I walked up to the broken, splintered door, and wondered if Christina had done the same. Nat came up behind me after a minute, kissed my cheek, and gave my shoulder a squeeze, giving me a burst of courage to kick down the door. As soon as I walked in the first thing I saw was Ray's backpack, seeming to have been thrown aside, halfway down the hallway. I ran over to it, only to find it empty, making my stomach flip. I knew Ray pretty well, and he wouldn't have enough hands to hold all the stuff in his bag. Now, I was almost positive, they were "teenaped."

After some looking around, we noticed the back door was open, and the railing for the stairs wasn't attached. Natalie walked up the steps, me right behind her, and we looked around, taking special interest in the room with the door open. I called Nat over and we walked into the room, Dad still outside making sure nothing was helpful out there. When I walked in the room, my stomach dropped. There was a bed that had been turned over, and was now on its side, along with a metal pole in the middle of the room. As I got closer, I became more nauseated, seeing the bit of blood on the metal, and a few drops on the floor.

"Oh my gosh," I faintly heard Natalie whisper from behind me.

"What it looks like to me, is that they came here to explore, hid behind that bed frame, got dragged out from underneath it, since there are scratch marks on the floor, and were hit over the head with the bat, then taken somewhere, obviously quickly since the railing was off, doors were open, and nothing is cleaned up. Then someone looked through Ray's backpack, took everything, then threw it and left." I turned back to Natalie, to be faced with her wide, teary eyes. She ran over, and tackled me in a hug, not pushing me over though, she wasn't quite that strong. I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist, breathing in the coconut and lime smell of her hair, and her minty perfume.

After a little more looking around, we decided to notify the police of everything we found, and go back to my house, Natalie texted her parents that she'd be spending the night with me. I checked the time- 4:57pm. Wow, we were here for a while. It would take us a few hours to hike back to the car, so we'd better start now. It was colder out now, and I was glad I had worn a long sleeve shirt under my jacket, since Natalie still had it, and I wasn't going to ask for it back.

I kept thinking about everything we saw back in the cabin. There didn't seem to be much blood, but a blow that big can easily cause a concussion. It had been days since anyone had heard from any of them, and I was worrying even more now, thinking about it.

It was dark by the time we got to the car, and I was glad Natalie could spend the night, but I did have her sister sending me winky faces, and squealing. My dad took the back this time, and Nat sat up front with me, holding my hand that I wasn't using to drive. She could tell I was tense too. She was always so good with that kind of thing, and claimed it was a "girl thing" I wouldn't understand. She never let go of my hand as I drove back home. After pulling up and parking, I ordered us a pizza, even knowing that I wasn't very hungry, and Natalie never ate much of anything, though she was better than she used to be. I figured maybe I'd get her to eat a slice, and I had to eat something for energy, besides the drink I had this morning, and some protein bars from earlier.

We went up to my room, and I sat down on the bed, looking out the window, lost in thought. Nat was on her phone texting her sister and some of her friends. Wait. Friends. What if there are more of them? Maybe there are kids from before, or other places around here.

My thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. Pizza. Once I got the pizza I went back up to my room, filling in Natalie on my thoughts. She agreed, and pulled out her laptop from her bag. And so began three long hours of research.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. There's more. There's more kids who've gone missing. How did nobody know about this. Jeremy Lamonsen, Nix Lenard, Jenny Klina, Madeline Brooke, and Lily and Henry Stax. All of them are juniors who go to Christina's school. Apparently the same thing happened a few months ago, with students of the names of- Barrett Leewil, Jonathan Tucker, Gracy McLina, Rory Peterson, Will Damper, and Quinn Reptal.

Natalie and I kept reading, and found out that for the past six months, kids have been going missing, and the police- finding no evidence- claimed them to have just run away. I call bullshit on that. Then something else caught my eye. About three months ago, a girl by the name of Heather- last name unknown- went missing after not coming home from a walk one day. That'sfunny, we have a neighbor named Heather. Wait. Is it that Heather? Three months? Why had no one asked her parents.

"Darian, isn't Heather your neighbor, I mean, she's the same age as Christina and her friends, but she doesn't go to their school." I looked over at Natalie, gulping, confusion coursing my veins.

"It might be her Natalie, but why has no one talked to them about it? I haven't seen any police cars next door. Actually, I haven't seen anyone, and their pool looks like it hasn't been cleaned in months. Natalie! We have to go see, we have to make sure Heather is at home. We have to go now!" I got up head ran to my door. Only be grabbed by Natalie's hand, and hear her giggling.

"Dar, it's almost 1am, how about we go in the morning, ok? Melbey knows I'll be with you tomorrow, remember? She knows what's going on. She cares. It'll be fine to wait until morning. Plus, if nothing is going on over there, we wouldn't want to bother Heather and her family. You don't really know them, only Christina knew Heather. It'll be fine, ok?" She gave my arm a squeeze, and I smiled, agreeing to wait until morning. I gave her a kiss, and went to go get her something to change into for tonight.

I handed Natalie her clothes, and went to change and prepare for bed. I turned on my tv, and she snuggled up against me. We ended up watching The Princess Bride since Natalie always loved that movie, especially the "as you wish" line.

After about an hour of the movie, she was asleep on my chest, and I shut off the TV, setting an alarm for the morning, and turned out the lights. Shit. Stupid thoughts. I can't sleep. I can't get up it'll wake Nat. What if Christina is already dead? What if they're torturing her? What if she's not eating? What are they doing to her? Where is she? How far away have they taken her? What if the police stop looking?

It'd been a few hours, and I was tearing myself apart, finding all the ways to blame myself. I should have let them sleep over here, I should have been nicer to her, I should have made her come home. This is all my fault.

It was five AM when Natalie woke up. She always went on runs early, a little after sun rise, so her body was accustomed to waking up early. She was going to skip going for a run today, claiming to want to help me instead. I was lucky to have her. We didn't waste any time, wanting to get started on our investigations early

A/N: Don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed!
Eliza Schuyler Hamilton 💙💙