New Year's Angel (R5 Fan Fiction -Rydellington)

Things Get Real

April 28th 2014

Ryland

                How could they do this to me? “Hey Ry, the guys and I have left for New York to help Rocky with something important. PLEASE DO NOT tell Dad or Mom where we went. I’ll explain everything ASAP. Stay safe and i’ll call you soon.” Really? That was all I got. A text message saying hey we are gone? Thanks for the advanced notice guys. He is just lucky I woke up earlier than usual today. If Dad had noticed them gone before I had read that text... yeah, things would not have gone well. I mean, it was bad enough even after I had time to think of a cover for them. I was down in the kitchen cooking bacon for breakfast when he came in.

                The first thing he said to me was “Where are your brothers?” Like thanks Dad, good morning to you too! So I being the brilliant fast thinker that I am said “Good morning Dad, they are staying at Ross’ girlfriends house for the next few days.” Don’t even ask how quickly my Dad’s face contorted into this puzzled questioning glare. How stupid could I get? Ross hadn’t been dating last time we checked. Dad would know that. So why did I say Ross? I literally could have said Riker or just said a buds place or anywhere else! But no a mysterious girlfriend for Ross had to come out. So naturally Dad just looked at me and asked “Ross is seeing a new girl? I thought he wasn’t dating right now because of his crazy schedule.” Yup, so I needed to make up a fake girlfriend and quickly. Made up girlfriends are hard to keep up with by the way. So think twice before you come up with one. “Oh yeah, didn’t he tell you? This girl... uh... Lexi from school; she is his age and is a cute cheerleader.” Let’s just say that this story worked for about an hour.

                Dad stopped me in the living room where he had obviously been thinking about my cover story. “Ryland, how come the boys are not answering their phones?” Well I couldn’t very well say that they were on a plane at that moment, so my horrible story had continued down a really odd path. “Oh... that is because... Lexi took them to her Island get away home.” Yeah don’t even ask. “They are just past the south beach, out over the water. They get no cell reception because of the Island trees.” Was there even an island there? Well my Dads face almost had me blabbing the truth as I was sure he wasn’t going to let this one go, but he did. He just shrugged and went back to the paper that he had been reading. I was SO lucky!

                That story worked up until yesterday. By this point Riker had finally called me to explain what was going on. The conversation pretty much consisted of me yelling at him for leaving me with the potential crazy people who happened to be my parents. I asked him over and over again why they thought I was the good one to leave ALONE in the danger zone. Riker tried to assure me that I was in no immediate danger as long as I did not do anything suspicious. Yeah he really could have mentioned that before I had come up with that lame story. He mentioned that the police would be showing up at my door within the next day or two so all I had to do was keep Dads mind off of the boys until then. Well that was obviously easier said than done.

                Yesterday Dad drilled me with questions about the Island, what this girl looked like, when they would be coming back, if I had any form of communication with them, and so much more. He obviously was very concerned about why I might be hiding them. My heart panicked every time I answered. I definitely deserved a gold medal for quick thinking and acting skills. I am a DJ. Nowhere in that job description is there an expectation outlining a task to lie about your brothers’ mysterious location. Believe me; if the police had not shown up today, my story probably would have fallen through any time. But they did show up and that was probably the hardest moment of my 17 years of life.

                This is how it went down. Around 3 P.M. there was a loud thumping on the door. I answered it not even thinking about what I was letting into our house. The officer in front looked me up and down and said “Ryland Lynch? Where is your father?” I probably looked like a school girl as I moved aside to let them storm into my living room. My Dad looked over from the lazy boy with a shocked expression. “Ryland what is going on?” Before I could answer an officer stepped in front of me. “Sir you have the right to remain silent. You are under arrest for assisting in the disappearance of Rydel Lynch. You are to have no contact with any of your children. You have the right to a lawyer blah blah blah.”

The entire time that guy spoke, my Dad didn’t look away from me. I could see the hurt in his eyes. He knew I had set him up. “The boys are not on an island are they Ryland? What did you kids do! Ryland I swear to you I will explain everything. Tell your brother’s I love them...” And just like that my Dad was gone. My mom was pulled out of the kitchen by two other officers reading her the same rights. She just looked at me with this questioning glance. Was she involved in this? She definitely hadn’t been as concerned about the boys’ location as Dad was. But looking at her face, I knew she was a part of it. She knew something that she hadn’t told the police. She hadn’t even told us. As my parents were put into two different cruisers I slid down the wall putting my head in my hands. Tears began pouring down my face. I had literally just helped get my parents arrested and stood there watching it happen. A female officer came up to me and patted my back. “I know this is hard kid, but you are getting closer to some answers. Have faith in the NYPD.” That’s hilarious! Have faith in the people who almost missed evidence connecting my Dad to my sister’s disappearance. Can we say messed up?

After that the police flew me to New York to be with my brothers. I was under age and couldn’t be left alone so they had to place me in Riker’s custody. We reached New York and Riker was there at the airport. He just hugged me. I couldn’t speak. I had witnessed my parents get arrested. That was not something that was easy to get over. Riker held my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “I am so sorry you had to do that. I promise; it was not without reason! We are going to get to the bottom of this. Okay?” I smiled at my big brother. He always knew just what to say to make us feel better. I hugged him again and thanked him. “I will be okay Riker. Let’s just solve this case!”