Misfortune ( Lin Manuel Miranda )

Chapter 7

Lin doesn't know how long he was out for.

All he knows is that when he wakes up, it's dark outside the small window and his leg is in agonizing pain.

Lin slowly sits up, wincing at the headache that has quickly formed. He takes a deep breath and slowly looks up to see Ross sitting in a chair near him.

Lin backs up, staring at him.

"You're awake, good." Ross stands up and begins walking towards Lin, and Lin backs up once again.

"Woah, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help." Ross says calmly, putting up his hands as if to prove something. Lin regards him skeptically.

"I wrapped your leg with a um, t shirt. I know it's not ideal, but it stopped the bleeding." Lin looks down at his leg to see that Ross is right- the white material is stained red, but it doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore.

Both Lin and Ross look up towards the ceiling when they hear a bang, and then James shouting.

Ross rushes forward and pulls out a knife, and Lin involuntarily screams, squeezing his eyes shut and expecting pain.

But the pain never comes.

Lin opens his eyes to see Ross sawing at the tape around his ankles, and Lin is throughly confused.

Ross looks into his eyes for a moment and sees his confusion. Once the tape is  off his legs Ross lifts his hand up and removes the tape from Lin's mouth. Lin coughs and spits out the cloth from his mouth, "W-What are you doing?" Lin asks in a whisper, his throat raspy.

"Letting you go. These guys have different intentions than you think and I can't let them go through with it. Turn around." Ross explains, glancing over his shoulder towards the stairs.

Lin pauses, and is terrified- what if this is a trick?

Ross turns back to face him and now it's his turn to look confused. "Turn around!! I'm trying to help you, Lin." Ross says, and Lin believes his sincerity.

Lin turns around and Ross cuts off the tape connecting his wrists. Lin turns back around to Ross with tears in his eyes, "Thank you. Thank you so much, I-" "Leave! You need to go now, the doors unlocked. Go through the woods, you'll reach a river. Cross it and the town's about two miles away from there. Go!" Ross says, and Lin grabs his hand for a moment to show his gratitude, and nods.

Lin stands up and almost falls to the ground again from lack of using his legs in a while and the wound in his right leg.

Lin opens the door, and looks around outside, turning back to Ross once more, "Thank you." Lin says, and then he takes off, running as fast as his legs can carry him.

-~-

Vanessa doesn't know how long she was out for.

All she knows is that it's dark outside, and she must've been sleeping for a long time.

It's 3 AM, Monday now, by 11:30 tonight, it will have been 48 hours.

Vanessa panics when she can't find her phone, and when she does she quickly picks it up and scrolls through the notifications, looking for any from the police, but there is none.

But one does catch her eye, a message from Lin's dad with a link to an article, and a short comment: they know...

Vanessa's breath catches as she opens the article from CNN, the title reading Tony Award Winning Lin-Manuel Miranda Missing

Vanessa closes her phone and throws it to the side, furious, and puts her head in her hands. How did they find out?!

Vanessa has never experienced this much pain and anger before in her life, this feeling of absolute fear and ache and worry, she feels like she hasn't been able to breathe since Saturday.

Vanessa wants nothing more than to have Lin in her arms again.

-~-

James watches as Lin runs towards the woods, then turns to face Robert and Ross.

"I think it's the perfect time to send the video." James says, and Robert nods, smiling as he pulls out his laptop.

They have a VPN, so James is certain they can't be traced back when the email is sent.

"All set." Robert says, closing his laptop.

"All right, let's go boys. The hunt has begun."

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