Face Down - Vance Hopper

Chapter 4

Adira kept her head down the next morning as she approached her locker, her eyes skimming the hallways as she made sure that Theodore wasn't nearby. As soon as they had got back to the car after the fight, Theo had begun screaming at her for embarrassing him in front of his friends first of all, and then blaming her for the fights that had broken out. And then of course, the violent words turned into violent actions which resulted in her waking up this morning with a black eye and a cut on her swollen cheek.

She sighed softly as she pulled open her locker, her eyes landing on a few polariods that were hanging up on the inside. There was a picture of her and her friend Chrissy along with a few other photos of her friends and then some pictures of her and Theo from when they first got together, when he was sweet to her and hadn't laid a hand on her.

She blinked back the tears as she began to pull out the stuff that she needed from her locker. She pulled out her bio book and her english book before chucking her bag into her locker and shutting it, hearing it click as it locked. She began to walk through the halls, making her way to Bio first. There were still a few kids in the hallways, but everyone was making their way to class, the bell had rung two minutes ago.

Her eyes seemed to linger on the poster board near the theatre room, a new missing poster hanging up on there along with the old ones, there were a few copies of each. Two kids. Two kids had now gone missing. People around town were now starting to call the kidnapper 'the grabber.' 

When the first boy had gone missing, a young boy named Griffin, people had first thought that maybe he had just run off, but his parents had put posters everywhere around the town to try and find him. They were often seen at the police station, trying everything they could to get the Police to try harder to find their son. They put posters everywhere, around the streets, in the shops, around sporting fields. Everywhere.

Why would someone so loved just run away?

It just didn't make sense. So the police continued to search for him, and the town finally believed that it was a kidnapping. And now there was another kid gone, Billy, some paperboy who had been taken whilst riding his bike around and delivering news papers. 

Adira had to admit, she had never seen the boy in her life, she had never heard of him and couldn't even recall seeing him in the halls of school. She knew Griffin though, she had seen him a through times around school, it was a small town so everyone pretty much knew everyone... except for Billy it seems.

"The Police here are pretty shit huh?" Adira heard someone say from beside her, she turned her head and noticed Vance standing next to her, looking at the wanted posters, "some sicko wackjob is going around and kidnapping little kids, its a pretty small fucking town, you'd think they would have been able to catch him. I mean hell, if they did their job properly, I'd probably be in jail... not to mention our fuckin' dads," Adira stared at him silently for a few moments, looking over the boys face.

The wounds that he had got last night clearly hadn't been cleaned properly and were still open, it looked like he had just splashed water on his face and tried to wash it off with his fingers, "you deaf now?" he asked her as he noticed her looking at his wounds. He knew how worried she got when she would see him get into fights, for a while, years ago, he would go to her to clean up his wounds, but that hadn't happened for a very long time. He didnt want her to worry about him though, hell if she worried about him every time she got into fight, she'd probably die from a stroke sooner or later

"I just cant believe someone can be sick enough to go around and grab those poor kids," Adira admitted softly, looking back at the posters as sadness continued to wash over her, "not to mention all the things that the grabber has probably been doing to them. I cant even begin to imagine how scared they would be right now."

"Right now? You think they are still alive?" Vance asked with a small scoff, his eyebrows furrowed as he practically glared up at the posters. Adira turned to look back over at Vance with a small look of hope on her face, though as she thought about it, she knew that he was more than likely right, but saying it only made it seem more real.

"Well..." she didn't know what to say him. The truth was, she hadn't really thought about them being dead... she didn't know why it had crossed her mind, she figured that the two boys were locked in a room somewhere, getting starved by some sicko, "I mean there has to be a chance that they are alive right? I mean, they're just kids..."

"Exactly, they are just kids. Look at them, they wouldn't be strong enough to defend themselves... there is no way that Griffin kid is still alive, that new one might be though... though I doubt he'll be alive for much longer... I mean have you watched any movies or listened to any crime documentaries Adira? There is no way those kids are making it out of there alive."

Adira felt a sense of hopelessness, nobody should go through that, let alone two young boys who had so much life left in them. "We should get to Bio," Adira muttered out softly as a shakey sigh fell from her lips, forcing herself to look away from the missing kids posters, "but first of all, we need to get you cleaned up," she said as she winced slightly at the open gashes on the boys face

Vance rolled his eyes and took a step back as he shoved his hands in his pockets, "I don't need to 'get cleaned up,' I'm perfectly fine like this, besides I can look after myself," the boy snapped. Adira rolled her eyes at him in annoyance

"Dont be an idiot, if those cuts get infected it could get real nasty," she tried to explain to him, "I've got a little med bag thing in my locker for when Theodore gets in fights or when I get hurt playing hockey and baseball," she explained to the boy. She hesitated slightly before she reached out to grab onto his sleeve and pull him back over to her locker.

She unlocked it quickly and pulled out the medical bag and then turned to look at him once more, his eyes were wandering around the hallway, looking anywhere but her. "Could you um, maybe kneel down a bit," she muttered out softly, he was a lot taller than her which made it difficult.

"Adira seriously, I don't need you to clean my fucking wounds, lets just get to class," he complained snarkly as he rolled his eyes once again, something he seemed to do very often. Adira knew she had to tread lightly, his temper was even worse than Theodores and the last thing she wanted was for him to get angry at her, "it doesn't even fucking hurt anyways."

He wasn't sure why he had allowed her to drag him to her locker, maybe it was the fact that it just gave him an excuse to miss more class time, or maybe it was because he secretly wanted to hang out with her. But it definitely was not so that she could patch up his wounds. She waited for him to kneel so that she could clean his wounds, but he didn't move, "c'mon Van-" 

He tried to keep himself calm, but he couldn't keep it in. He slammed his hand down violently on the locker next to her, "youre not my fucking mum alright, I don't need you to take care of me, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself for fucksake!" It had taken a lot of strength to not just hit her... but he would never do anything to purposefully hurt her.  

She flinched back quickly, her eyes wide. She had dropped the bag as her hands shook softly. Vance's jaw was clenched tightly. "I uh- I should get to class," Adira quickly choked out, shaking slightly as she couldn't even bring herself to pick up the bag or shut the locker, "I'll - I'm sorry," she choked out softly before quickly walking past him and leaving him there in the hallway and rushing to class, her heart pounding.

Vance stood there, not moving as his eyes clenched shut in frustration, "Shit!" he cursed and punched a random locker angrily, leaving a dent in it. He bent down and picked up the bag, throwing it back in her locker, going to shut it before his eyes landed on one of the polariods hanging up. 

It was the two of them from when they were a lot younger. He had his hands in his pockets while she was balancing a soccer ball on her head with a huge grin on her face as she tried to stop it from falling off. He noticed the look on his face, he was smiling too... a genuine smile, something he hadn't done in a long time.

He hated how he had pushed the girl away after his mother had died. She was practically the only person that he had growing up besides his mother and he knew he would never be able to forgive himself for pushing her away. He slammed her locker shut and then went to storm after her to class.