I woke up feeling empty. I rolled onto my side to hold Lauren against me, but there was only air beside me. I turned onto my other side thinking maybe she would be there. But when I went to put my arm on her, I realized she wasn't there, either. I opened my eyes in panic and sat up to look around at our group. Lauren was nowhere to be seen.
“Lauren? Lauren!” I called out, wishing she would answer me.
I stood up and peered out into the woods around us but I still didn't find her. Dread seeped through me and an undying fear came over me. What could have happened? Where could she possibly be?
“Lauren!” I yelled out this time, not caring if I woke the others up.
I ran back to the group to see them stirring. My nerves and heart were freaking out as the two went out of control. I felt as if my heart might beat out of my chest. There would have been no reason for Manson to come to our camp ground and kidnap Lauren and leave the rest of us, right? So where could she be? So many worried eyes stared at me as I fidgeted, attempting to figure out what to do. God, I was more calm when everyone was gone instead of just Lauren.
“Where is Lauren?” Sean asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
Sean stood up, gazing at me. The resemblance between the two became even more noticeable when his sad eyes wouldn't leave mine. Sean’s eyes were greenish blue instead of completely blue like Lauren’s, but the shape of their eyes was the same. Their hair color was the same, just as the shape of their faces. This was not helping.
“I don’t know. Did any of you see her?” I questioned, my eyes scanning each member.
All of them shook their heads as Cole got up, looking around frantically like I had just done. The happiness from the night before seemed to have drained away from me as the alarm and anxiety sank in. That night had been the best of my life. I realized the bliss I felt may never return again. I didn’t know how to fix the situation, I wanted that cheerfulness back.
“We have to find her!” Cole exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes and faced Cole. Cole expression seemed like a child’s and I wondered if I still looked like that. Flashes of what happened to her the last time she was missing came upon me. A pain shot through me as I started to shake a little, trying to understand what could have happened to her. If Lauren had been kidnapped, I would have noticed a harsh struggle since she was in my arms when I went to sleep. I do remember her being in my arms with her head on my chest, so I knew I wasn’t imagining that at least.
“No duh, we have to go find her! The problem is trying to think of a plan to get her and figuring out what happened!” I snapped. He couldn’t have thought that I wouldn’t want to go after her.
Cole just glared at me and I returned the favor. His anger toward me wasn’t going to help find Lauren or solve what had happened.
“Did she leave because of you again?” he barked at me as the others went wide eyed.
I was a bit taken aback. I didn’t think anyone knew why she left last time. That we had argued about a future together.
“No! We didn’t get into an argument last night!” I shot back as Lauren’s smiles and giggles from our being together flashed before my eyes. “Lauren and I were fine. She was happy with me!”
“Did you push her too far? Those kisses were pretty urgent last night!” Cole growled his eyes were narrowed balls of fire.
My eyes went wide then thinned at him. I guess he wasn’t as asleep as I had thought he was.
“You are always pressuring Lauren to have sex with you! That’s why she ran off last time!” Cole wouldn’t lower his voice. He continued to yell as I got closer.
Jill jumped between us with a hand at each of our chests to try to separate us even more so as a barrier. “You’re bickering isn’t going to help us find Lauren! Now shut up and try to act somewhat human instead of like two jackasses!” While screaming at the two us, she moved her head back and forth alternating glances at us.
“What’s sex?” Sean whispered to Paige. She shook her head ‘no’ in response with a small shrug of her shoulders. I couldn’t help but laugh in the middle of all the trouble.
Jill didn’t hear them at first so she looked grumpily at me because of my chuckle.
“Sean, sex is—” Tony started as Jill who appeared like she was going to have a panic attack as she grabbed onto the child and covered his mouth with her dark hand.
“One problem at a time please, people! Okay I get that Lauren isn’t here, but that doesn’t mean all hell should break loose! Now, let’s figure out what we are doing so things can go back to our form of normalcy...” Jill ordered. “And you two act your age!”
Jill glared at Cole and I, but you could tell she wasn’t ready to lose another one of us. Jill had been close with Mandy and it looked like she wasn’t ready to loose Lauren, who’d been taking on the role of the mother of these kids.
I came back from our little argument as I felt someone by my leg and looked down to see Sean. I picked him up as he wrapped his arms around my neck to rest his head in the crook of my. He had grown a little bigger since September. Then, something came to my mind.
“Sean, can I ask you something?” I asked tenderly.
“Great you are going to bring the kid into this?” James sounded frustrated and sighed. He rolled his eyes and dramatically crossed his arms over his chest. I glimpsed back at Sean again, my heartbeat began to speed up.
“Now, Sean, I want you to really remember for me, okay?” I questioned. Sean gazed up at me with sad eyes and nodded his head. “Did that big scary man and Lauren talk yesterday when he had you two?”
Sean’s eyebrows went together as he tried to think and he started to scan around the camp area. “I think they did a little bit… but they were confusing.”
This was what I had feared. My nerves began to shake like jumping beans as I thought about what could have gone on in that room.
“Was there any yelling?” I pressed further as he was quiet.
Sean shook his head. “The man wasn’t mad, he talked really quietly. He was talking about living with him I think,” Sean continued. His head was titled with his face scrunched up.
I felt the world falling around me at that moment. Part of me knew before Sean had told me. I placed Sean back on the ground as I collapsed Indian style. My breathed deeply, trying to fill my lungs and rid myself of the feeling of being suffocated. I put my face in my hands as my fingers intertwined with my hair. Her jittery behavior now made more sense. Lauren and Manson had possibly talked about her living with him. Lauren was a mess yesterday then I woke up and she was gone.
“God, she'd rather be with an old man than you!” A small laugh came from Cole.
I glared at him. Bolting up, I gripped the front of his shirt as I threw him against a tree before Jill could make a move to stop me. Cole’s eyes widened in fear, and I felt someone pulling me back.
“Stop it, you two! We have to get her back before he does something to her!” Her frustration seeped through as she used all her weight to attempt to get me off Cole.
I let go of the worthless piece of garbage in front of me I stared at the ground below my feet.
“He’s not going to harm her. He wants me and is using her as bait,” I muttered.
“So, let’s give him you in exchange for her,” commented Cole.
I decided to ignore him as Jill sent daggers at him with her eyes. Lauren was only with Manson because of me.
“My best bet is that he went back to Jersey, to be more specific, his home in Jersey,” I continued as if Cole never spoke.
“Why do you think that?” asked Jill.
“He’s been in jail for a while. With the amount of followers he has, even if his house suffered damages, I’m sure he’s had it rebuilt. Manson’s home probably will look like the disaster never touched his palace.” I shook my head, my jaw clenched.
I peeked over at Jill who looked really confused all of a sudden.
“How do you plan on getting her this time? Walking will take
forever.”
I shrugged.
“The same as last time, I guess,” I said. I hadn’t really thought of it. If I rescued her once, it could happen again right?
“Don’t you think you getting her last time was a tad on the easy side?” Jill brought up unhurried.
I frowned and tilted my head in an attempt to comprehend what she was getting at.
“What if… this sounds crazy, but what if he let you get her then?” Jill spoke like she was leading me to an answer she already answered.
I shook my head.
“Let’s just get to Lauren. I think I saw some sort of vehicles at the old farm. Hopefully we can use them and get to Jersey faster.”
I started to hike ahead to only take a few moments before the group followed in my footsteps. I picked up Paige and Sean then Jill and Cole picked up the other two so we could run to the farm faster. We needed to get to Lauren soon. In next to no time, the house came into view and we dashed into the barn. I started to look around for something that we could possibly use. There in the corner was a shining jet black motorcycle with a tan tarp over some of bike to keep dust off.
I moved over it and ripped the tarp off to see the baby. I was practically drooling over the bike as my fingers nervously twitched in desire. I sat on the seat and leaned down as I held the rubber grips, praying that this would work so I could take it. I scanned around for a key and nearly yelped with joy when I saw the last owner was a moron and left the key on a rusted nail on the wall next to the bike. I hoped this baby would work. I put the key in the ignition and turned the handles just to hear the roar of the engine only to turn it off again.
Everyone had their ears covered with their hands.
“What?” I asked innocently I felt like a little kid whose favorite cartoon show was turned into a movie.
Jill was about to say something, but a horse’s neigh stopped her. She went to go look out of the barns window to see a couple of horses were headed in our direction.
“I guess some of the animals are returning?” Jill shrugged.
Smiling, I ran to open the barn doors to welcome the tired animals. Two horses galloped in toward a bundle of hay then ate. One horse was brown with a white patch between its deep brown eyes while the other was chalky gray with storm cloud gray speckles all over its body.
I turned to Jill, a plan forming instantly. Probably not the best plan, but it was the only one we had right now.
“You guys will take the horses. Ride them to our hometown, maybe by our old neighborhood to meet up at.”
“We’ll be meeting you there I take it?” asked Jill with a raised brow.
I turned back to the motorcycle.
“Ooh yeah. Do you guys know how to get there from here?”
“The sun sets in the west and rises in the east, so we head east, and once we’re in Jersey, we should know from there. We’ll give the horses a bit of a break then head out. Please just meet us there?”
Jill looked scared about to cry from worry mixed with stress. A weak smile formed and I wrapped my arms around her, forming a brotherly hug. which she returned.
“Jill, I’ll get her back and we’ll wait for you guys, so don’t worry.” I squeezed Jill before letting go.
Cole snorted and we stared at him.
“Sure, just leave us.” He was challenging me. “Leave us with the responsibility all the time, why don’t you? I mean, you left us how many times?”
I stomped up to Cole, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Jill is in charge, so here’s your chance to prove to me you’re a man! Help her instead of being another person she has to babysit!”
“I am a man!” Cole yelled back at me furiously, as if his voice could kill me.
“A man isn’t told by age, but by his actions,” I whispered Ed’s words to him as I took long strides over to the motorcycle.
Again I turned the key and rode off out of the barn to watch a teary Jill, Paige, and Sean behind me as I went east on my quest for Lauren. The wind whipped past me as the engine roared, making me feel free like I had once felt, but then I remembered why I was even heading in this direction. I had to get to Lauren, and live to tell the tale.