Paper doll

Chapter 11

Ryan's POV

We all walk inside to the lobby, nice looking place, not posh or fancy or anything, but nice

I look around and see an elevator but Veronica has already walked up to the front desk to ask the doorman something

"Excuse me, do you know if Chloe Hosterman lives here?" She asks him

He glares at her for a moment before speaking

"How would I know?" He replies rudely and then walks away ignorantly

"Okay then" she speaks sarcastically and turns back to us

"And what exactly did you learn from that?" I say mockingly, earning myself a rather unsettling death stare

"What apartment is it?" I asked Brian who had the piece of paper with the address on

"5C" he replied

"Okay then, let's find apartment 5C" Colton leads us to the elevator

"Out of order" someone tells us as we head towards it

"No one told me I'd have to walk 5 flights of stairs for this" Veronica complained

"Too bad, start walking" I mocked as I started climbing the stairs

They all follow me up the stairs, five flights later we're on the fifth floor, we walk down, 5A, 5B and there it is

"5C" I read off the wall once we'd finally found it

"This is it" V mumbled nervously

"What do we do now?" Brian asks

"Someone knocks" Colton answers

"Who?" V asks in response to that

"Me" I say, trying to sound more sure of myself than I am

This was it, I was about to find out if we'd just found the love of my life or if this whole thing was for nothing

I took a deep breath and then I knocked on the door

We waited and after a minute or so we thought no one was gonna answer, we were about to give up when the door opened

A middle aged woman opened her door and looked at us in confusion

"Sorry to bother you miss, we were just wondering, umm, do you happen to know this girl" I asked her, I knew Chloe might not be going by her name so I showed her a picture instead

"I'm sorry, I don't, can I ask why?" She spoke kindly, but also pitifully almost

"She's our friend, well she was, she went missing and we thought we might find her here, sorry to disturb you" Colton cut in, knowing I couldn't speak right now

I was shattered the second she said those words

She's not here, it was all for nothing

"Oh well I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help" she smiled and that was definitely pitiful

"Thanks anyways" I reply quietly and then we all leave, we head back down the stairs, out the lobby and to the car park in silence

Once we get there they all get in but I find myself still stood outside the car

Veronica got out and stood beside me

"You okay? Like I know you're not okay okay, but you gonna be okay?" She asked, I didn't think she'd even care how I felt

"I don't know anymore" I whispered because that was all I could manage

"It sucks doesn't it?" She agreed with what I kept thinking, almost like she was in my head

"Yeah" I agreed

"Come on, it's a long way back, we should get going" she suggested after a minute but I shook my head

"I just need to be alone for a while, take the keys, you guys head back, I'll catch a flight out or something in a day or so when I've cleared my head" I tell her as I hand her the keys

She looks at me in both shock and confusion

"We can't just leave you alone in New York" she argues but my mind is already made up

"You can and you will, V I'll be fine, I'll see you soon okay? I promise I'll be okay" I promise her

She looks at me for a moment and I swear she's about to fight me on this but then she just sighs and nods

"Okay, just stay safe" she tells me and I nod

"I will" I agree and then with that I open the driver's side door

She gets in and then I shut the door behind her

I watch as they drive away, glancing back at me unconvinced this is a good idea

It probably wasn't

----------------------------------------------

So they didn't find her and now Ryan's alone in a city he doesn't know, what's gonna happen? He's pretty down.... xoxo