Hold My Hand (Sequel to Saved: Adopted by Brendon Urie)

Chapter 2

"She didn't take her pass," Brendon said. "Kala, she didn't take her pass. She didn't go into the venue. Did she?"

Kala shrugged. She didn't know. But she called Zack straight away.

"Zack, is Abby in the venue with you?" she asked. Brendon watched and worried. He texted Jake, whom Abby had been hanging out with sometimes. She was interested in photography, and Jake, being pretty young, liked having the 13-year-old follow him around.

"Just woke up, my dude. So no. I haven't seen Abby," Jake texted. "Why?"

Brendon didn't answer. He immediately texted everyone on the crew, the band, security, and the tour manager, who he implored to talk to venue security.

No one had seen Abby. And the guard at the stage door said he hadn't seen her, either.

Brendon approached the last person he wanted to talk to because he would likely confirm his worst fear.

Brendon approached the exit gate where the tour buses had driven in the night before. The security guard looked bored. For the most part, he had to make sure no one came in. Once the buses and trucks were in, his job was basically to stop anyone from coming in, especially on foot.

"Hey," Brendon said, pulling a picture of a grinning Abby up on his phone. "Have you seen this girl?  Did she leave through here?"

"Her? Yeah. But she didn't look happy. Just pushed through the gate and took off."

Brendon swore loudly and apologized to the guard. It wasn't the guard's fault Abby left; it was his.

Brendon called his manager and then Zack and explained that Abby had left the venue parking lot without her pass.

The manager immediately called the police, and Zack got all the security guards, venue, third party, and staff they kept with them. They discussed searching for Abby.

"Where would she have gone?" Zack asked.

"I don't know, Zack. I don't know Chicago that well."

"Okay, you relax. Keep trying her phone. I'll take a few guys and we'll go looking. She's a kid. How far can she have gotten in what? Five minutes?"

"Clearly you don't remember Abby. She'll hop a bus just to get away," Brendon said. "Shit! What if she hopped a bus?!"

"Brendon," Zack said, touching Brendon's shoulder. "We'll find her. I'll stay back to coordinate with the cops. We'll get a team to check the area around here and start searching further out. We'll find her, Brendon."

While Brendon was worried and Zack was coordinating and making search plans, Abby was storming down the street, not paying attention to where she was going. She didn't care. She wanted out. She wanted to find her way back to California. If she was going to be neglected again, she might as well be neglected where she knew places and people.

Abby felt her pocket vibrate and pulled out her phone. It was her dad. She hung up and turned off her location settings. Let him stew.

Abby walked a little further and came across a park. It looked big and busy—perfect. She went into the park and walked around. She looked like every other teenager, just staring at her phone and wandering around.

Abby knew the best way to remain inconspicuous was to hang out near a family. She saw one with a kid who had to be about ten and a toddler. The toddler was having a meltdown, and the older sibling looked bored. Perfect. They'd be distracted enough not to notice Abby being in their vicinity, and Abby could blend in.

Abby found a spot nearby that made it look like she was just a sullen teen annoyed at having to be at the park with her family.

When the family started packing up their belongings, Abby looked around. She saw two cops walking towards the play structures. Abby got up and walked close to the family—not too close that they'd notice, but close enough that the cops would think she was their kid.

When they reached the parking lot and headed towards a minivan, Abby turned and walked towards the road. She was still annoyed. And pissed off. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going until it was too late.

She heard a screech, a scream and a thud. And then she was lying on the ground, dazed.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Someone said, running up to Abby. "I've called an ambulance. Stay still. What's your name, sweetheart?"

Abby realized it was the mom from the family she'd been following. This van was near her, and the dad was talking to the driver of a four-door sedan.

"Abby," Abby whispered. Her chest, back, and head hurt, and her breathing was getting hard. She was tired, and she wanted to sleep.

"Okay, Abby, honey, where are your parents? Can we call them?"

"My... my ... dad... is..." Abby tried to say and hold out her phone, but she couldn't make her body work. She coughed, and something wet came out of her mouth.

"Oh shit, okay, Abby, just relax, okay? Just relax," the mom was saying.

"My ... dad..." she said as darkness pushed into the edges of her vision.

"It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay. We'll get your dad. Where is he?"

"My... dad... venue..." Abby sputtered out. She coughed again, and more liquid came out of her. She didn't know what it was. She couldn't move her arms to try and wipe it away.

"Venue? What do you mean?" The lady asked. But Abby wasn't conscious anymore.

The two officers who had been looking for the missing daughter of some singer over at the arena were about to give up on the park being where the kid might be, when they heard the commotion near the parking lot, they hightailed it there. They approached the woman holding the bloody hand of a child lying in the road.

"Please," the lady said, tears in her eyes. "Help her. I think she's dying."

The first cop bent down and felt for a pulse. It was weak and thready, but there was a pulse. He turned his ear to listen to the girl breathing. It was shallow and strained. She needed help now.

He reached for his radio just as an ambulance, lights and sirens screaming, turned the corner and pulled up. The paramedics hopped out of the ambulance and ran to Abby's side. The lady holding her hand told them as much as she could: that Abby had just walked out into the road and that the driver of the sedan hadn't seen her step off the curb as he was making his way along the road.

They assessed the girl and treated what they could as quickly as they could. They had to get this girl to the hospital.

"Wait!" The lady said, running up to the paramedics. "Her phone! Maybe you can find her dad that way?"

The paramedic took the phone and got into the back of the ambulance. They needed to figure out who this kid's dad was. Because they weren't sure she'd make it.