Next Morning

Her heart was racing, her body refused to move and her eyes were overflowing with tears. Cillian walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her against his chest as she cried. She balled her fist against her side and shook her head, her oxygen began to stick in her throat, but she bit her bottom lip to keep her loud sobs from coming out.

His warm hands her rubbing at her back trying to calm her. Taro kept her silence as she read the article and how a mysterious person told them of Cillian's escape last night and grinded her teeth. Arlo pushed back from Cillian, but what he expected was not sadness on her face but anger, her brown eyes filled to the brim with fire as she sucked in her breath. "It was Mr. Klum wasn't it Taro?"

"There's no mention of a name but they noted that there were two other people with him... no one would know that but him, so it's him. I just know it. That fucking man has some damn nerve to pin this bullshit on Cillian and still want to sell out Cillian and us further!" She threw her phone onto the bed. "That's it. We're leaving now before anyone sees us. It's still somewhat dark outside."

"Cillian, come on." Arlo said brushing past him but his hand went around her wrist and stopped her. "Maybe I should go on alone. You've risked a lot coming with me—."

"Shut up.' His eyes widened at Arlo.

"I said shut up." She shoved his hand away. "I am not going back. We," she said looking at Taro, "are not going back. We've come along willingly and we will be with you until the end no matter what Cillian. The one person in the world who you love and care for was used as money to pay off some lousy dad's gambling habits and you are not getting left alone again!" Her chest rising and falling, "I am not leaving you alone again. You've been alone for too long." He could get not a word out as the room felt silent. His heart beat was the only thing making his eardrums seem as though the room had grown into an orchestra of only drums coming from different parts of the world. She turned away from him and grabbed her things and shoved whatever she had out into her bag and then stood. "Look alive. We're going to save Owen and that article and won't stop us."

Taro smiled. "Alright Lo. Come on Lee, we're leaving." She grabbed her bag and retrieved her phone from where she threw it away. Cillian's eyes were filled with tears as he found Arlo as she began to walk pass him. He caught her wrist and pulled her back, cupping her cheek and kissed her lips. "You are so much more than I deserve. Thank you can't express how grateful I am." She was stunned for a while but then recollected her momentarily scattered thoughts and smiled. "You deserve a lot more than you were dealt. So come on, we need to leave."

"Of course. Let's go." He took his things and checked the room for anything else and picked up the room keys and left after he was sure that nothing got left behind. The teens were back on the road after having Taro return the keys to the front desk and walked back to her friends. "We all good?" Cillian asked.

"Yes, oh and I also picked up a few snacks. So we're good for a few hours, but let's make sure to stop by again station and get some more food and gas."

"Let's go then." He says, his lowering newsboy hat over his eyes. He had on a hoodie and black jeans and his bag handing from his arm. He kicked off the hood of the car then unlocked to car and allowed the girls in first then got in.

》》》》》

The radio station had been on a low volume since they wanted to catch any new news on Cillian or otherwise, but nothing had been uttered about them. Arlo had not been joking when she said that she'd drive, she had gotten her lessons from her father and eventually got her permit and then her license just before school began, but she told her parents that she did not want a car yet. A decision she made up on her own since she did not think herself fully ready to be nowhere near the student parking lot, not with all the mess of airheaded people she knew who swarmed around there like mosquitoes.

She side glanced over at Cillian in the rear view and saw him with his head down, and arms folded over his chest as he dozed off. Taro was busy looking out the window next to her, mind far yet near enough to blink towards the radio from time to time then back out to the open road.

A faint smile grew over Arlo's lips as she thanked God for having the most amazing best friend in the world. Taro was a gem, especially after she joined them with little to no questions asked. She had checked their phones for tracking apps and gave them a VPN proxy that would keep them off their parents radar and also checked Cillian's car as well for anything weird. She had some impressive skills with cars since her mother's brother always showed her how cars worked at his repair shop.

Arlo was someone who loved the quiet, the soft breathing from each teen, and the comfort it gave. She wished for it during classes where the students didn't care for the teachers instructions and wished for quiet when people would ask her dumb questions or inquire with her about stupid rumors floating around school, but today she didn't want silence. She wanted to speak, she wanted to have a conversation. The topic could have been about dirt and watching paint dry, but it would be something to kill this defeating silence that grew roots in the car and burst into a tree of absolute quietness. "Taro. Speak, anything please, it doesn't matter the insignificance." She uttered.

Taro finally peeled her eyes away from the road and took in the image of Arlo. Her friend looked ready to melt from the mood in the car. "We're all going to be fine, so don't panic." She reassured.

"You're a bad liar." Arlo stated.

Taro snickered. "Nope, you've just heard me lie enough to know how and when I do it. Do you think we're gonna be okay?"

She shrugged "If I'm being honest here... I don't know, and I can only hope that whoever Cillian messaged to meet up with us is someone that can really help us."

"Yeah, but Lo, do you trust it? I mean, who would be able to help us save someone that was kidnapped by a mobster? And how dangerous are they? And how and why does he know them?" She said under her breath, her eyes stealing a glimpse at Cillian quickly.

Arlo shrugged. "I just trust him. Beside, we had a choice not to come."

Taro scoffed and brushed back her dark curls. "Yeah, and how fast do you think he'd have gotten if not for us? Shit, especially after Mr. Klum tried to shoot him. I just cannot understand why someone would sell their child to pay off their disgusting gambling debt." She groaned.

Arlo checked the rear view mirror. "Wanna chime in here Cillian. I know you're awake, you've been awake since I took that second exit."

He lifted his head and his crystal blue eyes were bright but held a faded shade to them. "Clever girl." He sighed "Mr. Klum had had a bad gambling problem for as long as I can remember. Owen hated that part of him,  he had always tried to keep his father away from the gambling table but since he owned the bar it made it that much more difficult no matter the reason."

He slumped low and looked to his left, watching the distance trees and minimal structures. "It was as if it were a drug to him, he always needed another shot, always... he didn't own the rights to the gambling section of the club, so no money came to him pockets out of anyone losing. Owen would see him drive himself into a pit of darkness, of depression almost as he couldn't live without taking one more hit on the table. Cillian shook his head and met Arlo's eyes for a second and held her there before she had to look back at the road.

"Owen wanted to run away... he wanted to leave because his father had become violent whenever he didn't win—which was almost every night. He drank his life away and after he had sold his soul to the devil. He would come home and make a mess of their home. He hit Mrs. Klum once and only once... Owen had attacked him that night," Cillian scoffed, his face twisting in a disgusted smile. "He was thin and slender, tall enough, and strong  but his temper," another head shake, "his temper was unmatched even by his drunken father. Not his mother—never his mother, no matter who it was. He punched his father so bad that it left him with a scar under his left eye. Owen got kicked in the side once his father got him off, but Owen had threatened to shoot him if he ever thought of touching his mom again, that's when Mr. Klum started getting into senseless fights at the bar, nothing crazy but enough to keep him from hurting his wife."

"Whoa." Arlo gasped.

"Owen sounds badass." Taro says turning to properly see Cillian. He chuckled. "He really was." He sighed, closing his eyes once more before looking up at Taro and smiling. "You remind me of him a little."

"I do?" Taro asked.

He nodded. "He was outspoken and fun and just, the best person to be around. He always made you feel like you worth so much more than you thought."

Taro's heart throbbed and she had touched her chest her eyes softening at him. "Then, we aren't gonna stop until we find him. A person like him does not deserve this and when we get him. We'll help you put the right person behind bars." He was gazing out the window but turned to her, her brown eyes determined and he couldn't help but smile. "Thank you."

"Hey Cillian," Arlo began, Cillian glimpsed at her, "so who are we going to meet anyways and where?"

"That's a long story."

Taro scoffed, putting up her feet on the dashboard. "Well, we got time pretty boy."