Where is Louise Bauman? + Original, Book 1 ✔

32

- No Judgment; Niall Horan - 

"So starting from the beginning - first thoughts; did she run away or was she kidnapped?" Tyler asked as the group sat in Granny's diner, the tiny restaurant empty except for the group and an elderly couple on the opposite side of the building.

"No, she didn't get kidnapped. If she did, she wasn't held captive for long." Charlie shook her head as she replied. "I saw her, remember."

"Or at least you think you did," Tyler said. "You're not sure."

"Wait, what?" Trystan asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you don't know all the details." Tyler rolled his eyes, "Charlie thinks she saw Louise."

"How?" Trystan asked.

"Yeah, I'm a little lost here." Kiya leaned forward, resting her elbows on the white shiny table in front of her. "If you saw Louise, why didn't you say something?"

Charlie began to say something but stopped, realizing this was when the secrets began to really come out. Of course, her having asthma wasn't a huge secret, it was just something she hadn't wanted everyone to know.

"I, um..." She stopped, clearing her throat as she ran her fingers through her hair. She glanced over at Ren before back to the others. "I had an asthma attack and she saved me."

"Excuse me, what?" Jade exclaimed, "Since when did you have asthma, Charlie?"

"I've had asthma since I was little, it was just something I've only ever told one person," Charlie explained, resting her hands on the table in front of her.

"Let me guess, Ren?" Jade asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Actually, no." Charlie shook her head, "Mikey. But that's because he was my childhood best friend, Jade. He's seen me have one of my attacks before and that's the only reason he knows and he swore not to tell anyone. Kiya didn't even know. And yeah, afterward Ren and Tyler knew but that was because they came to my house after it happened. Otherwise, they wouldn't have known."

"I don't get how you having asthma has anything to do with this." Trystan shook his head, "And why it's a big deal if anyone knows? It's just asthma."

"Basically, when I first started all of this when it was just Renny, Tyler, and I - we went around talking to people. I talked to Nadia, and I found out about the video about Jade and Louise, I needed to show them because it was serious. Obviously, Granny's is a bit distance away from my house and I never used to keep my inhaler on me but I tried to run the distance to my house and I didn't make it." Charlie explained, motioning her hands around as she talked. "I collapsed right by my house. Someone pulled me down to my house, and it was her."

"Are you- are you sure?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, are you sure it just wasn't someone else?" Jade asked, her features surprised instead of angry at the fact that Charlie didn't tell her.

"Why would someone drag Charlie to her house then just drop her off and run away when Ren pulls up?" Tyler asked, leaning back in his seat. "I genuinely didn't believe it at first, neither Ren nor I did. But after talking about it more and more, and thinking about it- I believe Charlie. I think that it was Louise and she's out there, hiding somewhere. And Charlie has Louise's diary and from her last entry, it's more believable that she's just hiding instead of being kidnapped or anything like that."

"I saw the shape of her face. She was wearing kind of like a disguise. Not anything too dramatic but a discreet one," Charlie said. "It was her. She spoke to me, guys."