Falling to Pieces

Chapter Fifteen

I look down at the ground, trying to avoid all eye contact with him.

"I didn't know you came here to run," he says.

"Yeah." I say it with a bit of an attitude, but I don't care. I try to keep it short because I really really don't want to be talking to him.

"Ok..." he seems taken back.

"Mmm okk well I have to go. Bye." I say that somewhat rudely as well. Oh well.

Sophie is already in the car, waiting for me. I get in and neither of us says a word so she puts the radio on.

When we get home, Sophie offers to make me a protein shake but I turn it down... those things are loaded with calories!!

"Aren't you gonna eat something? You should after you--"

"I'm gonna go do some more exercises in my room. Okay?" Just running won't be enough. Plus I don't need extra calories.

"Okay." She continues making her shake and I run up the stairs and shut the door to my room and lock it.

I do push ups, crunches, and a list of other exercises that I looked up online about a week or two ago.

I shower when I'm done, then call Danny before I even get changed. Well, I meant to call Danny.

"Hey!" I say excitedly when he picks up.

But it's not him. The voice I hear makes my whole body shake.

"Oh, Nicolette. We were hoping you were going to call. Where's your sister? Well, you know, your sister... by law. Since you're not... biological sisters, you know? We had to adopt you, remember?"

"Why do you have his phone?!" My voice sounds irritated and demanding.

"Oh yes that's where we were getting... meet us at midnight at the park by the ice cream place. If you ever want to see him again."

"No!" Tears are running down my face, I'm breathing heavily, all of me shaking, going into panic. "Leave him alone! Why are you doing this?! I can't believe--"

"And bring no one but Sophie. If you call the police, you'll never see your friend again."

"Why?! What do you want, I'll give you anything, just leave Danny out of this, I swear if you do anything to him--"

"Midnight. Be there... or else." He hangs up.

Hearing my dad's voice was the last thing I wanted, I wanted to hear Danny's, no one but Danny's, especially not my parents, especially not what I just heard.

I run downstairs, just in a towel, crying and freaking out. "Sophie! Sophie!" I find her watching TV. She looks at me with the house phone in her hand. Her eyes are puffy, like mine. Tears are slowly streaming down her face.

"Danny's parents called. He's..." She sniffs. "He's gone."

"I know I know, we have to go to the park at midnight!" I don't even care how much of a mess I must look like right now, I don't even bother to wipe my tears. "Our parents have him and they're gonna hurt him if we don't meet them there."

She jolts up. "What-- how do you know--"

"I called him and dad answered and-- and-- and Sophie we have to go, and we can't call the police, and we have to do whatever it takes so they'll let Danny go, okay?"

She doesn't answer.

"Sophie! Promise me, you have to promise me that you'll do whatever they say!"

"But, Nicki, what if they say--"

"Anything, Sophie, we'll do anything, okay?"

She sighs. "Okay." She looks at the phone. "How did they get him? Why... should I tell his parents? I just--" Now Sophie starts freaking out.

"No! They'll call the police and they'll hate me even more." I sniff and wipe away tears. "Sophie..." I call Danny's number again.

"What the hell do you want?" I scream as soon as someone picks up.

"Midnight!" My mom screams. "Your dad already told you." She hangs up.

I start crying again, and Sophie puts her arm around me. "It's okay, Nicki, he'll be okay, we'll..." she stops.

"What?"

She lets go of me and runs to her laptop on the coffee table by the couch. "Give me your phone!" She says. I toss it to her and sit next to her. "What??"

"I might be able to track wherever they're calling from." She opens up some program and starts typing things, but then closes it and sighs. "No, no they turned the GPS off and everything and--" she sighs again. "We're gonna have to wait until midnight."

- Danny's POV -

I know speaking probably isn't the best idea, but I need to know the answer to a question that's been eating away at me.

"What do you want from Nicki?"

Her mom looks at me. "You'll find out at midnight. You better hope she doesn't bring the police into this. You know, for your sake."

"Why are you doing this to her? And Sophie?"

"Oh, Sophie's an angel. That's because she's our biological daughter, you know. We made a perfect child. She's so pretty and-- and Nicki just screws everything up. She's a waste. No wonder her parents threw her away," her mom begins. "When she was little, we saw potential in her and thought she'd be the perfect little sister Sophie wanted, but we couldn't give her one because I had problems getting pregnant and now I regret it because Nicki ruined our family and--"

"I can't believe you're talking about her like that!" I yell. "Nicki is so perfect, she tries so hard to be perfect for you guys, and you treat her like shit!"

Her dad gives me the death stare. "How the hell do you care more about her than we do?"

"Because you guys are trash," I say. "Everyone cares about her more than you do."

"Ohhh man, I can't wait to murder your sorry ass right in front of her," her dad mumbles.

"What's killing me going to do?"

"It'll kill her, mentally," her mom answers.

I'm so taken back by how they've spoken about her, I don't even know what to say.

"Why?" I ask, beginning to cry. "Why do you want to hurt her?"

"Because now, thanks to her, we didn't get to have our perfect family that we wanted. That's all I've ever wanted!" Her mom shouts.

"Nicki is so perfect, okay, she's beyond perfect, and obviously you guys are too blind to see it. She's so pretty, and she has the best laugh and smile and--"

"What is this? Are you trying to confess your love for our disgrace of a daughter?" Her dad asks.

"I guess so." I look down at my wrists, which are red and sore from the ropes that are tied so tightly around them.

Her mom laughs. "Pathetic. She doesn't deserve to be loved by anyone."

I sit in silence and try to mentally prepare myself for whatever's going to happen in a couple of hours. It could be my last hours of life. I just hope Nicki will be okay.