Your Kiss

Chapter 16: Miss You Already

It’s been 10 days since Kelsey was nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t answering her phone or even replying to the thousands of messages I sent her in the past hour, with the common “where are you?” and “why are you not answering me?”. It’s basically a series of questions that led me to believe that something bad happened to her. I don’t know, she’s not the type to run off with someone and never tell me or my parents about it. She was the person that is responsible for saying where she is going, in case she gets kidnapped, so that we can find her easily.

“Did she answer your texts already, Stephen?” my mother asked me. There are things I don’t talk about about my mother. When she’s furious or worried, she uses my second name to call me. I only heard her call me by my second name two times in my life. One is when I broke her favorite vase when I was probably 6 and now. “No, mom,” I said while swaying my head left and right. They were starting to get worried and I tried to calm them down and tell them stories about how Kelsey should be safe.

“Stephen, did you ask your sister’s friends where Justin lives?” my father asked me. I should add to the fact that my father and mother both have the same mannerism when calling their kids when they’re furious and angry. I got out my phone, asking the several college friends my sister has had over the past year. “Yes, dad. There’s this Diana girl saying she knows a friend of Justin who knows where he lives,” I said. He nodded and we waited for Diana’s response. And then, my phone  vibrated and I saw Diana’s reply.

“Mom, Dad. Justin lives in this address,” I showed them the address and so they called the police and ran out. I was running right behind them but my dad stopped me. “What? Dad, I want to come!” I said but they insisted on letting me stay and making me guard the house.

“No, Stephen. Guard the house while we’re away. We don’t know what Justin will do. We just found out he has a criminal record,” my dad said but I still persisted. It was my sister and I had to stay in the house while my sister was probably dying and waiting for me. No. I don’t want to. I wanted to enter the car but my mom interfered. “Stephen, stay in the house. If something comes up, we’ll tell you right away,” she said as I stood there, crying and she kissed my forehead and let me back inside.

I was looking over them, looking as if their car drove away and waving goodbye to them and then I ran inside, crying and wailing on the couch while everything I thought and was still thinking was Kelsey and not thinking about my friends, even Collei. That’s how much I was worried for her. I felt my phone vibrate. It was from the messenger app and it was Collei calling me. I was always talking to him about what I was going through and how Kelsey was missing and how it made me worry for her. He was basically my therapist. I answered the call.

“Hey, how are you? Are you okay? Why are you crying?” he asked me. I covered my face. I didn’t want him to see me like this. I wasn’t supposed to be like this. There’s a lot of things I wanted to blurt out and say. There are things I wish I could’ve said to Kelsey before she was missing. There are still things I wanted her to see, to experience, to be my sister until forever. I didn’t know what I would do if she couldn’t experience those things anymore. I would simply bail out in life.

“I don’t know, Collei. I felt like it was my fault. I saw her wounds on her arm while we were having dinner with her boyfriend. I thought it was nonsense since Justin was a good guy outside. And now, I realized I was wrong. She was abused, Collei, and I let it happen,” I said and I started tearing up. That moment kept replaying in my head with Kelsey’s voice saying I did this, I made her hurt. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know if it was really my fault or is it just my friend.

“Hey, hey. It’s not your fault. You should come over after, okay? You know where my apartment is and you shouldn’t blame yourself. Justin did this, not you. It’s always been him. Don’t blame yourself, love. It’s you who noticed it, it’s you who cared for her. Don’t cry,” he said. I just sat there, I felt like I was a piece of trash and a crumpled piece of paper thrown in the side while everything made me shatter and tear into pieces like some document that people don’t want to be around anymore. I was basically useless.

I heard the door open. I thought it was my parents so I got my phone. “Got to go, love you,” I said before ending the call. I ran to the door and I saw that my dad was standing there. My mom was crying on her shoulder and there wasn’t any Kelsey to be seen. She was gone. My smile turned to a frown as I thought I would see her again. But no, she was nowhere to be seen. Where are you, Kelsey? Please, where are you? I would take care of you even if I would risk my life.

“Where is she?” I said to my dad. My dad had a frown on his face and I was gripping on my phone like it was my stress ball and I was extremely stressed right now. Is she dead? Is she injured? I don’t know what happened. Dad, please tell me.

“We found her, but she’s severely injured. She’s in the hospital.” My heart sank.