Kidnapped

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

I was still screaming when Dave rushed into the room with a worried expression on his face. Tears were streaming down my face and I was shaking in fear.

"Erica!" He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw me. I sat up and he wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face into his chest, breathing in his scent. "I thought something had happened to you." He said, cradling me and rocking me back and forth as I cried.

"I'm- s-sorry I wo-woke you u-up," I managed to say through my sobs.

"It's fine, I couldn't sleep anyways." He told me.

"I couldn't either, but when I did, I h-had a nightmare." I said. I sounded like a small child crying about monsters in the closet.

"Don't worry, it was only a dream,"

"Dave?" I looked up at him, tears still sliding down my face silently.

"Yeah?" He replied, wiping my tears away.

"What if he's dead?" I asked. "What if they killed Jake? What would happen?"

"I don't know," He said.

"I'd probably die." I said, the tears falling again. Dave gave up on trying to wipe away my tears. Instead he just hugged me tightly.

After a few minutes, I finally stopped sobbing. Dave leaned back and let go of me. I hugged him tighter. "Don't go," I said. His arms tightened around me again.

"I won't," He replied. Then he let go, only to pull the covers back and climb into the bed with me.

A few minutes later, I fell asleep with Dave lying by my side. I didn't have another nightmare.

The next morning, I woke up before Dave did. I stared at his face. He looked so peaceful during his sleep. Then his eyes flickered open and he stared back at me.

"You know, it's rude to stare." He said with a smile. I threw my pillow at him and sat up.

"Hey, Dave, the other day, in the doctor's office, something was bothering you. What was it?" I asked.

"Oh. Yeah. Umm, it was nothing." He said, a bit of color filling his face. Dave? Blushing? What was that about?

"Dave, really, what is it?" I asked. Was he mad?

He stared into my eyes for a moment, searching for something. But he didn't seem to find it so he looked away and shook his head.

"What do you want for breakfast?" He asked.

"Food." I replied with a laugh and stood up to go to the bathroom.

When we went downstairs, Dave cooked some pancakes. I practically inhaled seven of them.

"Why are you such a pig?" He said, chuckling. I grinned at him with my mouth full of another pancake.

Once we finished eating, Dave and I sat down on the couch. I took a deep breath.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure." Dave replied. We sat in silence for a few minutes before Dave switched on the TV. He flipped through channels for a while until we saw a news channel. They were talking about Jake. A picture of him laying in a hospital bed appeared on the screen. I froze.

"This young boy has been identified as Jake Jones. He was found near a river last night, half-starved and with a bullet wound in his arm. The paramedics rushed him to the Runton Hospital. He's recovering nicely, but refuses to speak to anyone about what happened." The news reporter said.