Missing

17

Chapter Seventeen

That Night

"Kansas," I woke up in a cold sweat and looked around to see who was calling my name. When there was no one there I felt my stomach drop, the hairs on my neck rose and I began to get goosebumps.

Closing my eyes, I tried to remember what the voice sounded like and at that moment I felt some bile rise. It was Mark's voice.

"Alright, I'm coming," I mumbled to myself, getting out of bed and throwing on clothes. Creeping down the stairs, I made sure that I got out the house without being noticed- it felt very teenager-ey, sneaking out the house to see a boy. Being a teenager wasn't something that I was good at.

I considered taking my car but I decided that it would wake up my parents, so instead I took my bike. The hospital was only a short distance away after all.

The city was oddly silent, the suburbs where I lived were almost tranquil. Until a taxi almost ran me over, beeped its horn which broke the beautiful quiet air and then said something rather crude before driving off. I was glad to be off the roads when I reached the hospital, to be able to calm my whirring thoughts.

"Can I see Mark Smith, I'm Kansas. I was here early," the receptionist gave me a funny look and then typed something into her computer.

"It isn't his visiting hours, come back tomorrow," she said in a nasally, monotone voice that made me dislike her even more than I had done before.

"The police sent me," I half- lied, I'm sure they wanted me to interrogate him. Then my angel in disguise came.

"Kansas?" A male voice called from down the corridor and I saw a police officer, I thanked the heavens.

With much regret on her side, the receptionist led me to Mark's room, each step caused more anticipation to grow in my stomach. When I walked in, I saw Mark was standing up; he had his back facing away from me, he was looking out the windows.

"What are you looking at?" I asked, walking slowly towards him. He didn't jump or start like I thought he would at my sudden presence, instead he just kept looking at the outside world.

"The stars," he mumbled, turning to face me. He looked better, not so much like death as he had done only a few hours before.

"Why'd you do it?" I breathed, standing directly in front of him. He could have attacked me then and there, no one would know. No one could save me from the madman.

"I needed the money," he growled, his tone completely changing from how it was before.

"Why that? Why couldn't you get a normal job?" He furrowed his eyebrows, thinking back to that time.

"I needed a lot of money,"

"But for what?" I cried out in desperation, it didn't make sense. None of it made sense.

"Things Kansas, things you wouldn't understand," he sat back down on his hospital bed facing away from me. He didn't want me to be there, I didn't want to be there either. But I couldn't just run away from my problems, I had to know.

"Mark would you just tell me, it will help you," I went round to face him, crouching down so that we were eye level. He looked at my with large, sad eyes that screamed 'help me'.

"Drugs," he sighed, "I needed drugs. Booze. Clothes."

"So you sell body parts- Mark do you see that this doesn't make sense!" My brain couldn't understand him, his reasoning. Everything about his logic was flawed. Everything.

"Does everything have to make sense!" He shouted at me, trying to stand up and walk away but I pushed him back down.

"Yes, it does. I'm a detective, I need to know what happened. Why it happened. How it happened. Where it happened," pacing round the room, I spoke like a crazy person. My voice seemed to have gone one pitch higher and I waved my arms around madly.

"Not now, can't you just let me forget it all. Don't you think that it haunts me!" I met his glare with anger.

"You haunt me, this case haunts me, your words haunt me," I spat at him, hoping that he would feel some remorse for the way I had to live.

"Just leave," he waved his hand at me and climbed under the covers of his hospital bed. Angrily I stormed out, breathing deeply; I ignored the worried faces of nurses and doctors as I made my way to the bathroom.

When I had locked the door, I splashed some water in my face and then slowly sat on the floor, putting my head against the wall. I was so done with it all, I was finished.

I didn't make eye contact with anyone as I walked out of the horrid place, not even looking up when I walked outside. I didn't want anyone to see my tear stained cheeks, I didn't want anyone to feel pity.

I wish I had looked up.

The minute I started to walk home, leaving my bike to rest where it was, I had the uneasy feeling that I was being followed.

Then the world turned to pitch blackness.

The sound of a van engine confirmed my thoughts. I had been kidnapped.