After

Chapter 27

*Sorry for any mistakes*

Noah's pov
"And......got it!" Eldon exclaims as he zooms in on a certain area of one of his computer screens. I can't believe he has these CCTV cameras! It's a bit weird, but it's a life saver. "Right there, in the corner! We can only just see their faces!"

His finger points towards a small area of the screen, fixing my eyes to it. He's right! Eldon's sctually right! I mean no offence to him, but he usually isn't the sharpest pencil in the box. But hey, I'll give him credit for this! Now, who are they?

I squint my eyes, trying to a good look at the screen whilst it's paused. The first thing I make out from the blur are a man and a woman, young I think. I quickly ask Eldon, "Can you zoom into the couple's faces?"

"Yeah," he replies. "Hang on."

With a few clicks from the mouse, the picture is enlarged, making it more blurry but easier to make out their faces. The man has dark black hair, and appears to be wearing a leather jacket. His nose is slightly crooked, and that's all I can make out of him. It's weird, I feel like I seem to recognise him. Now for the woman! Her hair is long, straight and completely black; the same colour as the man's. She's wearing a black hoodie which looks way too big for her. Her face is rather beautiful; well from what I can see. Her skin is pale like the moon, but her expression seems happy- and I know that smile. Only one person's lips smile like that- Amanda's.

The hair? The hoodie? The face? How didn't I notice that it's her sooner?! And the guy- he was the one that me and Richelle caught kissing when we followed Amanda! This is unbelievable- wait, no it's not. My heart sinks as I think about the fact that Amanda has taken Richelle. This whole time I was upset because Amanda cheated on me, when only a few steps down the road she was kidnapping Richelle with her new boyfriend (I think). I'm such an idiot!

"I know who it is." I say bluntly, but a hint of sadness in my voice. "I'll spare you the question, it's Amanda and her new boyfriend."

Eldon's jaw literally drops, so I knock it back into place. He looks up at me (considering he's sitting on a chair and I'm standing) with sorrow and shock planted onto his face. Almost immediately he exclaims, "Oh Noah, I'm so sorry! Are you sure it's them?"

"I'd know that face any day," I say angrily through my teeth, looking back at the screen. What a sly, evil woman. Not only hurting me (emotionally), but now Richelle! What has Richelle done? "Can you get the numberplate?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," he says, moving the mouse around the screen, trying to find the bottom of the van. A van, how original. Note the sarcasm. "Here we go!"

He quickly pulls out his phone from his pocket and unlocks it whilst I stare down at the screen. However, I soon tuen my head towards his phone as I hear the sound of typing. Wow, he wasn't lying when he told me that he could type in the vehicle's numberplate into the phone and track it! He finishes typing in the numberplate, and it begins to load. Why am I so nervous all of a sudden? Then, it loads and shows us a map, then shows a picture of the van on top of its location on the map. That's...that's three hours away! Richelle is nowhere near here! If that is where she ran from to get here at the very beginning, then she is a hell of a good runner!

But, I have to do this, I have to get her back. I'm about to ask Eldon if he'll come with me when I see him researching the address of where she is. I can't read the writing from a distance, so I wait for him to finish.

"Noah," he starts, not taking his eyes off the screen, "I think you should see this."

He passes the phone up to me, and I begin to look at what's on the page. At the top, there's a photo of a girl who looks like she's only sixteen or so, and has curly brown hair which is tied up in a high ponytail. The odd thing is, next to her picture is a price- £1500 and a bidding button. What? I begin to read what is subtitled as 'Description'. It reads 'Melanie Smith is a wonderful nineteen year old girl who will do anything that you desire.'

First of all, that girl is not nineteen! She is a teenager who looks fifteen or sixteen! Second of all, you can't just bid on a human! Third of all, I have a feeling that I know what they're bidding on her for...

I scroll down more, passing a few more that pop up, realising how wrong this is as I go. But then, I stop. I see someone I don't want to see on that site- Richelle. Her long blonde hair is tied back into a high ponytail (just like Melanie) and her smile has been ripped away. She looks ill, but not everyone can tell that. I've known Richelle for a long time, I can tell what's different about her eyes- they're droopy - her cheeks - they're redder than usual, looking almost as if they've been slapped - I could go on, but I'll spare you.

My heart breaks as I read 'Richelle Samuels,' that's not her name, it's Richelle Jackson, not Samuels, 'a beautiful,' they aren't wrong, 'woman who will accept anything you want to do with her.' No! Not Richelle! That can't happen to her! God, I ought to kill Amanda and her boyfriend! Then I see the price on her- £1900. That's almost two grand! Plus, Richelle does not need to have a price on her! She isn't a pet!

Thinking about it, the only way to get Richelle back is by buying her, but that won't work for two reasons: 1) Amanda and her boyfriend know who I am and what I look like so they won't let me buy Richelle, and 2) I don't have £1900 on me! I don't even have a job! How am I going to get her back? There's nothing I can do!

"I've got a plan," Eldon suddenly says, making me reslise that he's here. Eldon! I forgot about him! "Amanda doesn't know who I am, does she? So if I buy Richelle, then she can come home with me, I'll take her back to you and she'll be safe! Problem solved!"

Okay, how didn't I think of that? I'm pretty sure that I've gone braindead. But it's the perfect plan! With a bit more detail added, Richelle will be back with me, safe, in no time!

"Eldon, you're a genius!"

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Longer chapter for you guys! Hope you enjoyed it! Please comment if you did ❤️
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