Forever and Always

If I Can't Have Her, No One Can

"Just down here!" Antea cried, looking down at her phone and pointing up the dirt road at the same time.

Charles nodded his head, slowing his pace slightly as they neared the hotel building that they were looking for.

"Just here," she said a moment later, pointing at an old, run-down hotel building that stood there uneasily. Charles stopped the car a moment later, quickly turning it off and pushing the door open. He ran out, pushing it shut behind him and sprinting for the front door that dinged when he and the other's entered.

"Uh, was there a man and a woman here before? She was blonde, 5'5, wearing baggy shorts and a cropped tee? He was, I don't even know. He's about 6'4, golden brown hair, I think?" Charles asked, his voice desperate and pleading as he talked to the man behind the front desk.

The man raised his eyebrow, typing something on the computer in front of him with an uninterested expression as he listened to Charles.

"I can't tell you that information. It's a breach of our stayer's privacy," the man said plainly.

"Please! We need to know! She literally just got kidnapped by him!" Arthur cried beside Charles.

"If that is the case, call the police. But I still can't help you with that information," the man said again.

Charles snapped his head back to look at Antea but found that she already had the phone up to her ear, the sound of the phone ringing seeming like it rung for so long before he could hear distant sound of voices on the other side.

Then, he looked down at his phone at the app he had pulled up. It still said the rental car Harvey had borrowed was still there, so they were either still in the hotel, or they had left in another car. He looked back to Alfie and Arthur, waving his arm to tell them to come with him as he pushed his way back outside toward the carpark.

"Look for a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer. It's here somewhere," Charles ordered, beginning to look around for any sight of the car.

The carpark was all of about 20 car spaces, with only 10 or 11 cars throughout it that were covered with dirt and dust from the drive up to the dingy hotel. Charles started to look at the first ones closest to the hotel, while Arthur and Alfie went further up to check them out up there. A moment later, he could hear someone calling his voice.

"Up here, Charles! We found it!" called a waving Alfie, and Charles ran over straight away.

When he got there, he looked through the dust-covered windows, and his heart wavered a little at the sight. Crowbars, hammers, a baseball bat all thrown into a black duffle bag on the back seat. Obviously, Harvey hadn't taken any precautions before leaving the things in the back of a rental car in a random car park.

"He better not have hurt her," Charles said, his voice low with anger, tearing his eyes away from what lay in the car. He said it just as he heard sirens in the distance. 

~

"Now explain to us who this guy is and what his intentions may have been," one of the officers said, taking out a notebook and pen.

"Harvey is Emilia's ex-boyfriend. He used to, you know...assault her when they were together. So she came to stay with me and broke it off with him. But ever since then, he's been sending her flowers and notes, saying 'I will see you soon', or 'I miss you so much'. It makes her have panic attacks so who knows how she's dealing with this. And in this CCTV footage we got, it looks like he's got a gun to her back when they walk away," Charles explained, turning his phone around so that the two officers could see the footage.

Their brows furrowed and the first officer began writing notes across the pad of paper rapidly, the other officer turning around, leaning his head to one side and talking into his walkie talkie in a hushed voice. All Charles could do at that moment was stand there and stare, his expression desperate, his heart beating out of his chest.