Adopted by Phan

Chapter 57

Dan's P.O.V.

I shook Jay awake, watching as she reached her arms out for me in a hug. I obliged, bringing her close as she started to open her eyes and started to stretch out. As soon as she opened her eyes they looked up at me, deep sea green eyes still filled with sleep.

"Mornin' Jay, you feeling okay?" She nodded, sitting up and kicking herself onto the floor, wobbling as she stood. She was still getting used to walking without the crutches but was getting there as each day passed.

"Oi, you woke me up now you have to get up too." I sighed. Phil was already up, he had gone down to have breakfast maybe half an hour earlier.

He hadn't slept much, neither had I because we were both worried. Worried about Jay, worried about Jay's dad and worried about what might happen. We knew he was there, he had been seen and we were worried.

I dragged myself from the bed and pulled on a new t-shirt, following Jay downstairs and into the kitchen. Just as I thought, Phil was there and an empty bowl with some dregs of milk at the bottom and his head resting on his hands.

"Hey guys." He raised his head and smiled at the two of us, motioning to the cereal sitting on the bench.

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Jay was standing by the front door nervously, her backpack over her shoulder and waiting for Briny to pull up outside. All I wanted to do was pull her into a hug and hold her, I knew she was scared because of her dad and she was feeling uneasy, visibly unsettled.

"Have fun today okay." She nodded, giving me a quick hug and then doing the same to Phil, watching as the car pulled into the driveway. It was an actual police car, lights on the roof and everything and as soon as the horn was honked, she gave us a little smile and walked out the door.

I sighed, leaning against Phil's shoulder.

"You feeling okay now?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just worried about Jay's- um- jesus I don't want to call him her dad." Phil took it in.

"I dunno, we could call him a demon if you really want too." I smiled.

"Yeah that'll work." I nosed his sweatshirt, groaning as I realised there was editing to be done. "I've got to edit that bloody video, ughhhhhhh...." Phil squeezed my hand.

"Come on, I'll help."

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About half way into editing the video the house phone rung and I frowned. No one rung on those phones unless it was a scammer, but I bolted down the stairs to pick it up anyway. I got there just as it reached its last ring and spoke breathlessly into the receiver.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end asked.

"Yeah, um hi?" There was a small amount of crackling.

"Hi, are you... Phil Lester?" I furrowed my brow.

"No, but he's right here." Phil had followed me down the stairs and I handed it to him, listening to his side of the conversation.

"Yes... yeah I guess.... she should be at school... wait she's not! Briny dropped her off this morning..." I interrupted.

"What! Why isn't Jay at school!?" He held out his hand.

"Hold up Dan, go call Briny, she hasn't been in class all day." I bolted up the stairs and grabbed my cellphone, I had left it on the desk and with shaking hands I found Briny's contact number and dialled. He picked up.

"Hi Dan? I'm in the middle of a shift, so can this wait?"

"No! Jay hasn't been in class all morning! You dropped her off yeah?" I could hear the desperation and the confusion on the other side of the call.

"Yes? I saw her walking into the school with her friend Anais, I'm on my way. Something tells me this is bad." A beeping told me that Briny had hung up the call and I sprinted down the stair again, where Phil was still on the phone to the school.

"He dropped her off, he saw her walk in with Anais. Do you have her number?" Phil shook his head and asked the lady on the other end of the phone,

"Can you get Anais out of class, she walked into the school with Jay, she's a year above her." There was more natter and then silence.

"We've got to get to the school."

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Officer Briny was already there when we pulled up in a taxi, pacing backwards and forwards along the front pavement. He jumped at us when we got out.

"They've found her school bag, it was by the back entrance. The only things missing are her phone, and well, Jay." He held it out for us and I grew scared. There was a huge rip along one side, as if it had been pulled off with a huge amount of force and one of the straps was snapped, dangling limply, facing the ground.

"Oh shit. There's blood." Officer Briny turned the bag so we could see the front, and splashed across and the white and blue patterned material were small spots of red in a line.

"I've already contacted the missing persons detectives, they've got some more officers on the way. I'm not trained to deal with missing kids so I'm not sure what's gonna happen." I could feel myself shaking and I knew at once who had done it.

"There's no point in denying it, we all know who did this." Phil tensed.

"Her dad, we know. Only problem is, where is he now? And where's Jay?"

It was only a minutes and a half later by my watch when two more patrol cars pulled up beside up, three uniformed officers stepping out of them.

Briny greeted them tensely, but like friends and immediately showed them the bag and then told them what we knew about Jay's dad. They took everything in, one writing little notes, important details on a notepad and then they turned to me and Phil, hands clutches together.

"How long has she been with you?"

"Two months." I could feel my chest starting to constrict, all I wanted was for Jay to come back.

"Has she ever done anything like this?" Phil shook his head.

"Has her dad been anywhere near her recently?"

"We knew he was in London, it was on the news when he was released but Jay thought she saw him at the mall last night, we went about a week ago. She hadn't really thought about it until then." More notes, and then the officer moved off to talk amongst themselves.

"We're issuing a Child Rescue Alert. If we act fast, she'll be found fast. Her father is a dangerous man and at this point there's nothing stopping him from killing."