Joanne through the years.

Bullet

Graham Sugg stared down at me with a look of triumph.
"Well, well, well.  If it isn't Dianne Buswell.  Joes best friend.  And all these lovely lads.  How many have you been hooking up with whilst you lead on my son?" he growled.
"None of them" I squeaked.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Looking for someone" I replied.
"Who? This one?" he pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Joes head.
"Please don't hurt him" Byron pleaded.  Graham cocked his head at Byron.
"Why not?  What does he mean to any of you?  He's just an accident that happened on a drunken night out" Graham hollered.
"Well just because you don't care about him doesn't mean that other people don't" Jack snapped.
Graham loaded the gun.
"One more word from any of you and this one gets it" he pushed the gun harder against Joes head, causing Joe to wince slightly as it cut into his head. "Shut up" Graham shouted in his ear. "Now.  I take it that nobody knows that you're here because you thought that you'd be smart and come and find Joe yourselves.  Which means that I'm just gonna have to keep you lot here.  You'll just die in here together" he cackled evilly.
"We'll find a way out" Josh shouted "and you'll go to prison like you deserve to."
"I thought I told you to shut up" Graham roared and he pointed the gun at Joes leg and shot it. Joe screamed in pain. "Every time one of you talk to me I'll shoot him and next time it wont be his leg" he shouted.  His eyes were popping.  He was insane.  He then stood up and walked out of the room. He turned back at the doorway. "Remember Joseph.  I don't love you.  Nobody does.  And nobody ever will.  You're just a useless nobody" he then left the room, locking the door firmly behind him.  I ran over to Joe.
"Joe are you alright?" it was a stupid question really as he obviously wasn't.
"I'll be fine" his face was screwed up in pain.
"What happened whenever he took you?" Mikey came and sat down beside him.
"He knocked me out from behind.  Then he drugged me so that I wouldn't wake up for a while then I woke up here.  He beat me a bit.  Then talked to me.  Then beat me again.  Then around two hours ago he came back upstairs with my phone which he must have taken off me whenever he knocked me out.  There were messages from that group chat we're all in.  That's how Dad knew you were coming and that the police knew that I had been kidnapped.  So then he made sure that he was hiding in here so that when you arrived he could quite easily just lock you in."
My heart sank.  How could we be so stupid.  It was obvious that Joes dad could quite easily have seen our messages then known that the police knew that Joe had been kidnapped.
"Although it sucks that we're all kidnapped...I'm glad that you guys came.  I really thought that nobody had noticed that I was missing."
"Aww.  Of course we noticed Joe" I hugged him tightly and he pulled me closer to him.
"Yeah.  We were all really worried but Dianne was the only person brave enough to go around to your actual house.  So its all thanks to her that we found you" Josh said.
"Thanks Di" Joe pulled me closer to him and I leant against him.
Joe
My leg was in agony.  It hurt like hell.  I could feel the cold bullet inside my leg but I didn't cry.  I had to stay strong.  For everyone.  We were all in this together.  Dianne soon fell asleep against me.  I had a strong feeling that she hadn't slept in a while.
"You care a lot about her don't you Joe?" Mikey asked.
"Yeah" I whispered my reply.
"More than friendship or not?"
"I'm still figuring everything out.  Dianne's moving back to Australia so I don't see how we could be anything more than just friends.  It could bring back my depression big time" I sighed and looked down at the beautiful red head lying on my lap.
"Well, I'm sure you'll keep in touch" Conor smiled weakly.
"I will" I said "but a relationship is two ways.  She will need to as well.  And we're only young.  Long distance wouldn't work" I brushed a lock of hair off her face. She smiled slightly in her sleep. "How did you guys get here?"
"Oli drove us in the van" Josh said. We all looked over to Oli who had fallen asleep in the corner.
"He was proper worried about you mate" Conor told me. "He stopped eating or sleeping.  Oli may seem tough some times but deep down inside he really cares a lot about you."
Jack pulled off his jumper. "It's getting kind of warm don't you think?"
We all shook our heads.
"Are you feeling okay?" Conor asked concernedly.
"I just think its rather warm" Jack said defensively.
"Jacks right.  It is warm in here" Oli woke up and wandered over to us.
"Nah.  You guys must be coming down with something.  I don't think the heating even works in this place and I can't see Dad switching it on to warm us up a little" I frowned and Dianne woke up.
"Hey guys" she muttered as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes.
"Do you think that its warm in here?" Jack asked her.
"Ummm nope. It's the same temperature as before isn't it?" She looked up.
"Well Jack and Oli reckon that's its got warmer" I said.
"Can anyone smell that?" Caspar asked suddenly.
"Caspar" Conor shook his head. "Now is not a good time for you to boast about how good your nose is and how you can smell things from up to fifty miles away."
Jack laughed.
"No.  I smell it too" I attempted to stand up but cried out in pain and fell back down to the floor.
"Joe?" Dianne asked. "Are you okay?"
"No."
"What's wrong?" Dianne's eyes were filled with worry.  I looked right into her eyes and told her.
"I smell smoke.  Dads set the building on fire!"