himself with that comment.

“Then what is it, Jill? How did you go from making a mistake to having an affair?”

Jill closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she started to explain. “I went to have a drink that night. I met a guy, and we ended up talking most of the evening. I never intended to cheat on you or see him again. But that conversation, the attention, all of it made me feel so much better that I ended up seeing him again.

Darren stood up and paced the floor. "Who is he?" “I can't tell you that.”

"You can't tell me? Why not?"

“This is the reason that I did not tell you, Darren. I cannot tell you his name or any other information about him. All I can tell you is that we never slept together and I have ended it with him. I know I don't deserve to ask this of you, but I need you to trust me. I promise I will tell you everything soon.”

“This does not make sense. Has he threatened you? If he has, I will...”

“No, no, Darren, calm down,” she said, cutting him off. She grabbed his arms and sat him back down. “Listen, I understand how you must be feeling right now, and I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I know that it should have been you that I ran to. I just couldn't take you looking at me in shame or pity because of my mistake. I just wanted to leave it somewhere else so when I came home, I could be home.”

“But you weren't home, Jill, you were here, but you were not present. I didn't know what was going on. Do you know how that felt? And to know that you went to some stranger and allowed him to be there for you.” Darren paused to catch his breath and to stifle a tear. “That's my job, my job and you...” Darren couldn't finish his sentence, he walked out of the room and left Jill sitting alone.

Moments later Darren walked back into the room, his eyes bloodshot red, and it looked like he was trying to recover from a serious sinus infection. His nostrils were flared and red, his eyes looked swollen, along with his face. He stared at her for what seemed like hours before he quietly said, "I want you to leave. I can't look at you right now."

Jill stood up and turned to Darren. "Okay, I understand."

She went upstairs and collected some of her belongings. When she came back downstairs, she stood in the doorway and waited for him to look at her or to say goodbye. When she realized he was not going to acknowledge her leaving, she walked over to him.

“I really am sorry; I will text you the address to the hotel I will be staying at.” “Fine,” he said, staring straight ahead.

She started to walk away when she stopped and turned toward him.

“Darren, I need to tell you something.”

“No, Jill, I can't do this right now. Please, just leave.”

"But..."

"Jill, for the love of God, get out!"

He finally turned to her and watched as she walked out the door. She took one last look at him and their eyes met. He could see her pain, but he needed to focus on his pain right now. However, whatever Jill was trying to tell him, he had the distinct feeling that it was important. He hoped kicking her out tonight was not a big mistake.

Rachel Chapter Eighteen

Rachel did not know where they were taking her. She was in the back seat of a car for what seemed like hours. Why was this happening to her? She wasn't sure how long she had been missing, but she was hungry, cold, and scared about what they were going to do to her.

She kept thinking about the night of the party. She had fruit punch because she didn't want to drink alcohol. She now knows that the punch must have been spiked because right after she drank it, she started to feel sick and got really tired. She remembered someone trying to kiss her and hold her down. She remembered fighting and then being pushed. She hit her head on the desk in the room. She wanted to check the wound on her head, but her hands were still tied. The blood by now was dried; it looked like a winding road down her face.

She never saw their faces, but their voices sounded familiar. All she knew was they were young, but strong. One kid sounded like he would lose his lunch every time he talked. She could tell he was not used to this sort of thing, whatever it was. He kept referring to his college scholarship being revoked if anyone found out. The other guy, who was more confident, kept telling him to shut up about his scholarship and that no one would find out.

At that moment, the car stopped. She was pulled out of the car and onto the ground. She wanted to ask what was going on, but her mouth was gagged, and there was a pillowcase over her head. She couldn't see or talk. The only thing she could do was feel. She could feel the cold, hard ground, could smell the exhaust fumes from the car, she could smell pine trees, and she could hear the birds chirping. But the sound she focused on was the sound of the doors closing and the sound of the car driving off. She instantly panicked.

Are they leaving her for dead? Was this the end for her? She had to get out of here, but how? She could see light through the pillowcase but did not know how much time she had before dark. She needed to get out of these ropes and fast.

Oh, how she longed to be at home right now. She would sit next to her mom and feel her warm arms holding her. They would talk for hours, and she would actually listen to her. She would watch how interested her mom was when she told her stories about the kids at school. She would appreciate her mom's laugh when she said something funny. She missed these moments with her mom. Lately, she had been spending more time alone in her bedroom. Her parents were not cool anymore to hang around. But given one more chance, she would be thrilled to hear her dad's bad jokes and go on Starbucks coffee runs with him. She remembered how he would always sneak in an extra treat for her. Her mother was not a fan of sugar or anything delicious, so she could always count on her dad to spoil her with the goods.

Rachel closed her eyes and allowed herself to cry. She wasn't sure where she was, but she knew she probably should stay quiet. But as the tears started to flow, she said out loud to herself, but hoped by some miracle they would get the message. "Mom, Dad, please come and save me, please, I don't want to die."

Ellie Chapter Nineteen

Ellie watched as Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton were waiting for the crowd to settle down. They were just about to give a statement on television. Margret Hamilton grabbed her husband's hand as she spoke to the crowd.

“Hello everyone, thank you for being here today. I am elated that so many of you volunteered your time to help us find our little girl. Rachel is a smart, sweet girl who would be incredibly happy that all of you are here to support her. We have not seen Rachel for over a week now and we really…” she paused as she tried to suppress her tears. When she realized she could no longer speak she turned and buried her face into her husband's chest. He held her close and took over for her.

At the sight of this, Ellie herself doubled over in shame and let the tears flow from her eyes. She didn't know where Rachel was, but she was fairly sure Josh did. She wanted to get on the phone and call the police and tell them everything, but she was scared. What would they do to her? Would she go to jail? She stood up and covered her mouth as she listened to Mr. Hamilton take over for his wife.

“As you can see, we are deeply moved that so many of you are supporting us today. We miss Rachel, and we are pleading with you if you know where she is, or have any information regarding her, whereabouts to please come forward. We just want her back home where she belongs."

Ellie wiped her tears and tried to recover or at least look normal before Chase had a million questions. She turned off the television and turned to start dinner. She needed to finish dinner and eat before she had to meet Charlie. As she made her way to the kitchen, she saw Chase standing in the doorway.

“Chase.”

“What's going on Ellie?” he said, walking towards her.

'Nothing,' she said washing her hands to prepare dinner. She looked away from him because with her fair skin, whenever she cried it made her face look extra red.

“Your face is beet red, Ellie, and I have been standing here for a while. I know you were crying in your room the other day when Josh showed up, so what's going on?”

She burst into tears and held her face in her hands.

“I can't tell you, Chase.”

"Why not? Are you in danger?"

“Yes, and if I tell you, we will all be in danger.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Listen, I will handle this. Just give me some time, and I will tell you everything.”

“No, Ellie, that is not good enough. I just watched how you reacted to the news about Rachel. If you are in trouble, we need to get Mom and Dad involved. I am going to call them right now if you don't tell me what you have gotten yourself into.”

Ellie closed her eyes and waited a moment to gather herself. When she opened them, she took a deep breath, and she started at the beginning.

“You know I was dating Josh, right?” she sat down at the kitchen table.

“The super senior, yeah you could do a lot better than that guy,” Chase said, sitting next to her. “He started out being the perfect gentleman, but right after I really started to like him, he started asking me for favors. He wanted me to,” she hesitated.

"What kind of favors, Ellie? Chase said, patiently."

“First, he wanted to take pictures of me. Like, really inappropriate pictures. I really liked him, so I decided to take the pictures. But he didn't stop there. He then wanted me to take nude pictures.”

Chased jumped out of his seat, “What, I'll kill him! You let him take nude pictures of you?”

“Chase, no I refused to take them. I didn't feel comfortable doing that. But one day, after I went to one of the olympic parties, he called it, he showed me pictures of myself nude. He told me that he owned me, and that from now on I needed to do what he wanted, or he would send the pictures to all of my contacts and everybody at school. I felt trapped, so I did it. Everything he asked me to do. I did it.”

She wrapped her arms around herself and bent over her knees. She cried like she needed to purge her insides. Chase knelt beside her, and as if he were a warm blanket he covered her in his arms. She too was his best friend, and it killed him to see her like this. He hated that she had been going through this alone.

“Ellie, I am sorry that you were going through this alone. I wish you had talked to me. I could have helped.”

“I was too ashamed. I just kept getting into it deeper and deeper.”

“What else did Josh make you do?” Chase asked, getting back to his chair.

“He would make me go on these double dates to convince the girls to take the pictures and keep it a secret. I was supposed to make it look like no big deal. I even took them shopping and bought gifts for them to convince them.”

"So, you would get other girls to take nude pictures?" "Yes," she started crying again. “What did they do with these pictures?”

“They put them on a website for people to buy. High school kids, older men.”

“So, what happened if a girl refused to take the nude pics?”

“They invited them to their parties and drugged them with G.H.B. They told them that the punch was alcohol free. Then, when they were not looking, one of them would drop liquid G.H.B into their cups and, within fifteen minutes, they would start to feel drowsy. Then they would take them to one of the rooms and.” she started crying again.

“Ellie, what did they do to the girls after they were drugged?”

"It's complicated."

“Well, you need to uncomplicate it because we need to figure this out. I need to know what this has to do with that missing girl.”

"Rachel, Chase, her name is Rachel."

“What happened to her?”

“I don't know for sure, but I think Josh had something to do with it.”

“Then we need to call the police and let them know. And then we need to tell Mom and Dad so they can help you. If we are in danger, we can't do this on our own.”

“I know, I know, but first I need to meet someone.”

“Who?”

“I am meeting Charlie and Raya; I need to help them out of this. Josh said that he would erase my account on the website if I helped him the other night. I want to help them to get their freedom as well. I am going to tell them everything. But Josh or Mason can't know that we are meeting tonight.”

“Mason? Wasn't he hanging around Charlie?”

“Yes, I couldn't stand watching him groom her the way he did. It was so obvious.”

Chase had an angered look on his face. Ellie wondered why he all of a sudden got quiet. “What is it, Chase?”

"Nothing." he looked away.

"You have the hots for Charlie, don't you?"

“She's hot and I couldn't stand watching her hang out with that douche bag. He just showed up unexpectedly and had all the girls after him. I didn't think Charlie was like that.”

“I didn't think you noticed girls.”

“What, just because I am not like all these other guys making a fool of myself, doesn't mean I am not into girls. I want to show respect to them, treat them like human beings, and not like objects.”

“Well, I wish all men were like you Chase, but since they are not, I need to go.”

“We need to go. I am not letting you do this on your own.”

She looked over at the kitchen and thought about dinner. Seeing that they had run out of time, she decided not to cook. They would need to pick something up after the meeting. She smiled at him and led the way to the uber that was waiting for them.

In the car on the way to Riverwood Square Ellie filled Chase in on the entire operation. She let him know that there were high school boys at different high schools who were involved. Each boy would date a girl, get her to fall in love with him and then start to ask for favors. Once they were hooked, the favors got more and more inappropriate. If the girls went along with it, they were none the wiser. If not, they were drugged at parties and taken advantage of. There were different stages, and it was all a game for these high school boys. The game started at the beginning of the school year. Each boy had to get so many nude pictures, so many make-out sessions, and so many girls to sleep with them. The winner from the previous year tracked all the boys and their accomplishments.

At the end of the year, he would crown the new king of the olympic games, they called it. The worst part was that each session was captured with a video or a picture. Every picture taken, or video made was uploaded to a website where anyone could pay to view the videos and pictures. They were given a special link once they paid to view the website. This ring had been going on for years. Even students who already graduated still participated in the games in college

When Ellie got done explaining the scheme, Chase looked like he was sickened, but mostly he was angry that all of this was happening, and at this moment, he was torn between being upset with his sister and being sad that she was involved.

Charlie Chapter Twenty

She guessed she needed to get to her meeting. She wasn't sure which person to meet. She could either meet Mason and tell him that she didn't like the person she was when she was with him, or she could meet Ellie and figure out why she told her not to trust Mason. The decision was an easy one to make when she realized how she was feeling. So, she walked in the parking lot and looked around. It was dark now, and she was concerned about being there alone. She was about to go back to her car when she saw Ellie walking towards her with two other people.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hi Charlie, thank you for meeting me. This is Raya, and I think you know my brother Chase.”

“Okay, what are we doing here? What was so important and secretive that we had to meet like spies.”

“Hey, if you knew what we knew, you would not think this meeting was secretive enough,” Chase said.

“What is he talking about? Ellie, what is he talking about? Am I in danger?” asked Charlie.

“Let's just all calm down. Charlie, I asked you to meet me because I noticed you hanging around Mason, and I need to warn you that he is bad news.” “I think you kind of already did that with your ominous note the other day.”

“I know, but I need to tell you that Mason transferred to this school for the sole purpose of recruiting more girls.”

“Recruit?”

“He is a part of a group of high school students from different schools that are getting girls to do things that they don't want to do.”

“Do things, like what?” Charlie asked the question, but she already knew the answer. She immediately thought back to the pictures Mason had insisted on her taking.

Ellie looked at Charlie as if she was waiting for her to confess her photo session with Mason at the party. She knew he made her do it then because of the familiar look she had on her face. "Charlie, did Mason ask you to take some pictures?" "Yes," she admitted.

“Did you feel uncomfortable?”

“Yes, I did,” she put her head down and then looked away ashamed.

Raya jumped in. "So did we."

Charlie looked back up at Raya and nodded her head as she felt bile rising in her throat.

“The thing is, Mason would have asked you to take more pictures that you would not have wanted to take. Nude pictures.” Charlie's eyes got big and she put her hands up.

“I would never!” she yelled.

“I know, neither would I. But one day at a party, I was drugged with G.H.B and I passed out. I had no idea that Josh had taken off my clothes and taken nude pictures of me. I only found out when he asked me to do him another favor, and I refused. He showed them to me and blackmailed me. If I did not help him with recruiting other girls, he would send my nude pictures to the entire school and to everyone in my contacts. I panicked, and I did it.”

“You recruited other girls? Is this what this is?” Charlie started to run away. “Is this why Chase is here to keep me in line if I refuse?” “No, relax, I am here to help you. I would never hurt you, and I think you know that,” said Chase as he held up his hands as if he were surrendering.

"And you, why are you here?" she said pointing to Raya.

“I am here because I was blackmailed as well. I don't remember posing for nude pictures, but they have them. I was put on the website over the weekend, and I have already made lots of money for them. I just found out at the party.”

“There's a website? How did you find out?” Charlie asked.

“My cousin found them and called me. He was freaking out and said that he was calling the cops. I begged him not to because both Josh and Mason said they would hurt my family and me if I told anyone.”

“So, Mason only wanted to date me to get me to take pictures of me and sell them on some website?”

“Yes,” said Ellie. “I was trying to warn you, so you didn't make the same mistake as we did.”

“That sure does a lot to a girl's self-esteem. So now what?”

“The first thing is you can never see Mason again. Then, we need to figure out what happened to Rachel.”

“Rachel? What does she have to do with this?” asked Charlie.

"Ellie thinks that Josh and Mason had something to do with her missing," Chase chimed in.

“Brock and Adam are a part of this as well. Brock goes to Lincoln Heights,” said Raya.

“Basically, Rachel was at one of their famous parties before the last party, and she never made it home.”

"Why haven't the police questioned people at the party?"

“They have; we all told the same story that Josh forced us to tell,” Ellie said.

“So, you lied to the police?”

Ellie noticed Chase looked away in disgust. She felt the knots in her stomach turn, and her heart felt like it was breaking into pieces. How could she have done this?

“Relax, as soon as we are done here, I am going to tell my parents everything, and we are going to the police to tell the truth. I hope what we tell them will help bring Rachel home,” said Ellie.

“I wonder where she could be. Has anyone ever gone missing before from one of these parties?” asked Charlie.

“No, but I know Josh, he is dangerous. If Rachel fought back or refused, I know he would hurt her.”

“But what could he do, kill her and hide the body?” Charlie asked.

“I am not sure maybe he took her somewhere,” Ellie responded.

"But where could he take her that cops could not find her?"

“I don't know maybe he has her stashed at a cabin that his parents own. Mason's parents definitely have property that they could hide her in,” Ellie pondered.

“Wait, Ellie, did you and Josh ever go to Brock's house for a party?” asked Raya.

“No, all the parties were at Ryan's house.”

“No, there was a party at Brock's house once because Ryan's parents were going to be home that evening. There was a lot of land on that property. There was so much land that if they hid her out there, they would not find her for days,” said Raya.

“What a theory!” Josh said as he clapped his hands. That is when all four of them turned to see Josh, Mason, Adam, and Brock coming towards them

Chase

Chapter Twenty-One Chase was afraid that this would happen. He knew that at any moment Josh's gang would show up. With the conversation he was just listening to, he knew there was no way they were safe. He reached in his pocket and touched the pocketknife he grabbed before leaving home. This was his insurance policy to get out of here alive.

“Listen guys, we were just leaving,” Chase said, standing in front of all the girls.

“Charlie, you were supposed to call me. What happened?”

“I got smart Mason. I know who you are, and what you did to me was very cruel. I thought you were a nice guy.”

“Awe Sweet Charlie, were you looking for a nice guy?”

“Listen,” Josh interrupted. “I don't know what lies Ellie has been feeding you guys, but I wouldn't believe her. She's not who you think she is.”

“Cut the crap Josh, they already know what kind of scum you are. I just wished I figured it out sooner.”

“Ellie, if I am scum, so are you,” he looked at her as if he were searching for her soul. After a long pause, Ellie regained her voice.

“I don't know why you are here, Josh, but we are leaving.”

“I can't let you do that. I just heard your conversation, and I can't have you spreading rumors about us.”

“Come on guys, they were just rumors, right? We know you wouldn't hurt anyone. So, we got it wrong. We apologize, okay. We are all good. We are just going to go home now, and forget all about this,” Chase said, as he spread his arms out as if to barricade the girls behind him.

“Do you think we are that stupid? We know as soon as you leave, you will run straight to the cops and share your crazy theory,” Mason said.

Charlie and Raya looked at each other, and both girls were scared out of their minds. Charlie looked at her car and grabbed the keys in her pocket. She wondered how long it would take to run to the car without getting caught. But she didn't want to leave everyone else. They were here to warn her about Mason, to keep her out of trouble. She couldn't leave them and she wouldn't.

Chase wrapped his fingers around the sharp metal in his pocket and knew that he would need to use the knife to get his sister and the other girls out of there safely. He came along to protect his sister and that was what he was going to do.

“Look, like I said, we were wrong okay,” he started to slowly back up, and the girls behind him started to do the same thing.

"Where do you think you are going?"

Josh's crew started running towards them and Chase pulled out his knife.

“We are going home, just like I told you. Go to the car Ellie, Raya, and Charlie.”

“Chase, I can't let you do this,” Ellie protested.

"Ellie, get in the car, now. I got this."

All three girls walked backwards until they were close to the car. When they got into the car, Charlie started it.

“If you take another step towards me, I will use this. I am not afraid of you. I am going to get into that car, and you will not follow me, or I will try my best to gut your insides.”

"Okay, little man, there are four of us. How are you going to do that?"

“You are right, I may not get all of you, but I will gut at least one of you. Who's willing to volunteer?”

Just then Josh and his gang charged after Chase. Chase started swinging his knife methodically to do exactly what he had promised. When Brock moved closer to him, he cut him on his arm.

Brock screamed out, and Josh grabbed Chase from behind. Charlie jumped out and grabbed a crowbar out of her trunk and hit Josh on the head. She watched him grab his head and fall to the ground. Right after Charlie jumped out of the car, Raya and Ellie got out and attacked Mason and Adam. Brock charged after Charlie when Chase stood in front of her with his knife raised.

Brock stopped in his tracks, while Josh moaned on the ground still. Raya was on top of Adam scratching his face, and Ellie was biting Mason. Charlie and Chase looked over to the two of them when Mason started screaming. Charlie ran over to Mason and kicked him between his legs and then hit Adam with her crowbar. The four of them ran to the car, and Charlie sped out of the parking lot and down the street.

The car was silent as each of them caught their breath.

“What just happened?” Charlie said, breaking the silence.

“I think we just kicked Josh and his gang's fannies,” they all busted out in laughter.

“I can't lie guys, I think I need my pants,” said Raya.

“Well at least yours was pee,” Ellie said laughing.

In unison everyone acted grossed out.

“I am kidding guys. But seriously, I was scared out of my mind. And Chase where did you get a knife?”

“I took Grandpa's knife before we left. I knew something would go wrong tonight. What's our next move, Ellie?”

“Charlie, can you take Chase and me home? We are going to talk to our parents. You and Raya go to the police station and tell them about our suspicions. Chase call Mom and Dad now and have them to meet at home. Raya, call 911 and tell them you have information about Rachel and will be in soon. We will meet you at the police station. I probably will not be leaving the station tonight; but I will be getting what I deserve.

The car went back to being silent. The only thing that could be heard was the engine and the tires on the open road. Everyone knew what needed to be done and were thinking about their different roles. The common thoughts were to help find Rachel and to stay safe.

Ellie Chapter Twenty-Two

Ellie walked into her home on a mission, but with humiliation. She knew the conversation that she needed to have with her parents would not be an easy one. She saw her mom sitting at the kitchen table with a worried look on her face. Sarah and her dad were also looking at her with concern. She stood in front of them and immediately started to cry. Chase stood next to her and grabbed her hand in support. His mere existence standing next to her gave her the strength that she needed to allow the words to spill out of her mouth.

Midway through she thought she would collapse as she saw the look in her parents' eyes. She noticed a lone tear trickling down her mother's face. All she could think about was how much she disappointed her and what she must think of her. She wished Sarah would go away it was bad enough that her parents had to hear about her horrible choices. She didn't want her to sit and judge her as well. She looked over at her dad, and he had his head down the entire time. He never even looked up at her. She remembered how proud he always said he was of her and wondered if he was still proud of her. The thought of her parents' disappointment in her, made her double over and fall into Chase.

She expected her parents to tell her how disappointed they were in her. She expected them to start blaming one another for her mistake. She expected to go through this without them and to figure out how to save Rachel on her own, which is why she was surprised when both her parents stood up and held both her and Chase in their arms. She felt the warmth of her mother's bosom and the strength of her father's arms around them. He held the entire family together in that huddle. Sarah sat at the table and cried in her hands and then later decided to allow the broken family to mend at that moment by leaving the room.

Ellie then realized that she was not alone, and her parents did not hate her. She needed to forgive herself, but first she needed to get to the station to turn herself in and to meet Charlie and Raya.

Her parents understood the urgency, and they all left to go to the station. Ellie's dad wanted to make sure Josh and his goons did not try to hurt them and wanted to make sure that Ellie had proper legal representation. They all left for the station not knowing if they would all return

Charlie Chapter Twenty-Three

As soon as Charlie stopped the car, Raya jumped out and ran into the police station.

“Excuse me!” she yelled when she saw no one at the front desk. “Anyone here?”

A short blond-headed lady came from the back and looked at Raya.

“Is there something that I can help you with, young lady?”

“Yes, I think I may know where that missing girl is. Well, I don't know where she is, but I may have a clue; I just don't know exactly where she is.”

“What she is trying to say is she may know where Rachal Hamilton might be.” Charlie said walking up and putting her hand on Raya's shoulder as if to calm her.

“Okay and how do you know where she is?” asked the front desk clerk.

“It is a long story, but I need someone to check it out,” said Raya.

“I am sorry you are going to have to be a bit clearer.” Raya

sighs and turns to Charlie for help.

"Can we talk to a detective please?"

The clerk looked at both girls and shook her head.

"Wait here."

Moments later she came back with a tall man who looked like he had just stepped out of a magazine. Charlie thought he probably had as much hair product in his hair as she did. His clothes were so neat, she wondered if he ever left his desk and went out into the field. He did not look like he could actually help them, but at this point, she needed to give it a try.

"Can I help you?" Detective Price asked.

“Yes, my friend here has a friend that may be holding Rachel Hamilton on his property.”

"Rachel Hamilton, the missing girl?"

They both answered, “Yes, sir.”

"Come with me ladies."

They followed him to his office and sat down in the designated chairs across from its desk.

“Please tell me more about how you know where Rachel is.”

Charlie watched as Raya explained the boys' entire operation and the chain of events that happened that evening. She was not worried about getting into trouble herself because every punch or kick she administered to those jerks was clearly self-defense.

Raya finished telling the detective about the land that Brock's Manning's parents had and why she thought that Rachel could be there. The detective was a little skeptical, but he decided to oblige and looked further into her story.

Just then there was a knock at the door. The clerk let the detective know that another girl was here to give information about the missing girl. And behind the clerk walked in Ellie. Her eyes were bloodshot red and her face looked like she had been hanging upside down for hours. Charlie felt bad for her, but she was also grateful to her for warning her.

“Have a seat. What is your name?”

“Ellie Wilmont.”

With Ellie and Raya's confession, Detective Price was able to piece it all together. He made a few phone calls and learned that Brock's parents owned two properties where Rachel could possibly be held. He called all the parents and put out an A.P.B on Brock, Adam, Ryan, Josh, and Mason. As soon as he obtained the search warrant, he sent two teams out in search of Rachel. He asked Ellie to stay back so that he could get a formal statement from her.

Moments later Charlie and Raya left the detective's office.

“Raya,” a large man yelled her name as he walked through the corridor. He looked as if he had just left his biker friends and was upset that Raya had cut his night short. He was stuffed into a black leather jacket with spikes on his shoulders. He had on dark black boots over his worn-out blue jeans that looked like he had to put in a ton of effort just to walk.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

“That is my question, young lady. Please tell me what I am doing here tonight at a police station of all places? What have you gotten yourself into?”

"Nothing!"

“You don't end up in a police station for nothing Raya. What is this I hear you know where that missing girl is? Seriously, what did you do?”

Charlie felt embarrassed for Raya and walked towards them to help her out.

Mr. Sumpter shifted his gaze towards Charlie with a look of disdain on his face as if he were annoyed. He pushed several words out of his mouth through his clenched teeth.

“Excuse me, I am trying to have a conversation with my daughter.”

“I am sorry, I did not mean to interrupt, but Raya was helping the detective find Rachel. I think they will be able to find her thanks to Raya, so you should be proud of her.

“I don't need you to tell me how to feel little girl. Now leave us alone.”

Charlie looked at Raya, and she reminded Charlie of a little mouse stuck in a mousetrap. It was like she was paralyzed the moment she heard her dad's voice. She knew there was nothing that she could do at the moment. So, she took a step back and thankfully loved the view she was able to see passed Raya and her dad. “Mom, Dad! Where's Ingram?” She ran into their arms and stayed there for a while. Right before she released herself from her parents' embrace, she noticed Raya looking at her. She felt bad that the two exchanges were totally different. between Raya's dad coming into the station versus her parents coming into the police station. She suddenly got a feeling of sadness for Raya and wondered if she would be okay. She watched as her dad pulled her arm and pulled her towards the door as he kept drilling her for answers. She felt sorry for Raya, but she was happy that her parents were there with her.

“He is with your uncle. Charlie, what happened?” asked her mom.

Charlie took a deep breath and finally came clean about her whole dating experience with Mason. She was sure that she would see a look of disappointment on her parents' faces, but those images never appeared on either her mom or dad's faces. She was able to get through the entire story and feeling shameful she turned away from them.

“Charlie, thank you for telling us everything. Your mom and I knew something was not right with your date the other night, but we wanted you to be the one to tell us. We want you to know that we trusted you the entire time to do the right thing and it looks like you did in the end.”

“We are very proud of you, and we know that you have learned some lessons here. I do want you to know that you can always talk to us. You did not have to go through this alone.”

“I know mom, I was really freaking out, but I did not know why. All I knew was that I didn't like the feeling that I got at that party, and I did know what the right thing was to do. Sometimes doing the right thing is not that easy.”

“I know, sweetheart,” her dad said grabbing her hand.

“And I think Mason is the one who took your lip gloss, Mom. That is kind of his thing. He takes stuff from his victims.”

“Well, I hope he likes the color,” she said jokingly.

Charlie let out a smile that barely met her eyes. She then closed them and let the tears that were filling her eyes roll down her face. “What is it honey?” Dad asked in a soothing tone.

“It's just, I really liked him Dad, and it hurts to know that he didn't like me back. He wanted to hurt me.” Charlie could barely get these words out of her mouth. It felt like someone was turning her voice off and on to keep her from speaking clearly.

Chase Chapter Twenty-Four

Chase waited while his parents and Ellie were in the room with the detective. The entire time he watched the scene unfold between Raya and her dad. He knew that he liked Charlie even more when she tried standing up for Raya. He wanted to be her knight and shiny armor when Mr. Sumpter yelled at her. Without hesitation, he stood up to jump in, but he saw her parents walk in. He figured Charlie's parents would handle Mr. Sumpter. He sat back down and watched the exchange between Charlie and her parents. He wanted so badly to go to her when she started crying. He looked at Charlie's mom and could see the resemblance. They looked very much alike. They both had dark curly hair, and it was even styled somewhat alike. He could tell that Charlie got some of her features from her dad, but mostly she looked like her mom. He loved her dark skin and the way she let her tight curls sit freely on her head. He often wondered if she curled each strand separately every morning to get them to coil the way that they did.

In that moment, he shook his head and stopped himself from daydreaming about her again. He promised himself many times before to either say something to Charlie or to stop wasting so much time thinking about her. He was never successful at either task. Just then, he felt a surge of confidence. He wasn't sure if it was because of the night's event or what, but he was going to do it. He was going to talk to Charlie and by the end of the night she would know how he felt about her.

Chase got up to walk over to Charlie and walked right past her and to the vending machines. Maybe next time, he thought to himself. He made his choice of ultra-processed poison, which he usually tried to stay away from, but he couldn't very well walk to the vending machine and return with nothing to show for it. And then he heard it. Chase heard the broken words fumbling out of Charlie's mouth and this gave him the confidence he needed to speak up. He walked over to Charlie and her parents, stood there, and waited until she looked up at him.

“Charlie, don't cry. You should be proud of yourself. You were so brave tonight. No one knew what those jerks were up to. I am only glad that you did not get as caught up with this whole mess as my sister and Raya.”

“Thank you, Chase, I am grateful to Ellie for telling me about Mason, but it still freaks me out.”

“Do you like...?” Chase looked at his hands and was surprised to see that he got black licorice out of the vending machine. He wanted to offer her something but was afraid she would curse him for offering her black licorice. “Uh, licorice.”

"She loves it and is the only one in the family that does."

Charlie grabbed the licorice and opened them right away.

“Thanks, Chase,” Charlie looked at her parents and then at Chase. “Oh, Mom and Dad this is Ellie's twin brother, Chase. Chase, this is Mr. and Mrs. West.”

“Megan,” Mrs. West said as she held out her hand.

"Jarrod, nice to meet you, young man."

"You too, sir."

Charlie stood up and motioned for Chase to join her across the room. He followed her as he gave her parents one last glance and a smile.

“Thank you again, Chase. I needed some sugar to make me feel better. I was a ball of nerves tonight. I am just glad I was able to tell my parents about everything.”

“I am glad that we were all safe. Don't think I didn't notice those moves you made out there. Do you take karate?”

“Ha maybe a YouTube martial arts class once a year.”

At this, they both started to laugh. Chase noticed the smile on Charlie's parents' faces and he knew that he had done the right thing tonight. Now all he needed was for Ellie to be okay and for this whole thing to be over.

Detective Price Chapter Twenty-Five

Darren let Ellie leave with her parents and told her to seek legal help. He knew that she would probably be charged with a few crimes later, but for now he was grateful for her help and needed to find Rachel. He straightened up the papers on his desk and found himself thinking about Jill. He wondered how she was doing. He thought about calling her several times and telling her to just come home, but he didn't.

He knew he had to focus on finding Rachel, so he left his office and joined the police officers in the search. His team was searching in the two locations on Brock's parents' properties. His crew should have been at both locations by now, so he wanted to get there right away. Just then he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He answered the phone and got into his car.

“Detective Price.”

“There is no girl here sir,” a police officer reported.

“Did we search the entire estate? I was told there was a lot of land on both properties. She could be anywhere. Please look again and let me know.”

“Yes, sir.”

Darren decided he would go to the other location and look for Rachel. That team had not called him yet and there was a good chance that if Brock was hiding Rachel on one of his lands, that she could be there. He hoped that he would get there in time. He added the address to the G.P.S and headed in the direction of the location.

When he arrived, he joined the crew already in place.

“Hey, anything?” he asked. “No, we just got here. We got the plans and divided the land into four parts since this was such a large area. We have teams in each area searching for her.”

“Where are the parents?” Darren asked as he walked with the police officer.

“They are currently in the cabin, but it would take a while to get to the cabin from here. Have Rachel's parents been notified?”

“No, I want to wait to see if we find her before I give her parents false hope. Let's just focus on finding her and then we will call her parents later with good or bad news,” he said walking ahead of him.

Darren had the feeling that he was in the right place. He felt he would find Rachel here and that she would be okay. Though it was so dark out, he could only see about a foot in front of him, he was hopeful that she would turn up.

Just then, he heard what sounded like screaming, and he and his crew started running towards the sound. Oh God, please let that be the beautiful sounds of Rachel's voice. He thought to himself. He hated bringing sad news to the families that were missing loved ones. It always took a toll on him when he failed to find them. With everything that was going on in his life right now, he really needed a win tonight.

Rachel Chapter Twenty-Six

Rachel managed to get the pillowcase off her head and spit the gag out of her mouth. It was dark now and she was not only cold, but hungry, thirsty, and scared. She looked around her and could see nothing. The only light she had was coming from the full moon. She figured she must be far from civilization because all she saw were rows and rows of trees and land. She tried wiggling out of her constraints, but even if she was successful in breaking free from them, she had no idea which direction to travel to get back home.

She had been out there for hours, and she was beginning to lose hope that she would be found. She thought about her parents and how scared they must be not knowing where she was. She was still so tired from the drugs that she was given and really just wanted to fall asleep again. But she was scared she would be eaten alive by some wild animal if she didn't keep her eyes open.

Just then, as if on cue, she heard the crackling of a stick. Oh God, she hoped it was not an animal. But then she saw what looked like a flashlight of some sort. Maybe it was the flashlight from a cell phone because the light did not light up very much. Then she saw another cell phone flashlight and another. She was just about to yell out for help.

"Where is she?"

She couldn't see any faces just yet, but she remembered that voice. Instinctively, she rolled her body behind a large tree and stayed incredibly quiet. As the group moved closer to her, she lifted her head up as far as she could and peered around the tree to see if she could make out any of the faces. Sure, enough she saw Josh, Mason, Brock, and Adam standing around looking for something or for her she assumed.

“I left her right here tied up; I am sure of it,” Josh admitted.

“Why would you bring her here? My parents are going to freak when they find out If we don't find her before the cops do.” Brock panicked.

“I told him not to do this; I don't want to lose my scholarship,” Adam complained.

“Man, shut up about that scholarship, I told you.”

“Hey, guys this is not helping, we need to find Rachel and get her out of here,” said Mason.

“And what do we do with her once we do?” asked Brock. “I say we drop her off at that abandoned mall. We keep our masks on and keep the pillowcase over her face. She does not have to know it was us, and we let her go,” Mason suggests.

“We can't let her go,” Josh protested.

“Why not, Josh? This was never the plan. You were supposed to scare her, not kidnap her.”

“Mason, it was an accident. When she woke up, she was hysterical. I was trying to calm her down, but instead she hit her head and was knocked out. We thought she was dead. But then she woke up and we panicked and thought we'd better leave her for dead. We didn't know Raya and Ellie would figure it out,” said Josh.

“This is all messed up, the entire operation will suffer because of your mistake, Josh.

“Well, we are here now. I say we bury her alive, and no one will ever find her. No body, no crime.”

When Rachel heard this, she let out a yelp in fear.

"Did you hear that?" asked Adam.

"It came from over there," said Mason.

Rachel heard footsteps running towards her. She immediately started trying to get out of the ropes that were around her hands and feet. She could hear them get closer and closer. She started rolling her body to get away from them, but it was too late. Rachel rolled onto her back and looked up at the four boys staring back at her.

“Well, well here you are,” Josh said walking towards her.

“Please Josh, leave me alone,” she pleaded.

“How can I do that, Rachel? Everyone is looking for you and we cannot allow them to find you.”

“Please Brock, tell them to let me go. I won't say anything, I promise.”

Brock looked at her a little uneasily, like he was thinking about letting her go.

“I am sorry Rachel; we can't let you go. It would ruin our futures,” Brock finally said. 'You actually care about your futures? What about my future and all those girls you took advantage of? What about their futures? How could you do this?'

“Look, no one meant to hurt you. It was an accident.”

“An accident? You think drugging girls and taking nude pictures of them is an accident? Where is your dignity? What kind of future do you think you deserve?”

“Shut up, I am tired of this. We need to get this over with,” yelled Josh. “I am sure Ellie is at the station right now spilling her guts. We need to hurry.

“Relax, no one knows about this place. We hardly come here. I really do not know why we have it,” Brock said.

“Grab her,” Josh demanded.

Mason and Adam grabbed Rachel. Rachel started screaming and thrashing about. She figured she could at least act like she was possessed, and scare them into letting her go. They didn't buy that she was possessed, but her screaming did get the attention of the group of people who were looking for her. When they heard the screaming, they immediately started calling out her name.

The boys panicked, let her go, and started running. But before they could get too far, bright lights shone in their faces and police were all around them. Detective Price commanded that they all be handcuffed, read their rights, and put in the police cars.

It was over, Rachel thought. It was finally over. She closed her eyes and let the tears she was holding roll down her cheeks. She heard more footsteps walking towards her and only looked up when she heard a man's voice.

“Hello Rachel, I am Detective Price. You are going to be okay. We are going to call your parents and get you home. I am so glad that we found you.”

She closed her eyes once more, and this time she passed out.

Chase Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chase walked into Ellie's room and watched her as she was sleeping. He was so happy that she was able to come home tonight. He was not sure what kind of trouble she was actually in, but he was only glad to have her home right now. He originally came into her room to talk to her, but he realized that she was probably tired, so he decided to let her rest. He turned around ready to walk out the door when she stopped him with her words.

“What do you want, turd?” she said rolling over.

“Hey, I was just checking in with you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said sitting up and wiping her eyes. What's up, Chase? I know you didn't come in just to say good night.”

“They found Rachel.”

“Oh, thank God. Was she on one of Brock's lands?” “According to Mom and Dad, yes. They checked both lands and found her on one of them. Brock's parents were so upset with him.”

"I bet, oh I need to call Raya and Charlie."

At the mention of Charlie's name, Chase's face lit up.

“Are you that caught up with her? You look like a lit-up star on the Christmas tree.”

"Tonight, I talked with Charlie, and she was super cool."

"Yeah?"

“Yeah, and I don't know, I think um. I think I really like her.” “What's new? We could all tell that. Just try not giving the girl licorice, huh?”

"You heard about that?"

“Painfully, I did. So why not ask her out?”

"Well, she is beautiful, and she is really smart."

“Uh, news flash brainiac, I think you are one of the smartest people I know. And have you looked in the mirror with those curls? You got all the hot genes and left me with none.”

"Sis, you are not ugly; we look alike so you can't be."

Ellie smiled at the weird compliment. No, she didn't think she was ugly, and she was okay with the way that she looked. But she appreciated Chase for being sweet.

“So, what's really going on, Chase?”

“I guess, I'm nervous. Do you think she will go out with me?”

“I don't know the girl, but she does seem really cool. I'd be her friend. All you can do is ask, and I think you should.”

“Really?”

“Yes, now get out of my room. I am going back to sleep.”

“Yep, thanks and I am glad that you didn't go to jail.”

“You and me both, buddy. You know, I am kind of scared about that. I will go next week to discuss the legal actions the state is taking against me. Detective Price said that they will show leniency because of my cooperation with the police."

“Ellie, I know what you did was wrong, but saving Rachel was even bigger. You need to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes.”

“Yes, Dad!”

He let out a small laugh and walked out of her room.

Rachel Chapter Twenty-Eight

Rachel woke up in the hospital and saw her parents sitting in chairs next to her hospital bed. When they saw that her eyes were open, they both jumped up and stood next to her.

“Mom, Dad,” she said looking at them.

"Hi sweetheart," her mom said grabbing her hand.

"How are you feeling?" asked her dad.

“I am starving.”

“Well, it's a little late for the cafeteria, but when Detective Price called us, we stopped and grabbed a couple of burgers for you. You have been gone for a while, so we knew you'd be hungry. Do you feel like eating?” her mom asked.

“Yes,” she said sitting up.

Her parents watched her eating, and she could tell that they wanted to talk to her about what happened. She stopped eating and thought about what she would say to them. She knew they would be upset, but she was just grateful to be alive. So many times, lying out in that field she thought she was living the last few minutes of her life. She was terrified that she would get attacked by some wild animal. So, telling her parents the truth about everything was nothing to her. She sat up, put her hands in her lap, and started explaining.

"Look, I know that you want to know what happened to me, and I am prepared to tell you. I was at this party, and I did have a drink."

“You mean an alcoholic drink?” asked her dad.

“Yes, Dad and I know it was stupid, but it must have been spiked because I don't remember much after that drink. I remember waking up in some random room and screaming. Josh and Adam came running into the room and wouldn't let me leave. So, I started fighting them and one of them hit me, or I hit something, I am not sure, all I know is I woke up later tied to the bed.” She looked up at her parents and saw that her dad reminded her of a bull charging after the red cape.

Rachel's mom looked at her husband as if to tell him to keep it together. He tried fixing his demeanor so that Rachel could finish her story. Rachel told them how she was thrown into the car, tied up, and dumped into the field.

“I think, they left me there to die Mom. How could they do that?” she said crying.

Her mom grabbed her and hugged her. She wiped away her own tears. She then looked at her husband, wiping his tears as well. This was their only daughter, and they were scared to death of losing her.

“I am so sorry baby that this happened to you. You don't need to tell us everything tonight. Just worry about building your strength so that you can go home. We can continue talking about this later,” her mom said, rocking her.

Moments later there was a knock on the door. They all turned to see who had entered Rachel's room.

“Hi,” said Detective Price. “How are you, Rachel?”

“I am much better now, thank you.” “Detective Price, we want to thank you so much for finding her. We owe you everything.”

“I was just doing my job, Mrs. Hamilton,” he was being modest, but he was also happy that he found Rachel as well. He was grateful for the tip earlier in the evening.

“We really owe your friends Ellie Wilmont and Raya Sumpter. They let me know where you could have been. If it weren't for them, we would still be looking for you. Do you know these girls?”

“I have heard of them, but I don't know them. I mean I have seen them at parties or whatever,” she answered.

“So, Rachel I just have a few questions to ask you. Are you able to do that now?”

“Yes, I can,” she answered.

Rachel's parents left the room so that Detective Price could speak to her alone. She repeated the information she had just told to her parents.

“Okay, and who tied you to the bed and drove you out into the field?”

“I am not totally sure, but I know I recognized Josh's voice, and the other guy was worried about some scholarship.”

“Okay, perfect, thank you. I hope you can get some rest and start to feel better.”

“Thank you,” As Detective Price walked out of her hospital room, Rachel picked up her burger and continued to eat. She felt like she would never fill her belly. She didn't know the last time she had eaten, but she was so hungry. The doctors told her not to overdo it because she was dehydrated. She took little bites of her burger and ate slowly. By the time she was finished with her sandwich, she was tired all over again. She put the trash on the table next to her and fell asleep, knowing that her parents were right next to her and that she was safe.

Detective Price Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mason, his dad and his lawyer sat across from Detective Price in the interrogation room. He had a sullen look on his face. Detective Price studied him for a while before he started his interrogation.

“So, Mason, tell me what you had to do with the disappearance of Rachel Hamilton?”

"Nothing at all," he said with confidence.

“Then why did your name keep coming up before we found her?” Darren knew that Mason was not one of the boys who took Rachel, but he figured he would get Mason talking about the scheme Ellie and Raya discussed.

“I don't know,” he said as he slumped in his seat.

“Did you know where she was being held?”

“No, I did not.”

“Do you know Rachel Hamilton?”

“Just a little bit, I just moved to this school, so I didn't know a lot of people,” he said looking at his lawyer.

"How did you become friends with Brock, Adam, and Josh?"

Mason stared at Detective Price for a while and then looked at his lawyer to see if he should answer the question. His lawyer gave him a nod, which he knew was his signal to answer the question.

“I met them at school.”

"And when did you enroll in Engle High?"

“Uh, I think in October.” “And you have never met any of the said boys before you enrolled in the high school? What about Ryan Bolton?”

“No,” Mason said, as if he were asking a question.

“Mason, I don't think you are being honest with me.”

“Now wait a minute,” his dad interjected. “If Mason said that he met these boys at school, then that's when he met them.”

“I am sorry sir, I don't think your son is being honest with any of us. Do you know what a traffic cam is, Mason?”

“No, but I am guessing it is a camera that takes pictures of people driving.”

“Close, it is a camera that takes pictures of people who commit a traffic violation.”

“Detective Price, my client already told you that he did not have anything to do with Rachal Hamilton's kidnapping. What crime are we talking about now?” The well-dressed lawyer asked.

Detective Price took in a deep breath and laid pictures in front of Mason, his dad, and his Lawyer. “I have some pictures here that I would like for you to look at. The first thing I would like for you to notice is the timestamp marked on the photo. This is in the evening in August.

All three of the men leaned forward to get a better view of the pictures spread out on the table.

“The next thing I want you to look at is the faces in each photograph. Now, you are not the driver, but you are in the passenger seat, are you not?”

Mason shook his head to verify it was him in the photo.

“Good, I thought so. On this day, Josh ran a red light and the camera caught him. A ticket was sent to his house. It is still unpaid, but that is beside the point. My point is, you knew Josh well enough to be riding along with him in the car, in August not October. So, tell me the truth, where did you meet Josh, Brock, Ryan, and Adam? And this time I need the full truth. Just know that if you lie to me, I will ask your friends to tell me the truth and give them a deal. But if you tell me everything, I can give you a deal.”

"What kind of deal are we talking about?" his lawyer asked.

“Well, let's see. You were accused of distributing child pornography, possession of drugs, and rape.”

“I didn't rape anyone, though. That was all Josh and Adam. I didn't need to rape anybody; those girls were willing to sleep with me.” he said, raising his voice.

“Well then, you are going to have to start at the beginning. Where did you meet them and what was this scheme you guys were pulling?”

Mason sat up in his chair and for the third time looked at his lawyer. Again, his lawyer nodded his head, and Mason took a deep breath before he answered. He told Detective Price all about the games that he and his friends played, the pictures, the website and all. He also told him that kidnapping Rachel was not his idea and that he didn't even know about it at first. He let him know that Josh and Adam made a mistake and thought they were fixing it. When he was done giving Detective Price his version of events, he looked at his father and wondered if he saw him now. He also wondered if his dad was disappointed in him or if he just didn't care. He barely said two words, and he looked very uninterested.

“Thank you, Mason.” Detective Price said breaking Mason's concentration. I just have one more question. “Whose idea was this whole elaborate scheme?”

Mason's eyes widened as he thought about the question. In that moment, he looked like he was going to have a panic attack.

“Mason, I need you to answer the question.”

Mason looked at the detective, shook his head, and stood up. "I don't know."

“What did I tell you about lying. Sit down now!”

“I don't know!” Mason repeated.

“Then why are you so frantic now. This entire time you have been pretty cool and as soon as I asked you who was in charge or came up with the idea, you got nervous. Do you want a deal or not man, because I am losing my patience with you.” “Yes!” Mason said breaking down. His face looked like at any moment tears would come spilling out and he would lose it.

“Then tell me the truth! Who is in charge?”

Mason started crying. "He said he would kill us if we ratted him out. We can't tell you or we will die.

“Detective, you can't ask my son to put himself at risk here. He has admitted to his crimes now we should be able to go.”

“Go where? Mr. Lattimer, your son will be in custody along with his friends tonight. What he tells me now will determine how long he will be locked up. Now if I were you, I would save the little life that I have left and expose the jerk who put high school boys onto this sick scheme.”

“Okay, okay,” Mason said through his tears. “I don't know his name, none of us do. He just goes by the letter J and we only communicate online. I do have a picture of him though. Josh wanted to know who we were dealing with. He was able to get a picture and some other information, but the picture was really all we had of him.”

"Okay, where is this picture?" asked Detective Price.

"It's on my phone."

“Good, text the picture to this number and look at me.”

Mason looked up with tears covering his face and swollen eyes.

“Thank you, we will catch this guy and make sure that he can't hurt you or your friends. What you did tonight will help keep other girls safe. This will go a long way in your defense. Now, sit tight, I will have an officer come for you in a bit.” Detective Price shook Mr. Lattimer's hand as well as the lawyer's hand, and then he left the room.

He went back to his office and sat at his desk. He pulled out his phone and waited for the text to appear. After a short while he clicked on his text and stared at the picture. He didn't think he knew the man, but something about him was familiar.

In that instant, his memory served him well. He remembered where he saw the man. He immediately dialed his wife, and was genuinely concerned when it went straight to voicemail. Detective Price jumped up, grabbed his jacket, and stormed out the door. The man in the photo was also having dinner with his wife this week. He wondered what Jill had gotten herself into. He just hoped whatever it was, he could save her in time.

Jill Chapter Thirty

Jill had no idea how she ended up in this mess. All she wanted was to let off some steam, and now she had not only ruined her marriage but was also in trouble. If only she had walked away that first night, she wouldn't have witnessed what she did. She stood near her locker in the locker room, changing out of her scrubs. She put on her comfortable joggers and tennis shoes. All she wanted was to go home and climb into her bed with Darren holding her, but she'd have to settle for a quick meal at the hotel restaurant and the barely comfortable bed in her room. As she drove to the hotel, she was reminded of him and how she got into this mess.

She stood near her locker in the locker room and changed out of her scrubs. She put on her comfortable joggers and tennis shoes. All she wanted to do was to go home and climb into her bed with Darren holding her, but she would have to settle for a quick meal at the hotel restaurant and the barely comfortable bed in her hotel room. As she was driving to the hotel, she was reminded of him and how she got into this mess.

Before

She was feeling excited, which was an improvement from how she had been feeling lately. She blamed her newfound energy and happiness on the guy she met at the bar on the night of the accidental death. Jill phoned him to plan a meetup. She knew this was a dangerous game because she was starting to develop feelings for him. She wasn't sure if she just had a kind of connection to him or if she was really falling in love with him. They hadn't slept together, and she really hadn't intended to cheat on Darren, but she did feel a connection with him that could get her into trouble later. Ignoring the warning signs that this could potentially destroy her marriage, Jill arranged to meet him at the bar.

I hat night as they were sitting at the table, she noticed how distracted he was. She was a bit annoyed as he kept looking at his phone. She wanted to get up and leave. She wasn't spending time away from her home to be ignored. Yet, he didn't seem to notice how upset she was.

“Jason, I have to go,” she said getting up.

“Why, you just got here?” he said looking away from his phone.

“It seems like you are preoccupied and I have things that I need to be doing now.”

“I am sorry, listen, let me go to the bar and get some drinks. Look, I am putting my phone down. When I get back, I am all yours.”

This made her smile, and she sat back down. She watched as he walked away and wondered what she was doing. She was having drinks with another man who was not her husband, but she didn't want to walk away. It was like he was a drug that she couldn't quit, and she didn't know why. Darren was a great guy, he listened to her, he supported her dreams and career, and he was attentive and paid attention to her. So, she wondered why she was so unhappy and unsatisfied. Most women would kill to have a husband like Darren. She was still in love with her husband and didn't want to hurt him, she just needed something, and she wasn't sure what it was.

This was the second time they talked all evening. Jill was really enjoying herself when Jason asked her to come back to his house. At first, she hesitated, but then she accepted his offer. She left her car there, and they took his car to his house. Jill could feel the alcohol kicking in as they pulled up to his house, which was massive.

"Wow, do you live alone?"

“Yes, don't worry, you will not run into anyone in there.”

“What do you need all the room for?”

Jason looked at her as if he wanted to ask her what nerve she had to ask him that question. She looked away and was sorry she said anything.

“I am sorry, I didn't mean...”

“It's fine, I like a lot of space, and my ex-wife did too.” “Of

course," she said getting out of the car.

He took her hand and led her to the front door. When she walked in, she was even more impressed with the inside than she was with the outside of the house. His house was beautifully decorated with expensive art and furniture. The house had a feeling of elegance, and it looked cozy.

“Make yourself at home. I will be back in a sec,” Jason walked off and she watched him enter a room off to the side of the living room.

She walked around and took it all in. She knew that she should probably tell him that she had to go and never come back. She knew that this was wrong and a big mistake. How she let it get this far, she didn't know. She figured she still had time to make it right. They hadn't even kissed yet. She could just walk away and go home to her husband. As she turned to walk out the door, she heard a sound, which made her turn around. It was Jason's phone making a weird sound signifying a notification. She picked it up to take it to Jason and noticed the numbers 911 on it with the message, "Call me now!" She wasn't trying to snoop, but she felt she needed to find Jason to tell him that she needed to leave, and to give him his phone.

She walked back to the room that she saw him go into, but when she turned the corner and peeked in, she didn't see him. She was sure he went into this room, but where could he have gone? Maybe he left the room when she was headed towards the door. But he would have seen her trying to leave. Surely, he would try to stop her. She went further into the room to investigate. There was a big mahogany desk in the center of the room, and the computer screen was lit up. Jason had to have been here recently, but where was he now, she wondered. She walked over to the computer and glanced at the screen. She gawked at what she saw on the screen. She quickly ran out of the room. She heard Jason coming down the hallway. She tried to compose herself, so she put Jason's phone back on the table, sat on the sofa and pulled out her phone. She clicked on her TikTok account and started laughing as if she was really amused.

“What's so funny?”

"Oh, hey, where were you?" she said, holding up her phone.

“I needed the little boy's room. Would you like coffee or tea?”

“No, thank you. Actually, Jason, I should really be going. I have an early day tomorrow.”

“Jill this is the second time you've tried to escape. What's going on?”

She flinched at the words escape, which is what she felt like she needed to do at the moment. She had to find a great way to get out of this without him knowing what she saw on his computer. She was sure he would kill her if he knew that she knew who he was. Jill put her head down and conjured up her actual feelings of guilt and shame. She told him that she was married and needed to get home.

“Married? Why have you never said anything?” Jason asked.

“Because this wasn't supposed to be a thing. I just enjoyed your company and wanted to see where it would take us. I am sorry.” She was glad that this conversation would get her out of both the start of an affair and out of danger.

“I can call a car to pick me up.”

“No, don't be silly, I will take you to get your car. It's not that far from here. I just wish you had told me you were married.”

“I know, I am sorry.”

“So, this couldn't be like our little secret?”

Jill wanted to make a face and vomit listening to the way he mouthed those words. It was like she was seeing him in a whole new light. How could she have ever risked her marriage for this?

“No, and we should go.”

Jason agreed to take her to her car right away and they both agreed that they would not see each other any longer. She was so relieved but did not know what to do about what she saw on his computer screen. She wasn't totally sure, but she saw a spreadsheet of girls' names, ages, grades they were in, and there was a dollar amount attached to each name. But the worst part was the column showing how many subscribers each girl had and what the subscribers had subscribed to. She only had a quick glance, but she concluded that Jason had to be involved in some kind of human trafficking of young girls. She guessed she could have asked him, but what would she do if he admitted it to her? No, the best thing she could have done is what she did. She got out of there as fast as she could without him noticing that she knew.

Jill thought Jason had no clue that she knew what he was up to, until a week later when she started receiving ominous letters left on her doormat. She remembered her first letter, which told her that Jason knew that she knew about him. In the letter, she was warned to keep her mouth shut. Even though this was all there was in the letter, she knew exactly who it was from and what it meant. This unnerved her because he knew exactly when to leave the letter. Any other time, he could risk Darren finding the letter and not her. She wanted to tell Darren, but how could she tell him she almost cheated on him? She decided to avoid him as much as possible so that she wouldn't disclose any information. She had no idea what Jason would do to her.

The second time she received a letter, it was a clear threat that if she opened her mouth, it would be the last thing she would do. He had figured out that her husband was a detective. She was told not to utter a word to her husband, or he would destroy his career and kill both of them. She was both terrified and felt guilty for putting her husband's life and career at stake. Only, avoiding Darren didn't work. It made him wonder more why she had been acting the way she was. He had guessed right away that she was having an affair. Maybe if she admitted she had been seeing someone, she wouldn't have to tell him about the girls, she thought.

Present day

Jill picked up her to-go meal from the restaurant and headed to her room. She was going to sit on the bed, stuff her face, and watch a little T.V until she passed out. She barely had the strength to push the buttons to the elevator and her eyes felt like rocks were sitting directly on them. She rummaged through her purse to find her room key. When she couldn't find it, she looked down into her purse. She was juggling her food in one hand and looking for her key with the other. She finally found it and looked back up to open the door only to find the door was already open with a door stopper wedged into the doorway.

Jill was confused at first, but then she thought about turning and running away. Just as she turned to run down the hallway, she heard his voice.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Jason said, stepping out into the hallway. “Come in Jill, I have been waiting for you.”

“Jason, how did you get in my hotel room?”

“Ah, don't you worry about that. I need you to get into the room right now.”

“But,” she suddenly stopped talking when he moved his jacket to the side and showed her his gun.

"Okay," she walked past him and into her hotel room.

“What are we doing here Jason?” she asked him.

“I am making sure that you don't open your mouth. You are the only one who knows about me. Those boys that your husband caught tonight don't even know my name or who I am, but you do.

“But I don't know anything Jason. I just saw a silly spreadsheet, but I didn't know what I was looking at.” she lied.

“I can't take any chances with you Jill. My career would be ruined, and I can't go to jail.”

"Your career? What do you do?" asked Jill.

“I am the principal of Lincoln Heights.”

Jill was shocked that the principal would go to these lengths and exploit teenagers to do whatever he was doing. However, she still didn't understand the extent of what he was doing with the girls. “And what was up with the spreadsheet? What are you doing that is so bad that you need to get rid of me?”

“Making a lot of money, sweetheart.” He walked towards her and she jumped back from him.

“Please, don't do this, I promise I don't know what you are doing and I will never say anything about what I saw to anyone.” she begged.

She jumped up on the bed to run away from him, but he jumped right on top of her. He held her down and put his face right next to hers.

“You know you are beautiful; we could have had something great.”

Their faces were so close together that Jason planted his lips on top of hers and forced a kiss from her. She tried to get off from under him, but his grasp was too strong. He then started to explore other parts of her body. She knew that her life would be over soon if she didn't do anything. She thought about some techniques Darren showed her in case she was ever in this situation. She knew she needed to bend her legs and push up hard to get him off her. She figured all she could do was try and if she failed, she was going to die anyway. So, she found the strength to quickly bend her knees and when she did, she knew her right between his legs. He yelled out in pain and rolled off of her. She jumped off the bed and ran towards the door. He followed her and grabbed her by her hair. She fell backwards onto the ground, and he climbed back on top of her. He straddled her and wrapped his hands around her neck. She kicked her legs and tried hitting him until he let go of her. She kicked and hit as long as she could and finally, she had no more energy. Her body went limp; she closed her eyes and let go.

Detective Price Chapter Thirty-One

Before Detective Price raced towards his car, he stopped in the forensics lab and had them run facial recognition on the picture that he received. He learned that the name of the guy in the picture was Jason McNeal. He was the principal at Lincoln Heights. What a sicko, Darren thought to himself. He called for backup to meet him at his wife's hotel. He was almost certain that she was in trouble.

On his way to her hotel, he prayed to God that he got to her in time. He promised himself that if he found her alive and well, he would take her back. He knew they would need couples therapy, and he was okay with that. He wanted to get to the root of the issue and hopefully move on. The one thing he realized in this time away from Jill was that he did not want to live the rest of his life without her. He acknowledged the fact that he was still in love with her, and if forgiving her meant he could spend the rest of his life with her that was what he would do.

Darren got out of the car and ran towards the front desk. He held up his badge and let the front desk clerk know that he needed Jill Price's room number and key right away. He grabbed the room key and motioned for his backup to follow him.

When Darren walked into his wife's room, he let out a cry. He saw his wife lying there lifeless and he immediately fell to the ground beside her. He called out her name several times and when she didn't respond he laid his head on her chest. He motioned for the others to spread out and look for Jason. As he cried over her, he thought he could hear a faint sound. He stopped crying and listened intensely. In a moment, he realized what the sound was. That was the sound of someone with shallow breathing. He sat up and looked at his wife's chest. Sure enough, he saw her chest slowly rising and falling. He immediately called for an ambulance and was encouraged that she would make it. He gently caressed her face and kept talking to her. He just wanted her to wake up and respond to him.

When the paramedics came into the room, she opened her eyes and looked around the room. Darren looked at her in excitement.

"Hi," he said with tears in his eyes.

“I'm sorry,” she said, crying in a hoarse voice.

“We don't have to do this right now. We have the rest of our lives for you to apologize to me. Right now, I need you to breathe and to get better.”

Once the paramedics took her to the hospital, Darren checked in to see if they had captured Jason. There were so many unanswered questions. Why did Jason want to hurt his wife? Did Jill know about Rachel? Was Jason the reason his wife was so spooked lately? He could guess Jason was the cause of all of this. He learned that there was no sign of him. He wanted so badly to go after him, but he needed to be at the hospital with his wife more. One day, he would catch him, but tonight his only mission was to sit next to his wife.

Ellie Chapter Thirty-Two

Ellie and Chase stood at the entrance to the hospital door, waiting for Raya and Charlie to show up. Just as planned she called Raya and Charlie to meet at the hospital to visit Rachel. When Ellie called her to schedule a visit, she let her know that her doctor told her that she would be leaving soon, so the visit would need to be a quick one. Ellie agreed and now she was waiting for the rest of the crew to see Rachel.

“There they are,” he said, pointing towards the door. “Oh, good. Are you going to ask Charlie out today?”

“I don't know, let's stop talking about it, here they come.”

Ellie let out a small laugh and looked at her brother. She was happy to be in this moment with him. She didn't think she would have this opportunity once she told the detective what she knew. Right at this moment, she was present and wanted to remember and cherish every minute. She also felt a type of connection with the group that was about to meet now. These are the people who helped find Rachel and bring her home. She was so proud of all of them.

Just then Raya and Charlie walked into the building.

“Hey guys, did you come together?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah, Charlie picked me up.”

“My parents have been allowing me to use their car more. They said something about trust and responsibility, but all I saw were car keys.”

The group broke out in laughter. Ellie noticed that Chase and Charlie's eyes met and looked away.

“Chase and I took an oo-ber, but I am working on my license and a car if I am not in jail.”

Raya looked at Ellie with big eyes and took a step back. "Are we going to jail?"

“Most likely we will not, Detective Price kind of made it sound like since we helped find Rachel, we may get community service or something. I was just being facetious. Although I am worried about it.”

“My dad was so mad at me. I just didn't have the words to explain anything to him,” Raya said.

“Raya, you know what Chase told me last night? He told me that what I did was wrong, but helping to bring Rachel back home was even bigger. So, we both need to forgive ourselves for getting involved the way that we did,” Ellie said touching her shoulder gently.

Raya's eyes filled with tears, and she looked away to hide how upset she was. Before she allowed them to flow down her face, she wiped them away and quickly turned around to rejoin the group. “Chase is good like that isn't he?” Charlie said, as she took some of the attention off of Raya and looked at Chase.

Chase smiled back at her, put his hands in his pockets, and put his head down as if he were looking for a lost speck of dirt on the floor.

“Anyway, Ellie and Raya, I hope that you can see that you both were victims in this whole mess. And you not only saved Rachel, but you saved me too. It could have been so much worse for me. I can't tell you how awkward I felt when Mason asked me to take those pictures. Every fiber in me said that it was wrong, but it was Mason Lattimer. I had the biggest crush on him since he'd arrived at our school,” Charlie said.

“That's how I ended up with Josh as well. I ignored all the signs that my parents had warned me about because I was so infatuated by him. I wish I had listened to them now.”

“Well, we can do something about it now. You are right Chase; we need to forgive ourselves and move on. At least learn from our mistakes you know,” said Raya.

Everyone shook their heads in agreement and stood quietly as if they were taking a moment of silence for their mistakes. After a short while, Chase broke the silence.

“So, are we going to see Rachel? I mean, she might be gone by the time we get to her room,” he said.

Everyone turned toward the hallway and started walking toward Rachel's room. Ellie hoped that she could move on; she knew that it was going to take time and a lot of work, but she was ready to try.

Rachel Chapter Thirty-Three

Rachel waited patiently for Ellie and her group to show up at the hospital. She had already told her parents that her friends were coming, and they were prepared to leave when they arrived. However, she wasn't really sure how to describe the people who were about to enter her hospital room. She didn't know them that well. She had heard of Charlie because she was the president of the journalism club at school. She always wanted to start a club, but she was not sure what type of club she would start. But during the time she had been in the hospital, she thought an awful lot about starting a new club at school and she knew exactly what type of club she wanted to start. She had hoped that this group would not only join but also help her with it. She loved the school's policy on starting new clubs. As long as students were not spreading hate messages and they were legal, then students could start the kind of club that they wanted; all they needed was a teacher to sponsor the club. Rachel knew she would not have a problem finding a teacher to sponsor them. She just hoped that her plan would work.

Rachel looked up to see Ellie, Raya, Charlie, and Chase walk into her room.

“Hi, guys,” she said, as she waved. She looked at her parents as if she were telling them to leave.

“We are leaving and will be back to take you home soon, Rachel, but before we go, I would. We would like to tell all of you, thank you for saving Rachel,” her mom started to cry but she kept talking. “Detective Price told us what you all did. You risked your lives for her even when you could have hurt yourselves. We don't know how to ever repay you.”

Rachel watched as her mom started to sob into an overly used Kleenex. The atmosphere in the room was a bit awkward as no one responded to her mother's gratitude.

"Mom, you are scaring them," she said.

"Oh, I am sorry if I am being weird."

“Not at all, Mrs. Hamilton. This is just a hard topic to discuss, and I am sure I speak for everyone here that we would do it all over again if we had to.”

“But you hardly know me. Why did you guys risk your lives for me?” Rachel asked, cutting in.

“Well, for me, I felt so guilty about my role in this that I felt like I needed to do something. Rachel, I just want to say sorry to you. If I had said something sooner, you would not have gone through this. I will forever feel guilty about that, but I am learning to be proud of myself for doing the right thing when it mattered,” Ellie said, wiping her tears.

Chase walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her.

“I feel the same way,” said Raya. “But Ellie had to convince me to help you. I was a coward and too scared to say anything. But I am so glad that I did, I am glad to be looking at your face right now.”

“I was so mad at what I learned about Josh and Mason, I wanted to make sure that I stopped the jerks,” Chase said in an angry tone.

Everyone turned and looked at Chase, and the room suddenly got quiet.

“What?” he said, shrugged and holding his arms out.

“So, yeah, again I just want to say thank you,” said Rachel, cutting the tension.

And on that note, Rachel's parents left the room. She waited until they were gone, and then she continued. “I am actually glad that all of you are here.”

“Wait, first, tell us how you are doing, Rachel?”

“I am good, but I hope that I will be even better in a couple of minutes,” she said, smiling.

"This sounds suspicious, what's going on?" asked Ellie.

“Nothing bad,” Rachel warned them. “I have an idea for a club at school, and I was hoping that you guys would help me and join the club, of course.”

"Okay, what is the club?" asked Chase.

“Charlie, I know that you are already president of a club, and your expertise would be greatly appreciated. I would like to start a club where we educate others on the dangers of teen dating. I would like to focus on not just warning them but also discuss healthy relationships as well. I want to keep others from experiencing what we have experienced.”

“I think that is an awesome idea,” said Charlie.

Everyone agreed to join the group except for Chase. He felt like it was not a group for him. He did love the idea, and he also felt like it was relevant and needed. Rachel was excited that her new friends agreed to help her, and she could not wait to get started.

Detective Price Chapter Thirty-Four

Darren did not think that he would be able to sleep after last night's events. Not only was he worried about Jill, but he also kept thinking about the man who almost killed her. What would he have done if he was successful? He wondered if he got spooked before he could finish the job, or if he was so bad at it, he failed. Either way, he was thankful that his wife was still alive. But for the pain Jason caused his wife, and the worry he caused himself, Darren was steaming with anger. He thought about all of the things he wanted to do to Jason for touching his wife. Incidentally, Darren was able to fall asleep. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath as he awoke. He was surprised that he slept through the night. Darren looked around the hospital room and remembered where he was and why he was there. He quickly sat up to check on Jill.

When he stood up, he could feel the pain of sciatica down his leg. Sleeping in a chair was not the best idea for him, but he refused to leave Jill alone last night. He would gladly accept the pain if that meant his wife was alive and he was with her. He shuffled over to her bed and looked at her sleeping. He thought about the fight they had had before she was attacked. He remembered the pain he felt when she told him that she was seeing another man, and he asked himself if any of that mattered now. The way he saw it was because they were given a second chance, shouldn't he seize the moment, and move forward with the only woman he had ever loved? He asked himself. But could he ever forget and would the pain of betrayal ever go away? He wondered but could not be sure.

Just then, Jill started to stir. She moved her head towards him and opened her eyes. "Hey, you."

"Hey, how do you feel?" he asked, clearing his throat.

“I feel much better. My throat is a little dry,” she said, touching her neck and making a face.

“Here,” Darren said, as he poured her a cup of water that was sitting next to her.

She took a sip of water and gave the cup back to him.

"Did you catch him?"

“No, not yet, we are working on it, but don't worry about that right now.”

“Darren, he is dangerous. He had pictures of those girls.”

“We know all about the websites and the girls, Jill. How did you find out?”

“I was at his house,” she paused and looked at him.

Darren was not sure he wanted Jill to finish. He didn't need to hear the details of what she was doing in another man's house. But he needed to find the underlying cause of this. He knew that he needed to put his pride to the side.

“Please continue, I need to know,” Darren said.

“I was only there for a minute. His phone was beeping, so I went looking for him. I found his computer instead and, by accident, saw the pictures. I didn't think he knew that I knew, but soon after, I started getting threatening letters telling me to keep my mouth shut. He even threatened you and your job. That's why I couldn't talk to you.”

“Okay, we will get an official statement from you later, but I really do need you to rest and feel better.” Darren did not want his wife to overexert herself, so he shut the impromptu interrogation down.

She reached for his hand and closed her eyes. He took her hand and watched as a single tear fell from her eye.

“Jill, what's wrong? Are you in pain? Hold on, I will get the doctor.”

“No,” she said, with a scratchy voice. “I am not in pain, Darren.” It sounded like she was struggling to push out each word.

“Then what is it, babe?”

Jill started crying harder now and she could not speak. Darren was forced to watch her as she struggled to get her emotions together and to tell him what was wrong. He stroked her hair and struggled to keep his own tears back. He hated to see her like this. If he could, he would lift her up onto his lap and rock her until she stopped crying. It broke his heart that he couldn't help her.

"Jill, what is it?" he tried asking her again.

“I'm sorry, Darren. I ruined everything. I am so sorry,” she covered her face and cried in her hands.

“Jill, listen, I am not happy about what you did, but I am so grateful that you are alive. I told you we can work on whatever it was that happened between us. Right now, you need to get better so we can go home and work on our marriage. Whatever caused you to look elsewhere for support, I want to fix that. I want you to always feel like I am here for you. It was my fault that you did not feel like that."

Jill jerked back as if she had just been hit in the face. She put her hand on Darren's chest and looked directly into his eyes.

“But you are a good husband, and I know that you support me. I am not sure what I was thinking. I promise it will never happen again. Darren, I hope that you know that I can't do life without you. I know that now,” she said, looking up at him.

Even though he was not exactly ready to kiss her again, he bent down and softly kissed her lips.

“Let's keep talking, okay, I want us to get better, together.”

"Okay," she said, wiping away her tears.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. They both turned towards the door, and was surprised when a police officer stepped in.

“Markis, what are you doing here? I told everyone I was going to be with my wife today.”

“I know, sir, but we felt like you would want to hear this.”

Darren turned directly towards Markis.

"Okay, so spit it out. What is it?"

“Jason McNeal was spotted ten minutes ago at the train station. It looked like he was traveling North. We think he might be trying to get to Canada. He has an aunt who lives there that he visited a couple of times before.”

Darren turned towards his wife and back to Markis.

“Go Darren,” Jill insisted.

“I don't want to leave you.”

“I will be fine, go get this guy. I'd like to see him pay for what he did to me.”

Darren kissed his wife and walked towards the door. He turned back around to his wife.

“Go, be careful, I love you.”

As if those were the words Darren needed to hear, he picked up his pace and walked out the door with Markis.

Jason Chapter Thirty-Five

“You, stupid, stupid, little man. You are going to get yourself caught. You should not have killed the wife of a detective.”

Jason beat himself up over the mistake he'd made with killing Jill. He thought about how he left her in the hotel room, and how he'd escaped in just enough time. It was so close he could hear the footsteps of the police officers. How he managed to escape, he was not sure, but now he worried about leaving forensic evidence, and the biggest mistake was the dead body. In all his years he'd never managed to leave a trace of evidence.

He wished so badly that he had not invited Jill back to his home. He wished he had known who she was before he started to date her. His anger flared at this thought. How had things gotten so out of control? He asked himself.

He'd managed to never show his face to the high school boys, and he made sure that he never provided a connection between himself and the whole operation. But Jill screwed everything up for him. She was the only connection between everything. Thank goodness she was dead. Since the boys had been caught, he knew that it would have only been a matter of time before the police captured him as well if they had found that connection. He wasn't too worried because dead people couldn't talk. He let out a small chuckle as he looked at himself in the mirror. He had to flee, though, but where would he go?

Just then, he knew exactly where he needed to go. He packed his bags and looked for his passport. He ran out the door and took one last look at the home that he was about to abandon. He hated that he was leaving the house that he worked so hard for. But he did not want to spend the rest of his life behind bars. He drove down the road and headed towards the train station. He picked up his cellphone and made a phone call. When the caller did not pick up the phone, he threw his phone down and ran in to purchase his ticket. He quickly parked his car and grabbed his phone. He needed to speak to her, so he dialed her number again.

"Hello," the caller said.

“Hey, it's me.”

“Jason, what are you doing? The police are looking for you.”

“For me, why?”

“What do you mean, why? Didn't you have something to do with that detective's wife?”

Jason did not want to explain to his ex-wife that he had taken another life. She had no idea about his work outside of being a principal at Lincoln Heights. She never asked any questions when he brought home expensive gifts or how they were able to afford their house. The only thing she was aware of was that he lived a secretive life that she could not deal with. He remembered her begging him to let her in. But he couldn't. Poor Bethh would not have been able to handle his lifestyle. He wanted to protect his wife from it all. After all, he loved her and he still did. He didn't want her to think of him as a monster, so he didn't answer her right away.

“I promise, it was an accident,” he said in a whisper.

“What happened?” Bethh asked.

Jason sighed, “I can't get into that right now.”

“You need to turn yourself in, Jason. Let the police know that it was an accident.”

“No, I can't right now. Listen, there is something I need you to do for me.” “Are you kidding me? I don't know what you have gotten yourself into, but that woman almost died, Jason. She is fighting for her life. Whatever you did, you need to own up to it.”

"Wait, what?"

“I will not be a part of this, Jason; I will not help you get away with this.”

“Bethh, shut up.”

“I will not, shut up. If you don't call the police...”

“Bethanne, shut up before I come over there and shut you up myself!” he yelled at her. He could hear the fear in her silence. He hated to threaten her like he did, but he needed to find out if he had heard her correctly. “Did you say she was fighting for her life?”

She waited a bit before she answered. "Yes, but the doctors thought that she would be okay," he could tell that she was crying.

"She's not dead?"

“No, she is alive, Jason. Please tell me what you did.”

“I have to go. Just know that I always loved you, Bethh. No matter what, I will always love you.

“What is going on? Why are you saying this to me?”

“I have to go, goodbye.”

Jason hung up the phone and left the train station parking lot. He rolled down his window and threw out the train ticket. He was now on to plan B. He was going to get his revenge; he may end up in jail after all, but he would not allow her to get away with this. She was the single reason everything had fallen apart. She and those lunatics, Adam, and Josh, but they were getting what was coming to them. He needed to deal with her himself. He kept driving until he followed the sign that read, Eastview Hospital.

Bethanne Chapter Thirty-Six

Bethanne took a moment once the call ended to collect herself. Then she scrambled to find the information she needed. She had a bad feeling about what was getting ready to happen. Jason did not know it, but Bethane knew everything that he had gotten himself into with those high school students. At the time, she was fully prepared to stand by him, but he refused to let her into his lifestyle. He thought he was protecting her, but really, he was rejecting her. She just wanted to be by his side, but murder for her was too far. The way that he sounded just now, she was scared for that woman at the hospital.

After their divorce, she no longer had access to what he was up to. So, she was truly in the dark and was worried about what he had gotten himself into. It was the worst thing to hear about the police looking for him. When she first heard the description, she realized it sounded a little familiar. But when she finally thought about it, she knew that the person that the police were looking for was Jason, her ex-husband. It was confirmed a few minutes later when they named the assailant.

Now, it was up to her to stop the monster that she had allowed to get away with so much. In a way, she felt she was just as guilty as Jason. Had she gone to the police a long time ago, this could have been prevented. She had to make this right. She called the Eastview precinct and asked to speak to Detective Price.

“Detective Price is not available right now,” said the voice on the other end.

“I need to talk with him right away; how can I contact him?”

“What is this about?”

“I am Bethanne McNeal. I am Jason McNeal's ex-wife. I have information about Jason's whereabouts,” she really didn't but she needed to get to Detective Price to warn him about his wife.

Bethanne heard the lady on the other end gasp. “One minute please.”

She heard a click and very quickly, she heard the woman's voice again.

“Mrs. McNeal?”

“Bethh, please.”

“Bethh, Detective Price is out on a run right now, but I am transferring you to his personal cell.”

“Okay, thank you,” she looked into the mirror by the front door. She fanned herself as if she were on fire. She wasn't really hot, but her nerves made her feel smothered. She needed to breathe.

"Detective Price," she heard him say.

"Hello Detective Price, this is Bethh McNeal. My husband is..."

“Where is he?” Where is your husband?”

"Ex-husband detective. And I don't know."

“Then why are you calling me? We know that he was on his way to visit his aunt in Canada, but he missed his train.”

“What?”

"His Train, Bethh. If you know where he is, you need to tell me now."

"Detective, Jason isn't on his way to Canada, I am sure of it."

"Oh, no? Look, lady, we got a tip that he was."

“Listen to me, please. I know my husband.”

"Don't you mean ex?"

“Look, Jason isn't on his way to Canada because he is on his way to Eastview Hospital.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Yes, he thought he killed your wife. When he found out that she was still alive he suddenly had an emergency and needed to go. I can bet you that emergency was a hospital run to finish the job he started.”

"Oh, my goodness, thank you. Now I need to go."

She heard what she thought was a loud screech in the road and then the phone went dead. Bethh immediately grabbed her keys and ran out the door.

Jason Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jason could not believe his luck. He couldn't believe Jill was still alive. He had messed up badly, but he was ready to fix that mistake. He pulled up at Eastview Hospital and wondered how he could get to Jill. He was sure by now she had an order of protection on her, and it would be hard to get to her. He needed to come up with a plan that could get him into that room, and he had very little time to do so. He wanted so badly to make her pay for snooping around and causing all of this. She should have told him that she was married. She should have told him that her husband was a detective. At the thought of her deception, it angered him. He hit the steering wheel hard with his hands. When he did, the horn slightly went off as well, which caused the old lady parked next to him to jump and look his way. He gave her a quick smile and looked back at the hospital entrance. He ignored the sneer that she had on her face. He couldn't worry about that right now.

Suddenly, he saw that his phone had lit up and he heard the sound of a notification coming through. He knew that it was a message from Bethh. He didn't want to talk to her right now. All she would do was try and stop him from doing this right. He knew she would take Jill's side. She would never understand why Jill had to die, which is why their marriage never worked. She didn't understand him. All she did was nag him about sharing his feelings, and for him to stop being so secretive. She always acted like she was some spy trying to get him to expose his crimes. Jason could never really trust his exwife, which is why he was certain that she had contacted Detective Price.

In the next moment, Jason let out a string of laughter. He had just thought of a great plan, and he couldn't wait to fulfill it. "No one will know that I am coming, no one at all. You are clever, Mr. McNeal, very, very clever," Jason said out loud to no one in particular. He started beating the steering wheel in excitement. He felt like he had gained an audience, so he stopped the beating and turned to the old lady again. Sure enough, she was gawking at him and had a look of disgust on her face. He slowly lifted his hand, shaped it like a gun, and mimicked pulling the trigger with his thumb. He gave her the biggest smile, and she turned away. In an instant, Jason noticed that the lady parked next to him, started her car, and drove away.

“Great, she will probably run to the police too. Well Jason,” he said to himself, “today is the day that you will change someone's life. Oh, Jilly Jill Jill, I am coming for you.”

Jason jumped out of the car and headed towards the hospital entrance. He already knew where he needed to go. Now, he only needed a few supplies and he would be ready. As soon as he entered the building, he headed towards the gift shop.

Jill Chapter Thirty-Eight

Jill sat up as she grabbed the menu next to her hospital bed. She was beginning to feel hungry. She looked through the menu and wondered when she could go home. Even though the chicken fingers and potato wedges sounded satisfying, all she really wanted to do was to go home, eat at a home cooked meal and climb into bed. But for now, all she could do is sit in her bed and order what she could. She was so hungry, anything sounded good right now even though the hospital was notorious for serving the worst food. She decided on chicken fingers, potato wedges, and a salad. She picked up the phone and placed her order. Now if she could take a quick shower, she would be great. Well, as great as she could be recovering from bruised trachea. Besides minor damage to her larynx, the doctors said she would be okay, and she did not suffer any neurological damage. Thanks to the swift actions of her husband's team, they spooked Jason and were able to deter him before he could finish taking her life. She thought about that possibility and was instantly grateful. Mostly, it was her pride and her feelings that were hurt. She was so ashamed of her actions, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes just thinking about it. She was just thankful that Darren wanted to work on their marriage. She knew at once that she would spend the rest of her life making all her mistakes up to him.

Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door.

“Hello, Mame, I have your lunch,” the scrawny man said as he rounded the corner and put the plate on the table next to her. She noticed a shake in his hand and wondered if he was a smoker, and if it was time for a cigarette break.

“Thank you so much,” she looked up at him and he quickly turned away. This caused her to wonder what was wrong with the guy. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yes,” he said very quickly. “Let us know if you need anything else,” he turned around swiftly and walked towards the door.

Her eyes followed him as he made his way towards the door. She was starting to feel a bit uneasy with the exchange and reached for her phone. She just wanted to check in with Darren to see if they had apprehended Jason. She had a strange feeling that she was in danger. As she followed the nurse as he turned the corner, she noticed something she had not paid attention to before. Something past the wall around the corner was moving like a leaf in the wind. She looked towards the window and saw that both windows in her room were closed. For a second she thought about what could cause a leaf-like object to be moving. Then, she realized something had to be holding the object. Just as she figured out what she was looking at, Jason revealed himself. He stepped around the corner to face her. In his hands was a bouquet of flowers.

Jill let out a loud gasp as she looked both at Jason and at the male nurse.

“Get out!” Jason yelled at the male nurse.

He scrambled out the door right before he looked back at her. She wondered why Jason would let him go. Was he not afraid that he would run for help? she asked herself.

“Jason, what are you doing?”

“What a surprise I had when I learned little Jilly was still alive!”

“So, you are here to finish the job?”

“Well, my mom always taught me to always complete a job. I wouldn't want to disappoint her now, would I?” he said as he walked towards Jill.

Jill could feel the phone in her hand, which she hid once Jason stepped out from behind the wall. She was hoping that he hadn't seen her hide the phone under the covers.

“You don't have to do this. The police already know everything Jason; do you want to add murder to your file?” she said as a desperate attempt to save her life.

Jason laughed out loud, “Do you mean another murder, in my file?”

Jill started pushing buttons on her phone where she thought 911 would be on her phone. She tried to visualize the number pad. She noticed Jason looking at her and she stopped.

"Why did you let that nurse go? Aren't you afraid he will go for help?" she asked.

“Oh no, everyone will be too busy to come for you.”

“What?”

In that moment, the fire alarm went off, and she heard a commotion in the hallway. She imagined the hospital staff running around and getting ready for evacuation.

“What did you do?” Jill asked him.

“Just started a couple of fires. No one should get hurt. I mean, no one but you.”

He went after her, and she jumped out of the bed. She dropped her phone and started running towards the door. He grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her to the ground. She felt her body hit the ground and roll towards the wall. She could feel pain radiating all through her body. She rolled over onto her back, and she could see his heavy black boots coming towards her face. How was she going to get out of this? As soon as Jason bent over to grab her, she kicked him so hard he fell into the wall. She used this time to stand up. He was standing between her and the door bent over and she knew she could not run out of the room.

She was afraid that even if someone wanted to help her, they wouldn't be able to get into her room because of the fire. Did they put out the fire? Were they able to contain it? Were they in danger? She knew he didn't care about his life, but she didn't want to die. Jill looked around her for a makeshift weapon. The only item in her view was the large water pitcher that was always on the table next to her. She immediately picked it up. Jason started running towards her and she splashed the water in his face. It only stopped him for a second, and he kept coming towards her. She gripped the handle of the container and swung it as soon as he got closer to her. He fell back onto her bed as she started to run towards the door. He quickly sprang up from the bed with blood coming from his mouth. He had a look of anger on his face as he grabbed her. He pushed her up against the wall and lifted her by her neck. Not the neck, she thought to herself. It was still so painful from the last attack. She kicked her legs and tried hitting him with her arms.

“That's right, keep fighting, Jilly. This is how I imagined you in the bedroom. You sure are feisty little Jilly.”

She stopped moving and she looked directly into his eyes. She was ready to give up, but she did not want his cold eyes to be the last thing, which she saw before she died. She looked around the room and found a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross. Perfect, she thought. She focused her attention on the picture.

“Are you done fighting, girl? Jason put his mouth up to her ear as he held on to her neck.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang behind the door, which caused Jason to release Jill and walk towards the door. She fell to the ground as she was gasping for air. Before Jason could get to the door, Darren walked in with his gun trained on him.

“Going somewhere? Put your hands up and get on the ground.”

Jason smiled and put his hands in the air.

"Ah, the hubby to the rescue."

"Shut up, Jason, before I do something we will both regret."

“Listen, I don't really want to go to jail, so do me a solid and pull the trigger.”

“We are not the same, I actually have morals and care about others. You are a monster that preys on children. So, as much as I want to, I will not pull the trigger. I want to see you rot in jail for everything that you have done. But I will tell you, if you ever touch my wife again, I will murder you and not think twice about it.”

“Ah, so we are not that different, detective.”

“Didn't I tell you to shut up?” Darren took his gun and hit Jason across the face. Jason fell to the ground and Darren put him in handcuffs. He ran to his wife to make sure that she was okay.

Jill sat on the ground holding her neck and trying to catch her breath. Darren scooped her up and put her back into the bed.

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I will be, just get that monster out of here.”

Darren turned toward Jason as if he had forgotten that he was still on the ground, handcuffed. He walked towards Jason, pulled him up to his feet, and opened the door. Two police officers walked in and took Jason away. Right behind the police officers stood Bethanne.

“Jason!” she screamed as she saw the blood coming from his mouth.

“Bethh, I am going to kill you. It was you, wasn't it? You tipped the police off, didn't you? She was supposed to die, Bethh. But you don't get it.”

"Get that nut out of here!" yelled Darren.

The police escorted Jason out of the room, which left Bethh standing in the doorway of Jill's hospital room.

"Is she okay?"

Darren turned and walked towards her. “I think she is going to be okay. We need to get the doctors in here to get her checked out. Thank you for your help, but she needs her rest right now.”

“I understand. I just wanted to make sure Jason didn't hurt anyone else. Bye detective.”

Darren turned towards his wife and held her tight. Without letting her go, he hit the button to call for a nurse. When she arrived, she let Darren know that the fires had been contained. Jason set two fires in closets on opposite sides of the hospital. The fires were quickly put out and evacuations went smoothly.

Rachel Chapter Thirty-Nine

Rachel was relieved to hear that Mr. McNeal had been arrested and put in jail. She couldn't believe that a principal would be involved with something so awful. What she was also confused about was how she got it so wrong. She and Ryan had been going out for a little while, and he never gave her the indication that he was such a monster. She did not know about any pictures or websites. He always seemed like a perfect gentleman.

She closed her journal and was grateful to be home. She sat next to the window and enjoyed the fall colors outside. Today was a warm fall day and she wanted to get out of the house. But there was only one place that she really wanted to go. She felt like she needed to see Ryan. Her parents would not like the idea, but she wanted to talk to him. She needed to find out how he could have been so cruel to her.

She walked into her parents' room ready to plead her case. "Hi sweetheart," her mom said looking up from the book that she was reading.

“I'd like to go see Ryan,” she did not waste any time on small talk. She figured it was better just to say it.

Her mother put the book that she was reading down and looked directly at her. "What?"

“I want to see Ryan.”

“I heard what you said, I am confused as to why you would want to see or talk to him.”

“I need to know why he did this,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Her dad came into the room and looked at Rachel and his wife. “Rachel, Ryan is not a good guy. That is why he did it. It was not about you; this was on him.”

Rachel turned to face her dad as he sat next to his wife. “I know it's not about me, Dad. I know that I am a victim, but I feel like he owes me an explanation. I was sure that he loved me. That has to mean something. I just don't think that was fake.”

“Rachel, do you love Ryan still?” her mom asked, concerned.

“I don't know, Mom, I mean you don't turn something like that off just because the guy turned out to be a jerk. What about all the good times? They don't mean anything?”

Her dad shook his head, and he was visibly upset. He put his head down as if it was too hard to look at her.

“Look, we have never said those words to each other, but I felt like they were coming for both of us. I need to know if there was any truth in those feelings, because if it wasn't then...” Rachel covered her mouth as she felt tears filling up her eyes.

“Oh, honey,” her mom stood up to embrace her. “It's okay, we will get through this.”

“I just, I mean, if the feelings were not real then, what is wrong with me, Mom? How could I have felt love that wasn't real?” she cried in her mother's arms as she held her tight.

Her dad watched his daughter and wife embrace. He wasn't sure what to do or how to take his daughter's pain away. He decided the only thing he could do was to support her. "Get your things Rachel. I'll take you to see Ryan. I will call Detective Price to set up your approval to visit."

Rachel Chapter Forty

Rachel walked into the visiting area and spotted Ryan sitting at a table. She walked over to where he was sitting and sat down.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi Ryan, how are you?"

Ryan looked around the room and held out his hands as if to say that he was in jail. "Rachel why are you here?"

“I needed to see you, Ryan.”

"Why? Why would you want to see me after what happened to you?"

“Look, I haven't gone mad and I am not one of these girls who will forget about what you did. I just need some answers.”

"Answers?"

“Yes, Ryan, how could you do this to me? I thought you at least liked me. We had fun together.”

Ryan put his head down and Rachel could see that he was upset. She wiped her tears and stared at him.

"I did like you, Rachel, I loved you actually," he said, looking up at her.

“You loved me? You call that love? I was kidnapped Ryan, left for dead and you did nothing.”

'No, I swear to you, I didn't know. What happened to you was a complete mistake. Josh and Adam were not supposed to kidnap you.'

Rachel looked at Ryan as he put his head down again. She stared at him for a while and then sat back in her chair.

“What were they supposed to do, Ryan?” she crossed her arms and felt her blood pressure rising.

“They wanted pictures,” he said, as he still avoided her gaze.

“Pictures? And you were okay with people taking nude pictures of your girlfriend? What kind of person are you?”

“I am sorry,” he looked back up at her as if he had a surge of confidence. “I couldn't do it. I didn't want to hurt you.”

“So, you were okay if someone else hurt me?” They left me out there to die, Ryan. Do you understand that?” Rachel started to cry and was asked by the guard to keep it down.

“I am sorry, Rachel. When I heard what happened to you, I panicked. But if it means anything, I tried really hard to get the guys to stop these games.” “Oh, I can see that you worked really hard at it. You hosted those parties. You helped them get away with this sick mess.”

“You are right, I am a coward, I know,” he paused, as their eyes met. “I am sorry Rachel, and I know that we never said the actual words to each other, but I did love you. I was just wrapped up in something that I didn't know how to get out of. I hope that you can forgive me. I promise you, once I am out of here, I am going to live a better life. I don't expect you to ever talk to me again, but I will show you and everyone else that I can be a good guy.”

Rachel knew that she believed him once she looked into his eyes. He seemed so sincere, but could she trust herself?

“Ryan, it is going to take some time for me to forgive you. I have to forgive myself for getting involved with you. I will have to learn to trust myself to make good decisions again. I can't even trust myself to understand what love is. I thought I knew, but love does not leave me drugged and tied up to a bed. Love does not leave me to fight to get pictures destroyed that I never agreed to take. Love does not leave me out in a field scared, tied up, and gagged for days. But silly me, I thought it was love and for that I don't know if I can ever forgive myself.”

Ryan sat there looking at her as if he had seen her for the first time. She could tell he understood what she was saying and how she felt. She realized then that she had gotten the answers that she was looking for. She got up and started to walk away.

“Rachel!” he called after her. “I hope that you get the healing that you need from this. Again, I am sorry. If I could go back and do things differently, I would.”

“Thank you for saying that. I will pray for you, Ryan. I hope you get the healing that you need as well,” she walked away and never looked back. She met her parents in the hallway and gave them a big hug.

“I am proud of you, kiddo,” her dad said as they walked out of the building.

Epilogue

Neither Raya nor Ellie had charges brought against them but were mandated to attend an eight-week course on self-esteem building and a four-week course dealing with trauma. The girls also had to complete forty hours of community service for their involvement in the scheme.

Rachel was able to start her new club immediately due to the nature of the topic. The principal felt like it was both important and relevant. She started a safe dating club at school to help spread awareness of date rape, domestic violence among teens, and to recognize the signs of an unhealthy relationship. She wanted to prevent this sort of thing from happening to other girls. She had lots of support from school administrators and even encouraged other high schools to start the same club. She volunteered her time to travel to each high school and helped them to launch their own safety dating clubs.

Ellie, Raya, and Charlie joined the club as well. The four of them shared their stories often at meetups and when new members joined. It seemed like every day the club grew larger and larger. There were so many girls who had stories they needed to share as well. Rachel arranged for guest speakers, such as therapists to discuss healthy relationships. She even scheduled a self-defense class for the group as well. She was determined to help anyone who wanted help. The biggest task was to make people aware of what could happen in relationships. She wanted everyone to be prepared to enter into a relationship with the tools necessary to have a healthy relationship. She wanted to make sure that people knew when it was time to leave a relationship and when it was okay to stay.

Adam and Josh were sentenced to eight years in jail on several charges including attempted murder. Mason, Brock, and Ryan were sentenced to three years. Everyone involved was tried as adults and was mandated by the state to go through therapy before they could be released from jail.

Jason McNeal was sentenced to forty years in prison for many charges including, attempted murder, rape, distribution of child pornography, human trafficking, and the distribution of drugs. The website was taken down. There were twenty college males that participated in the scheme, and they were all sentenced to jail as well with various sentences. Many participants are still being prosecuted for their involvement in purchasing various products from the website. All the victims involved were notified.

The entire town of Eastview was devastated when they learned about the scheme.

Detective Price and Jill found a way to mend their marriage and there was even talk about having children.

Chase finally got the courage to ask Charlie out and they immediately hit it off. They spent a lot of time together and Charlie was happy that she had chosen right this time. She couldn't believe she was so infatuated with Mason that she couldn't see that he was not good for her. Instead, she ignored the signals from Chase that he was interested. She remembered how nervous he was sometimes in journalism club, but she also remembered how much fun they had. He was very smart and paid attention to her. She liked that about him.

Rachel, Charlie, Ellie, Raya, and Chase all became the best of friends. They were bonded for life after going through the trauma they had experienced. They find time to hang out and check in on each other. They were a close-knit pack of friends brought together by fear, and tragedy. However, they became a close-knit pack of friends that were always there for each other.

The rate of domestic violence among teens is alarmingly high. According to Teen Dating Violence Statistics, 1.5 million teenagers in the U.S say they have experienced abusive behavior in a relationship. Date rape drugs are used more and more to get girls to submit to actions that they would not normally agree to without the assistance of drugs. G.H.B is a popular date rape drug also known as liquid ecstasy. It is a drug that is odorless and can cause memory loss, nausea, increased sex drive, vomiting, drowsiness, dizziness, and confusion. More serious effects are unconsciousness, coma, slowed heart rate, and seizures. It is so easy for someone to slip this drug into a drink. So, before your daughter starts to date prepare her with the tools and information needed to keep her safe. Every relationship does not end. in domestic violence, but neither does every relationship end happily ever after. What we are reaching for is the in-between where we understand that people are not perfect. There is no such thing as a perfect relationship, but there is a thing called a healthy one. Let's prepare our daughters for healthy relationships. Look for my next book, What My Daughter Needs to Know Before She Dates.

Resources

Health Direct. (n.d) G.H.B. {healthdirect dot gov dot au U.R.L}

Wisniewska, M. J. (2024, September 14) "Teen Dating Violence Statistics 2024". Break The Cycle. breakthecycle dot org U.R.L U.R.L

About the Author Jenita Bonisa was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a mother of two wonderful children, Jocelyn and Conner Bonisa. She is married to her husband of 18 years, Richard Bonisa. She comes from a large family with eight siblings. She was raised in church and believes fully in putting God first in her life. She has a Master's in both Education and Business. She was a teacher for 16 years and then moved to the field of success coach. She is now a life coach and focuses on academics,

relationships, and nutrition. Her passion is to help others reach the highest level of a healthy, emotional, and physical lifestyle as she can.