The Life of a YouTuber

Kidnapped (Part 2)

Matt Sturniolo POV

I scrolled through my phone while waiting in the car for the food to be done. I feel like the one time I decide to go get food by myself, they have to take forever making it. They better get it right, then. A light tapping sounded on the window, startling me. I looked up from my phone to see a scruffy-looking man wearing the McDonald's uniform. He pointed at the bag and drinks in his hands, and I immediately understood. I rolled down the window.

"Is this all?" the man questioned.

"Yes, sir," I nodded. "Thank you."

As he reached forward to hand me the food, his hand slipped and the drinks fell.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry," he quickly apologized.

"It's fine," I assured him.

The man bent down on wobbly knees to grab the drinks.

"Here, let me help," I offered, getting out of the car.

Once I had the empty cups in my hand, I noticed that the employee is no longer beside me. With a frown, I stood up again and turned around to see if he returned to the fast food restaurant. But almost as soon as I turned around, I was hit in the head with a force that sent me to the ground. Let's just say it felt like a really bad headache that keeps on pounding at your temples. Before I could get back up, something was shoved into my mouth, almost choking me, and I was dragged away. I tried to kick my way out of the man's grasp, but he's far too strong. His steel-like grip is hurt my wrists as I was taken to a large van. With one final blow to the face, everything slowly faded to darkness. The last thing I saw was the man's smug face.

I trembled violently, my hands spasming and my head twitching ever so slightly. Blood is nearly covering my legs where the skin is burned. As if that form of torture wasn't enough. That man with the surgeon mask had just used this electrocution device on me. It felt like my insides were frying while the rest of me was beginning to feel numb with pain. I don't think I can take much more of this. I've given up completely on begging him to stop, because I know he won't. The man still hasn't said anything to me since he got here about an hour ago. Now, he has this large knife in his gloved hand. The tip of it is a orange-white color after it was dipped in the hot coals of the fire he has burning in front of us. I can only imagine what's going to happen next. My mind wasn't quick enough to process when the man slid the knife deep into the skin of my bare chest. This kind of pain is almost unexplainable. It feels like you just cut your hand pretty deeply and then stuck it on a burning stove. But it's way worse. Way, way worse. I screamed in agony, praying that it would soon be over. But the pain kept going and going and going until... I slowly lost consciousness.

Nick Sturniolo POV

I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My eyes are all red and puffy, and my cheeks are wet. I look terrible. We just got news from the police department that there is no sign of Matt anywhere. He just... disappeared. But no one can really disappear. For now, they're closing the investigation which I think is absolutely stupid. Anyway, I can't come out and have Chris see me like this. He's already on the verge of breaking and seeing me like this will only cause him to breakdown right then and there. I splashed a little cold water in my face before hickory wiping it down and exiting the bathroom. I can hear mom and dad arguing in their bedroom, about this whole situation no doubt. I found Chris in his room, huddled into a ball on the floor against his bed. He's pretty close to tears, so I plopped down beside him and wrapped in arm around his shoulder comfortingly.

"What if they never find him?" he asked.

I can feel my heart clenching at how broken he sounds.

"I'm sure he'll turn up," I told him softly. "Eventually."

"But what if he doesn't," Chris whispered.

I hugged him closer to me.

"Chris, listen to me," I said firmly. "We're gonna find Matt. And until that happens, we're just gonna have to stay strong. Would Matt want you locking yourself in your room?"

"No," he mumbled.

"Exactly. So, we're just gonna have to go about the day as normally as possible. For Matt," I stated.

"Yeah," Chris finally nodded. "Okay."

"Good," I sighed.

"All I know is that the police aren't doing very good at their job," he said bitterly.

"Yeah, I wish we could just take the matter into our own hands. Maybe then we'd make some actual progress."

"Then why don't we?"

"Why don't we what?"

"Look for him ourselves!"

"I don't know, Chris..."

"Hear me out, we know every possible place Matt could be. And we know his thought process."

"That is a valid point."

"C'mon, Nick. If we can't find anything, then we can just give up."

"...Fine, but we're not telling mom and dad. They'll think we're in denial and try and talk us out of it."

"Got it."

Chris nodded in agreement.

"Let's get our brother back," he stated firmly, and I wholeheartedly agreed.