Escape

Chapter 2

"Hey, Luke. It's me." I paused. "I know you're probably at practice, but.. Just give me a call when you can. I'm really scared right now and I really need you. Uh, bye."

I got off my bed and paced around my room for a second. How can this be happening? I thought this was over. He, she, whoever this is moved to Washington. How can they be back? 

"Ashley, dinner's ready!" My mom called.

"I'll be right down!" I called. I picked up the note and put it in the drawer of my bedside table. I grabbed my phone and walked downstairs. I sat down at the dinner table and my mom set my plate in front of me. "Thanks."

My mom sat down in front of me with her plate and started asking all about my day. "It was fine, I guess." I kept everything short; I didn't want to tell her about the note. She'd worry. She just stopped worrying about me after all that happened two years ago.

When I finished my dinner, I went upstairs and took off my makeup and got in the shower. I put my phone in it's waterproof bag and took it in the shower so I could listen to music and try to clear my head. When I got out, I got dressed and sat down on my bed. I checked my phone to see if Luke had tried to call or text me and I just hadn't noticed. Nothing. I grabbed my MacBook Pro and uploaded my video from yesterday to YouTube. I tried to watch Grey's Anatomy on Netflix but I just felt like I wasn't giving it the attention it deserved since I was so scared out of my mind. I decided to try to do some homework and after about thirty minutes, I finally stopped thinking about the note. 

When I finished my homework, I looked at my phone again. Nothing. What's going on? Luke should have called me back by now. It's been three hours. He always calls me back especially if I need him. In fact, he'd normally be at my house by now. I've got to go find him. I changed into some joggers and a tee shirt and put on my converses. I grabbed my phone and my keys and walked downstairs. "Mom, I'm going to find Luke. He hasn't answered any of my calls since this morning and he's not responding to texts or anything and I'm really worried about him. I'm going to go find him. I'll call you."

"Um, okay, darling. Do you have any idea what time you'll be back so I know not to worry?"

"Uh, no I don't. I'm hoping it won't take long. I just know he'd never ignore me on purpose, so I need to go find him." I looked at her and saw her worried face and added, "But don't worry; I'll be fine." I wasn't really sure that I'd be fine because of that note.

"Alright, honey. But please just be careful. I don't want to lose you like I almost did two years ago."

"Okay, mom." I grabbed a jacket and went outside to get in my car. I stood on the porch for a few seconds and had a really bad feeling. Before I could stop myself, I was back inside. "Mom?"

"Yes?" She asked.

"I want you to come with me. I have a really bad feeling and I want you to come with me."

"Uh, okay. Give me two minutes; I just need to put on some clothes."

"Okay."

In exactly two minutes, she was back downstairs in sweats and a tee shirt ready to go. We walked out to my car and drove off to Luke's house. When we got there, I noticed that nobody was home. No cars. No Luke. Nothing. Just quiet. I ran and got back in my car. I sped out of their driveway and told my mom to call 911 while I tried to call Luke again. He should be home by now. Oh my God.

Hi, this is Luke. Sorry I couldn't come to the phone right now. Leave a message and I'll try to call you back.

Voicemail. Crap.

"Hello? This is Michelle Jones. I'm calling to report a missing person. Luke Johnson. He is my daughter's boyfriend and he isn't picking up any calls or texts and we just drove to his house and he isn't home. He is normally home by now but tonight he isn't and we don't know where he is." My mom was talking to the 911 operator.

"When was the last time you heard from him?" I heard the operator ask.

"Well, my daughter said she hasn't heard from him since school today. It's been about three and a half hours now. He plays football and their practice usually ends at 5:30."

"Okay, since it hasn't been a full 24 hours yet, we can't send out a search team just yet. But why don't you go by the football field and see if he's still there? Maybe their practice ran late or maybe he stayed late to do some extra practicing."

I told my mom to give me the phone. "Hi, um, this is Ashley Jones. I'm Luke's girlfriend. If he had stayed late, he would have called me and told me so I wouldn't worry. He always calls me when he gets out of practice. And Coach Reeves never lets practice run late because he doesn't want to make the boys too tired. And I know it has to be 24 hours since someone's seen him but I'm really scared and I need to know if he's okay so can you please just send someone?" Tears filled my eyes.

The operator paused for a second. "Okay. I'll try to get a search team sent out. But don't worry. I'm sure he's fine. Just go look at the field and if he's not there, then give us another call. But I will send some people out to look for him."

"Thank you so much." I hung up and sped to the football field. When I got there, I saw Luke's car. Thank God. He's okay. He's just been practicing. He stayed late. He's okay.

I parked the car and mom and I got out of the car. We walked through the gate that led us into the field. What I saw was completely horrifying. Luke was lying on the ground surrounded by blood. And right beside him was a note. It read:

Yep. I'm back.