I Need a Hero

Chapter 23

Jake's pov

Shit shit shit.

I paced my room in agitation. Byrial had asked me to bring Breanna to him in one week. One week. She had been missing for days- nobody could find her. Alex, Chris, Jason and I had stayed out all night and had no luck. Byrial- I mean Zach would have my head for this. I groaned and tugged at my hair in agitation.

Footsteps echoed against the hardwood floor of the hallway and I glanced at the clock, it was still very early in the morning. I frowned. Alex and Chris weren't supposed to be back for another half hour. The footsteps got louder and I crept towards the door. I waited until the footsteps had disappeared before opening the door tentatively. The hallway was empty. I shook my head and turned back to my room.

"Hello?"

I froze.

"Is anybody here?"

I walked quickly toward the voice and when I rounded the corner I saw her.

Breanna stood in front of me in grass stained jeans and a dirty sweatshirt. Her tangly hair was pulled back into a very messy ponytail and she had dirt smudged across her arms and face. Her mouth formed in a surprised o when she saw me.

"Hey," I said, trying to hide my relief. Breanna was back. Zach would never know that she'd even disappeared.

"You're back."

She nodded and stared at her feet.

"I realized that I shouldn't have run away like that," The words started to rush out of her mouth, "I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm hoping that you guys can help me. I didn't mean to hurt anybody, but I don't know where else to go-" She broke off and looked away, her face turning red with embarrassment.

I blinked, trying to process what she had just said.

"Oh, okay," I agreed and wrinkled my nose at the smell coming off of her. "Um...how about a shower first?"

Breanna nodded eagerly.

"Why don't you come and get me when you're done?" I offered, knowing that if anybody else saw her I'd be in trouble.

"Okay, thanks," she smiled, closing the door behind her.

I leaned against the wall and stared at the door. I had to act now before anybody realized Breanna was back. Sighing deeply, I thought about how I'd gotten involved in this mess. A couple years ago I had cornered a demon and he had pleaded with me for his life. He said that he knew how to bring back my memories. How he knew I couldn't remember anything from my past life, I have no clue. But I had let him go, and a couple years later when I had almost totally forgotten about him he had contacted me asking for my help. I ran my hand over my face. I felt terrible about doing this, but I couldn't help it. I felt like I needed to find my memories, and every day I went without them I became more and more desperate. It wasn't fair that some angels got to keep their memories and others did not.

I sighed and slowly walked back to my room. I had to do this. I wanted to do this. After giving up on trying to talk myself into following through with everything, I began to pace. A couple minutes later there was a knock at the door and I froze.

"Co-" My voice cracked an I quickly cleared my thoat, "Come in."

My heart hammered in my chest and I pushed down any guilt I felt. I was going to do this, no matter what. The door opened and Breanna's eyes widened in alarm as I threw myself at her. She cried out in surprise as I pressed my fingers into the pressure point between her collarbone and neck, but she was quickly silenced. Breanna crumpled to the ground and I locked the door before grabbing the ball of string I'd found. It wasn't as thick as I'd like it to be, but I made up for it by wrapping more around her wrist and ankles. I then grabbed a strip of cloth I'd ripped from one of my shirts and made it into a gag. I struggled to move Breanna into my closet as gently as I could, and once she was well situated I closed the closet door. I didn't know how long she'd be gone, so I went to her room and grabbed an athletic bag that was lying on the floor. I walked into the closet, grabbed some clothes, and made my way to the bathroom. After packing a toothbrush, toothpaste, washcloth and hairbrush I figured I was done.

I walked back to my room and was surprised to find that it had only taken me a minute and a half to pack everything. I brushed the thought away and put the bag in the closet along with a pillow and an old sleeping bag I found.

"Jake?" Someone asked, knocking on the door.

I straightened and glanced around the small walk-in closet. This was as good as it was going to get.

"Come in!" I called, closing and locking the closet.

Alex walked in and I was taken aback at how disheveled he looked. His hair stuck up in odd places and he had dark circles under his eyes.

I pretended to look hopeful when I asked about Breanna, and when he shook his head dejectedly, I offered him words of encouragement.

"I just don't get it," He whispered, "I thought she'd be back by now. I thought-" His voice broke, "I thought she would come back to me."

I watched as he covered his face with his hands and took steady breaths to steady himself. When he straightened, his face was an emotionless mask.

"Jason is up again, but he still doesn't know about...everything."

I blinked in surprise. Jason was not going to take the news of Breanna's 'disappearance' well. I couldn't believe they'd with held that information for so long.

"Who's going to tell him?" I asked.

Alex shrugged sadly and motioned for me to follow him. I glanced at the closet quickly before locking the door behind me.

I rubbed my sore shoulder and unlocked the door to my room. To say Jason had not taken the news well was an understatement. When Alex and I had arrived he had been talking to Kate, and when Alex had left to go get Chris, she had taken the opportunity to tell Jason all about the missing blonde girl. I grimaced at the memory.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, suddenly alert.

"Apparently this blonde girl, Breanna? Wait no, they called her something else...Oh yeah, Bree. She had some sort of accident and ran off. They haven't been able to find her since."

Jason's face was enough to make me feel like a worthless piece of shit for what I was about to do, and I forced myself to look away from him.

"S-she...is gone?"

Kate nodded and continued to flip through her magazine, oblivious to the fact that Jason was having a meltdown. Before I could do anything Jason threw the bedside clock against the wall, smashing it to pieces.

"I have to find her," He said, walking out.

"Jason," I tried, going after him.

"I have to find her!" He yelled, heading towards the door. I grabbed for his arm, but he shook me off.

"Bree!" He yelled, opening the front door.

"Jason stop!" I growled, yanking him back. He shoved me off and I fell against the heavy wood frame of the door.

"Hey, look at me!" I yelled, grabbing him again.

He whirled to face me, a pained expression in his eyes.

"Jason, you can't go out there. You can search all you want and you still won't be able to find her. Breanna is GONE and you going off like this isn't going to find her!"

I watched as his face crumpled and he slowly fell onto his knees.

"It's all my fault. This is all my fault!" He cried.

Heart broken sobs shook his body, and I couldn't help but watch. I couldn't understand why he was so sad. Sure, Breanna was gone as far as he knew, but he hadn't even known her that long, maybe a couple months at most. But from the way he was crying you would think his brother may have died.

Alex and Chris came down and helped Jason to his feet. Alex nodded at me as they walked away and told me to get some sleep.

I sighed deeply and checked my watch. Sleep was something I was not going to be getting anytime soon, because it was time to get to work.