~ Collide ~

That was to close

After Toni had gone missing early Saturday Morning, I stayed put all day waiting for her . Hoping for a chance she'd come back . I couldn't help but toil with the thought that maybe  she had been kidnapped . I was restless . Uneasy . I didn't want to sit still any longer . I couldn't. Not knowing she could be in great danger . I didn't know where , when ,  how or why she had gone . I needed help . For all I know the black hood could've claimed her as his next victim or The Ghoulies could've done something to her . The number one enemies of the south side serpents . All I knew for sure was , the longer I waited the bigger chance of something happening to her .
        I needed to get to Sheriff Keller . I had one problem though. It was dark out and I didn't have a car or know how to drive a motorcycle. I decided to wait till morning to head back into town .
       I laid down on her bed . Trying to sleep . It was hard to go to sleep knowing that the person or people that possibly took her , could come back. I got the idea to text Jughead to give me a ride into town .

Cheryl- *Jughead, I'm at Toni's and I need a ride into town . I don't have a car or know how to drive a motorcycle.
Jughead- *wait why? what's going on ?"
Cheryl- *this morning Toni was gone . Her keys , phone purse motorcycle, everything's still her except her . She's gone . There's tire marks in the driveway that head towards the road . I've waited all day and she still hasn't come back . I think someone could've took her ! I need a ride into town , so I can talk to sheriff Keller and your the only one who knows where Toni's place is .
Jughead- * ok I'll be right there .
       It was in about 5 minutes that his car pulled in the driveway. He got out . I walked out of Toni's trailer and locked the door with the keys .
"Thanks for coming " I said . "No problem." Then he looked down at the ground . "You say you think someone took her ?" "Yes and I need to get to sheriff Keller " "these ....these look like skid marks . Somethings not right ?" "I know! That's what I'm saying ! " "if she was kidnapped this could be bad . Come on let's go to sheriff Keller."  "Ok" we both hurried in the car. We backed out and took off .
       We got to sheriff Keller and explained. We later went back to Toni's house with him to examine the evidence. He said that , the tire tracks were from a van . The big scary white ones that you see people get kidnapped in . The creases in the dirt were definitely not someone who was walking . He said the looked like drag marks . There looked like there was a struggle . He said he'd investigate more , and that if anything else popped up to let him know right away . But for now to wait . Wait till they found something. They'd let us know when or if  they found anything.
     Every day after school Jughead and I would work together to find toni . Betty would sometimes help too , when she wasn't busy dealing with her crazy family which now revolves around Chic . We weren't working fast enough for me . "You know what we need to do what we did earlier. We need to go out and look for her . Anywhere . Check cars ask people around . Anything. I'm not giving up . And I'm certainly not going to wait for sheriff Keller to tell us he found another clue . " I stood up . I grabbed a flashlight . "Do you have a knife ? We might need it" he was frozen "uhh yea sure ." I tossed him a flashlight he caught it surprisingly. "Then let's go" I said as I walked out the door . He scurried grabbing a pocket knife and flowing behind me . We got into his car and took off .
      After hours of searching it was getting dark . We search's everywhere . South side , north side , local bars , grocery stores, parks clubs , roads , forest and fields even . Nothing . We came to a small rundown local grocery store with a little gas station . To the left of it was a forest of evergreen trees . I front of it , and empty parking lot which led to the only road insight . There was one car besides ours . A white four door van . Just like sheriff Keller had described. It was dark . I thought it was interesting that there were 7 street lamps in the parking lot but , the van was not under any of them . Like they didn't want to be seen .
      "You thinkin what I'm thinking?" Jughead asked . I nodded . We parked the car around the corner . Just as we got out a  caucasian , bald man with a beard who looked like he was in his thirties walked up to the checkout line from what we saw through the windows. We hurried over to the van sneakily . We needed to see what was inside quick .  There was no one in the front seats of the car. That man was alone . We needed to see what was in the back .
       Jughead who had brought a bag full of supplies used it to pry open the door . We went inside it was dark . Someone was laying on the floor in the back . Mouth closed with duck tape , arms tied back and feet tied together. I felt a rush of hope go through my body . Jughead and I looked at eachother nervously like a , what should we do ? Type of look . I pointed to my flashlight and looked at Jughead. He nodded agreeing that I should turn on my flashlight. The light blared bright at the body . They squinted . It was Toni . Jughead and I looked over at eachother shocked then looked back at Toni and went  towards Toni . "Omg Toni !!!!" I couldn't believe it was her ! "Toni!!" Jughead cried . She looked over confused. I used the knife to cut of the duck tape from her mouth . "Cheryl?!" Me and Jughead worked to get her free . "Omg Toni" I hugged her so tightly. Tears started to flow from my eyes as I was hugging her . "I thought I'd lost you !!!  I ..I didn't think we were gonna find you and ..and then I had to get Jughead to help , but then sheriff Keller told us to wait and we came looking for you , we have been for hours and is lost hope and —" "oh Cheryl " she smiled "Cheryl Cheryl, I'm ok. I'm ok " she held my face and looked into my eyes . "It's ok , it's ok . " "your here now . And that's all that matters ." Then she hugged me as we both closed our eyes .
     Jughead looked around . "Uhh guys ...."  he was looking around while tapping me on the shoulder "guys , guys we gotta go now . " there were noises from outside . The man had come back . Then suddenly the back doors swung open . He was standing there . He hadn't expected to see us there . He was mad .
His voice was deep and raspy . He sounded like a smoker . "Come here you " he quickly grabbed Toni . "No toni" Jughead and I screamed as we reached out for her . He grabbed her to quick for us to grasp her . He stood straight up . His left arm all the way around her holding her against him , and his right arm with a knife to her neck . "Move and I'll slit her throat!" Jughead and I were nervous. I was shaking . One bad move and I'd lose her in one of the worst ways imaginable.
     I remembered the gun I had seen laying on the floor in the back corner . As quick as I could , I grabbed the gun and pointed it at him "you move and your dead !" "If you hurt her , your dead !" He didn't get scared. I was confused . "Pfttt.!!" He spit on the ground close to us . "Yea right ." I was yelling now "I SAID IF YOU HURT HER YOUR DEAD !"  "You don't have the guts."  My hands were shaking it was hard to hold the gun steady . I'd never actually shot a gun before . "One move and your dead"
"Really?" He glared at me his face leaned forward "I don't believe you" Then as if my life were in slow motion, he raised his arm up holding the knife and came down on Toni's thigh . The sharp Knife piercing down into her leg . Her head looked up as She screamed out in pain . I saw my life flash before my eyes . I shot the gun . I closed my eyes . Then when I opened them I saw him on the ground holding his right shoulder with blood spewing out of it . He got scared and fled .
      I ran over to Toni , Jughead behind me . Her eyes shut tight . She held her shin squeezing her leg up against her rocking back in forth in pain making noises. "Here , here " I said my left hand under her thigh , my right under her calf . I stretched out her leg . She made noises in pain . Slightly trying to resist us laying out her leg because of the pain . Jughead took her foot and raised it up to help with the blood flow . I took off my coat . "I'm going to wrap this around your leg to help stop the bleeding ." I said . She looked at me nervous with tears in her eyes .  I wrapped it around her leg tight to apply pressure. she winced in pain .
    I hated seeing her like this . I wanted to cry . All of this had happened so fast . I didn't cry though . I knew I needed to be strong for Toni . Just like she had been for me so many times . "I'm gonna go pull up the car so we can drive you to the hospital." Jughead said .  "Ok" she said while breathing heavily. I got behind her and sat down . I laid my legs out on each side of hers . And scooted up against her back . Then I put my arms around her . She sulked her back into me trying to relax and taking a deep breath. I rested me head on her shoulder and slightly rocked left and right comforting her . I instantly felt her relax as she closed her eyes and leaned her head to mine which was on her shoulder. "Shhh it's ok , it's ok ." "Don't worry helps coming. Helps coming ." I reassured her . The chaos had finally ended although the night would be a long one .