Chapter 10

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Louis POV-

I licked my lips and rubbed my sweaty palms together, inhaling a deep breath and preparing myself to step out of the car. Outside my door, Graham stood waiting impatiently, Kasper's father, Mr. Chatwin. I hadn't seen either of them since Kasper went missing. At first, Graham was so outraged that he had thought I was responsible and turned against me. Luckily, though, I managed to knock some sense into him before any damage was inflicted on either of us.

"How long have y'all been out this morning?" I asked through a cracked open window.

Graham sighed and tapped on the glass of my window with his finger tips. "Come on out, Louis. I can't hardly hear you through the window. I am not going to hurt you, I promise."

I eyed him suspiciously and scoffed.

"Look, bro, I said I was sorry. Can't you just accept that and we can move on? There are more important things at the moment than holding grudged against one another! Kas is still missing! We have to keep searching!" Graham growled and Mr. Chatwin gripped his arm.

Graham was not the buffest teenager on the block, but was natorious for getting into street fights with the other boys in our school when class was over. And boy, oh boy, would he send those kids home with black eyes and busted lips. He held his fair share of battle scars, though. His eye had a small scar under it from one fight he got in with a school senior after Graham had bumped into his car in the school parkinglot. The senior pulled out a knife and Graham was beaten up pretty badly. The fight was broken up when Kasper pulled up in her car and began pounding the crap out of the both of them, Friday barking up a storm from a safe distance. And that is how Graham and Kasper met. Quite romantic, I know.

I opened my car door and pulled my shirt down into place, fixing all of the ruffles. Looking up, I hugged Mr. Chatwin as a sign of sympathy and echoed my previous question. "How long have y'all been out this morning?"

"About an hour and a half. The sun just came up, so maybe it will be easier to see in the treeline." Graham answered, pointing towards the long line of pine trees that a search party dressed head to toe in bright orange was snooping about for any sign of Kasper.

Her house was nearby, probably only a minute and a half away, and though we were all trying to stay optimistic, the odds of her kidnappers killing and dumping Kasper's body in the pine forest was high. We had to check everywhere possible and then some.

"Where is Friday?" I asked, searching around the floor curiously. Friday would have been our best resource at finding Kasper. He knew her better than her own father knew her and had his nose to help him.

Mr. Chatwin rubbed some sweat off of his neck. It was only seven o'clock in the morning, but it was already a whopping ninety-two degrees outside. "We left Friday at the vet's office. He still isn't in the best shape from the cuncussion, but the vet said that he should be up and running again in another day or so. He just needs some time to recover."

I nodded. The poor dog was all of our's friend. I have known him just as long as I have known Kas, and he was harmless. He lived to please and help Kasper, and I respected him of that. I couldn't imagine why somebody would feel threatened enough to bash him up side the head with a beer bottle. The worse he could do was probably jump on you and lick you to death.

"And what about Elliot?"

"He will be here in about ten minutes, so he said that we can go ahead and start without him." Graham budded in.

I nodded and followed Mr. Chatwin and Graham up the hill towards the forest where the rest of the search party was standing, waiting for Mr. Chatwin's orders.

"Okay guys," Mr. Chatwin started, "we have another four hours of searching for this morning, then we can have an hour long lunch break, and we will continue. We have two bloodhounds that will be helping sweep the area with us, so we should all be sure to thank the sheriff's office for that.

"The forest is fourty-five acres, so we will all have to be booking it on clearing the area. It is going to be hot today, so make sure you keep your water bottles full. There will be three coolers that will be being dragged along with us gradually so if you need any water, just fill it up from there.

"I appreciate all of you guy's work and thank you all greatly! Now, let's get Kasper home!" The search team clapped and then turned and made their way into the forest. I picked up a water bottle from one of the coolers nearby and made my way into the forest as well, Graham to my left and Mr. Chatwin to my right.

"Kasper!" I shouted into the trees with through cupped hands. "Kasper!"

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