"Jimmy, have you seen Hailey?" I ask breathless from the other side of the diner. "No," he replied, his brows pulled in confusion, "she hasn't come to work today or yesterday. Charlie is really thinking about firing her."
"She hasn't been home in two days," I explain desperately as nausea flowing through me, "what if something happened to her? Even her parents haven't heard from her." Jimmy frowned at my hands. I couldn't pry them apart for the life of me as I nervously wrung them together.
"Have you called the police?" he inquired.
I nodded, they were useless. "They told me they'll look into it but most likely she ran away." Jimmy shook his head in disappoint but offered no ideas of her location.
"We'll find her," he reassured me, taking me into a hug, "we will." The tears soaked his shirt as thoughts of Hailey dead in a ditch circulated my mind or worse. She could have been sold into sex slavery. Or...
I immediately stiffen in Jimmy's arms. "What is it?" he asked curiously, backing up to look down at me.
"Oh...my...god." I whisper, trying to piece together the horrid possibility.
"What?" He asks again, "you're being weird. Quit doing that weird eye thing."
I grab him by the arms. "Jimmy, you need to think. Do you remember an older man with greying black hair coming into this diner a few weeks ago?"
"That sounds like all of my customers." His expression told me I was insane but still my gut told me I was right. God, why didn't she listen to me! I reached for my phone in my pocket, pulling up Facebook. I tapped my foot nervously, the speed of my 4G far too slow in this particular moment.
"I'll show you what he looks like."
Searching through Hailey's friends, I begin to feel the nausea return as I quickly realise he is no longer amongst her friends list. I type his name in the search bar, hanging on a tiny tendril of hope that Hailey had deleted him after all.
Nothing.
"He deleted his profile," I manage to say despite the paralyzing shock running up my spine. "Who?" Jimmy asked, trying to peek a look at my phone.
"The guy who's been stalking her."
YOU ARE READING
Forever Mine
General FictionChristopher finds Hailey online and instantly the two form a connection. Despite her best friend's warnings, Hailey agrees on meeting her mysterious friend only to discover the harrowing truth hidden behind the screen.
