|Eight|

•Week One•

(A/N) Also, this story is going to be in first person instead of third person. I usually write in third person, so let's see how this goes-

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I bolted awake, a cold sweat running down my back causing me to shiver. My blankets were twisted around my body, suffocating me, entrapping me.

I quickly pulled them off, sitting up right and rubbing my eyes. My dream was the same one from last week. But when I awake, the dream always disappears from memory--except for a few tid-bits. It had something to do with Ryan, but what?

I sighed when no recollection of the dream surfaced in my mind. I slipped out of bed, my feet dragging across the cold floor. I shivered again and quickly got dressed.

~

"Hey Adam," Jack greeted as I walked into the room.

"Good morning," I responded, although it wasn't a very "good" morning. I was still nervous about my dream, it was important, I could tell. But why couldn't I remember it all?

"Where's Ryan?" I asked. A shiver ran down my spine, I didn't quite know why though.

Jack shrugged. "He said something about getting more milk. He's probably on his way back."

I nodded.

~

Exactly four hours had past and Ryan was still gone. I was starting to get nervous, and the fact that Ryan wasn't answering any of our calls and texts was also disturbing. Jack was pacing the room and looked like he was ready to call the police.

"Who takes this long to buy milk?!" Jack exclaimed, as he fell onto the couch.

"I'll call Cat," I said. "Maybe he's with her?"

"He better be."

I quickly called Cat and after a few rings, she picked up. "Yeah?" Her voice sounded through the phone.

"Um, have you seen Ryan at all today?"

There was a moment of silence before her answer came. "No. Why?"

My heart dropped. "No reason... Thanks." I hung up and turned to Jack. He had a look of hope, and when I told him she hadn't seen Ryan either, the look quickly dispersed.

"Where the hell is he then?!"

"I...... I don't know. Maybe he just decided to get more stuff at the store?" I said.

Jack shook his head. "Why isn't he responding to our texts?"

"..... Maybe his phone died?"

Jack huffed. "How could it have died? He charged it last night. It couldn't have died in four hours!"

I bit my lip, thinking.

"Maybe we should try asking people if they've seen Ryan?"

"Okay, we could try that."

~

It's been eight hours. Eight hours. And still nothing. Nothing at all. No one's seen him, no one's talked to him. No one.

Jack was panicking, and honestly, so was I. But I needed to keep a cool exterior and a clear mind.

"That's it! I'm looking for him!" Jack stated, rising from the couch and heading to the door.

"We've already tried looking for him. We need to think through this."

"But- but what if he got kidnapped?" Jack whispered, scared.

I sighed. "He's a grown man, he didn't get kidnapped."

Jack gasped. "He must've been adultnapped then!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "No, he didn't get- You know what? Nevermind."

Jack grabbed a cupcake and started eating it. "I'm stress eating. Because of Ryan."

I was about to ask if I could have one, too, but was interrupted by the door opening.

Jack bolted up, rushing to the door. I followed behind him.

I was relieved to find that it was Ryan.

"Are you okay?! Why didn't you answer our calls?! Why'd it take you so long to get milk?! And why don't you have any milk with you? I wanted to have cereal."

Ryan simply pushed past Jack and sat on the couch. "Uh, I forgot? About? The? Milk?? I guess?"

"Unacceptable. You're never going grocery shopping again since you obviously can't do-"

"What happened?" I interrupted. I could obviously tell Ryan wasn't focused on anything, and seemed to be disheveled. He slowly lifted his gaze off of the floor and met my eyes, I could see something turning in his mind, and he slightly shook his head.

"Nothing. Why?" He said. He kept my gaze, tilting his head.

I felt unnerved. Ryan had never stared at me for this long without blinking before. His eyes were red, like he had been crying recently, but his expression was neutral.

"Are you sure nothing happened?" I asked, and he quickly broke eye contact.

"Yes. I'm tired, goodnight." He said and left the room, even thought it was too early to go to bed.

There was a moment of silence. Jack was also deeply unnerved, and we both knew something did happen. But what?

"Those weren't the same color of glasses he was wearing when he left this morning," Jack whispered.

I shuddered, and I didn't know if it was because I was cold or because of something else.

"What.... What do you think happened? Why's he acting so weird?"

Jack shrugged. "He must've been adultnapped."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, fine. He was 'adultnapped'."

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