Diamond S Ranch

9-Finding Elle

It was 7:30am when Jake walked out of his room. He should have stayed in the bed that he had just crawled into about five hours ago. But he was to used to ranch life and changing his routine was hard for him to do. Oh, he knew it would catch up to him later but right now with a thousand and one things that needed to be done today all bouncing around in his head, he had forced himself out of bed. Now he had one thing in mind...finding coffee.

As he passed Elle's room an odd sound caught his ear and he turned. What was it and where was it coming from? He moved closer to her door. He leaned his ear against it, yep, it was coming from inside her room and it sounded like her alarm clock was going off. Since it was way past 6am, she must have gotten up before her alarm and forgot to turn it off. He knocked and opened her door.

Rosie greeted him with a whine as she lay at the foot of Elle's bed. Odd. Walking a little further into the room, he noticed it looked like Elle was still sleeping in the bed. But how could she have slept an hour and a half through that alarm, he wondered? For a second he panic as he rushed over and jerked the covers off her. Then he went from relieved to pissed in two seconds flat after finding that she had arranged several pillows to make it look like she was actually still sleeping.

"What the hell?" He growled as he reached over and turned off her alarm.

He looked around her room. What was going on? He went to her bathroom, she wasn't there. He opened her closet, she wasn't there. However, he couldn't help noting that all the things he had bought her, the clothes, uniforms and other personal items for her were still in their original bags now stuffed into the bottom of the closet. Nothing had been opened, hung up or put away. He slammed the door shut.

Then he went to look for her book bag. Gone. He started looking around for things she might have taken, she just didn't have much that was hers. Then he looked to her bed. If that is missing, he said to himself, then he knew she was gone. He stomped back over to her bed and threw the covers, sheets, pillows, everything off the bed onto the floor, frantically looking for it. Yep, it was gone. That mangy old stuffed rabbit was gone. This could only mean one thing she was gone too!

"Damnit!" He said out loud, as he rushed out of her room, Rosie hot on his heels. If his intuition was right, and it always was, he knew what was going on....she had run away.

"Zach! Kaison! Jordan!" He bellowed through out the house as he stomped his way across the balcony towards the kitchen stairs.

Kaison and Jordan along with Trent and Cole were only ones sitting at the table when Jake came slamming down the stairs.

"Whoa, Jake!" Kaison started "what's up?"

He could tell his oldest brother was furious, everyone there could tell that. What they didn't know was why?

He marched straight into the kitchen shouting her name, ignoring Cappy's jovial morning greeting, not seeing her, he passed back through the dining area and headed towards the formal dining room. Now, they were all following him. "Elleana!" He shouted, as he stuck his head into the formal dining room and then into the study.

"Elleana!" He headed over to Kaison's office opened the door, slamming it shut, then the guest bathroom, slamming it shut, then went into the den...still nothing. Rosie was on heels and started barking causing Buddy and Duke to start barking.

"Elleana!!" Jake roared over the chaos.

"Jake! What the hell is going on!" Zach shouted down from the balcony, it was obvious he had been awaken, standing there looking all disheveled and only in his boxers. Kaison, Jordan and the others, including Cappy and Lorenzo, had followed Jake out into the open foyer, they too were trying to understand what was going on. All of them looking to Jake as he stood there his hands on his hips, his blue eyes flashing, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know he was pissed off, really pissed off.