Finding Madeline

Chapter 17

Taylor:

"Dylan I'm scared. Madeline was kidnapped and murdered. What if-"

"Taylor no, don't think that way. That kidnapper or kidnappers won't come after you okay? I won't let them hurt you again," Dylan told me.

"But you can't guarantee that! I-I can't go through what I did, again," I said through tears.

"Sh, sh, it's okay nothing is going to happen to you," he said as he pulled me in close and put his arms around my back.

"I mean I'm already fragile from that explosion on the highway, I know I can't defend myself right now!"

"It's okay, Taylor, calm down."

I took a deep breath and tried to stop crying, but I couldn't. The very thought of going through kidnapping again made me feel sick. I was so scared.

"What do you want to do today? We should do something fun to take your mind off things. Do you want to go to the mall or something? Whatever you want I'll do for you."

"I just want to feel safe again," I said through tears.

"I know. Why don't we go into town and buy you a nice journal. You can write about all your fears in there and let everything out. We can get one with a lock and everything so it's private," Dylan suggested.

"I don't want to let everything out into a journal, Dylan. That journal will have all my darkest thoughts, fears, and experiences in it and I don't want it just sitting in my bedroom haunting me! I just want this all to end. I just want it all to go away."

"Okay, sh, it's going to be okay. You're letting the kidnapper win you know. By letting him take your life away from you, you're letting him win. This is what he wants. You don't want him to get what he wants. Try to be strong, that's what he would hate to see."

"I don't know how much more strong I can get when I know this guy isn't even in jail! The police don't even know who he is! And now there's another kidnapper on the loose, and I could be at risk!"

"Taylor, why do you think Madeline's kidnappers would come after you? It's two different kidnapping stories, your not being targeted this time."

I looked up at Dylan with wide, fearful brown eyes as I considered a horrible thought.

"Dylan, w-what if-what if Madeline's kidnapper and my kidnapper are the same person?"

I saw Dylan tense up at the thought. He suddenly stood up and began to pace.

"Dylan what's wrong?"

He looked at me and I could tell he was afraid too.

"That, that thought, it might be correct," he said steadily.

"Oh my gosh Dylan!" I yelled helplessly.

"I mean, you transfer schools and a kid is killed, a planned explosion is set up on the freeway, and you and Maddie just happen to be in the same place. What if it's not a coincidence, what if it's because the person is after you too?"

I felt a terrible pit of despair in my stomach. I put my arms around my stomach and doubled over. I felt lightheaded and collapsed onto my bed. I curled up under the covers and tried to push the traumatic memories out of my mind, but I couldn't. It was already replaying in my mind.

I heard cracking. I felt heat. I saw bright colors. I felt the sweat dripping down my forehead. I knew I was going to die. I saw the flame of the fire draw nearer and nearer. I knew he was trying to kill me for disobeying him. I was too young to die. I missed my friends and family and wanted more than anything to go back to being a normal middle school girl. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I waited for the flames to engulfs my body. I waited for the pain I would feel as it slowly killed me.

"Taylor? Taylor are you okay?" Dylan asked, snapping me out of my flashback.

"Yeah, I was just having another flashback," I said through heavy breathing and tears.

He touched his hand to my face and helped me relax.

"So what do we do now? Should we call Matt? You two are pretty close right?" I asked.

"Yeah I'll call him," Dylan said as he gave me a quick kiss, grabbed his phone, and stepped out of the room.

I took a deep breath and tried to reassure myself that everything was going to be okay. After about five minutes, Dylan walked back into the room.

"So?"

"Matt's on his way over now. He actually has been trying to do investigations of his own. He doesn't believe that Madeline's dead. Poor guy, he lost his girlfriend. He's probably having a hard time excepting this."

"Dylan. I-I'm not so sure she's actually dead," I said as I had a sudden realization.

"What? What do you mean Taylor? Of course she's dead they found a body!"

"Well, um, when I was in captivity, the guy tried to stage a death for me I think. I overheard his angry voice telling someone else that something went wrong, that the body was too obvious or something like that. What if this is all a set up? What if the kidnapper did this to make us all stop looking for Madeline? I mean I was rescued one day because I was always a missing person. What if his plan now is to make people stop looking so he can keep her forever?"

"Taylor we might be onto something here," Dylan said.

The doorbell suddenly rang and Dylan ran downstairs to let Matt in. Soon, it was Matt, Dylan, and I in my bedroom considering theories about what could've happened to Madeline.

"After doing some research, I found out that the body they found was so mutilated that they could only prove it was Madeline by the earrings. They had her DNA on them. But I recognized those earrings and there's something strange going on. Those earrings were the ones I tried to pick out for Madeline from her room when we were going out to dinner. I remember she stopped me because they were apparently her deceased grandmother's, and she never wore them in case they fell off. Those earrings are big and noticeable. Those were the ones detectives found on Madeline's body. I was with her that night and we were just in her room casually. It wasn't any special occasion or anything so why would she have been wearing those? I don't remember if she was or wasn't wearing anything but it doesn't make sense if she was," Matt explained.

"Well what if the kidnapper put them on her before they left?" Dylan asked.

"Why? So that when he killed her and dumped her body they could trace them back to her? Why would he pretty much plant evidence like that?"

"Well we don't know what the kidnapper's intents were, maybe he didn't realize-"

"But Dylan, doesn't it make sense that if you would want detectives to get off your trail and stop looking for you that you would take a mutilated body, plant evidence on it, and leave it for police to find?"

"Okay true. This seems pretty logical to me. Should we tell the police?" Dylan asked.

"No! No we can't mess with this guy! I was punished so badly for trying to escape, trying to leak information, trying to do everything possible to get away. If we tell the police he's gonna know that we'd be the only ones to present this theory! That'll make us his targets. We can't do that. We can't let it get out that we connected these dots!" I cut in.

"Well then what do we do Taylor? You want us to just sit around and hope they'll find her? The search has been canceled! No ones looking! Do you want us to just sit around and wait for the police to come to this theory? They don't even know this information for crying out loud Taylor! We have no choice!" Matt screamed.

"Matt, I don't know what we should do but I know that we can't get involved! We will be the targets if we tell! Trust me this guy is smart. He won't let us get away with this," I explained.

Matt threw his hands up in the air and slammed them down on my desk, causing me to flinch.

"I'm not going to just sit here and let my girlfriend be tortured by a psychopath while we could be doing something! I don't care if we become the targets! I don't! I would gladly risk my life to save hers! She is my everything."

"I don't know what we have to do Matt but we can't-"

"We have to find Madeline ourselves," Dylan cut in.