The ride to Kyle's is a tense one.
"Risa. Come on. Tell me exactly what he said."
Her lips are pressed tight together, and her knuckles are white on the steering wheel. "He said that he invited Tanner to come over all casual like, and he was going to tell Ed to come over too. But apparently Tanner was smart enough to know what was going on, and he brought friends. As soon as Ed got inside the house, these other guys like grabbed them or something. They're trapped in the house somewhere. We have to go find them."
I stare at her open-mouthed. "Are you serious?!"
"Dead serious."
"Risa, we have to call the cops."
She shakes her head. We make a sharp turn and I'm flung against the car door. "No," she says grimly. "We don't want Kyle and Ed to get in trouble for this. We have to do it ourselves."
"What could they get into trouble for?" I exclaim, not quite understanding her logic.
"Never mind that," she answers. We come to a screeching stop at Kyle's curb and she hops out of the car. I unfasten my seatbelt and hurry to jump out. What she's doing is dead stupid, but I can't let her get hurt.
She puts a finger to her lips and motions me forward. Together we make out way to the front door. She cautiously turns the doorknob. It's locked. "Damn," she mutters. She shoots me a look. "Call Ed."
I oblige. My phone rings for several moments, then there's a click. I hear static.
"Hello?" I say timidly. "Ed. Ed, where are you?"
There's an low, throaty sounding laugh on the other end. I gasp. It's definitely not Ed.
"Come on in and find out," he says, still chuckling. Suddenly the door flies open. "Risa, look out!" I scream, accidentally dropping my phone. I turn and start to run away towards the car, but a huge, strong hand closes around my bicep and drags me inside the house, Risa right ahead of me. We're both struggling and fighting to get away. Risa is shouting out a long, harsh stream of cuss words at the man holding her, some of which I've never heard before.
"So, you must be Natalie..." The man holding me says, speaking loudly over Risa's yells. I send an elbow back into his gut as a reply, but it doesn't seem to affect him. He laughs. "Ed's told us all about you..." He grins at me.
"Where is he?" I yell, still struggling to get away.
My attacker shoots a look at Risa's, and together they drag us through the living room towards the basement door.
I have time to lock eyes with Risa. Hers are wide open and fearful, and she reaches out her hand towards me. Then we're through the door and it slams shut, leaving us in complete darkness.
We stumble down the stairs behind our captors, trying to stay on our feet, and when we reach the bottom, a light flicks on.
Ed is sittings slouched in a chair in the middle of the room, back facing me. I can tell its him by his mess of ginger hair.
"Ed!" I exclaim, then realize too late that it's probably a bad idea.
He spins around slowly in the chair to look at me. Something's not right. There's an easy smile on his face. "Hello, Natalie," he says.
I gasp as I see what he's clutching in his lap. It's a pistol.
"Ed, what are you doing?!"
He raises the pistol to where it's pointing at my face, and suddenly we're alone in the room. Risa, her captor, and my captor have all disappeared.
"What the-? Ed! No!" I turn and try to run away from him, but my legs won't work. It's like I'm running in slow motion. I hear crack of the gun, drawn out way more than it should have been, and I feel myself falling to the ground...
