Kidnapped, Unfortunately

Chapter Forty Three

"So, what happened this time?" Hayley asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of me. "Did you meet those guys again?"

"Sort of," I hesitated. "It's hard to explain."

She raised an eyebrow, but I gave to further explanation.

"Well, I guess I'm just glad that you're back now," She said finally.

Suddenly, the front door opened, almost hitting me in the back. I moved away just in time and Camille and Carson entered, each carrying two bags of groceries.

"We're back," He announced to the stairs, and then noticed that we were right in front of him.

I looked over at Hayley and saw that her cheeks were turning pink as she looked quickly away.

Did something happen while I was gone?

Carson looked from her to me, and then to Jacob. "What happened to you?" He asked.

Jacob groaned in reply.

"I see," Carson nodded. "Well, I hope you're feeling better."

Jacob made a couple more unintelligible noises, and crawled out of the room.

"Well, now that that's settled, who wants dinner?" Carson asked.

Hayley and Camille nodded excitedly, but I needed to do something.

"Sorry guys, not hungry," I said lamely, heading for the stairs. "I'll be in my room."

Then I scuttled up the staircase and snuck over to Carson's room.

There has to be something in here that's useful.

I opened the door gently, trying not to make any sound.

Then I poked around in his trash can, but only saw some old chicken and a sock.

I went through all of his dressers too, but found nothing.

And I wasn't even going to try under the bed, because there was too much there for me to go through, so I finally checked under his mattress, and there I found something.

A wadded up piece of paper that had some gun in it.

I opened the paper, careful to avoid the gum, and read.

Dear Little Broski,
I'm going to be gone for a week, so I have some very specific instructions for you. Dad will take over in my absence, but you know he's gotten old and weaker, so I need you to keep this on the DL. I don't want any rouges or anything to come and take over while I'm gone, so make sure you watch dad, and keep this somewhere safe. I'll think of you in Jamaica. Wish you were here! NOT!
Love, your Big Broski.

I frowned at this piece of paper. He used it as a gum wrapper. Thank the lord he isn't in charge.

This is exactly what they would have wanted me to bring back.

But here's the thing. If I tell them, then they will attack and take over Carson and Jacob's territory, and they might get hurt.

But if I don't tell them, they will kill Hayley.

Ugh, why is my life filled with hard choices!

At least I have a day to decide.

I folded the paper back up and stuffed it into my back pocket, then slowly crept out of the room.

What it comes down to, is I have to choose between Hayley and the kidnappers.

I shut the door behind me and turned around, unfortunately crashing into Jacob,

"Hey!" He protested, and then scowled as he realized whose room I had just come out of. "Why were you in Carson's room?"

I laughed nervously. "Oh, no reason, I wasn't doing anything! Hahahaha!"

He squinted at me. "That was really suspicious."

I stopped laughing abruptly. "I'm just gonna go now."

As I tried to brush past him, he grabbed my arm and spun me back around.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" He asked.

"Um, no," I said, looking everywhere but his face.

His frown deepened. "Then why aren't you looking at me?"

I stared at his forehead. "Yes I am."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're hiding something."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I protested defensively. "Now leave me alone or I'll start swinging."

He reluctantly released me, and I headed back to my room.

I needed to be much more careful next time.

I went to my room and shut the door, then leaned against it heavily. Geez, this was gonna be harder than I thought.

I took the letter out of my pocket and tucked it safely under my pillow. I'll worry about that later. Now I just want to sleep.