A Proscriptive Relationship

:A Proscriptive Relationship: 50

“Casey!” I screamed into the phone, my eyes wide in terror. “Casey!”

“Holly! What’s—” Casey’s voice suddenly disappeared and was replaced with an irritatingly familiar one.

“I expect you here in about fifteen minutes,” Shawn said simply.

I swallowed nervously. “Don’t hurt Casey!”

“I won’t, as long as you get here on time,” Shawn said casually. “I’ll be waiting.”

There was a click and I looked down at my phone to see the call had ended. I turned to Jeremy, my mouth open in horror. He looked just as terrified as I did. Jeremy suddenly jammed his hand into his pocket, whipping out his phone.

“Jenna, come grab Jane and come to the front of the baked potato stand,” he said into his phone in a rushed voice. “Right now.” He snapped his phone shut and turned to me. “Do you have any idea where Shawn would be?”

I nodded my head. “He said where we first met. That would be the warehouse you took me to.”

“That’s close,” Jeremy commented, checking his phone. “It’s only about ten minutes away.”

“Ten minutes?” I cried shrilly. “Shawn wants me there in fifteen or he’ll hurt Casey! We’ve got to go now!”

Jeremy’s looked hardened. “He gave you a time limit?”

“Yeah,” I responded, feeling my eyes filling with tears. “I have to go, now!”

Someone put a hand on my shoulder and I jumped violently, turning to see a worried Lance looking at me. When he noticed my expression, his concern doubled. “What’s wrong?”

“Shawn has Casey,” I told him miserably.

“He what?” Lance nearly shouted. “How? When? Where?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know how or when! I do know where, and I’m going there now. Give me your car keys.”

Lance stared at me like I was crazy. “You’re not going anywhere! That’s too dangerous!”

“It’s more dangerous for Casey if I don’t go!”

“Why would Shawn so suddenly go after Casey?” Lance inquired, furrowing his eyebrows. “He’s been quiet for so long.”

I shifted on my feet uncomfortably. “Well… earlier I got a few text messages from him. But I thought he was just messing with me,” I added quickly, seeing Lance’s expression turn livid.

Lance grabbed my shoulders and held them roughly. “Holly! Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“I—I didn’t think it mattered,” I told him, trying to get away from his grasp. “Lance, that hurts—”

“Holly, are you stupid? If you had said something this wouldn’t have happened!” Lance snapped. “You need to learn to swallow your pride—”

“Pride?” I cried, staring at him incredulously. “Pride? You think I take pride in not telling someone that my stalker has been texting me? I wasn’t going to tell anyone to keep everyone safe, Lance!”

“That didn’t work so well, now did it?” Lance snorted, shoving me away. “You went and got Casey captured.”

I stared at Lance, hurt by his words. Tears filled my eyes again and I sniffled, rubbing my eyes with the back of the sleeve. “I didn’t know!”

I felt an arm around me and I looked up to see Jeremy frowning at Lance. “You two, calm down,” he ordered, squeezing my shoulders. “Holly, it’s not your fault. And Lance… I understand this news is coming as a shock, but don’t place the blame on Holly so easily okay? You two will end up saying things you’ll regret later if you keep it up.”