Take A Walk (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 5 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Twelve

He ran back up, trying to keep himself from falling, and opened the door to their room. "She's... she's not there."

"Call the police," said Ryan tightly, before saying, "Thank you, Jessie. We'll let you know if there are any updates." She hung up, and Hunter held up the two envelopes silently.

"What-"

"They were left on her bed. They're her handwriting. Guess we can rule out kidnapping," he said with a shaky laugh.

"Should we read these or call the police first?"

"Read them. Who knows what they say?"

Hunter nodded, before opening the one labelled Pa and Ma. A piece of paper was folded inside, and he began to read it out loud for her to hear.

"'Dear... Dear Ma, Pa, Spence, Robbie, Nick and Red...' Oh God, her hands were shaking when she wrote this, her dyslexia was really bad. 'I'm sorry. I need to go tonight. My... my father is insane. I have... I have no choice.'"

Ryan's eyes were wide. Hunter read through the rest of the note, fighting back tears, and at the end, whispered, "'Don't call the police. He might hurt us both. Love, Elle.'"

"Ellie," whispered Ryan. "Oh God, Hunt, our baby..."

He felt like he couldn't breathe. Like his head was pounding heavily. He was dying, surely he was dying. Ryan was sniffling, and Hunter hugged her tightly.

"We'll call Drew," he whispered. "Tell him she wrote him something, too. Apologise."

"O-Oh, God..."

"This is all my fault," whispered Hunter, beginning to cry as well. "Ry, if I hadn't been so obsessed with finding my daughter... and now both of them, both of them are gone... I stopped talking to Elle, I was so enamoured with Cassie, I... I just..." He let out another soft sob, burying his face in her hair. "F*ck..."

"It's not your fault," whispered Ryan. "How could you have known?"

He shook his head. "She's gone," he cried. "She's gone."

And for the first time, Ryan wasn't sure if he was talking about Elle, Cassie, Lilly, or all three.

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Six months passed.

No one had heard from or seen Elle or Cassie in those six months, and it was the hardest six months of Drew's life.

The note she had written hung above his tiny little desk in his tiny little flat that he had rented in order to go to college. He didn't talk much anymore. His smile was rare to come by. Most students saw him as moody and depressing to be around, and he rarely left his room.

His roommate, Gail, was nice. But she didn't really understand that he wasn't interested in her. He had just told her that he was gay, and that was the end of her pursuing him. But now she was talking to him and he had to pull himself out of his dream state a little bit just to listen to her.

"Who's this?"

"Just someone," he said, not looking at the picture she was holding up.

"No, you didn't even look though," complained Gail, and he sighed, looking up.

It was a photo of himself and Elle, that Hunter had taken on her seventeenth birthday. Her eyes were wide and sparkling, and she was hugging Drew. Drew silently took the photo into his hands and traced over Elle's plait. He could remember how her plait felt under his fingers.

"She was my best friend," said Drew softly. "She's gone now."

Gail's annoyed look was replaced by something else. Sympathy. "I'm... I'm really sorry to hear that. What happened?"