erick brian colon ♡

P a r t E i g h t

My eyes flash open and I see a man staring back at me. My hands are tied up behind me and my feet too.  My whole body hurts, and I look around at my surroundings, desperately trying to look for something that looked familiar. I let out a small whimper as I find myself on a dirty mattress, and in a abandoned house.  

"Mariana's awake." 

A second guy walked up to me, checking me out and he reaches a hand over to stroke my cheek. I look away and a tear rolls down my cheek. 

"If I remove this, promise me you won't scream?" He asks me, in a scratching tone. I nod slowly, and he unties it from behind. I third guy brings up a phone to me. 

He looked at the guy that removed the bandanna, "Her music manager is on the phone, apparently she has no family." 

I immediately knew that was a lie. I had a family, a mom and a dad, but they never acknowledged me. Not even now when I'm the most talented female singer on the planet. So Aubrey had me distanced away from them, they lived in Colorado. 

"is her music manager going to pay the rescue?" 

"Yes, but he wants to hear her speak." 

The third guy puts the phone to my mouth, and my heart breaks a little when I hear Aubrey. 

"Mariana!? Mariana, can you hear me?!? Are you okay?? Did they hurt you!!??" he asks, I can hear him sobbing on the other end of the phone. Asking me a million questions per second, the only thing I can manage is a sob, and "I love you, I love you so much ..." 

He continues to ask more questions but the third guy leaves, they all leave the room, locking the door. I silently scream and tears wet my face. 

Erick's Point Of View

"You need to try and sing this note a bit higher." Said John pointing at the paper. 

"Yeah I know, I'll remember next time." 

We were doing our everyday warm ups. My turn was over and it was Zabdiels turn next. I stride over to Chris, Joel, and Richard. My phone vibrates with a new message. Strangely, it was Aubrey. As I reach the boys Richard speaks up. 

"Did you get Aubrey's message? He wants to talk to us and, by the look of it, it's urgent. He's headed over here right now." I check his message and nod, that's exactly what it said. My hand grabbed the chair as I sat down. 

"I wonder what he wants." says Joel. My curiosity slowly grows greater. 

"Do you think Mariana's coming?" 

Chris breaks into a laughing fit. "Why don't you ask her?"

I shake my head and look at the floor, "She hasn't answered my text. I tried calling her but it sends me to voicemail."

Richard stands up and pats my back "Chill Erick she's probably busy." 

Someone knocks the door at the same moment, I walk over and open it. Aubrey stands outside, with a look of grief in his face, his eyes have a distant look. My heart pounds, Mar is not with him. 

"Ah, Erick. I'm so sorry ..." he trails off, as if he doesn't believe something. 

I look at him bewildered. What on Earth was he talking about? "What are you, what's wrong?" I ask him. He looks at his shoes,

"I need to tell you, tell all of you, something." he walks in and everyone crowds around us. 

Suddenly there's a knot in my throat, and my heart squirms inside my chest. Something's not right ... 

"Aubrey? Speak!" I yell at him, desperate for someone to talk and break this terrible silence.

He looks at something behind us, "Guys, monsters... heartless people, they - they toke Mar, they toke her away, she could be dead, what do I know? I should've saved her ..." He breaks down then and there. I see a blurred John quickly walk over to Aubrey, helping him up. My gaze is unclear, I heard Joel and feel someone's strong arm rub my back. But that didn't matter, Mariana was gone. They toke her, they toke her away from me. How could they? Not Mar, no, no no. Possibly they've mistaken? My heart and brain ached with hope, wishing it was true. I clung to that hope, maybe if I wished hard enough, she could be walking in right now, with me. Please no. Not her. This had to be a dream. 

"Someone tell me this is a dream ..." I whispered to whoever was stroking my arm. I blocked out his answer. This couldn't be happening, Mariana. I possibly won't be able to see her ever again. Her smile, her voice ... gone. I won't see her soft hair bounce as she walks towards me. Will I be able to feel her warm arms wrap around my neck, or her slim waist in my hands? At that moment, I can't hear anyone or anything. My heart felt like it was being ripped apart. Something hot and wet rolled down my cheek, making it's way into my mouth. It tasted ... salty ... was I ... crying?? I couldn't remember the last time I cried. Or even felt sad, Mariana was the reason I was happy. And now? I had nothing left of her. I felt utterly alone. I wiped my eyes and shoved someone away and fast walked towards the door. Walking to the closest bench I saw I sit down, trying to control my racing heart and thoughts. Mariana couldn't be dead. I had to believe that. I had too. I swipe my arm across my eyes trying to clear my tears, but new ones replace them. I find myself desperately crying my heart out on a bench. After what seems like an eternity, my throat feels dry and my sleeves are wet. I clean the last of my tears, I will find Mariana. 

***

The door squeaks open as I enter the studio once again. Joel, Richard, Zabdiel, and Chris walk towards me. 

"You okay?" asks Joel.  I nod even though my hands are rolled up in fists. 

"I have to find Mariana." Is the first thing I say. 

I see Aubrey walking over. "I"ve already informed the police. There's nothing we can do, I wanted to print out papers with her face on it, but everyone knows her!" He sniffs and for the first time I realize he has bags under his eyes from crying and he looks exhausted. 

I turn to John, "Can you take Aubrey to catch up on sleep?" When Aubrey opens his mouth to protest I quickly add, "Trust me, Mariana needs all your strength. I'll help find her, and I'll bring her home. I promise." I shut my eyes tight, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. As I opened them, Aubrey smiles warmly at me. 

"I know you will." 

Aubrey hands me the papers I would need to take to the police and John leads him away. 

"We'll look through social media." offered Zabdiel as I turned to face them. I give each of them a hug and say, "Thanks."  and I head towards the police station. 

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hey guys, sorry for the really late update. tomorrow I promise to update 2 times. It's kind of confusing since I have stuff written already but then I'm writing it and then reading it on here and I get lost in my own story lmao. Thanks for 200+ reads! Love youuu!!

-E