Be Alright: Somebody To Love #6

4

Justin’s POV

            “What are we going to do?” I asked my mom and Kenny. It was four in the morning. Madelyn had been gone for eight hours. We had been up all night searching the neighborhood. We still hadn’t found her, and the police were still being difficult.

            “I’m not going to take anymore of this bullshit.” My mom grabbed her cell phone. I didn’t know what she was doing, but it made me feel a little better that she had some idea of what to do.

“My daughter-in-law is missing. She’s been gone for eight hours. I know you don’t typically start search and rescue efforts until it has been a full twenty-four hours, but Madelyn is going to be dead by then. She’s a diabetic. She is going to die if we don’t find her soon so you need to get your shit together and bring me someone who can find her.” I heard the police talking back to her for a second and then she hung up.

            “What did they say?” I asked.

            “They’ll be here soon.”

Madelyn’s POV

            I woke up, tied and beaten in the back of the van. It was moving again. I figured I passed out either from my low blood sugar, or from how badly I was trying to die. Either way, I didn’t like that I was awake right now. My body was aching.

            The past hours were fuzzy. I remembered only the most vivid points of the night. I remembered the two men ripping off my clothes, leaving me exposed and completely vulnerable. I remembered the skinnier guy holding my shoulders down as the other one took a turn with me first. I remembered them switching, so the skinnier guy could have a turn. I remembered trying to distract myself as I cried silently. I assumed I had passed out shortly after that.

            I could feel movement, so I assumed they had started driving again once they had gotten their fill of me. I felt the effects of my low blood sugar begin. My arms were shaking. My vision was blurry. My head hurt worse than it ever had. It would only be a couple of minutes before I was so low, I would be in a diabetic coma.

I couldn’t wait for that moment to happen. I wanted to be dead already. In just a couple of hours, my life had gone from flawless to horrid. I had been stripped of all of my pride and dignity. I just wanted to die.

Justin’s POV

            When the police got there, they spent two hours questioning me before they went to start looking for her. They told me that if we hadn’t made any progress in a couple of hours, it would be smart to enlist in the media’s help. Since she was a celebrity, people would recognize her. If they knew she was missing, people would be on the look out for her. But first, they were going to try to find her themselves.

“Should I send them to school?” I asked Kenny and my mom. They both nodded. It was the first day of school. Madelyn normally took the morning off work and made them a big, special breakfast. Would they know something was up when she wasn’t anywhere to be seen?

“I think it’s best if they don’t know anything is wrong. Send them to school. That will give us eight hours to focus on finding Maddie.” My mom was right. I needed to focus on Madelyn right now. I didn’t want to scare the kids.

            “Where’s Mommy?” Aria asked as she hopped down the stairs, ready for school.

            “Where is Mommy every morning?” My mom asked her.

            “Oh! She’s at the studio!” She laughed and went to get breakfast. I felt bad lying to them, but at the same time, I didn’t want to upset them. I made up my mind that if we hadn’t found her by the time the kids got home from school, we would tell them.

            Carin picked them up for school at eight. She gave me a hug, but we were careful about what we said since the kids were listening.

            “Scooter is on his way over to help.” She smiled before rounding up all of the kids and ushering them out the door. As soon as she was gone, we got right back to dealing with the situation. They had just left when we got a phone call. I didn’t want to answer it. I knew the news was most likely going to be the police, with bad news.

            “Hello?” I answered, bracing myself.

            “Mr. Bieber, we found your wife’s cell phone. It was in a ditch just a couple of miles away from your house. We are sending it to the lab for prints so hopefully we can find some suspects. This case is most likely foul play.”

            Foul play, the words repeated over and over in my head. Madelyn had been kidnapped. Probably attacked. Her cell phone had been thrown out. I sat down on the couch, trying to let the news sink in.

            “Baby, I think you need to come to terms with this.” My mom said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “I want to believe that Madelyn is alive as much as you do, but we need to face the facts. If she is alive, her blood sugar is dangerously low. She’s probably in a coma.”

            “How can you say that?” I cried. I knew that she was right. But I prayed she was somehow alive and well.

Madelyn’s POV

I had no idea what time it was. The sun was starting to rise. I had no idea how I had stayed alive this long. My blood sugar was probably in the twenties. I hadn’t eaten since seven the night before. Nearly twelve hours without food meant I had little time left.

My symptoms got worse as they continued to drive. I felt myself drifting in and out of consciousness.

            When I heard the police sirens, I thought I was dreaming, but the men heard it too.

            “We have to get rid of her!” The one in the passenger seat looked nervous.

            “Calm down! We will finish her off and throw her out at the next exit.” The driver said. They were going to finish me off. They were going to kill me. But I was strangely okay with this. They had stripped me of all of my pride and dignity. I was sitting in the back of a van, beaten, tied up and naked. There wasn’t anything else to live for. I was ready to die.

I didn’t want to live anymore. In my mind, I prepared myself. I was ready to die. I didn’t want to live and have to deal with all the repercussions of this.

I thought of my kids, my babies. They were so young. I didn’t want to cause them pain, but I didn’t know if dying or being emotionally scarred for life would be worse for them. I just prayed they would be strong and resilient. I prayed that between Pattie, Paige, Alexis, Logan, Selena, and Ashley they would have enough motherly figures in their lives to be alright.

I thought of Justin. As much as I hated it, I knew I was his world. A part of him would die along with me. But I prayed that Justin would be able to stay strong for the kids.

            I flashbacked to a conversation we’d had nearly ten years ago. He had told me he wouldn’t be able to live without me.

“I don’t even know if I would be able to go on without you, my world revolves around you,” He had said. I remember I made him promise he would go on for the kids. He had promised me that he would try. But I just prayed that he had matured enough to realize he had to stay strong from the kids. They were so young. They couldn’t lose both their mother and their father.