Trouble in Tiltown

Anger

I sat on my couch, flipping through channels until a speedy knock sounded on the front door. When I go to answer it, West walks in and completely ignoring my presence.
"Have you seen Elouise?" He questioned me as he began brewing himself a cup of coffee with shaky hands.
"Not since she left my birthday party at the lake. Why?" I asked him as he sits down at the table.
He takes a long sip of hot coffee, "Because she's been missing for a day now." He admits to me. I rise from the table and brew myself a cup after hearing the unfortunate news.
"What do you mean? How did you lose her?"
"Well, the other night, She had a bad dream about what happened that day. I thought she was coming back to bed but she said she was gonna step outside for a minute. She never came back." His pink lips quivered before taking another sip. Sitting down again in front of him, I notice his eyes are focused down.
"We'll find her. Maybe she's just on a walk." I failed to reassure him.
He shakes his head quickly, "No, not this long. I think I know where she is, but I need more people to come with me." He says, slowly raising his head up to look me in the eyes. I knew.
"What? I don't know, West. That's dangerous." I say as the both of us rise.
"I'd do anything for Elouise. You, Jerrick and Kat are coming along. We're picking them up in my car." West says as he rushes out to his car.

The three of us, awkwardly smushed together in the backseat while West tightens his grip on the steering wheel until his fingers turned nearly white. His jaw, tightening and loosening every now and again. I could tell there were multiple thoughts racing through his mind that he couldn't contain in his head much longer.
"We don't even have weapons." Kat spoke.
West glares at Kat through his eyebrows in his rear view mirror, "You don't need weapons. Your limbs are weapons." Just as West said that, Kat and Jerrick both look down at their hands and legs as if they were surprised to see them there. Soon enough, we came to an abrupt stop nearby woods. As West turns the car off, we all sit in silence as he turns back to us.
"You all stay behind me. I know Abraham took Elouise to this place and we're going to get her back." West says as he gets out, already going into the woods while the three of us hurriedly jump out of the car. As the three of us walk behind West, we began whispering to one another.
"Elouise is probably fine anyway." Jerrick said with a nervous laugh. It was easy to tell that what he said, he didn't even believe in it. Kat glanced at him, her red hair covering her face as the wind began picking up. My eyes glanced up to the sky above us and it wasn't until now that I realized the sky darkened above us.
"Right. She's probably just hanging out at a friend's house." Kat joined in on the optimism.
My eyes landed on West's back as he kept his head to the side as though he were attempting to listen in on us.
"She doesn't have very many friends since all that has happened." I admitted. Feeling the shocked glances from my friends, It stayed silence besides the wind that developed into a deep howl through the trees.

We stood behind West as we made it to the door. He knocked, but no answer. He tried again, louder, yet still no answer. Kat takes out a bobby pin from her jean pocket and begins inserting it into the lock. A few minutes pass as she fidgets with it and curses until finally, a click sounded. She turns around with a prideful smirk before stepping to the side for West to walk in.
"How'd you know how to do that?" Jerrick asked her.
"A strict father teaches you a lot." She mumbles. As we walk in, it's dark just like how I remembered it to be. In the next room, were placed eight beds with people on them who were hooked up to cords. West abruptly rushed up to a bed and as we hurried after him, we soon realized why.
Her eyes shot open, "You have to get out of here! He'll hurt you guys!" She said in a hushed tone, holding onto West's hand.
"Not a chance. We're getting you out of here." He replied before unhooking her from the strange contraptions. Once she got up, we all turned to run but once we got to the front door, we stopped dead in our tracks when a man with a cowboy hat came down.
"What do you think you're doing, brother?" He takes off his hat, revealing his face to us. Elouise tightened her grip on West at the sight of Abraham.
"Elouise doesn't belong here in your lab." West spat back. Abraham just sights heavily before James rushes out from another room with a needle.
"Perhaps, Elouise isn't the problem. Or Laurence, or Kat." James spoke as his eyes bounce of every one of us.
"The problem here is West." Abraham agreed with James.
"I think it's time to get rid of the problem for good!" James screamed before darting towards West with the needle with a liquid inside of it. Before anybody could react, Elouise blocked James from West. James had struck Elouise with the needle instead before he stepped back in shock, realizing what he had just done. West falls to his knees, holding Elouise's head in his lap.
"Are you okay?" He questions her as she closes her eyes slowly. As he continues pleading for her to wake back up, Abraham closes in on James.
"You just made the biggest mistake. And in Tiltown, we can't afford to make mistakes." James backs up into a wall with Abraham right in front of him. Kat and I attempt to pull west away from Elouise but instead he brings her up the stairs. While West and Kat run out, Jerrick stays behind to help his brother.
"Jerrick, we've got to go!" I beg him as I pull on his arm.
His eyes, glossy as he realizes what Abraham is going to do with James, "James!" He yells for his brother for the last time before I finally drag Jerrick up and out of the place. We run to the car, as thunder roars throughout the sky. Tiltown was angry. Once we made it to the car, West was sitting on the ground that began getting muddied by the rain with Elouise on the ground. Kat who was standing over Elouise, glanced up at us before shaking her head with red eyes.