In the Open

"Ah, long time no see, eh son?"

Nick's POV

I wake with a start, sweat beading along my forehead from my nightmare. I sit up in my bed and try my best to steady my breathing and heart rate. I used to take meds so I could sleep peacefully, but they wore off after about a year of taking them. The only thing that stops my nightmares now is her. If I think about her looking at me with those innocent eyes of her, every problem and tortured thought inside of my mind fades away.

I look to my side, hoping to see her beautiful figure sleeping peacefully. But there's nothing. The side of the bed she slept on is cold and empty. The pillow looks like it hasn't been used at all, and the bed is neatly made. Why would she leave without waking me, and how long has she been gone? That's not like Nadine at all.

I look at the clock on my nightstand, seeing that it's 9:46 in the morning. I slide out of bed and throw on a pair of sweatpants.

"Nadine?" I call as I walk downstairs, but the house is silent. There's no sign of her in the kitchen, which is definitely not normal. Nadine always makes a pot of coffee when she gets up. The smell lingers throughout the house in the morning. But now there's not even a trace of it, or her.

I walk up to her room frantically, trying not to panic. There has to be a logical explanation for this, right? Maybe she went out early, or went to go pick up something from the store.

No, she would've told me first.

I ignore my subconscious and open the door of her bedroom, seeing her no where. What the fuck is going on? I check the bathroom, but it's of course empty.

Just as I'm about to leave, I see a random sticky note on her desk. Nadine is a neat freak, she wouldn't just leave it there. One day when she was studying I moved one piece of paper a centimeter out of the pile, and she spent three minutes getting the papers perfectly aligned again.

"I love you so much Nick Simmons," I whisper to myself, my voice slicing through the silence.

What the fuck? Something is seriously wrong.

I open her desk impulsively, feeling slightly guilty for snooping. There's an envelope in the drawer, probably the pictures she printed yesterday. I open the envelope and pull out the pictures, my blood turning icy in my veins.

No. This can't be happening.

"Shit!" I curse, throwing the screenshots to the floor. I yank on my hair, trying not to panic.

"She's fine. Nadine is fine. He doesn't have her, he wouldn't dare fucking touch her," I tell myself, pacing her room like a mad man.

"I'm going to fucking kill him," I say aloud to myself, and pull my phone out of my pocket. It's worth a shot to at least call her, right?

It rings.. and rings. I call at least three more times before it dawns on me that this is happening. There's only one person in this world that would want to hurt me this badly, and he has her. My prick of a father has my girl, and I don't have any idea where he's keeping her.

I'm shaking as I scroll through my contacts, looking for the man that has been torturing me for years. The rage I feel in this moment is stronger than anything I've ever felt. He starved me. He beat me with his belt until I was covered in bruises. He used to cut me with his pocket knife for fun.

And yet I have never hated him more than right now. Nadine is all I have. She's my best friend, and the love of my life. Her smile is my motivation and her laugh is my joy. She's my whole life, and I'd rather die than let him taint her perfection with his vile intentions.

"Ah, long time no see, eh son?" He laughs into the phone, no doubt enjoying this.

"Where the fuck is she you psychotic bastard," I growl into the phone, not having any of his bullshit.