Piece By Piece

Chapter 21

"Carrie? Carrie what's wrong?" Ivey panicked, seeing her best friend frozen staring straight ahead.

Carrie couldn't reply. She opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out.

Ivey picked Carrie's phone up off the ground, looking to see what had caused her to panic so much.

A text from an unknown number appeared on Carrie's lock screen when Ivey turned it on.

"I will find you. And you will pay." Ivey read aloud.

"Oh my god" she gasped loudly.

Carrie stared straight ahead, silent tears now running down her face. She couldn't move. She'd lost all her strength, all her energy. Her body was numb.

"Carrie," Ivey placed her hand on the blonde's arm gently.

"Get me out of here." Carrie finally managed to get out, turning her head towards Ivey.

The look on Carrie's face was a look Ivey had never seen before. It was worse than any pain she'd ever seen Carrie in after she was kidnapped. The panic in her face was something Ivey couldn't explain and it absolutely shattered her heart.

"Come on" She whispered softly, holding her hand out for Carrie to grab.

Hesitantly, Carrie held onto Ivey's hand, standing up slowly. She gripped Ivey's hand as tight as she could as they made their way out.

"It's okay, you're okay." Ivey repeated, keeping her hand on the small of her back. Carrie moved slowly as though her body hurt.

The car ride home was completely silent. Carrie was shaking with fear and her heart was beating insanely fast.

When they got home, Carrie immediately walked upstairs and crawled onto the bed. She didn't know what to do, she wanted to go to sleep and make it all go away.

Ivey entered the room to see Carrie curled up in a ball, holding a pillow against her. Ivey walked over to her, sitting on the edge of the bed and running her hand over Carrie's forehead.

"Don't say anything." Carrie mumbled. "I just want to sleep it all away."

"Okay." Ivey whispered, pushing the hair off Carrie's face. She stood up and laid down beside her on the other side of the bed.

Twiddling her thumbs with her phone in her hand, she tried to figure out the words to say to send Mike.

"Hey. You probably noticed we left the game early. Drake texted Carrie. He's out to get her. She's asleep beside me right now. She's basically gone numb. Don't come home freaking out, she can't handle that. Be calm and gentle. We need to figure out what to do. She's not safe here." Ivey finally sent. She then texted Mark as well to tell him what was going on.

As soon as Mike's game ended, he didn't even care that they'd lost, all he cared about was figuring out why Carrie and Ivey had left halfway through the game.

After reading the text Ivey sent, Mike went into full panic mood. He spent the entire drive home on the phone with the police department trying to figure out what to do.

When he entered the house, he walked up to their bedroom where Carrie was sound asleep and Ivey was watching tv.

After talking to Mike, Ivey went downstairs to wait in the living room while Mike talked to Carrie.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, running his fingers over her forehead as Ivey had done. Carrie's eyes fluttered open and she saw her husband and smiled.

"Hey Care." Mike said softly.

"Hi" she whispered, her voice raspy.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

Carrie nodded, sliding over so Mike could sit beside her. Carrie also sat up, leaning against her husband.

"So, I talked to the police on the way home." Mike started. He ran his hands through Carrie's long blonde hair.

"We're going to go away for a little while. We're going to stay at a hotel a couple hours outside of Nashville until they find him so he can't find you. No contact with anyone here, it's too risky. They've got everyone looking for him, he's gotten his probation anklet off though, so no one knows where he is. He's probably going to find you, if he figured out your phone number, he can figure out where you are. But he's not going to hurt you. An officer will be outside our hotel room 24/7. He's not going to get near you."

Carrie was silent, taking in the words her husband had just said.

"Mike" Carrie started sobbing, clutching Mike's shirt. "I don't want to do this, don't let him hurt me."

"Shh, shh" Mike wrapped his arms around her small body, holding her close. "He's not going to hurt you I promise."

"How do you know?" She mumbled, looking at him with eyes full of pain.

"Because I'm not letting you out of my arms until he's caught." Mike said softly, using his thumb to gently wipe the tears off her cheeks.

Carrie nodded softly, looking down at the floor.

"Come on, let's pack." Mike cooed, standing up and offering his hand to his wife. She took his hand and stood up, crossing her arms over her chest.

After packing a suitcase with enough clothes for three or four days, they walked downstairs and Ivey immediately stood up from the couch and embraced Carrie in a hug.

"It's going to be okay." Ivey assured her, holding her for a long hug.

"I'll talk to you as soon as I can, okay? Be safe, you're in good hands I promise. Everything is going to be okay, I'll see you when you get back home." Ivey said, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at her best friend who gave her a small nod.

"I love you." Carrie managed to get out, hugging her one last time. The two nodded at each other before breaking away from the hug, as if to speak to each other without actually talking.

"Let's go." Mike guided Carrie out the door, Ivey following behind. An officer was waiting out front with a black car. Carrie swallowed hard, fighting back tears as they got into the car.

Carrie glanced back at her house and at Ivey who was watching them from her car. A tear ran down her face as they drove away. Neither of them had any idea what was coming, but they were both scared to death.