Missing: Rachel Amber

Chapter 6

"We have enough money to pay Ronnie back for the drugs." Rachel said as she got out of the truck on the side of the road and stretched out. "We can't go back, end of story." Nathaniel said as he stood next to Rachel. "We shouldn't of burned that motel down. There's no coming back from this at all. We're screwed." Rachel said as she closed her eyes. "Do you really wanna go back to Clover Valley? After everything?" Nathaniel asked as he looked at Rachel straight in the eyes. "Yes. I do. With or without you." Rachel replied with an annoyed look on her voice. "If you go back there now, you'll never be able to live your dreams, especially that dream about becoming a model. Everyone knows it's gonna happen someday, let's move to New York and forget about everything in Clover Valley." Nathaniel said with an big smile on his face. "It's not the same." Rachel replied in anger as went back into the truck and slammed the door shut.

***

As Nathaniel drove down the road, Rachel was sleeping silently in the back. As she dozed off, she began to dream about Jenna. She looked into her green eyes and she seemed to in some sort of trance. All she could do was blink, but all she saw was Jenna's eyes. "Jenna?" Rachel said hoping to hear her voice again, but she heard nothing. "Jenna!" Rachel said but all she saw was her eyes looking straight at her. "I miss you. I wanna come home now. Please forgive me Jenna." Rachel said as she began to cry, but the eyes just stared at her. "Rachel." Nathaniel said as Rachel woke up from her dream, and Nathaniel was parked in front of a house. "This is our new home, for now." He said with a smile as he got out of the truck, and opened the door for Rachel. "You bought this house?" Rachel asked as she stared up at it. "I guess you could say that, it's for us now." Nathaniel said as they both walked into the house. "It's perfect for just the two of us." Rachel said as she looked all around at the fancy decor around the house. "We can start a new life here." Nathaniel said as he grabbed Rachel's waist and tried to kiss her, but Rachel stopped him. "Let's get settled first before we do any of that." Rachel said with a smirk walking back outside to the truck.

***

Rachel and Nathaniel sat down at the dinner table eating Chinese food from down the street. "We need to talk, about a lot." Rachel said. "I know." Nathaniel replied as he looked down at his hands. "I don't wanna know what's gonna happen to both of us. We'll probably be thrown into prison for all the crap we've done. I just can't believe we made it this far already." Rachel said as she pulled her hair back into a bun. "It's all my fault. I admit to it, but maybe we won't go to prison Rachel. They don't know that we did all of that stuff, according to the local news, were dead! Our plan worked!" Nathaniel said with a cheerful smile. "For now, until they do more tests, and then they realize it's not actually us." Rachel replied with a frown as they heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it." He said. "No, I'll get it." Rachel said as Nathaniel sat back down in his seat. Rachel opened up the front door and saw a woman standing there. "Hi, I'm Cora, I'm from next door." She said with a smile. "Hi, I'm Rachel it's so nice to meet you." Rachel said with a smile as they shook each other's hands. "I can't get over how beautiful you are!" Cora said with a smile. "Aww, well, thank you!" Rachel said as Nathaniel walked up next to Rachel. "Hi I'm Nathaniel." He said with a smile as he shook Cora's hand. "I just thought I would come over and introduce myself, I live alone so honestly, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask me." Cora said with a smile. "Thank you so much." Rachel said as Cora walked off the porch. Rachel walked back into the house and closed the door behind her. "Looks like we just made ourselves a new friend." Nathaniel said with a laugh to himself.

***

Cora was in bed watching the nightly local news. A special report was on about Rachel Amber missing. The newscaster showed the missing poster of Rachel, saying she was possibly presumed dead. "What the hell." Cora said to herself as she looked at the TV closer. The news woman said, they are still out on the look for Rachel and her partner Nathaniel, but for now on, they are presumed dead until further notice. "This can't be right, I need to know what in the world is going on." Cora said to herself in confusion as she stared at the TV in disbelief.

***

It was seven am and Nathaniel decided to go out for a jog while Rachel was asleep. As he began to discover the town all around him, he saw a group of policemen sitting on a bench drinking coffee. "Great." Nathaniel said to himself as he jogged past them. "Morning." One of them said. "Good morning to you too." Nathaniel replied as he kept jogging and bragged a sigh of relief as he got far enough away from them.

***

Rachel woke up to the sound of the doorbell going off, she looked on the other side of the bed and saw Nathaniel wasn't there. As she walked down the stairs, she saw Cora waiting on the porch. As Rachel opened up the door and motioned for Cora to walk in, they both walked into the kitchen and sat down. "Can I please talk to you?" Cora asked. "Yes, of course you can." Rachel said in confusion. "I know who you are, you're Rachel Amber, you're all over the news." Cora said with a look of fear on her face. "You don't need to be afraid, I'm not a monster and I'm not gonna hurt you." Rachel said with a smile. "I'm not afraid, and I know you wouldn't. I wanna help you." Cora said with a serious look on her face. "You're a sweet girl, but I think it's best if you don't get involved, this is some serious crap that we need to settle ourselves." Rachel said. "I know. But I'm here if you need me to help, the police are probably looking everywhere for you guys, and this probably won't end pretty for both of you." Cora said with a serious look on her face. "I just don't want you telling my boyfriend that you know what's going on here, I won't hurt you, but I'm afraid he might if you know to much, I couldn't live with myself if he did." Rachel said with a concerned look on her face. "He won't, trust me. But I know he's controlling, I can tell just by looking at him. He's controlling you to do things you don't wanna do Rachel, and that's not right. I can help you." Cora said with a smile on her face as she stood up from the chair. "I know. I know." Rachel said with a look of guilt on her face. "We can talk more later." Cora said as she walked out of the house. Rachel stood there thinking about a plan, to leave Nathaniel for good, or stay and help him with his mess. She just couldn't make up her mind, and time seemed to be running out.

***