He Shoves Me But Loves Me (Riker Lynch/R5)

Chapter 28

"Riker," Ross said and grabbed me by the shoulders, looking me in the eye. "We are going to find her. There is no doubt in my mind about that. If it takes days, weeks, or months, we are going to find her. And when we do, all of us can take turns beating the shit out of whoever took her." My younger brother's words made me feel a little better, but I still worried. I nodded and pulled myself together, exiting the room and facing the rest of my siblings.

"Get some sleep guys. We can start looking in the morning." They all departed into their rooms and I changed into some pajamas, crawling into my bed. I cuddled Marilyn's blue and white cow I got her a few weeks ago into my chest, inhaling her coconut scent. Tears welled in my eyes as I slowly cried myself to sleep.

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~Marilyn's POV~

Hanna drove for at least an hour, spitting horrible things at me all the time. She finally stopped and Jai grabbed me roughly and dragged me into an old, creepy house, down the stairs, and onto the concrete floor. I felt blood burst beneath my skin as Jai slammed the door, leaving me tied up and bruised on the floor. I looked around at the room and saw the bed had a broken post with a sharp edge so I scooted over to it and sawed my bound feet against it until it broke and I peeled the rest of the tape off. It was hard, just using my feet, but I got it. I stood up and sawed off my wrist tape and rolled everything and took off the mouth tape, painfully. I sighed and looked over the entire room.

"Welcome to hell. Population, me." At this sentence I broke into tears, trying to quiet my sobs by covering my mouth with my arm. I felt nothing but guilt fill my body thinking of how much this was going to affect Riker. My love. My one and only. I stopped sobbing when I heard footsteps stomp down the hall and stop at my door, throwing in an odd bundle of something and leaving. I heard the main entrance door slam shut and locks turn. I wiped away my tears and knelt down on the side of the bed, folding my hands on the edge.

"God, I know that I don't come to you often and that I haven't always been the best person ever, but I really need you right now." I began a simple prayer. "I really need you to comfort Riker and his family. I know that I'll probably die in here and I'm okay with that. But, please let Riker be okay with that too. Amen." I got up and felt my head start to pound so I decided to crawl onto the bed and sleep.

The next morning, sun shine streamed in through the small window down here. I felt my stomach grumble at even the thought of food and I tried to turn the door knob but it was locked. I examined the weird bundle thrown in here last night and dissected it, finding a brush, some clothes, and a toothbrush. But no food or key or even a note saying when I could eat. I put on the clothes and brushed my hair, feeling defeated.

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~Riker's POV~

After eating and getting dressed the next morning, I got a call from Mom and Dad explaining they'd be homestead tonight because Rydel had called late last night and spilled everything. I started my search by driving around the neighborhood, asking people if they'd seen any suspicious teenagers last night. After getting numerous no's, I decided to go to the police and see if they could help. They just handed me a map of all the old abandoned houses around town. The only advice I got was, "Stay safe kid and inform us of you get anything else." I was a little thrown back at the lack of help but I sucked it up and put on a brave face. I looked at all of the houses and it would take me over a week to find and search all of these. I hoped that Marilyn would be able to endure who knows what they'll put her through during that time. I started with one closest to my own house. It was and old Victorian style home but it was broken down an gave off eerie vibes that sent chills down my spine. I parked my car on the side of the road and stuffed my keys in my pockets. The walk up to the house seemed to take ages but I got there and kicked the door lightly, forcing it open. The house was relatively nice for it to be abandoned. The walls seemed pretty sturdy as well as the floor. I looked around upstairs where everything was covered in dust made my nose tickle. I almost gave up o this house but when I opened the door to the basement, an index card floated onto the ground. I picked it up and read it.

"Right land, wrong town." I was stunned at the clue yet still amused a little. It was like they wanted me to find them and turn them in but the clue was too vague. What town? There were endless towns in California, hell they could be in Indiana for all I knew! I looked around everything for more clues and didn't find anything but I dabbed my finger in my mouth and tapped it against the paper and the ink bled, showing it was fresh and real. I left the house, clutching the index card in my hands and jamming the key into the ignition and speeding off to the next house. The other house didn't have much to it, a replica of the first one. No clues, just dust and dumb portraits of old dead guys that no one gave a shit about. One certain portrait from the last house stood out of a guy from Oakland who had an old house there, abandoned it and came to this one. Right land, wrong town. That must've meant that I had the right landlord, just in the wrong town! I pulled out me phone and tapped away at the screen, calling Rocky.

"Tell mom and dad I won't be home until sometime tomorrow, hopefully with Marilyn." I say before Rocky can even think.

All I got as a reply was, "Okay." I rolled my eyes and hung up, driving back to the other house and writing down the address on a scrap of paper and taking my exit to the highway to Oakland. Marilyn, here I come.