What's Out There?

Chapter 26

Clay's POV
12:00am the same morning

I had just about given up. My voice was becoming horse because of calling out Sarah's name so much.
I knew something happened to her. She would have said something by now.
Tears started to fall down my face.
How could I have let this happen? What was Chief going to do? Oh god, I lost Sarah. She's gone, oh god. I thought as I walked back towards her house.
I checked my watch and it was 12:17am.
Chief is gonna kill me. I think.
I run into his house.
"You're late," Chief says as he walks into the room, but quickly asks, "Where is Sarah?"
"She's gone," I said with a horse voice.
"What do you mean? What happened out there?" Chief asked his voice rising.
"It had to have been Luke," I answered.
"Where is she?" Chief asked.
"I don't know," I said, my voice quavering.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Chief yelled.
"I told her to come back here and he must have got to her before she got here," I said, "I swear I was right behind her one second and the next she was gone. I stayed out there calling for her. Something happened to her or someone took her. She didn't even make a sound in response."
After a shot pause he said, "Luke, you're right."
"What?" I asked surprised that her dad would even talk to me.
"Luke. He took her," Chief said, "to get us to do what he wants."
"Wait, you think he would hurt her?" I asked. Yet, I quickly thought about it and it made perfect sense.
Why wouldn't he? He hurt her before without a problem. I thought harshly.
Chief starts, "Who d-"
I cut him off by harshly saying, "I don't know what I just said. Of course he would. He had no problem doing it before."
"That's not completely true," Chief corrected.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"The night Luke hurt her, he was trying to kill me and when she jumped in front of my he lowered the gun. He tried not to hit her but failed by it hitting her foot," Chief explained.
This doesn't make any sense. I ask, "Then why would he take her tonight?"
"To do what I said: to get us to do what he wants," Chief said.
"So you don't think he would hurt her?" I ask trying to get a clear point on this.
"I really don't know," Chief answers.
After a brief moment of silence, I respond, "We have to find her."
"How do you suppose we do that?" Chief asks.
"I don't know exactly, but we are gonna need help," I answer.

After a couple of phone calls, everyone has arrived. It was close to 1:10 am.
Fern, Charlotte, and Danny, who we woke up, had all been told what happened.
Danny has a crazed look in his eyes. A look that was most likely not meant for us to see, but he couldn't help it. Honestly I don't blame him. I hated Luke just as much as he did.
Charlotte just gazed off into nothingness. I guess she was too shocked.
Fern was frantic. She was looking around the entire room, focusing on every object for a few seconds before moving on to another. Fern looked terrible and wouldn't stop fidgeting with her necklace, which was silver and had her initials on it.
Chief was sitting at the bar as he poured himself a glass of some sort of alcohol.
It felt as if the whole world stopped spinning. Everything was going in slo-motion except me.
I walked towards Sarah's room, and no one stopped me. Everyone sat there almost completely still.
I walked into her room and sat on her bed.
I glanced on slight look at the window, and I was lost in memory.

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It was the night I hid in her room.
I crawled out from under her bed. I was wearing gray sweatpants and a black hoodie.
I stood up my back to her face.
I couldn't hear what she was saying but my body reacted and turned around.
It was as if everything she said was muffled. Along with everything I said.
I could feel myself laughing at us joke around.
After a while of muffled, unheard talking, I stepped up to her and kissed her.
That kiss, our first kiss, was the best kiss I had ever had. Better than it was the first time.
I could hear our words spoken after that as clear as day.
I hear myself say, "Goodnight, Sarah."
"Goodnight," she replies. Her voice sounds perfectly human. It cracked in the middle of the word night.
At that I climbed through the window and walked home. Smiling the entire way.