Gone.

Chapter Four - Surprise?

Kay, I know no one is reading this story, but I'm continuing it anyway, for now :P And I know, I'm sorry, I said Zavier would be met in this part but he isn't.

NEXT CHAPTER, GUARANTEED.

And sorry it's sorta short too - but anyway. We're starting to get a bit more warmed up, so hopefully you'll enjoy! :)

“Where’s Zee?” Charlie asked, just as I stepped out of the car. My feet crunched on the gravel, grinding as I twisted to shut the door with a thud. The house looked even bigger up close and I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed, my stomach dipping. Was Zavier in there?

“Dunno,” Jay replied. He fished Charlie’s phone out of his jean pockets and started to fiddle with it, frowning. I glanced away from him after a moment, looking around at the house. It was beautiful; the garden alive and thriving. How could something so nice and normal belong to such a psychotic man?

Jay let out an irritated huff, clicking the phone off and recapturing my attention.

“Zee’s not replying to any messages, and neither are Matt or Tye. I’m going to go check out the house, just stay here.”

“Alright,” Charlie nodded. Jay looked across at me and I nodded as well, not saying anything. It was sort of ridiculous, but I almost felt relieved – there was a chance I didn’t have to meet Zavier today, and although I knew it was only a matter of time, I couldn’t help but feel my heart lighten.

Jay watched the two of us for a second more before turning around to crunch away. Instead of approaching the veranda where the front door was, he headed towards the side of the house, treading quietly across the lawn. I frowned.

“What do you think is going on?” I asked, cocking my head to look at Charlie. She was staring after Jay with a worried expression on her tanned face, green eyes scrunched up in a light grimace.

“Not sure,” she replied, pulling her gaze away to look at me.

“Does Zavier do any sort of -” I glanced down at my hands awkwardly, trying to think of the right word. “Um, any sort of business? Dealing and stuff? Do you think he’s in trouble?”

“What, drugs?” Charlie asked, before laughing and shaking her head. I felt relief wash over me – a psycho druggie was probably a lot worse then a plain psycho. “No way, he’s never done anything like that. He rarely even drinks.”

“Oh,” I nodded quietly, leaning my back against the car. “Well, I guess that’s good.”

“Yeah,” Charlie agreed, moving back so she could rest next to me. “I know it’s hard to believe, but Zavier’s actually a pretty decent guy, chicka. Some of the people in our culture never even let their girl out of the house – and I can tell you right now, Zavier would never do that to you.”

“Wait, what?” I choked out, straightening up so I could look at her face properly. “You mean kidnapping people is common in your ‘culture’? Locking them up is just an everyday thing to you?”

Charlie frowned, shaking her head quickly. “No way, kidnapping people is sick and so is locking them up, we all know that. But some of our men just don’t want to take the risk of losing the people they love - it’s not like they chain them to chairs or anything.”

“They’re worried about losing them?” I repeated, my tone almost incredulous. “The only thing they’ll lose is the sanity of their girlfriend. You’d go insane being stuck inside a house for your whole life. That’s just stupid.”

Charlie just shrugged, glancing over at the house temporarily. I turned my head to look as well, but nothing had changed.

“Yeah, well, that’s that. My sister’s housebound and she’s fine with it. A couple of her friends are as well; the three of them hangout almost everyday,” Charlie said.