Missing: Rachel Amber

Chapter 8

Rachel and Cora sat down on the front porch. "Did you think about what I said to you?" Cora asked as she looked at Rachel in the eyes. "I did. It's never gonna work out, I can't just leave Nathan behind." Rachel said with a unsure look on her face. "It's your loss. If you stay with him you'll more than likely go to prison, and I don't want that to happen to you. We need to make some kind of plan to get you back to Clover Valley, we aren't that far away from there." Cora said as she looked around the street to see if Nathan was around. "I helped him do all of this. I'm going to jail either way when they find me." Rachel said as she closed her eyes in disgust. "Look, I get it, he's your boyfriend. But he's controlling you to do things you don't wanna do, and that drug dealer you own money to is gonna find you someday, and God only knows what the hell he's gonna do to you. I don't want to see that happen, I could help you get out of here, and we can stop Nathan together." Cora said with a smile as Nathan walked up onto the porch. "Hello ladies, what's going on?" Nathan asked. "Nothing, just chatting and relaxing that's all." Rachel said as she stared at Nathan. "Alright, see you guys later." He said as he walked into the house. "I better get going. Let's talk later, maybe you can come over for dinner tonight." Cora said. "Yeah sure, of course." Rachel replied with a smile as Cora waved and walked off the porch.

***

"So, what were you and Cora talking about on the porch today?" Nathan asked as he sat down next to Rachel on the couch. "Life in general, that's all." Rachel replied quickly without even looking at Nathan. "You've been acting weird lately Rachel. I really wanna know what's going on." Nathan said with a serious look on his face. "I wanna live a normal life already, is that to much to ask?!" Rachel shouted in Nathan's face. "If we could, we would! You wanted this, you wanted to leave Clover Valley, not me. I just helped you." Nathan said with anger. "Nothing is ever going to be the same again, and I can't do anything to fix it." Rachel said as she lied back on the couch with tears filling in her eyes. "We both asked for this, so we both help each other, there really isn't any way to ever get out of this, we might as well get used to it." Nathan said as he tried to hold Rachel's hand but she pulled away. "I wanna be left alone." Rachel snapped as she put her face in the pillow.

***

As Rachel snuck upstairs into the bedroom, she began looking in Nathan's stuff for a phone, or even a laptop to contact someone with. As she finally found a laptop, she grabbed it and opened it up. She typed in the name "Taylor Christensen" and she typed a message as quickly as she could. "Hey girl, it's Rachel. I really miss you, and I know I could trust you. Please come to this address and and come secretly visit me. I need you." Rachel typed as she left the address on the next line. As she heard Nathan walking up the steps, she quickly closed the laptop and put it away. "Rachel, I understand how you feel." He said as he had a look of pity on his face. "Do you? You don't seem like it Nathan. I miss my old life and I want it back." Rachel said. "I know you do, so do I. Did you ever think you aren't the only person in this world that exists? I'm going through the same exact problem as you are, but you only care about yourself, I forgot. Sorry for trying to help." Nathan said as he blew Rachel off and walked back down the steps.

***

Rachel walked into Cora's house dressed in a black dress. As she saw Cora in the kitchen setting the table, she walked into the room with a smile on her face. "Well, hello!" Cora said as she sat Rachel down on the seat at the table. "Things with Nathan and I are heating up, I'm just glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me." Rachel said as she put a napkin on her lap. "Anytime, I'm always here if you need me. I honestly feel sorry for you. I can tell he really loves and cares about you, but sometimes I think he only cares about himself, and what he wants in his life." Cora said as she poured Rachel a glass of wine. "I really do love him, and he really does love me. But I need to go, he always wants it his way. But Cora, you don't know have the crap we did. There's just no going back now." Rachel said. "Tell me, it's not like I haven't watched the news and seen what they said about you both." Cora replied as she began to mix the food on the stove. "We burned that Motel down, stole bodies from a morgue, and killed a homeless man, which actually tried to kill me." Rachel said as she took a long sip of her wine. "Heard it all on the news, and let's face it, that was self defense with the homeless guy. But you never told me why you actually did all of this, that's what everyone seems to be trying to figure out. You're both also presumed dead." Cora said as she turned the stove off. "That town, is just, awful. There's more to it, but I just can't talk about it. Not now." Rachel said as she began to shake. "Calm down, it's okay. We can talk about all of this later." Cora said as she put her hand on Rachel's back trying to calm her down.

***

As Rachel finished eating dinner at Cora's house, she walked into the house and saw Nathan counting money on the table. "Woah, where do you get all the dough?" Rachel asked as she stared at all of the money. "Don't ask, just be happy babe. I hope you still aren't mad at me." He said as he kept on counting the money. "I just want you to understand things, that's all. Not everything goes the way you want it to go Nathan. I just want you to understand that." Rachel said as she sat down on the couch. "We have enough to move to our next town, we gotta keep moving." Nathan said as she picked up all the money and put it away in a bag. "Wait. Move? Already? We can't!" Rachel said as she stood up from the couch with fear. "We need to. Their gonna come closer and closer to finding us if we don't keep moving, it's for the best babe." Nathan replied as Rachel felt a nervous pit in her stomach. "This cannot be happening." She said to herself.

***

Cora was cleaning up the table and doing the dishes until she heard the doorbell ring. As she walked towards the door, she saw man standing outside behind the glass. As she opened the door the man look straight at her. "Hi, can I help you?" Cora asked as she grinned the door in fear. "Hi, I'm sorry to bother you but, I'm Ronnie, do you know where I could find someone by the name Rachel? Or maybe Nathan?" Ronnie asked. "No, sorry." Cora said. "Alright. Thank you." Ronnie replied as Cora shut the door on him as quickly as possible and locked the door behind her.

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