Small town secrets

Chapter 10 - Tai's perspective - Regretful thinking

"Oh my god" Sora said gripping onto Tai's arm
"This is not happening!" I said sliding down the wall and hitting the floor.
"This isn't good" Ken said     
"Oh really? I didn't notice!" I yelled
Just then Tk, Joe, Mimi and Izzy came running down the hall.
"Did you find her?" Tk asked "Is she okay?"
Tk then saw the pale and troubled expression on our faces.
"Where is she?" Tk cried
"She's gone Tk," I said trying not to have a breakdown "Someone give him the note"
"What note?" Tk wailed as Sora handed him the note
The look in his eyes was a look of utter horror.
"No, no, no. She's not gone. I have to find her!" Tk sobbed running down the hallway out of sight.
"Well he took that well" Davis sighed
"Tk are you seriously doing this right now? Come on buddy!" Matt said, running after his brother.
"Is it true?" Joe asked hesitantly, "Is she really gone?"
"Well if she's not here and this murder note says she's gone, she's gone" I said with my hands in my head.
"This isn't your fault Tai," Sora said "We'll find her"
"Don't you see it Sora!" I said snapping at her "Sure I didn't shove her in the back of a van but if I had just paid more attention and listened to her, she would still be here right now! I brushed off her weird behaviour all week just thinking she was stressed or tired, but now she's probably dead! I'm the worst older brother ever!"
"Tai," Mimi said taking a step forward and placing a hand on my shoulder "It's going to be okay"
"No, it's not!" I screamed at her before running away down the hallway.
The world felt like it was spinning. This family was falling apart, correction this family has fallen apart. Dad is dead, mom doesn't give a shit about us anymore and my sister is missing and probably dead. I sat in the park staring at the sky. Usually, Kari would come and find me after I would have an anxiety attack and try to cheer me up. Not that she was any good at it but I never appreciated her for trying, looking back I wish I did.
"Hey dude you okay?" Matt said sitting down beside me.
"Yes I'm fine" I lied
"You don't look fine" He joked
"I'm not really fine but I'm doing okay," I said "How's Tk?"
"He's very out of it," Matt said "He really loves her"
"I know, she always talked about him," I said
"Did Kari tell you they kissed?" Matt said
"They kissed!" I shouted in shock
"Yeah that's why he's so upset" Matt explained "After they kissed he never got to tell her that he loved her, and now it might be too late"
"I can't imagine how he's feeling." I said
"I can't imagine how you're feeling Tai," Matt said "Stop trying to change the subject! I have a younger sibling too you know. I don't even wanna think about losing Tk."
"I never thought about losing Kari, maybe I should have" I said
"I'm here for you dude, and so is Sora," Matt said "You know she just wants to help right?"
"I know, it's just I don't want her to get hurt," I said "Everyone I love gets hurt."
"That's not true!" Matt said "I had a crappy childhood and everything's fine for me."
"What happened to you that's so bad?" I said, losing my temper.
"Neither of my parents are dead okay? My parents were divorced and I was separated from my brother at a young age! I had to rebuild my relationship with him years later. I didn't always have it so good."
"Matt I'm sorry I didn't know," I said pleading for forgiveness.
"It's okay," Matt said turning to face the now setting sun.
It was quiet for a moment until Matt's phone rang.
"Hey it's Matt and Tai also you're on speaker" Matt said
"Who is it" I mouthed to Matt
"Izzy" he mouthed back
"Thank goodness you answered, it seems that Tai's phone is off" Izzy said over the phone.
"Sorry about that Izzy" I said
"Your mom isn't home is she?" Izzy asked
"No why?" I said
"Okay then we're all meeting at your house, it's important trust me." Izzy said.
"Okay if you say so" I said before hanging up
"Let's get going" Matt said "I have a feeling this is serious"
We took Matt's motorcycle all the way back to my house to see all the gang standing outside.
"Sorry we're late" Matt said getting off the bike
"Thanks for coming, we have a lead in what the murderer might want" Izzy said
"That's great, come in" I said unlocking the door
"Okay so I'm going to talk and use a bunch of fancy words and you are going to listen," Izzy said typing vigorously on his computer "There are 3 crystals and each of them has a different use. If you don't know what a crystal is it's a clear or transparent mineral or glass resembling ice. the transparent form of crystallized quartz. Chemistry, Mineralogy. A solid body having a characteristic internal structure and enclosed by symmetrically arranged plane surfaces, intersecting at definite and characteristic angles."
"I'm lost already" Davis said
"Shuty" Yolei said elbowing him in the rib.
"Anyway the orange crystal evokes power, the green crystal is for removing demons and the violet crystal brings back loved ones from the dead" Izzy explained.
"So what do we do with them?" Joe asked
"Well I believe that whoever is doing this took Kari and will only give her back in exchange for the crystals" Izzy said
"But if we give a murderer a bunch of demon crystals he's going to destroy the world" Ken said
"That is a good point," Cody added.
"Kari comes first" Tk said
"Good thing I thought of that, we need to bait him with the crystals like we're going to give them to him. Then once Kari is safe we take them back and make a run for it" Izzy said "We're going to have to split into groups to find the crystals since they're all here in Crystal Cove. Tai, Matt and Tk you go find the orange crystal. Sora, Mimi, Joe and I go find the green crystal. Davis, Yolei, Cody and Ken you guys find the violet one"
"Sounds like a plan," Mimi said "When do we start?"
"I know it's dark out but right now," Izzy said "We have no time to lose"
And just like that everyone grabbed necessary supplies and dashed out of the house. We had three days to find the crystals or Kari was as good as dead.