Your Song (Shawn Mendes)

Chapter 13

Give me a sign
Take my hand, we'll be fine
Promise I won't let you down

Shawn's entire album played on repeat in her head, the only thing keeping her sane. Maria wanted to cry but she didn't have any feeling left in her hand to do so. She didn't know how long she had been back in the hell this bastard called a basement but based on how many meals he had allowed her to eat, she had to guess it had been at least a week, maybe more.

She clenched her eyes shut when she heard the lock on the door. She heard footsteps before she felt his fingers trace the tattoos on her neck and had to repress the urge to cringe from the touch. It would only lead to another 'punishment'. 

"The precious little thing still scared of the one person who keeps her safe." He said tauntingly, running his finger over the music note behind her ear. She clenched her fists so tight, her nails dug into her palms. Her mind attempted to drown him out with Shawn's songs but his voice still wormed its way in. "You should be happy. I took you away from that boy before he could break your heart."

Maria's heart cracked in her chest. She didn't want to believe him but he had been drilling it into her head the entire time she had been here. Shawn would never hurt you. She repeated over and over in her head. He's just trying to get in your head so you submit.

Maria could see the light from a cellphone being put in front of her. "I mean, look at him. Still touring without you." Her eyes shot open and she saw the screen. It was pictures of Shawn from his Toronto, Montreal, and Brooklyn shows. So I've been in here for almost two weeks, great. She thought to herself. In each picture, Shawn was still smiling and playing his heart out.

Maria felt her heart splinter but knew if it was the other way around, he wouldn't want her to disappoint those thousands of fans that came to support them. What really upset her was the smile on his face. Did he not even care that she was gone? 

Then something in the Brooklyn pictures caught her eye. It was a silver chain around Shawn's neck. It wasn't unusual for Shawn to wear necklaces but from the picture, she could just make out two rings resting on the chain like charms. Her rings! Her heart swelled and she had to force herself not to smile.

She buried her face in the ratty, dirty mattress that he passed off as a bed. To him, she looked like she didn't want to see the pictures anymore, but in truth, she was hiding the smile on her face. She tensed when she felt him stroke her hair. "Don't worry." He said soothingly. He placed a small kiss on her head and she fought the urge to gag. "I'll keep you safe from the world."

The last thing she heard was footsteps and the door slamming shut.

*******

A ghost of a smile appeared on Shawn's face as he wrote the lyric down. They were currently in Pittsburg and it had been 12 days since Maria was taken. After they finished the North American leg of the tour, Shawn was going to be performing at the VMAs. He knew it would feel just like every performance without Maria, something missing.

His fans were dying to know what happened to her since her social media hadn't been active and no one had seen her on the tour. He talked with Andrew about it and they had decided to tell his fans the truth, also giving them the tip line and the descriptions so maybe one of his fans had seen something.

He pulled out Maria's phone and opened the camera once again. "Hey, Maria. Almost two weeks since you've been gone and... I still think about you every single day. It's like there's something missing during every show. Music is all I can do to keep myself from falling apart thinking of what he's doing to you. I've been writing some new songs and... I keep thinking about the night we got together back in Milan. How we were practically screaming at each other yet we somehow ended up as boyfriend and girlfriend. I just... I thought you'd like to hear something I've been working on."

He propped the camera up against the mirror of his dressing room and put the guitar on his lap. He started plucking out the strings and sang the words he had just written down, 

I don't know what it's like to be you
I don't know what it's like but I'm dying to
If I could put myself in your shoes
Then I know what it's like to be you

Shawn put the guitar down and picked the phone up again. "It's not finished yet obviously but... it's for you. It's always for you. I keep saying this but every show I do, every song I sing is for you. The VMA performance is going to be for you." He ran a hand through his hair. "Andrew and I agreed to tell the fans and the media about what happened. We're sending out the descriptions of Noah and his car. I'm praying that someone somewhere has seen something."

Tears burned in his eyes. "I don't want to even think about what he could be doing to you but just know that no matter what he said to you or did to you, I'm going to be here with you every step of the way." He blew a kiss to the camera. 

*******

"Mom, mom, mom!" A voice called out. Evelyn, mother of the 14-year-old owner of the voice Brianna, wiped her hands on a dish towel and came into the living room. Brianna was sitting on the couch with her laptop on the coffee table. "Mr. Cartwright is on Shawn Mendes' Instagram!" 

Evelyn raised an eyebrow and went over to the screen. It was a black and white photo of Shawn and, from what she's heard from her daughter, his girlfriend Maria. She smiled at the picture of the two teens smiling together. She read the caption and her eyes widened as it described how Maria was held in a basement for 14 years only to be captured once again almost three weeks ago by the same man. He gave the description of the man, Noah Cartwright, and the car he had been using.

Evelyn put a hand to her mouth as she realized that the Noah Cartwright Shawn described was the same man who lived next door to her and her daughter. Even the car description matched the car their neighbor had 'traded in' for a new one only a few weeks ago. Then there was the never explained fact that none of the pieces of mail she had got a glance at in passing ever had 'Noah Cartwright' in the address. Evelyn quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Bri, I need you to read me the number that Shawn listed." Evelyn ordered, typing in the numbers as her daughter read them.

While the phone rang, she pulled the curtains back from the window. Noah was out on his front lawn, checking his mail as normal. He spotted her and waved with a smile. He perfectly matched the description given. She gave him a smile back to not raise his suspicions and turned away as a woman answered the line.

"Toronto PD tip line, do you have information on a case?"

"Yes, concerning the kidnapping of..." She read the screen. "Maria Peters. The man who kidnapped her lives next door to my family."