Always

0.4

We dropped Chuck off at the cafe, and went home. I immediately headed to get clothes and take a shower. An when I got out, Ben was waiting on the couch with Glee waiting for Netflix. I immediately sat down next to him.

"Thank you." I said, kissing his cheek.

"For what?" he said.

"For saving me and being willing to watch Glee with me," I said smiling at him.

"Of course, that's what you do when you love someone and they get kidnapped by your crazy uncle." he replied, reminding me how lucky I am to have him.

We sat there watching Glee for the rest of the night,both of us breaking into song with Rachel Berry. Ben claims that he hates Glee, but I know that deep down, he loves it just as much as I do. We almost never just sit down and watch Netflix, even over vacations, because when you're in grad school getting a master's in English Literature, like me and Ben, free time becomes something you have to work for, even if that means five extra minutes to make food. Take out, or doing your work and studying in a place with food becomes your life, that's probably why so many coffee shops are populated by college people. Sometime during our Glee marathon, I guess I fell asleep and Ben carried me to the bed, because when I woke up, I was in bed with his arms around me. As I laid in bed, I thought about everything that had happened, and I remembered how he hadn't wanted to come get me by himself.

"Why are you scared of your uncle?" I asked him.

"I'm not scared of him." he said suspiciously.
"Yeah, okay." I said sarcastically, "Now are you going to answer me seriously?"

"I'm not scared of him," he started, "I just don't like going to his house, because there are bad memories that it brings up."

"Aww, Babe. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I mean we're kind of close in age, I guess, twenty-five and thirty-six, but we aren't that close. We never have been. He just brings up bad memories that I don't like talking about."

I let it go and my mind drifted to Chuck. I decided to check on him, and see if he was okay, so I went to the cafe, but he wasn't there, which was weird, because he had said that he normally works everyday. I asked about him and everyone working said that they didn't know where he was. They told me that he hadn't checked in either. I got a coffee to go and went home.

I called him, but he didn't answer. I told Ben about Chuck being missing when I got home and he agreed that it was weird. I let it go for the moment and figured I'd see him tomorrow anyway. But I didn't see him the next day and not for a few days after that.

Getting worried, I called him and texted him, but he didn't answer. Chuck had been missing for three days and I was starting to get worried. Chuck has been known to go missing for a day or two in a row, but never more than two days.

He had been one of my best friends since I started college, we knew almost everything about each other. I had met him in the cafe, and we had been best friends ever since.

He was twenty-five, just like me, but he had opted out of college, and decided to work instead. It wasn't a bad thing, he loved what he did, he was a people person, so getting to talk to people everyday was the best thing for him.
I tried to talk to Ben about him, but he said it was probably fine, he didn't like Chuck, and because he didn't, he didn't understand how I felt.

I went to the coffee shop again just to check to see if Chuck was there, but he wasn't, again, so I went home worried, again.

As I was entering the apartment, I felt someone come up behind me. I turned around and saw Richard I tried to scream, but he held a cloth over my mouth and even though I struggled to get away, I felt myself slowly losing consciousness.