Finding Jordyn

Chapter Two: The Foam Finger Thing

Carter's pov.

The next day was hellish as Elizabeth freaked out about me missing family therapy, bringing home an 'obscene' foam finger, and ditching her car at Bird's. Mildly understandable but still annoying. That night I was talking in the kitchen with Taylor when Elizabeth came home, "I brought home a guest." I looked over and saw Max walk through the door and launched myself on him, "Maximilian!" "Uh this is the rest of the family, that's Taylor, Grant, and David." Elizabeth introduced. "Hi, nice to meet y'all." Max said nicely.

"Max is gonna stay for a few days," Elizabeth said. "So this morning you were mad at me and now you reward me with letting my friend stay over?" I asked immediately suspicious of this good-will-Elizabeth. "I wasn't mad." She defended. "She just asked you to come?" I asked Max and he shrugged uncomfortably, "asked.. Subpoenaed. Same thing." "Oh my god you totally are planting my friends to spy on me. Come on Max, we're leaving." I dragged him out of the house and to Bird's.

We were sitting around the couches at Bird's, my legs over Max's body. "So how long are you staying?" Gabe asked and Max shrugged, "no idea." "So does he know about our little operation?" Gabe asked and Max looked over at me. "We're sending burner texts to Carter's phone pretending to be her mom and Jordyn to fake out the FBI." Ofe jumped in and explained. "Tomorrow we have something special planned for her," I said ominously and Max gulped. "And Saturday?" Max asked and I narrowed my eyes at his revelation. "What's saturday?" Ofe asked. "I'm supposed to meet Jordyn." I said and Gabe looked nervous, "are you sure that's a good idea?" "I'm not sure of anything anymore." I said honestly.

The next day we 'went' to school but I left quickly after and came back home. Just on time, Elizabeth came racing in and then left in a hurry. I came out after she left and looked at David, "what's her deal?" "No idea, I didn't know we had apples." "yeah but no peanut butter," I said and he sighed, "she keeps it in the fridge." "weird." I commented and we walked away.

Ofe, Bird, and Gabe went to the food court at the mall to prepare the 'surprise' for Elizabeth and her stupid FBI people. I watched the video a dozen times.. 3.. 2..1 BAM! Middle fingers all around and one very upset Detective Elizabeth cold-hearted-snake Wilson standing in the middle of it all. Serves her right. Max stared at me, "I don't think it's funny. I think it's sad." "What's sad is you taking her side." I argued. "That cop standing there with her gun would kill my mother, the only person in the world who matters to me besides Jordyn. She would hurt her knowing how much it would hurt me. But she doesn't care because she's cold-hearted and broken and she's not my mother. She will never be my mother because she can't see past her own pain and anger to just see me standing here all alone in this sea of stupid reality where I don't have the people I love and who love me. Do you know that this is the longest time I've ever gone without seeing my mom or Jordyn? I can't even talk to them. Being without them physically hurts and they just don't care." I broke down a bit and Max held my hand, "I'm sorry. I didn't think to see it like that but I see it now...Now you need to make them see it too." Max said and I stared at him. "You're not seriously suggesting family therapy?" I asked and he gave me a look, "if not for them, then for you."

"Family Therapy"

"Would you like to go first?" The therapist asked me. "Shocker," Taylor murmured. "No, you can go first Tay." I suggested but Taylor shook her head, "clearly the therapist finds you much more interesting." "The only interesting thing about me is that I was abducted." I argued. "Well at least we agree on something." Taylor snarked. "Girls, this is about finding common ground, not starting a forest fire." the therapist scolded and we stopped bickering for a second. "What do you want us to know?" David asked. "I don't know but you should know something about me other than my kidnapping stats." I said disappointed. "You're obsessed with gummy bears," Taylor said. "And dessert," Grant added. "Your favorite color is purple," David said softly. They all looked at Elizabeth but she was lost for words. "My point exactly," I said annoyed. "Explain what you mean by that Carter," the therapist prodded. "I feel like I'm an elephant who accidentally got assigned to the penguin house.. It's so obvious that I'm an elephant but some lady comes up to me and says 'no according to this clipboard you're actually a penguin' and I just don't belong there and no one sees it." I explained (badly). Grant nodded, "I also feel this except in my analogy, I'm an armadillo and they're all giraffes. At least the penguins can see the elephant. They don't even know that I'm down there." "I know you're down there," Taylor added and Grant smiled.

After family therapy we went back to the house and Grant came into my room to talk to me. "Hey elephant," he greeted. "Hey armadillo." I said back. "That'll teach you to invite me to family therapy," I joked and he smiled, "I think it will help." "really? That shit would be so much more fun high... Taylor's right- don't use me as your role model." I said after realizing he was 12. "Listen.. Last family therapy.. Elizabeth described the feeling she had when you and Mack went missing and it sounded horrible.. I just wanted to ask if I will ever have to go through it. Losing you I mean." Grant asked and I frowned, "I can't answer that." "She found your escape backpack." Grant blurted out and I raced to the closet where it was indeed gone. That bitch. "She got what she wanted, now I'm mad. And she is not going to like me when I'm mad." I said angrily before storming out to Bird's.

Long story short: I took some very bad molly and had a seizure. I woke up in the hospital and remembered 2 things: I kissed Gabe and I missed my meeting with Jordyn. And both of those things were entirely my fault.

Jordyn's pov.

When mom came back to the motel room it had been a couple hours, but I knew it was her by the way she rushed over and apologized profusely about being stressed and 'not herself'. It was weird but it reminded me of all the times she had acted strangely. The protective nature, the fear of losing us. It kinda made sense now. "Oh baby girl, I'm so sorry I just got so scared." Mom said, trying to make up for her momentary lapse of sanity. But I forgave her because..It was mom. "It's okay mom, no harm done." I said with a smile even though I could feel the bruise on the back of my head and the tape marks on my ankles, wrists, and cheeks. She had lost it for a minute there. But she was still my mother.

"What are we doing now?" I asked and she smiled, "now we make a plan to get your sister." "How?" I asked and she smiled again, "it's already in the works sweetheart. I slipped her a note yesterday." "You saw her? How was she?" I asked and she lit up, "She's Carter." My heart sank at the realization.. She slipped her a note.. Like I had done. Carter thought she was meeting up with me. "We have to go," mom said, grabbing her stuff and heading for the door. My head pounded a bit still and I faintly wondered if I had a concussion or some brain trauma from mom's little 'carrie-moment'. "Where are we going?" I asked and she smiled, "241 D Street. We're bringing this family back together." I watched as mom put the gun in her hoodie pocket again casually, like she was so comfortable with the idea of violence all of a sudden. I was worried for Carter.. When in reality I should have been worried for me.

"It's been 3 hours mom.. I don't think she's coming," I said, shifting uncomfortably in the car. "She has to. She thinks she's meeting you. You think she would ditch that?" Mom asked and I grimaced, so she had used my note system to lure her here. "What if she couldn't get out? Or find a ride?" I asked and mom waved me off. Like they weren't valid ideas. "No. Something's wrong." Mom said and I sighed, "well can we at least eat something? I'm starving." Mom turned over the engine after a minute, "Fine," and with that we drove away.