Jukai

Chapter Pray You Catch Me Part 3

Terry Richmond

It had been months since we lost Nicole.

Five months of unanswered questions, endless sleepless nights, and an ache in my chest that refused to fade.

People around me—friends, family, even those who had known us best—kept telling me to let go.

"She's gone," they'd say. "You have to move on."

But deep down, I knew they were wrong. I felt it in my bones, in my heart. Nicole wasn't gone—not really. She was out there somewhere. I just had to find her.

I searched everywhere—our small town, the surrounding cities—but it was as if she had vanished into thin air. No note, no message, no trace. Just... gone.

But that feeling never left me, that quiet certainty whispering in the back of my mind: she was still alive. She had to be.

After the funeral, life carried on like nothing had changed. People returned to their routines, the world kept turning. But I couldn't.

At first, it was grief. Then, something deeper.

It was like she was still here. I could feel her presence in the silence, in the spaces she used to fill. Maybe that made me crazy. Maybe I just wasn't ready to let go.

Either way, I knew one thing: I couldn't stop looking.

I wouldn't.

The gas pump clicked off, snapping me back to reality. I tightened my grip on the nozzle, staring at the open road ahead.

Amber, Nicole's cousin, was the only one who believed me.

"If you're serious about looking for her," she had said, "try Tennessee. She always had ties there. If she wanted to disappear, that's where she'd go."

It felt like a shot in the dark, but what choice did I have? The doubt was always there, nagging at the edges of my mind, but then I thought about what I had found in the trash days after talking to Amber—

The test.

Pregnant.

Nicole had been pregnant.

The realization had hit me like a freight train, knocking the air from my lungs. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew—she wouldn't have just ended her life knowing she was carrying our child.

There had to be more to this.

I needed answers.

Amber hesitated when I first showed up at her door, but eventually, she told me the truth.

"She came in for a sick visit," Amber admitted, her voice quiet, eyes flicking to the floor. "I didn't know it at the time, but she was already a few weeks pregnant."

My chest tightened.

"I was the one who did the ultrasound," she continued, voice barely above a whisper. "Nicole made me swear not to tell anyone—not even you."

I struggled to process her words. Nicole had kept something this big from me? Why?

"I don't understand," I murmured. "Why would she do that? Why didn't she trust me?"

Amber exhaled slowly, as if choosing her next words carefully.

"I think she was scared. More than you know. She thought it would be better to keep it a secret."

Scared? Of what?

Amber didn't have all the answers, but she gave me everything she could—names, addresses, fragments of family history that might help me find Nicole.

She was my only real ally now. And with her help, I was more determined than ever.

The ultrasound sat on my dashboard, the tiny image of our baby staring back at me.

I traced a thumb over the worn edges of the picture. This wasn't just about finding Nicole anymore. It was about finding the family we should have had—the life we were supposed to build together.

I thought about the night she disappeared. How it felt like the world had caved in. How everyone had given up on her.

How they told me to stop looking.

But they didn't understand. They didn't feel what I did.

Every time I closed my eyes, I could still see her face. Still hear her laugh.

She wasn't gone.

She couldn't be.

The old motel's neon sign flickered, casting a dull, yellowish glow over the cracked pavement.

It wasn't much, but it was enough.

I grabbed my bags from the truck, the weight of them grounding me in the reality of how far I had come—and how much I had left behind.

As I stepped inside, the air smelled of stale cigarette smoke and something else, something heavier—secrets buried in cheap motel walls.

I tossed my bags onto the bed, the mattress creaking under the weight. The small book Amber had given me pressed against my side—filled with names, addresses, and phone numbers.

A puzzle waiting to be solved.

I flipped it open, my fingers hovering over the first name.

I hadn't made a call yet. Hadn't worked up the courage.

But I had come too far to stop now.

Taking a deep breath, I dialed.

The ringing filled the silence of the room, each tone louder than the last.

Then—

A click.

"Hello?"

The voice was unfamiliar.

But something about it sent a chill down my spine.

I gripped the phone tighter.

"Hi... I'm looking for someone. Her name is Nicole."

Silence.

It stretched on, thick and suffocating.

And then—

The line went dead.

I stared at the phone, my heart pounding.

Whoever it was, they knew something.

And I wasn't stopping until I found out what.

Please comment and vote! Will Terry find Nicole alive? Would you run if things got tough? ❤️❤️❤️