A Tortured Soul

Chapter 30

Jack had been gone for an hour desperately looking for Justin, he couldn't seem to find him anywhere. May, JT, and Tatiana were sitting huddled together on the couch in the living room when they heard a loud thud hit the porch. They jumped and looked towards the door. A car squealed tires and sped off. May was skeptical about finding out what the noise was and had to force herself to get up and look. She peaked out of the window behind her and seen a large black garbage bag on the porch and caught sight of the back end of the baby blue colored car that squealed tires. She was afraid to check what was in the bag so she waited for Jack to come home. Twenty minutes ticked by like hours and Jack came in through the back door. He had searched the woods completely, hoping to find Justin but he returned with no luck. May rushed towards him and grabbed his hand. He gave her a confused look as she placed her first finger over her lips signaling him to remain quiet. She led him to the front door and pointed. He looked outside and seen the black bag, then looked back at May. "A blue car squealed tires after that hit the porch." She whispered. "Have you looked to see what it is?" He asked. "No, I was waiting for you." She said.

Jack carefully opened the door and inched over to the bag thinking it was some sort of explosive that could blow up at any given moment. He reached over and pulled the string that held the bag closed very carefully. The bag opened slightly and blood began dripping onto their newly re-stained wooden porch. Jack's heart dropped as he realized Justin could be in the bag. He stood still watching the blood drip praying that if it was Justin that he wouldn't be dead. He lunged forward and tore the bag open. An awful stench filled with decay and rotten flesh met his nose causing his eyes to water immediately and vomit forced it's way out. May held her nose and backed away, she seen what looked like a baby deer in the bag and felt slightly relieved to know it wasn't Justin.

After two days with no sign of Justin, May became more worried than ever. "What if they lied just to drive us crazy? What if they killed him and they just told us he was coming back to keep us searching?" She said with frustration and fear. Jack didn't know what to say, he had been thinking the same thing since the deer incident. He believed Justin's parents wanted them to think they delivered Justin's dead body to them. Which of course that is exactly what the plan was. "I don't think he is dead at all." Jack said. "You don't?" May asked. "No, I don't think he is on his way back either. I think they have him tied up or something and just want us to be driven crazy looking for him or waiting on him so we will eventually stop, but they wont win. We will get him back." May didn't respond. She couldn't muster up the courage to be positive in this situation.

Justin opened his eyes slightly, his whole body felt sore, his eyes were heavy and he wanted to go back to sleep. He was in a cold damp room resting on a concrete floor. Despite wanting to close his eyes again he forced them to open wider. It looked like he was in a walk-in refrigerator in some kind of restaurant. "What the hell?" He whispered to himself. He sat up groaning at the shooting pain and continued to gaze around the room. He noticed the door was slightly open so he crawled over to it and peaked out. No one was in sight so felt it was time for him to escape whatever hell he was in, to his surprise there was no one there to stop him from leaving. Despite the pain he managed to make it to his feet and stumble outside to see if he could figure out where he was and get back to the Thomas' house so he would be safe again.

By morning May was so exhausted from lack of sleep she couldn't bring herself to make birthday breakfast for Jack. Her fear grew stronger and depression set in deeper. She sat on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest while she stared at the floor and chewed on her thumb nail. Jack sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Hunny, it's going to be ok." He insured her. "Happy birthday baby." She said softly. "I bought you a present. It's in the laundry room in the cabinet above the washing machine." She said trying to smile. It was forced, but she managed to bring a small smile to her face. She grabbed his present out of the laundry room and handed it to him. "Thank you love!" She bought him a 9mm because his old one was jammed and she knew he wanted to buy a new one. He had his eye on a silver one with light blue wording engraved in the side. Which happened to be the one she got for him. "I love it baby, thank you so much!" He said and hugged her softly.

While he was inspecting the gun and polishing the barrel, the front door creaked open. Their attention was pulled quickly to see who was walking into their house. JT and Tatiana were still sleeping so they knew it was neither of them. Justin stepped inside with his face spattered with dried blood and his clothes were muddy and damp. There was a slight cut on his cheek and a gash on his neck. May and Jack both jumped up from the couch and rushed over to him scooping him up in a hug. "Justin! We are so happy to see you! What happened?" May said and set him back down kneeling in front of him keeping her hands on his arms. "I'm not sure." He said softly. "Where were you?" Jack asked. "I woke up in the refrigerator at Wendy's. The one they are remodeling." Jack and May looked at each other and back at Justin. "Let's get you cleaned up and fix these cuts, or do you want to go to the hospital?" May asked. "I just want to take a shower, eat, and go to sleep for a little while. I'm really tired." He said. "Ok." May said hugging him once more and ran to the kitchen. Now that Justin was back she got a sudden burst of energy and decided to cook Jack's birthday breakfast.

While May cooked Justin took a shower. By the time he got out JT and Tatiana were up and sitting at the table singing 'Happy Birthday' to their dad. Jack and May hadn't told them Justin was back. They figured it would be a good surprise. Justin finished up in the shower and walked downstairs to be greeted with Tatiana's stunned expression and JT running towards him with excitement. They ate breakfast together with smiles on their faces, (except Justin) they were all happy he was back, but he was confused as to what happened and was focused on trying to remember. The last thing he could recall was he and JT jumping on the trampoline. Everything after that was a blur.