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Chapter Twenty Five

Maya walks in a moment later, her hand carrying what I imagine is every option from the vending machine. She looks between AJ and I. "Uhm... What the hell did I miss?" She says. "It took me a while to find the doctor, and to get all this from the vending machine." She says as she drops the snacks at the food of the bed "Well, and I stopped to talk to a cute guy I met in the hall. What happened in here?" AJ and I make eye contact. I can tell, like me, he is trying to figure out what to say. "Funny story My. You know AJ's friend Ryan? We were hiding out in his house? Well, I thought he was my kidnapper. Isn't that hilarious?" I tune back into the real world, and AJ is looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "So??" Maya says, waiting for an answer. "So, I thought Ryan, AJ's friend, was my kidnapper. But he's not. There is no way he could be, he was with AJ." I say with a shrug. "Jesus Carter. You're a mess" she chuckles. I look towards her and but she's looking at the flowers in the window sill. "Pretty flowers, who brought those?" AJ responds before I can, "Ryan did."

Maya looks back to me, "Jeez. Accusing a man who brought you flowers. Nice Car." She says with a little laugh. "Yeah.. I know I know. I need to study more." I say with my own little laugh. "But I thought he came to try to get information. To see if I had any idea it was him." I say with a shrug. Maya rolls her eyes, "So, Ryan. Did he just go to the bathroom or? I'd love to meet the guy who helped find my bestie." She looks to AJ as he speaks. "Nah, he had to get back to his mom. He left a few minutes ago. Maya starts blushing, but quickly turns away and clears her throat. I make mental note to ask her about that later.

"Soo..." Maya says, "What do we do now?" She asks, more to AJ than me. "Well" he says while standing. He begins to pace "An officer should be in any minute to ask Carter questions." He stops pacing and turns to me, "We already checked out the address in the text, and just found the burned barn. It was a dead end. Is there ANYTHING else you can think of to help catch this guy Carter?" I sit and think for a moment. His voice, his smell, he was tall... How could I ever think it was Ryan? Sure, he can change his voice, and even smell, but he is not as tall as my kidnapper was. And he's thinner. "Uhm.." I say hesitantly, "He was tall, and had a deep voice..." I close my eyes and think harder, "H- He was bigger. Not fat but like, built." I open my eyes to see AJ and Maya staring at me intently. "I don't know. I can't really remember anything else. He wore a mask or I was blindfolded. I didn't get a good look at him." I don't even realize I'm crying until Maya comes over and I feel her wiping my tears and hugging me.

Sobs rip through my body. My whole body shakes causing Maya to hug me tighter. AJ sits down and begins rubbing small circles on my back. I hear the jingle of Blue's dog tags and, seconds later, I feel the weight of him on me. Having the three I love most with me right now calms me down. THREE that I love? I love Blue, and obviously Maya... Do I love Atlas? My eyes pop open. Another thought quickly pops in my mind, chasing away the one I don't want to think about. The Mustang. "Have you found Ryan's Mustang yet?" I blurt out, and turn to AJ. "What?" He says, shock evident in his face. "Ryan's Mustang?... The one he had parked in the garage at his house?" I say. "Carter... Ryan doesn't have a Mustang." He states.

A knock on the door interrupts our conversation. "Come in." AJ says, giving me a look that says We'll finish this later. I see a uniformed officer enter, and he looks vaguely familiar, but he also kind one of those generic faces. He stands with his back against the wall, note pad in hand. Maya lets go of me and stands from the bed. She looks at the officer and goes ghost white. "I gotta pee." She says flatly, and leaves the room. What the hell was that about? "Hello Ms. Mayfield. I'm Officer Bennington, but you can call me Blake." Blake. Blake? Is this... no way. Banjo Kazooie? That would explain Maya's reaction. I let out a small laugh and Officer Kazooie and AJ look at me confused. Blake clears his throat and continues, "Mind if I ask you a few questions?" I nod my head yes.

He asks me pretty much the same questions that the doctor did a little bit ago. We go over the texts, the car, the barn, the house, the meals. We talk about how he puppy napped Blue, everything. Blake stays leaning against the wall across the room, writing in his note pad. I debate on bringing up the license, but I don't want to risk Ryan getting in trouble. I trust AJ and there's no way it was him. AJ answers some questions about what he remembers too. We both decide to leave out the part about the license. Ryan has enough on his plate.

Blake asks a few more questions before he finally says, "Ok. Thank you for all this, I'll bring it back to the station and we will get to work." He crosses the room to AJ. AJ shakes his hand and thanks him. Blake heads towards the door. He opens the door and goes to head out before turning to me, "Ms. Mayfield, I hope the next time I see you, it's just for a speeding again." He walks out, closing the door behind him. I inhale deeply and catch a familiar scent in the air.