Wild

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Aaron told me the story as we walked to David’s office.

Apparently, Ashley and Shui had had an argument. Finally, Ashley had said she was tired and went to take a nap. But when the girls went to check on her, she was nowhere to be seen.

“Do you think she just went somewhere in the Army Base?” I asked stupidly.

“No,” Aaron said. “Shui said she was in their suite for the whole break. Ashley never came out once.”  

“Wait.” I stopped in my tracks. “Then how is she gone? Why… What happened?”

Aaron threw up his hands. “I don’t know! We have to go see David,” he said. “Come on, Val and Shui are already there.”

We arrived at the top floor of the army base and walked out of the elevator. David’s office was at the end of the narrow white hallway. The plaque next to his door read:

DAVID SPARK

KERBAKARAN

RECRUITER / INSTRUCTOR

We walked into the room.

I didn’t know what I expected David’s office to look like, but, surprisingly, it resembled just another normal office you’d see in the real world. The walls were cream-colored, with a few picture frames scattered around them. In the corner of the room was a fake plant. There were three chairs facing David’s desk.

Valerie was in the middle of a sentence.

“--and when we came to check on her, she was gone,” she was saying.

David noticed Aaron and me in the doorway, and gestured towards the chairs. Aaron sat down, while I stood beside him, because there were no more chairs.

There was a long silence. David appeared to be lost in thought.

I cleared my throat. “David? Do you have any idea where she might be?”

The man looked at me with tired eyes. “I… should’ve been more careful,” he said quietly. “This incident, unfortunately… is most likely a work of my brother, Jordan.”

My stomach dropped a mile. I seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

Valerie gasped. “You mean she’s been kidnapped?” she cried.

David ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry… I should’ve known… I’ve been having these dreams…”

“You’ve been having dreams and you didn’t do anything?!” Shui accused. “My instructor told me dreams are so important! They actually tell you stuff… important stuff! They’re so imp--”

“Important. I know,” David snapped. “But I didn’t know whether Jordan was tricking me or not. He’s known for his bluffing.”

I spoke again. “Do you know where Ashley is? Can we go and get her?”

“No, we don’t know where Ashley is, but we can track her with our devices.”

Aaron scoffed. “How long will that take?”

“A week,” David said quietly. “Maybe two.”

No one spoke. Valerie put her head in her hands and started crying. Aaron immediately put his arm around her shoulders.

Even Shui looked upset.

I remembered when Ashley accused me of liking Shui earlier today.

If only I could tell her how wrong she was, I thought. If only I had never gone to that Homecoming party.