Finding Madeline

Chapter 19

Matt:

Dylan, Taylor, and I all sat in Taylor's room and did research about Taylor's kidnapping story. Taylor didn't want to retell the story so she made Dylan and I find the interviews online. I read all about everything that she had to go through, and it made me sick that Madeline could be going through the same thing. I found the location of the place Taylor was kept in and printed out a map of the location and some of the area around it that we would need to check.

"Alright I have the areas we should try and check first," I said to my friends. "Dylan we need to come up with a plan on what to do in possible situations."

"Dylan? What about me?" Taylor asked.

"Babe you're going to stay here," Dylan replied.

"What? No!"

"Tay, it's way too dangerous you have to stay here."

"Excuse me! I'm coming with you guys. Madeline is my friend too and I want to be a part of this!"

"Taylor I can't put you in that kind of danger! I love you, Taylor, and if anything ever happened to you because of this I would never forgi-"

"Dylan, I'm coming with. I want Madeline back just as much a you do. I'm not asking for your permission, I'm coming along."

Dylan sighed and nodded as he embraced Taylor in a hug. I watched their lips slowly meet and turned away. I began to tear up as I thought of how Maddie and I used to hug and kiss. I missed her more than anything and I needed to get her home. I walked out of Taylor's room to give them a few minutes alone, then went downstairs and set up Dylan's laptop with a notebook and a pencil, ready to make a plan. I began sketching a route to take and stops to make on this search. The town of Ugur would be our first stop, followed by Yemming and Gordon. Those three towns were on the outskirts of the area Taylor was kept in. Yemming, Gordon, and Ugur were separated off from the shack by a fairly thin forest. It seemed like one would have to cross through the trees to get to this shack, so I see why it could be a hard place to locate. The forest surrounded this shack in a circle, as if the kidnapper had gone into the forest and made his own space. If not for Taylor and the news about her story, I would not have spotted the area from the app I was using. It was a worn black color and it blended in with the bushy green trees. I could see why investigators took over a year to find it. At any place, I decided that if we came across something suspicious, we would drive around a little to get a good look. If we weren't 100% sure, we would check all the other places before calling the police, just in case. Once done investigating the three towns, if we hadn't located her already, we would continue into the woods and head to explore the shack. I doubted Madeline would be in there since the spot had already been revealed from Taylor's incident, but I decided to check just in case. We would try to find a way to drive up onto location, but if there was no way, we would simply climb through the forest and observe from a safe distance. I heard footsteps on the stairs and turned around to see Dylan and Taylor walking hand in hand toward me.

"Alright guys, thanks for your help, we've successfully come up with a plan. I barely did any work you guys helped me out so much," I said sarcastically.

"Sorry bro, but we're here now. What's the plan?" Dylan asked.

I explained everything to them and they both agreed. We decided to ditch school tomorrow search. Since it would be about an hour and a half drive to these places, we got together some snacks we would want to bring and packed drinks. We decided to bring cell phone chargers because we would make sure to have our phones in case of an emergency. We felt ready but I could tell Taylor was really scared and zoning in and out of flashbacks.

"Taylor, you really don't have to come. This must be hard, we don't expect you to want to join," I pitched in when I saw Taylor's face go pale white as me and Dylan began to talk about our theories of where Maddie would be kept.

"N-no I want to come."

"Are you sure? Please don't force yourself into anything you can't handle," I said.

"I can handle this. I'm coming Matt."

I backed off and decided to let her come. She seemed pretty adamant about coming, so me and Dylan exchanged a glance only us two noticed that showed we were both in agreement about letting her join.

In a few hours, we were all growing tired with talking about this so I decided to head home to get ready for the next day.

"Wait Dylan!" Taylor yelled as Dylan was about to walk out of the house. "Can, uh, can you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone right now."

"Of course babe," Dylan said and walked back in her house.

"Alright I'll see you guys tomorrow!" I said as I walked out of the door.

I walked back to my truck with a smile. We would find Madeline tomorrow. I had hope that we would have success. My arms longed to feel her small figure in my arms again. I wanted to see her face again. I wouldn't stop at anything. I would gladly die to make her safe again. I was willing to do anything to return her back to her nice, warm bed and cozy house. Not too long ago I went in with the key she had given me and sat on the couch we shared our first kiss on. One day soon I would sit on that couch and share another kiss with her. I pulled out from Taylor's street and headed back home.