Boy in Pink

Chapter 45

We didn't manage to find her at the shack, nor anywhere else. I felt like breaking down. "Where could she be!?" I yelled, away from the officers as they talked.

I looked down at my phone, and typed in the only other person I know who knows Lorelei almost as well as I do - Aria.

"Pick up, pick up..."

"Rory?"

"Aria! Ari, I really need your help right now..." I begged, and she gasped.

"Rory! You're alive!" She exclaimed, and I hated to break her heart, but...

"Ari, Lori is missing. I need your help. Do you know where she could be?" She went silent for a moment, before I heard the pain in her voice.

"There's only one place where she could possibly be... I could be wrong though... Brae told me you both were kidnapped by a man?" She asked, and I gritted my teeth.

"Ari, I really can't-"

"I promise, it'll help." I sighed softly.

"Yes, we were taken by a man." By now, the officers were looking my way, but I didn't pay them any mind.

"What did he look like?"

"Uh... you sure it matters?"

"Rory, just tell me what the man looked like." I could tell she was about to snap, so I complied.

"Uh, long brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin... suit with a red tie, does any of that help?"

She went silent. Then I heard her open up her school Chromebook and type something into it.

"Yep, that's him... ____ Asher. Lorelei's father. So, that means she's in the lab."

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After Aria told us Lorelei was apparently in a 'lab' (still don't know how she knew), the officers and I drove to the nearest lab - Sunshine Labs Co. Interesting name.

First thing that was suspicious was that there were guards around the entire lab. I mean all around. And they wouldn't let us in without seeing the officer's badges, and they had to tell the guards I was with them so I could be let in.

When we walked in, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It was decently hard to breathe, and it reminded me of the mental hospital...

I must've swayed, because one of the officers grabbed me and held me up.

"You okay, kiddo? You don't look good."

"I'm... fine... I need to rescue my... sister..." It was increasingly hard to breathe. I clawed at my chest desperately, and the officer noticed, taking an oxygen mask off his belt and placing it over my face.

"Breath in and out, in and out..." I followed his instructions, and he stayed with me as the other officers looked around, mapping out the place. I looked around - though my eyesight was a little blurry and limited, I still saw... silhouettes. Of people. Or perhaps.. Creatures. Some had tails, or fur, or horns. Hybrids?

"Aren't.... Human..." I muttered, still a little out of it.

"Kiddo, you're not thinking straight," the officer told me, sitting me up, keeping the mask over my face.

"No, they're... not human... the people here..." The officer looked around, noticing all the little creature-like humans in cages.

"You're right, kiddo... they're not human... Do you know what they are?" I shook my head but grabbed my phone. If Ari knew anything about this place, she'd know what these are.

"Call the contact... Aria Anderson..." He nodded and dialed her number as I held the mask on my face, continuing to take deep breaths. Soon, Aria picked up.

"Want me to talk to her, or you, kiddo?"

"You can..."

"Alright," he nodded and began to talk to Aria, asking if she knew about the creatures here and whatnot. I could barely hear, all I heard was talking, not what they were actually saying. Soon, he ended the call, just as I started to come back to my senses. "She told me they're hybrids - a mix of humans and animals. They were originally all human, until this lab kidnapped them and experimented on them, turning them into hybrids. Apparently Lorelei was the same..."

I gasped at this new information. My own sister was used as an experiment!? My blood boiled, but soon hurt. First B, now Lori... everyone I know is getting hurt. Maybe I should... no!

"You okay, kiddo?" The officer asked, putting my phone back into my hand.

"Yeah, just... hard to process it. I mean, I knew my sister was part dog, but... she was experimented on. Tortured, just like B..." I held back tears with each word that came out of my mouth. It hurt. It hurt to know this man was hurting the two people I loved most. I wanted to kill him. Then I remembered. That was Lori's real father. The man who should've loved her. I doubt he ever did. No wonder she was so skittish when I met her... poor thing was probably abused her entire life.

"Who's B?" He asked, and I bit my lip.

"He's... Braedon. The boy who was with me in the mental hospital."