Kidnapped By Johnnie and Jake

Unravel

Tara's POV:

I stopped walking in my tracks and stared at where I'd just seen the girl. But she was gone, lost in the crowd.

"Girl, are you okay?" asked Tana with a laugh as she shook my arm.

In a daze, I looked back at the group. Tana and Hellie waited for me to respond, watching me expectantly, but Bella was the only one staring off into the crowd, in the same direction I'd seen the girl...and I knew she'd seen her too.

"Bella, you saw that, right?" I asked.

"Saw what?!" Tana demanded.

Bella hesitated, but then shook her head. "She didn't really look exactly like her...just a bit."

"Like who?!" yelled Tana.

"...Brooke," I said.

I guess Tana knew the subject of Brooke was a sore one for me, so her expression turned from excitement to uncomfortable. "Oh."

The image of that girl rang in my head. I wouldn't be able to forget it unless I had a look again. Unless I saw that girl's face again, until I saw close-up the differences between her and Brooke, until I knew for sure that it wasn't her.

"We have to go find her," I said, and I took a step in the direction I'd seen her, but a hand stopped me.

The hand was Bella's. "No. It's not her. Yes, they looked similar, but let's not let delusion get the better of us. It's wishful thinking, Tara. She's not alive, she's dead."

Tears welled up in my eyes as I shook my head at her. "You didn't need to put it that way."

Bella stared at me for a moment before saying, "Truth hurts."

A tear fell down my cheek then, and I could feel random people around me tuning into our conversation, probably wondering why this girl was crying, and who was dead.

Hellie put her arm around me, gently pulled me over to a bench in the middle of the mall, and sat me down. Tana and Bella went into a shop as Hellie comforted me.

"That was wrong of her," said Hellie.

"I know...but the fact that she's right is the worst part," I sobbed, but I laughed at the same time with the irony of it.

Hellie knew then that it was safe to laugh too.

We sat there for a while with our shopping bags, waiting for Tana and Bella to return so we could go home.

As we waited, I analysed every passer-by's face, hoping that one of them would be Brooke's.

*

That evening, when we were back at home, after Jake had had his fun with Kaycee, taking his day's anger out on her, I decided to go into her little room and pay her a visit.

She looked rough...really rough. It's safe to say I had nothing to worry about in terms of Jake being attracted to her.

Her face was pretty messed up. Swollen and bruised. Not pretty. And her body was the same, covered in bruises and gashes from whips.

She glared up at me through her swollen brows as I approached slowly to sit on the edge of the bloody mattress.

Her presence felt like an entirely different person than the one I'd known. She seemed like a wild animal tied up on a leash for safety. Like a bear in shackles.

"Kaycee..." I was about to ask her about what I really wanted to know, but then I realised it would be way too disrespectful not to address her situation first. "Are you okay?"

"What does it fucking look like?" she snapped.

"I know, I'm sorry...I wish I could help."

Kaycee snickered. "Why? Why would you wanna help me?"

"Because...no one deserves this. Yeah, you took Jake from me, but I don't blame you. He's hot. And you were kidnapped, just like me. How could I be mad at you for trying please your own kidnapper?" I reasoned.

"Is that so? Then why didn't you help me? When I climbed out the window of that asylum?"

"What?! Kaycee, I didn't know what to do!"

"Uhh, how about anything other than calling my kidnapper over who wanted revenge on me?"

"You climbed out of the window towards me! I didn't know what you might do. You might've hurt me yourself, to stop me from calling Jake, or something! I had to, for my own safety!" I argued.

"I was climbing out of the window because I'd seen Jake breaking in round the other side of the building. I was trying to escape out of the back. I didn't expect you to be there."

"Well, sorry I'm not a mind reader! And, anyway, why did you throw yourself into his arms, then, when he came round to us?"

"What was I supposed to do? Try to fight against him? Begging for his forgiveness, pleading for my life at any cost, was my best option."

I thought this over for a moment. I kinda felt for Kaycee. She was in a really shitty situation...but, then again, she'd put herself there! I don't know what she was thinking when she decided to cheat on a gang leader.

"I understand that," I said quietly. "But, Kaycee...what do you know about what happened to Brooke? Is Brooke alive?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

I looked down at my hands. "Me neither." I sighed. "Kaycee, I think she's alive."

Kaycee's expression turned from anger to intrigue now. "Why?"

"I saw someone at the mall who looked just like her. I know it could've been anyone, but they were so alike. And, it's not just that. It all feels so hush-hush...there's been hardly anything on the news about her, like they don't even want the public to keep her memory alive, to remember her face...but, then again, it's an ongoing case, right? And...it's kinda private. Maybe they just feel like it's disrespectful to narrow her existence down to a news title...the now-dead girl kidnapped by Johnnie Guilbert's gang."

Kaycee was silent, considering this for a moment.

"I know you probably don't care, but...I was just hoping you might know something," I added.

"I do care," said Kaycee. "She was my friend...for so many years. She was always there for me. I have to admit, I didn't think I'd care this much, but...I feel empty without her. Lonely. Like there's no one in the world left to look out for me," Kaycee mumbled.

I looked at her with empathy. I might've lost Brooke, my new bestie, but Kaycee had lost her lifetime bestie. Her two lifetime besties, including Peppa. Maybe the grief was catching up to her. I placed my hand on her bruised arm, and she winced, and pulled it away.

"Do you think there's a chance she's alive?" I asked.

"Again, I don't know, but..."

"What?" I urged, leaning forward.

"When I was at the facility...I'd sometimes overhear the social workers talking about her in the staff room...and they'd talk about her in the present tense, not the past tense."

"What?!" I exclaimed

"I know, I know, but...I might've misheard. They'd had me on a lot of meds there, and I wasn't allowed in the staff room myself, so I'd only heard this from outside the door. And, surely if she was alive, they'd have told me. I mean, I was literally in a facility for trauma survivors. If what we're talking about is true, then they could've taken a lot of trauma off my shoulders, and made their own job a whole lot easier. We'd have these therapy session thingys once a day, and I'd tell them about how I felt like I'd caused Brooke's death. Like I'd killed her. Like...I just don't believe they could look me in the eye and counsel me about it, comfort me...while knowing she's alive. I just don't believe it."