Obstacles

Chapter 22

(Thomas's POV)

    I sat in my car for about thirty minutes after school ended for the day and I was beginning to lose hope that Kora was going to show up.

"Dang it, I knew I should have reminded her to meet me at the car." I chastised myself and laid my head against the head support on my car's seat.

    The only reason that I even waited this long is because I don't want to just leave her here. I know she could walk, after all it's not too long of a walk. Twenty minutes at most. But I need to tell her about what is going on with her father today.

    While I was sitting in my car, I heard my text alert go off. Specifically the one I set for Kora. I reached into my pants pocket and moved my hair out of my face. The text read"

'Sorry I didn't meet up with you. Dad picked me up.'

   My eyes widened with panic. Why the heck would he pick her up? Why didn't she tell me sooner? I hope something didn't happen. I really hope that monster hasn't hurt her or I swear I will hurt him even more. I immediately responded,

'Oh...okay, is everything okay?'

    I waited for a response and turned off my phone to wait for her answer hearing the locking noise when the screen faded to black. I wonder if I could just call her.

    Before I could do so, my phone began to ring. I had a ping of hope that it was Kora, but I became disappointed as I learned it was actually David and Christi from CPH, the company that helps keep abused children and teens safe.

    I answered the phone and said, "Hello?"

"Thomas, I believe we may have just seen your friend." It was David. "She appears she just walked home from somewhere. She appears to be pretty beaten up as well."

    I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Maybe she was outside going for a walk. "She told me that she got a ride home from her father. She would already be home." I ran my fingers through my hair and buckled my seatbelt. "What does she look like?"

    I heard Christi chime into the conversation. Her voice sounded very serious."She has long, wavy, dirty blonde hair, wears glasses, and is currently wearing a white dress with blue and yellow flowers on with a ripped up cropped jean jacket ripped in multiple places such as the sleeves and across the chest area. She is currently bleeding from possibly a scrape on her knee. Her hair also looks pretty disheveled right now as well."

    My jaw dropped. What happened to her? I sternly asked, "Is her father home?" Hoping the monster wasn't.

Did Kora lie to me about her father picking her up? Why would she lie? There is something terribly amiss and I don't like it.

David replied, "He has been at the home since around one o'clock. From my understanding though, he normally comes home around four thirty according to his usual work records, so why he was home so early we are unsure."

   "You need to go in the house and arrest him now!" I demanded. I put my keys into my vehicle's ignition and backed out of the parking lot like a madman. NO ONE, is going to hurt Kora anymore, not on my watch.

"I'm sorry son, but we need Kora to be home for a little while, then we will approach the house and hopefully arrest the father." replied a sympathetic David.

    I raised an eyebrow confused. "What do you mean by hopefully?" I asked. Irritation was definitely able to be heard in my voice.

"We have to talk to him first, then investigate the house. If we find any physical evidence or we hear a confession of the abuse from Kora or her father Dale, we can arrest him. However, we need to look for more evidence whether it's bruised on Kora's body or a weapon of question. Every ounce of evidence helps. Once he is arrested, we will have to find the two other men in the video as well."