It had been hours since Celeste and Nate returned from the police station. She sat in the living room with Jessica’s head rested on her lap as the young girl slept. It hadn’t been easy trying to get Jess to calm down enough to rest. After Nate’s outburst outside the station he hadn’t spoken. Not a single word - to her or anyone else. As soon as they had gotten back to his grandparents house he went straight up to the room he usually stayed in when they visited. No one had seen him since.
She didn’t know what to do. Nate did not look like he wanted company but she wanted to be there for him. The house had been teeming with officer’s since they had come back. She didn’t talk to them, didn’t have to. While the rest of Nate’s family conversed with the officers Celeste stayed in her spot on the couch, running her fingers through Jessica’s hair.
The poor girl would’t listen to reason. She kept blaming herself for Brooklyn’s kidnaping. Everyone including Celeste had told her over and over that it wasn’t her fault. But, Celeste knew that the only person she would listen to was Nate. He needed to let his little sister know that it wasn’t her fault. How could any of them have known that Sam would pulling something like that? It wasn’t like they didn’t know she was crazy. Personally Celeste thought that Sam had skipped right past crazy and hit insane.
A phone rang in the background reminding Cece that she had yet to call her brother. Aaron was surely freaking out- probably had been for a while. There was nothing she could do about it just yet, her phone was still dead and in Nate’s truck. She would get to it soon. Nate’s grandmother came back into the room with the house phone in her hands.
“It’s for you, dear” she said softly, holding out the phone to Celeste.
Her brows furrowed “Who is it?”
“Your brother, Aaron”
Celeste reached out and took the phone. How had Aaron gotten the number? One name stood out; Hunter. No doubt he had every number there could be had to get in touch with Nate. They were best friends after all.
“Hey, Aaron” Celeste whispered into the receiver.
“Finally,” Aaron breathed “I have been trying to get a hold of you all day.”
“I’m sorry, my phone died before we even left for the airport this morning and I just haven’t gotten around to plugging it in.”
“What’s going on? You don’t sound to good.”
“Brooklyn’s been taken.” Celeste replied. It was better to get it out there instead of beating around the bush. “Sam took her earlier today before Nate and I made it to the house.”
“You’ve got to be kidding”
“I wish I was,” Celeste sniffed. Her voice shaking.
“Do the others know?”
Celeste shook her head before realizing that Aaron couldn’t see her. “N-no, I don’t think so.”
“Im going to round them up and go down to the sheriffs office to see if there is anything we can do on this end.”
Celeste ended the call and handed the phone back to Nate’s grandmother. She also let everyone in on her brother’s plan. It was a long shot that they would find Sam back in Hilton Valley. It was better than nothing though. The local law enforcement in Phoenix had no doubt gotten in touch with other stations around the state. There had also been and Amber Alert sent out now it was just a waiting game.
