Wicked

Chapter 1

It was a busy morning. I had been on my shift in the emergency division for about six hours. I had finally taken a coffee break. It was six in the evening and I was looking forward to the end of my eight hour shift. I had been a registered nurse for two and a half years. I am twenty five now. I took out my phone from my pocket. I saw a text at the lock screen. It read 'It's Ken. Russel's not home. Is he with you?' and unlocked my phone. I am at the hospital. I'll call up Jenna. I called his elder sister immediately. "Hey Brie. I'm kinda busy." She said. "Is Russ with you ?" I asked. "No. He didn't even text me today." She replied. I started to get worried. Russel would not do something like this. Especially on a date night. He had been my boyfriend long enough for me to know something was wrong. I couldn't get off my shift though. I decided to get to work after concluding that he was probably doing something for a date. 

I went to the teenager who came in with a broken leg and a lot of bruises. She had been assaulted by some people on the street. The head of a group of bikers and a woman were besides her. They had got her to the nearest hospital. We had plastered her leg, but she was scared. Not from the bikers, but the people who did this to her. Her single mother was in New York for a work trip and had just gotten on a flight back. I had grabbed a tin of cookies for her. I handed her the cookies. Her name was Molly. "Thanks Brie." She said. She pointed at my ID when she saw the confused look on my face. She chuckled a bit along with the bikers. I decided to joke with them to lighten the situation and not make the girl overthink. "So Molly, I hear you love to hear music." I say. "Yep." She replies. I reached into my back pocket and gave her my I pod. It was from my teenage years, when my dad took me out to a concert. "How about Addison Miller ?" I asked. "She's one of my favorites." Molly replied. I handed her the I pod. She pressed play. The first song to play was 'Looped' which was the song that made me fall in love with Addison Miller's music. I tended to the laceration on her hand and the bruises on her face. My friend Missy had joined in to help me administer first aid. 

That's when a boy who looked to be no older than his late teens ran inside. He ran towards Molly. "I'm here sis. Who was the fucker who did this to you ?" He asked with rage in his eyes. "Nate, I want you to relax right now." She said. I signaled her brother to sit on the doctor's seat. He now had a sympathetic look in his green eyes. He held Molly's hand in a spot which wasn't bruised. He then looked at me. "Wanna hear a joke ?" He asked. It was an attempt to lighten his sister's mood. Even though he was younger. "Sure. " I said. "Knock knock ?" "Who's there ?" I replied. "Figs." He said. "Figs who? " Molly and Missy said together. "Figs the doorbell cause it ain't working." He said. Russel joked exactly like him. I was hoping that he was just giving me a surprise and didn't tell anybody where he was going.

** Two years ago **

I was sitting in a bar with a cocktail in my hand. I was hoping to have a fun night. That's when a guy approached me with a coin. "Let's flip a coin. Heads means I'm yours and tails means you're mine." He said. I chuckled but went ahead with it. The result was tails "Well, since you're mine now, you should know my name." He said. "Brie." I said. "Russel. But my friends call me Russ." He said. I grabbed his phone and added my number. I knew him cause he was already my boyfiend, but liked to pull stuff like this

** Present day **

I was snapped back to the present by Missy tapping on my shoulder. "You all right ?" She asked. "Yep." I said. I returned my attention to Molly. After we were done, Molly gave me my I pod. "You have good taste." She said. I smiled. "Thanks Molly." I said. Her brother Nathan followed me. Once we were outside the room, something inside him broke. He hugged me. He was just a kid. "Take care of your sister. She's lucky to have a brother like you." I said. He thanked me and went in after making sure that even a single tear wasn't visible. I was still in scrubs when I grabbed my stuff and ran towards my car. I got in and quickly took the car out of the parking.

* * *

I finally reached home and ran inside to check on Russel. I had called him at least twenty times. I saw Jenna crying on the couch. I went over to her to ask about the situation. "Where is he?" I asked. "I don't know." She said. I could feel my heartbeat rise a lot. I sat besides Jenna. She was broken. "Where is Ken ?" I asked. "He's trying to look for him at all possible places." I got up and went to our bedroom to see if Russel's diary was still in there. I opened all the drawers and storage in the room. It had disappeared. "Change out of your scrubs." Jenna called out. I had absolutely forgotten about being in my scrubs. I took my scrubs off and changed to a pair of jeans and a t shirt. 

I walked to the neighbor's house. Our neighbor, Lily was in university trying to pursue her degree in business. "You're alive ?" She said when the door opened with a bit of shock in her expression. "Yeah. What happened today Lily ?" I asked as I wanted to cut to the chase. She invited me inside. Jenna was running towards the house. She made us sit in the hall and served us whiskey. She knew I could never have whiskey without vomiting. She was testing us. I declined the whiskey like I always did. She sat on the couch after bringing wine for the three of us. "Some dudes were taking Warren out of the house. Warren was covered in blood. The guys were wearing police vests." Jenna instantly turned suspicious. "Did the vests have 'LAPD' written on them ?" She asked. "No just 'POLICE' in bold letters." "Those weren't real cops." Jenna said. My hope of him doing something dumb and being safe had been shattered like a nuke went off inside it. I didn't know much. But I knew that we would need to find Russel as quickly as we could. I called up my supervisor to tell her that I would take a few days off. 

I went to Ken's house along with Jenna. Ken opened the door with tears in his eyes. He hugged Jenna. He had been best friends with Russel since high school. "We all had just gotten a major person snatched from our lives." I just wanted to go back in time to when me and Russel went dancing under the stars. I just couldn't bear the thought of losing him. They sat on the couch. I went to the patio looking at the stars, hoping Russel was close by. I started to cry silently. Russel was the only one till date to see me cry. He was the only person I had let into my life completely. In my mind, in my heart, and inside my soul. He was the person I could kill and die for. He was a part of me. 

I tried to hold my wails, but I couldn't. I ended up screaming angrily in a fit of rage. Whoever had done this was going to suffer. Jenna and Ken came out to see what had happened, but didn't reach until I had broke a vase. Ken and Jenna began to console me. I was at a point where I had broke down to a train wreck. We finally decided to go to the police to find Russel. It would be weird, but the cops would believe us.