The Beginning

Chapter 3: Kidnapped

"Andy?"

My brother looks at me with a face of disbelief, "You found Andy? In the boys' locker rooms? Am I supposed to just believe that he's living in there?"

I shrug, "I don't know, but it was definitely his voice! I know what I heard!"

Kyle pauses, "Prove it."

"What?" I give him a confused look, "How? It's not like I have a recorder on me."

"Take me there tomorrow," he explains, "Let me hear Andy's voice for myself."

I cross my arm and think about it. If we get caught by one of them, we'll both get in trouble. With the way they talk and the names on the piece of paper, they want to capture us.

I eventually give in, "Fine. But you have to promise to be quiet no matter what you hear."

He looks at me like I said something stupid, "Do you really think I'm that dumb?"

I shake my head, "No. But..."

Kyle interrupts me, "But nothing. You're going to take me there where I can hear Andy's voice myself."

And that's exactly what I plan on doing. I can't get through this whole thing without him. And he's the only one I can go to for all of this. I doubt my parents or the police would believe me if I told them that the Spirals are after Kyle and me.

The next school day, Autumn seems almost desperate. She stuck by me the whole day and made me swear that I didn't see anything. I tried my best to keep my distance, but she wouldn't let me. I think she noticed this, and got even more desperate to gain my trust. During one of the classes today, a kid called me a witch under his breath. Autumn didn't react well. She grabbed the kid from behind his head and slammed it down on the table. He nose bled out on the desk.

"I made your nose bleed now!" she screams in his face as he begins to run to the nurse, "Am I a witch now?"

I give her an odd look, "You didn't have to do that."

She looks at me like it was nothing, "This school needs to grow up and leave you alone. You didn't do anything wrong that day."

I look behind me to check for the teacher, "You're probably going to get into trouble for that."

She shrugs, "I don't care."

And she oddly didn't get into trouble. The teacher talked to her and she got out of it somehow. Of course, it was a private interaction so I wasn't able to see how she got out of it. After that moment, I definitely tried to give her a cold shoulder. I mean, I wasn't going to be rude about it, but I didn't want to interact with her any longer.

At the end of the day, I met up with Kyle and pointed to the locker room, "They're in there."

He nods, "Lead the way."

We both enter the room and I can hear Autumn's voice echo throughout the hallway, "Sorry, Andy, I couldn't get close to her today."

"And why not?" he replies making Kyle's face look at my in surprise.

Autumn hesitates, making me think she's almost afraid of Andy, "She doesn't trust me anymore."

There's another pause, then Andy's voice answers again, "Let me handle her. Stay in here tomorrow."

Kyle glances at me. We both think the same thing: Andy is going to return to school tomorrow? We hear Autumn's footsteps beginning to get louder and we run out of the room. We run towards the flood of students wanting to get home. We get home and stay silent until Kyle calls me into his room.