Finding Madeline

Chapter 21

Matt:

"Don't give up we'll find her Matt!" Dylan told me.

We had already checked everywhere I could think of and she was no where.

"She's probably nowhere near here! We're just wasting time!" I yelled back.

"Guys stop! We still haven't checked the place, uh, the place I was kept at," Taylor said.

"Yeah Matt calm down we haven't checked everywhere yet.

I took a deep breath but it didn't help. I was furious. I slammed my fist against the steering wheel and sat back in my seat. I stared out the window and thought about Madeline's beautiful face and wonderful personality. I longed to hold her in my arms and kiss her once again. I held back tears from the fury and sadness I was going through right now. I closed my eyes and sighed. We had to keep looking and I knew that. We hadn't done everything possible yet and I forced myself not to loose hope. It was hard to not think that maybe it was Madeline's body that was found because I couldn't possibly know better than the police. I forced my mind out of those dark places and pulled out from the place where we were parked and drove to the next location. This was the area surrounded by thick trees. From the picture on the map, the trees went in a circle around a tiny building. I circled around and didn't see any entrance point. Then again, why would a kidnapper create a road leading to the location?

"Ok guys it doesn't look like there's any way to get in here with our car. I think we have to go on foot," I said.

I looked at Dylan and I could see the nervous energy radiating off of him. I turned around and looked at Taylor, who had tears running down her cheeks as she stared forward into nothingness.

"Taylor, Taylor are you alright?" Dylan asked.

She nodded in response but Dylan and I exchanged a look that showed we both knew she was scared out of her mind.

"Matt I'll go walk around and see if I can find a hidden entrance point, you stay with Taylor and make sure she's okay," Dylan said.

I nodded and moved to the backseat with Taylor to make her feel safer. Dylan hopped out of the car and walked out of sight. I silently prayed he would be alright. I second guessed doing this without the police. If one of us got hurt today I didn't know how I could ever live with myself. After a few minutes of rising anxious energy, Dylan came back into view and he was running toward the car. My stomach dropped as I thought someone could be chasing him, but when he swung the door open the words that came out of his mouth made my adrenaline spike.

"I found a road in!" He yelled. "It's one we can drive the car through! It looked like its purposely covered up. There's some broken tree parts, leaves, and other random things stacked up to block the entrance, but it's movable. I cleared the way so let's go!"

He hopped in the car as I jumped back into the front seat and put the car into drive. I swung cautiously onto the skinny dirt road and slowed to five miles per hour. We came up to a small clearing that was also hidden by brush and trees. There was a little space in the mix of it. My heart stopped when I saw what took place beyond the trees. I saw a lifeless body being swung and thrown about and beaten.

"Crap, who is that? What's going on?" I said with squinted eyes.

It was a large and muscular man in black clothing and big, heavy looking boots. He held a large metal shovel, a whip, and other things that could easily be used for torture. The body was suddenly swung by its hair into a spine tingling position that revealed the face enough to make out who it was. It was Madeline.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" I yelled as my grip tightened on the handle of my steering wheel and my heart began racing.

I turned to the door handle as far as I could and swung it open, ready to attack that nefarious, depraved man. I suddenly felt a jolt as a hand grasped my shirt and pulled me back.