The Heartthrob's Dark Obsession Part 2

Chapter 37

Chapter 37:

Nori let out a scream. "Theo! Please help!" She was heavily panting. The energy it was taking her to do anything was just too much.

Theo's voice continued echoing through the room. "I have a weak signal. I can't hear what you are saying."

"He must have cameras but no sound," said Amy.

"Then we gotta send him a message."

"I'll be back soon. Don't either of you worry," said Theo, his voice was becoming increasingly garbled.

Amy pulled Nori into a sitting position and pointed at the oozing sore on Nori's stomach.

"Be good, both of you." The sound of static filled the room. He was gone. A definitive click told them he wasn't coming back right away.

"Did you know he has an intercom?" asked Amy.

"No. But we gotta get him a message or I could die," cried Nori.

"I'm not going to let that happen. We're in this together. Please. I'm not emotionally stable enough right now to have you break down on me."

Nori made herself as comfortable as possible. She dried her eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't put you through this."

"No, you should. It's important that we stock together, but..."

"Is it about your mom?" interrupted Nori.

"Yeah." Sometimes Nori couldn't believe that Amy was only 20. She was so mature and rational whenever Nori was falling apart. Because of that she often took her friend for granted.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be putting all this on you."

"Dude, I just said it was fine. Just relax. I'll get you some food and then I'll figure out if we have any other medicine to treat this."

"Thanks Amy." Nori felt horrible. Sometimes she genuinely forgot that Amy was a victim as well.

****

Nori woke up still on the couch in the rec room. She pulled herself up and went in search of the other girl. Nori heard rustling in the kitchen.

Amy was standing over the stove with a piece of spaghetti. It ignited. Nori rushed to her a pulled her hand from the flame. "What are you doing?"

"I was going to get Theo's attention," screamed Amy, who had clearly been crying.

"With fire? That's a terrible idea!"

"What else do you want me to do! We're alone, you're sick, and he's gone off to God knows where! I tried notes! He's ignoring us."

"I'm feeling a bit better now. Please, don't do anything stupid. The last thing I want is for you to be hurt." Nori wrapped her arms around Amy. The other girl froze in place and suddenly Nori realized it was probably the first physical contact her friend had in far too long.

After a few minutes Amy pulled away. "Believe me, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I know you are just content to wait here forever, but I can't. Not while you're sick."

"I'm not content to wait here. I just know there's not much to do. I'll be fine. It's only a day. You got my fever down and you bandaged me up. Tomorrow Theo will go to the doctor and I'll be fine. Just give it a rest."

Nori turned off the stove and went to the stairs. She was exhausted. She didn't want Amy to know. While Nori did feel better, she knew it was not enough to think she could possibly be out of the woods.

Her friend didn't follow. Nori's eyes darted to the locked computer room. If Theo's signal was so bad maybe he couldn't see them. He definitely couldn't hear them. For the first time in forever a fire burned in her again.

She was drawn to the padlock like a moth to a flame. She had been in that room one time, tied to a chair. But she knew what was in there. Technology. Escape. A way to tell the world what was happening.

He had pressed six buttons when he brought her there. One of the keys was an enter button. A five digit code was most likely. There had to be over a million possible combinations.

But she sat on the floor and stared at that keypad.

What numbers could it be? Five digits could easily be a date. His birthday...12581? Nothing. The original day she was kidnapped? 92318. The day he was found not guilty...12619? Nothing.

"Maybe," she whispered. A number came to her. It felt so right...21495. Enter. Nothing. Nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" Nori turned to see Amy.

"You scared me. I'm trying to get into his computer room. I don't think he has cameras on us right now. Otherwise he would have seen the stuff we were trying to tell him."

"What combination did you try?"

"My birthday. 2.14.95," said Nori.

"Well, that would never work. He's British," said Amy, matter-of-factly.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"They write their dates with the day first and then the month. I thought you'd have known that."

"Right. I do. I guess it just didn't click in my head."

"Dude, he'd never have made it something so obvious."

"I know. But I have to try, don't I? I can't give up. Not when the opportunity has presented itself so clearly. Besides you're the one accusing me of being content with this situation."

Amy sat there looking at her. Nori expected her to say something. After far too much silence Amy said, "Don't keep me waiting. Just try it."

"Fourteen, two, ninety-five, enter," she breathed out. The light on the keypad turned green. Nori grabbed the handle and swung the door open.

"Holy shit, I did not expect that to work." Amy's hands clamped over her mouth.

"He's not here," said Nori. She took a deep breath and pulled herself up. "Let's get cracking."

The room had a computer on a folding table rather than a desk. The last time Nori was here she was too overwhelmed to notice anything. There were also three safes. One was small, probably for his phone and wallet. One Nori instantly recognized as a gun safe. And the final one was big, she couldn't possibly imagine what was in it.

But right now her eyes were on the computer. The possibility of escaping. All hope had vanished and now it was back. She could contact the police. She could contact Derek. And at the moment Theo couldn't see them, or so she hope.

Nori pressed the power button and blue lights flashed inside the computer tower. This was their chance.