Adopted by Phan

Chapter 59

Phil's P.O.V.

I watched the cameras closely, watching for any sign of Jay. The principal had taken us into the security room, along with what seemed like an army of police officers and had gone to the cameras outside the learning support classroom and the ones in the surrounding area, hoping to see something.

Anais was standing beside us, he eyes wide with worry and wringing her hands in her headscarf, muttering what sounded like a prayer under her breath. I could tell she was absolutely terrified, she had probably been the last one to see Jay because Mrs Livingstone certainly hadn't. 15 minutes after the bell had rung and Jay still hadn't arrived she alerted the office, prompting the absentee call.

The call had gone through at about 11 so by the time we were watching the camera I thought it was just gone 12, maybe at the latest, but when Dan poked me and showed me his phone screen I almost gasped out loud. 2 o'clock. Where had all the time gone?

"Hold up, is that you there Anais?" I looked up and on the screen showed the security footage of two girls, one extremely short and the other wearing a headscarf chatting happily before their heads turned and the girl in the headscarf started to leave.

"Yeah. The bell had just rung so I had to run to class." My eyes followed Jay on the screen as she wandered around for a bit, occasionally forcing us to swap cameras as she wandered off screen. As the flow of students all dashing to class disappeared she started to wander to her own classroom, occasionally spinning in circles.

I wasn't sure why, at least not until I saw the earbud in her ear, and, although I could hardly make it out, her lips mouthing the words to whatever song was playing in her ear.

As she wandered around the corner we switched to the camera mounted on the learning support classroom and in the top left hand corner, I saw two men in black pounce on her. The dragged her closer to them, which also happened to be further onto the camera and I saw her thrashing her arms, pushing away.

I saw a cloth go over her mouth and her head tilted back, trying to avoid breathing whatever was on it. She was still fighting but it wasn't much use, both men were basically twice her size and probably three times her weight on their own and could hold her down with complete ease. I watched as she started to relax, her legs stopped kicking and eyes closed. I felt like screaming.

One of the men picked her up and as he did so her phone fell out of her pocket and onto the floor. The other guy pocketed it. We switched cameras as they moved off screen, towards the back entrance where her backpack had been found torn apart. It was still on her back, with no indication of how it was so torn, bloody and in such a state.

As they neared the placed the bag had been found, at least according to Officer Briny, one of the men pointed to the bag and the other reached up to pull it off her back. When he couldn't he yanked at it, almost sending Jay sprawling onto the ground with the force and that only caused him to become even more frustrated.

He gave it an almighty tug, ripping it from her back and swung around with such force that his hand scraped the wall beside him and tore the skin on the top of his hand. That would explain the blood. As he brought the bag back down he caught the side of it on some bricks, which tore the side almost completely open.

He then dumped it on the ground, jumping on it angrily and spitting, trying to wipe the blood off his hand. The two then continued out of sight with Jay, out of camera range and out of the school to where there weren't any cameras.

"At least we know the blood isn't Jay's." Dan looked desperately pale, eyes wide and shaking hands.

"Where did they take her?" I shook my head, hugging him.

"I don't know Dan, I don't know."

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We were in a room of the police station, trying not to break down. The police had been in and out talking to us, asking questions and just generally getting as much information as they could so they could try and find Jay as fast as possible.

Officer Briny had been in and out too, along with Mrs Harrow, who seemed to be the most involved in the search for Jay out of anyone. She had bought us both a cup of tea and had sat and talked with us for a little while, trying to reassure us that the police were doing everything that they could and it wouldn't take long to find her. I didn't believe her.

Dan had long since fallen into an uneasy sleep on my lap, stirring on occasion and breathing unevenly, worry still clear even in sleep. I was trying to comfort him and myself at the same time but it wasn't easy, not when my mind kept flashing back to Jay and what she might be going through at the hands of the monster who was her father.

"Phil?" I glanced up, Officer Briny was standing in the door. I let out a hum to tell him I heard.

"We've got a few leads, there's footage of a car we think is theirs. We're trying to track it now, but I think we've got something that might help. We're tracking her cellphone, it was pinging up until about an hour ago." My eyes widened, they could track her cellphone.

"Where did it last ping?" He shook his head.

"It's not looking good, it last pinged in the middle of some woods." I immediately felt my heart drop into my stomach, my face draining of blood.

"How far away?"

"Couple of hundred kilometres. The phone last pinged just beyond Birmingham." The little remaining colour I had in my face faded away.

"But that's almost 3 hours away.... How?" He shook his head.

"We don't know, all we know is that we had officers heading to search the area right now."