Losing Faith (Hurt and confused)

Chapter Thirty Two

Soon it was August and Erik, Caitlin and I were at the beach. Damon ended up not being able to come, but that was fine with me. I liked it just being the three of us. 

We swam for awhile and now laying on the beach. "So Cade never talked to you?" Caitlin asked. "No." I replied, "Strange." "Maybe you should call him." Erik said. We had told him what Cade told us on the way home. "Nah, why bring it up and make him relive it." I said. "True. But aren't you curious?" Caitlin asked. "A little. But not enough to bug him." I replied. "Ok." Said Caitlin.

We then swam some more. Then we dried off and went back to our hotel to change so we could get something to eat. 

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The week flew by and soon it was time to head home. We mostly swam, tanned, buried Erik under the sand, ate out, shopped, collected seashells and rode some rides. 

As we were packing, I was about to tell Caitlin and Erik the news, but I refrained myself. I didn't want to spoil our trip. So I kept quiet. We loaded everything in the car and walked along the beach and then the boardwalk. Then we ate some supper. After that we headed home. 

We got home and went into my house. "What's going on?" Erik asked, seeing the boxes. Caitlin looked too. "Well I wanted to wait until after our trip. I didn't want to ruin our trip." I said, "But as you know, my mom quit her job. She tried looking for a job around here, but had no luck." "Yeah. I knew she quit." Said Caitlin, "But I thought she had a job." "Well, she was a waitress at Ein's Diner, but it was a big pay cut." I started, "Anyway, my uncle got her a job at the fire station as the secretary." "Oh, wow." Erik said. "That's cool." "Yea. But I'm gonna miss you." "I know. I'm gonna miss you both so much." I said. "Can't you stay for your senior year?" Caitlin asked, "Where are you even moving to?" "Yeah. Can't you stay with one of us for the year?" Erik asked. "We are moving to Crystal Springs and I probably could stay with one of yous....but I'd miss seeing my mom." I replied, "I promise to visit as often as I can." Truth was my mom felt bad about moving me for my senior year and said I could stay if I wanted with one of my friends, but with everything I did to Cade and his family and friends by kidnapping him, I wanted to get out of town before they realized it was me. So I just made up a story and said I didn't want to be away from her and it's fine. She was glad though I decided to go with her.

"You better." Said Erik. "I will." I said. 

Over the next few days we had everything packed. A lot of tears were shed and hugs given out. "I'm gonna miss you so much." Erik said, through tears. "Me too." Said Caitlin, crying, "I still can't believe this is happening." "I know. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I want my mom to be happy." I said, "And me being with makes her happy." "Yes." They agreed, "But we're not happy." "I know. I'm gonna miss you both." I said. The three of us started crying all over again. 

Eventually my mom and I were on our way. The moving truck went on ahead of us. We had a few items with us in our cars. I drove behind my mom. In a way, I was glad to be driving on my own. I cried again. I knew if my mom saw me crying, she'd make me stay until summer with Caitlin. She'd want me to be happy and I wanted her to be happy. I'm gonna miss that house and Erik and Caitlin. I'm gonna miss Treeville. I had so many wonderful memories there.

By the time we got to our new home, I had stopped crying, but my eyes were still red and puffy. "Oh honey." My mom said, pulling me into a hug, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't of dragged you along. I should of made you stay." "No, it's fine. You're my mom and I should be with you. Besides I'm sure the school year will fly by and it'll be summer before we know it. Plus weekends I can drive back." I said. She smiled.

We unloaded all our belongings and put them into the house. The movers brought stuff in too. They left and my mom and I set off to work and unpack and make the house feel homey. 

Soon we were done. I picked out my room. It was painted a sky blue and had a blue carpet. It also had a queen size bed in it. There was even a bathroom connected to it. I loved it. 

At night my mom and I just relaxed and watched a DVD. We had gotten our TV hooked up and the DVD player too. My uncle came over and helped hook it up and set up other things.

Now I was exhausted from crying and saying goodbye to moving and unpacking. I said Goodnight to my mom and got ready for bed. I crawled under the covers and was pretty much out right away.

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"I should really talk to her." Cade thought to himself, "But I'm afraid. I don't really want to relive this whole nightmare. Talking about Giggles and what she said... Well that's reliving it." He was afraid Mandi would call or see him somewhere and ask him. But he hadn't seen much of her after she drove him home. He then saw her at the carnival with Sam. She was with her friend Erik. She didn't mention anything and Cade was glad. After the Ferris wheel, he hadn't seen Mandi the rest of summer.

He went home after shopping with Sam for school. He headed into the kitchen and saw his parents and two police officers sitting at the table. His parents looked upset... worried. They looked up when he came inside. 

"What's going on?" Cade asked, sitting his bags on the floor. "Have a seat." His mom said. Cade sat. "What's going on? Did you find her?" He asked. "Not exactly." His dad said. Cade looked to his dad. "What do you mean, not exactly?" Cade asked. "Well, this clown, Giggles. We looked in old reports and found her name. It was Martha Thompson." The first officer said. "That's good, right?" Cade asked. "Yes and no." The second officer said, "Martha's been dead for about 5 years. Drug overdose." Cade looked shocked. "Then...then who was Giggles now?" He asked. "We don't know. We have been looking and asking around. So far nothing has come up." The first officer said. "What about Mandi? I mean Giggles said they were related." Cade asked. "We did ask, when you first told us, but there was nothing there. Neither Mandi nor her mom knew Giggles or who could of said it." The first officer said, "They had no clue to who it could be." "Well, question her again." Cade said. "We tried, but they moved out of town." Said the second officer. "How convenient." Cade said, "Seems suspicious to me." "We thought so too, but no. Mrs. Salvatore's brother got her a job in another town. We had officers track them down." The second officer replied. Cade was mad. "So what you're saying is, we have no leads, no suspects." He asked. "Correct." Said the first officer, "We'll continue to look if you'd like.  But we talked to your parents and they decided since you're ok and there really isn't much evidence to go on, we just drop it." "And let the kidnapper just get away?" Cade said and was mad. "We'll keep an ear out for anything, but right now it's not looking good to find the person." Said the first officer. 

His parents thanked the officers and then they left. "Cade, we know you're mad. We're mad, but really with no evidence or DNA to let us know who was there, well, there's really not much to go on." His dad said. "It's just sucks because she will get away with it." Said Cade. "I know." His dad agreed, "But she'll get caught one day or if not, when she dies. God will judge her." "Yeah." He agreed, "I'm gonna go for a jog." "Ok." Said his dad. 

Cade jogged to the park and saw Caitlin and Damon. He jogged over to Caitlin and asked about Mandi. She said the same thing the officer said. She moved away because her mom got a job in another town. He then jogged around thinking how he never got to talk to Mandi. 'Oh well.' he thought. 

After that, he never thought of Mandi again. He eventually dropped the search for his kidnapper. Because he figured they'd never find out who it really was anyway. Also he was fine and just wanted to put the whole nightmare behind him. He was much happier doing that. Everyone was happier doing that and moving forward with life.