Hope

Chapter Three: Kiddnaping

Hope:

By the time I got home it was a little after three in the morning. I walk through my house not caring if my foster parents woke up. I walked up the stairs and into my room. I turn on my light to find Seth was asleep on my bed.

"What are you doing here?" I said very loud.

He jerked awake.

"I've been texting you all night long. I got worried," He said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

I could not say anything. I could not even look at him. I had slept with his best friend. How was I going to tell him that?

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I can't do this," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"You and me, I just can't."

"What happened? What did Nick do?"

I could not look at him. I could not tell him. I was trying so hard to find the right words. I just could not bring myself to tell him.

"I can't tell you."

"Why? What happened?"

He got up and walked over to me. He went to grab my hand. But I jumped when hr came near me.

"Did Nick hurt you?"

"No, not really," I said bowing my head.

"What he do?"

I could not keep it in any longer, so I blurted it out.

"I slept with Nick!" After I said it, I fell to the ground and started crying.

He did not say anything for a long time. I thought he had left, but when I looked up to see him he was still there, but he is sitting now.

"Seth, say something."

He did not say anything. He would not even look at me. I wrapped my arms around him and started to cry again.

I sat there with my face in his shoulder and cried quietly. I did not want to bug him I just hugged him. Even if he did not want the hug, I needed it the most.

I laid down on my bed, after a few minutes of sitting there crying. I had my back to Seth. The next thing I knew he was laying down beside me, wrapping his arm around me.

I roll over and put my head on his chest. He pulled me closer to him.

"Hope," is all he said.

I wait a few seconds to answer, just to see if he has anything else to say. When he did not I said, "Yes?"

"Would you rather be with him, or me?"

Shocked by his question, I look at him and say, "You have been nice to me since we were kids. I had always thought that we could be much more. When we went to junior high, you stopped talking to me. I figured I would keep my feelings to myself. Then yesterday, the first day of high school, you asked me out. The feelings I had for you came back quick. When I went to Nick's it was not me. I would rather it been you, not him."

He did not say anything, he just kissed my forehead and laid his head down on my pillow and closed his eyes.

I got up and turned off then light. I crawled back into bed.

***

When I woke up, there was a knock at my door. I looked around my room, but I did not see Seth. I then heard my shower running.

I call to the person knocking at my door. "Yes?"

"Hurry up or you're going to be late!" said my foster mother.

"Okay," I called back

I walk over to my bathroom and open the door. Seth was taking a shower, in my bathroom. It looked as if he just jumped in, so I decide to join him. I knock lightly on the glass door, and he is happy to see me, undressing.

"May I join you?" I whispered.

He gives a nod, and I open the door and step inside. When I shut the door, he grabbed me and kissed me, long and hard. When we let go of each other I move under the water and get my hair wet. After I get my hair wet, he started to wash, my body. When I am with him, nothing else matters. I am myself, and I am happy.

When he was done with his shower, he got out and got dressed. When I got out of the shower, he was looking at old pictures of me. "I was five, and I was still living with my father. My mother had taken the picture of him and me before she got sick and died," I said to him as I walk up to him and wrap my arms around him.

"Do you miss her?" he asked

"I do,"

"What about him?"

This time I think about that for a minute. Do I miss him? Do I miss not feeling safe? Just then, I thought of the good times I had with him. He was not all bad. On the good days, he would take me to the park, sometimes we would go out for ice cream, and he would tell me how much I look like my mom and how much he misses her.

"I miss the good days."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"There were good days. On the good days he would take me to the park, he would push me on the swings, caught me when I went down the slide, play tag with me on the play set, and after words, we would lay down in the grass eating ice cream. We would look up in the sky and see what shapes we could fine in the clouds, and the one with the most would win... Sometimes he would tell me how much he misses my mother and how I look just like her. Then he would say sorry for hurting me, he would also tell me he wasn't well either, and that he needs help, but can't seem to find the courage to find help."

Seth does not say anything he just turns around me and hugs me. That is what I love about him, he is there for me when I feel like no else is there.

As I get ready for school, Seth sneaks out my window and heads around the corner. I garb my coat and head down stairs.

"Hope, come home after school!" called my foster mom.

"I can't have to work on an assignment with classmates after school!" I say back to her before walking out the door, not giving her a chance to say anything else.

I walk to meet up with Seth, but when I got around the corner, he was gone.

"Seth?" I call out. There was not a sound.

I walk around the area for a few minutes seeing if I can find anything that leads me to where he would be. To no avail, I could not find anything. I walk down the street scanning the area, looking across the street I notice a blue coat on the road.

Running across the street, a dark colored van sped by me nearly hitting me. I yelled at him to watch where he is going. When I reached it the jacket, I notice there was blood on it. I quickly scan the area again. Someone hit me in the back of the head from behind. When I hit the ground, I saw a black figure move over me and covered my mouth. Within a few minutes, I was out.

When I wake up, I notice I am in a dark cell. I try to remember what had happen, but I cannot recall anything but seeing Seth's coat on the side of the street.

"Seth? Hello? Is anyone there?" I called out.

No one answered.

Then I passed back out. Not from any chemicals or gas, but because my body is drained of energy, and at this point I am in a vulnerable point.