Careless

Something's Missing

A/N: If you guys forgot, Charlie is alive and she has been kidnapped by her dad who is supposed to be dead. Okay.

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~ Tara's POV ~

It was midnight and we were all still awake. Once Kaley's pizza had arrived, we had already finished. So we dug into Charlie's now cold pizza so that Kaley wouldn't feel left out. Imogen threw up in the toilet.

We put Divergent on the TV and I melted at the scene where Theo James comes in. He's so hot.

Kaley and Monica laughed at me as Abby scoffed. She used to like Theo James as well, before we found something very disturbing. Now she likes no one. Or so she says.

We watched movies all night, laughing and talking. Around 11:30, we went into Monica's soon-to-be room to set up. We always slept over on a Wednesday, school night or not. We set our sleeping bags on the many mattresses spread over the floor. We put popcorn and a bowl of lollies at the head of our sleeping quarters.

It was midnight and we were still talking. Everyone laughed at one of Kaley's dirty jokes, while I just sat there confused. Abby explained what she meant, and I burst out laughing.

My phone buzzed and I checked it. It was a text from Brad.

"That's weird." I said.

"What?" Abby asked.

"It's Brad." I told them.

"I know what that means." Monica said. "He wants some late night calls, texting you at midnight."

"Yeh," Kaley piped up. "What were you two talking about at Charlie's party?"

"Oh." I said. Truth was, Brad had apologised. I never brought it up to the girls because, I guess I just forgot.

"He was just apologising for kissing me that time." I said. "No biggy."

"It is a biggy, Tara!" Abby said. "If Charlie found out that he apologised, she'd be thrilled that her brother actually likes someone..."

"He doesn't like me!" I said. "And Charlie won't find out because she can't!"

I had struck a nerve. Everyone just sat there silently. Imogen finally spoke up.

"You should probably check that." she said. I nodded and left the room, not wanting them to read over my shoulder. I unlocked my phone and checked his message.

@braddyharrys: Tara, I didn't know who else to turn to. Something's happened. Don't panic, it's something good. Barley got a phone call this afternoon and, well, it was Charlie. I'm sad to say that when he told me I started crying with tears of joy. I missed both my sisters, and to find out that one of them was alive was a miracle...

I looked away for a minute, tears blurring my vision. Once I had got a hold of myself, I read on anxiously.

... But, (yeh there's a but) Barley's other new has confused me completely. Barley said that Charlie said that she'd never seen her kidnapper before. And he never spoke. We both thought that that was very suspicious. Barley said that when Charlie broke into the kidnapper's room to read hi mail to find his address, it was all Barley's mail. That makes sense, because Barley told me that he hadn't had mail in over a month. But the next part made me, I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling. Barley said that the kidnapper yelled at him through the phone. And the kidnapper was my dad...

I gasped loudly. Brad and Charlie's Dad had gone missing ten years ago, and no one could find him. They found his old clothes smouldering in a pile of ash. Everyone thought that he had burnt to death. And now he had kidnapped his own daughter? What is up with this??

... And even though I believe Barley and Charlie 100%, I can't help but feel like something's missing. I need some advice. Please text me back, I really need to talk to someone.

I relocked my phone and sat on the ground. I couldn't believe Charlie was okay, and that her Dad was her kidnapper.

After I had time to focus, I texted Brad back.

@tinytara_milton: it's okay. That's great news! if Charlie's okay, then that means that we'll get her back soon. Don't panic, she'll be okay. And I do agree with you, something sounds fishy. Let me tell the girls and I'll text you what they say.

I ran back to the room where all the other girls were starting to fall asleep. "Charlie..." I panted.

"She's not here!" Kaley said, annoyed. "Just let it go!"

"No, you don't understand!" I said. "The text from Brad, it was about Charlie - "

"Uh oh." Abby said.

"No it's good!" I said. "She rang Barley..."

I launched into the story of how Charlie had rung Barley and told him everything. I hesitated when I got to the part about Charlie's Dad, but told them anyways; they deserved to know. By the time I had finished, Abby was crying, Kaley had a hand over her mouth, Monica had her jaw dropped to the ground, and Imogen was staring into the distance, emotionless. We all stayed silent for a moment.

"I need some toffee." I told everyone, getting up. Toffee was my sweet stress reliever. It took my mind off of things as I crunched on the sweet treat.

I came back a few minutes later with my toffee. The girls were in a heated argument.

"We can't just leave her there!" Abby yelled.

"Well, we can't exactly go and get her, can we?" Kaley asked.

"We should at least try." Monica piped up.

"What's the plan then?" Imogen asked. "How are we going to find her?"

"We could track the phone call." Abby suggested.

"It was a private number." I said between chews.

"Then we could track the actual phone." Monica said. "I've done that before."

"Okay," Kaley said. "Let's give it a shot."

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The next day, I went over to Brad's house to sort out what we were going to do. Now that we knew that Charlie was kidnapped, we had to act quickly. Her dad might do something rash to punish her for stealing his phone.

We figured out that the only way to track the call was to ring the phone again. We didn't have the number, but we had a clue as to who might.

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I know this is so short, but I couldn't think if anything else. Who do you think has Charlie's Dad's number?? And I know what you're thinking, but he's not Mr Harrows. That is Mrs. Harrows maiden name, and she got all the kids to change their names after he supposedly died. So yeh. Please leave any feedback in the comments section, and vote if you'd like. Kk thanx for all of your support.

📕📙 oliv3a13 📗📘

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