Forever (sequel to The Hostage)

8

Santana's POV
The phone falls to the floor, shards of the screen shattering as it hits the wood. There's now a hole in the wall, with chunks of plaster breaking off. Quinn doesn't make a move. All the colour has drained from her face, but she doesn't say a word. Just looks at the remains of her phone on the floor, as if she's surprised it got there.

The others begin to appear, to see what the noise is coming from. At first, Mercedes acts as if there's been another fight between me and Quinn. She starts to walk forward, saying "oh hell to the no", but stops when she sees Quinn crying. It's a well known fact that Quinn rarely cries in front of anyone, apart from Tina and Brittany.

Mercedes hesitates, and nudges Tina forward, while she assesses the situation. Tina immediately comes to Quinn's side, her hand resting on Quinn's arm.

T-"Quinn? Are you okay?"

When Quinn doesn't answer, and just continues to stare at her shattered phone on the floor, Tina turns to face me. Her look is accusatory, as if I'm the one who made her cry.

T-"Santana? What happened?"
S-"I don't know. Quinn got a phonecall, and she threw her phone at the wall. I don't know who was talking to her, or what they said."
Q-"They have Brittany."

Tina's head whirls around, and Quinn keeps talking. She has to force the words out, and her voice shakes.

Q-"Th-they said that they took Brittany...they're holding her hostage."
M-"Are you sure?"

Mercedes steps forward, as Quinn slowly becomes hysterical. The others just talk to each other, the noise getting louder. Everyone is panicking. Without Brittany, they have no leader. She holds them all together. If anyone knew how to sort out a hostage situation, it's her. But she's the one who's been taken hostage. Quinn can't exactly cope, and I can't figure out who would be next in command.

Tina whistles, cutting through the conversation, and everyone shuts up. She faces Quinn again, and speaks quietly to her.

T-"Who has her?"
Q-"I don't know. I don't know anything. They just-they have her. I don't know who. I'm s-sorry."

She breaks into a fresh wave of tears. I slowly back away, and quietly go upstairs. Nobody even sees me leave. They're too busy comforting Quinn, or making plans, or in Mercedes' case, trying to pick the pieces of Quinn's phone on the floor so she can repair it and track the call.

It's an organised chaos. And I don't fit into it. I don't know how they operate. I'm not even sure what half of them do. It seems weird to ask, and I don't want to ruin my friendships with any of them. They all seem like they're able to survive-even Quinn. I can just stay up here. Thinking about Brittany.

Quinn said they had taken her hostage. Why? Do they know what she's a gang leader? Or is it just a mistake. They were taking one person hostage, and it just happened to be her.

I lock my door, and the noise from below starts to fade away. Of course, they'll have a plan to get Brittany back in a few hours, and before long she'll be here, and we can talk about all the shit. But for now, she's in some loser's basement with no clue what's going on, or where she is.

I climb into bed, and turn on the tv. I'm barely watching it, my mind is spinning around Brittany. She must be so scared, and alone.

I go to close the blinds, and completely shut out all light. But something catches my eye. The sun is reflecting off something sitting on our bedside table.

The engagement ring. Brittany's engagement ring. The word 'forever', engraved inside, seems to taunt me. I'm the reason she took it off. What if I never see her again?