Finding Maisie

Finding Maisie: Chapter 13

'Is that from the abductor?' Callum asked.

'How did you know?' I asked, not looking at him.

'Your face. You look scared,' Callum said.

'Yeah. The abductor went into my mother's house to take a picture of her desk,' I told him.

'So he's saying to go there then,' Callum evaluated.

'Yeah. Do you want to come?'

'Of course I do, why wouldn't I? I'm part of this treasure hunt and I'm Maisie's brother so, yeah, I'm coming,' Callum said.

'Okay,' I said and continued looking at the drawer. There must something in there, something of importance that I needed to see.

'You're making this hard you know,' Callum abruptly said.

'Making what hard?' I said. I put my phone down and sat up as Callum sounded serious.

'To not be mad at you,' he said.

'How am I making it hard, I said I was sorry,' I told Callum.

'When?' He asked.

'At the hospital!' I said a little loudly. Surely he hadn't forgotten this. 'When you woke up.'

'Oh, that's not why I'm mad,' he said.

'Well then, why are you mad Callum?'' I asked, 'What could I have done in the time since you were shot that could annoy you.'

'You take risks, Poppy. That's what you do,' Callum said. He broke his eye contact with me.

'What do you mean?' I asked.

'You intentionally put yourself in danger,' Callum said, 'Joshua told me he had to pick you up by the motorway. You'd seen the abductor by yourself.'

'That wasn't my fault, he abducted me!' I said.

'He what?!' Callum blurted out, 'Well, you're okay now I guess so it's alright. But what about after I woke up. My mum said you ran off somewhere. Where?'

'I'm fine, Callum. I'm alive and fine so it doesn't matter,' I said.

'Yes it does! So, you were fine this time, who says it couldn't have gone differently? You could've died and who would've known? Only Josh and I know about the abductor and we would have had no idea where you went. You would've just vanished.'

'I'm sorry about that Callum but we were still on a search for Maisie. What do you expect me to do?'

'To stop taking risks! To stop putting yourself in near death situations! We can't save Maisie if we're dead.'

'Callum, I can't agree to that,' I said, lowering my voice down to its normal volume, 'This whole situation is a near death experience. You can't expect me not to put myself in danger because it's inevitable.'

Callum sighed and closed his eyes, 'Okay. I agree with that but just promise not to increase that danger; like irritating the abductor, that was a bad idea.'

I laughed very lightly, 'Yes okay, Callum,' I said when something came to mind. 'Hang on, if that's why you're mad at me, are you not mad for me causing you to get shot?'

'Well, no,' he said.

'What?' I said, 'So everything you said at the hospital...'

'Was true,' Callum interrupted, 'At least, at first. When I woke up I was angry and shocked. Everything had changed and, well to be honest, I was scared. When I remembered it was your fault I was angry that you would put me through this, then I was unconscious again. When I woke again I realised something. It would have been.. It would've been worse if you had been shot. Then I was mad that you're not more careful, Poppy. That's why I've been angry.'