Chapter 19
Another Few weeks later at Cleo and Lewis' house...
There was a frantic knock at the door.
"Have you seen Rikki?" Zane asked frantically as soon as Cleo opened the door. Zane had come here first because it was closest out of his friends to the cafe. "She didn't come home last night; she went out to close the cafe up but never came back,"
Cleo had never seen Zane so stressed; she tried to calm him down.
"No we haven't seen Rikki, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Zane; it's okay, breathe," Cleo instructed.
Lewis had now come down to the door, still in his pyjamas. He was wiping sleep out of his eyes.
"What's up?"
"Rikki is missing," Cleo replied to her husband worriedly,
"Did you look for her?" he asked Zane pointedly
This received him a light slap on the arm from Cleo.
"Yes, of course I did!" Zane said in a voice that was irritated but still troubled.
The three of them raced out of the house once Lewis was dressed to search for Rikki.
On the way Cleo called everyone else. Anna and Ben were still waking up, but Bella and Will had already gone for their morning jog, and Emma and Ash were just about to go out the door.
They met up at the cafe, and then split up again to go out in search for the missing Rikki.
"Rikki, Rikki!"
The guys were looking on the streets, cafes, shops and friends' houses, while the girls were scouting the ocean and Mako Island. After meeting up numerous times, in the afternoon where everywhere close by was searched, they met up for a final time in the closed Cafe. Zane decided to close it until Rikki was found.
"Nothing,"
"Same. Where could she be?"
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Chapter 20
Rikki's P.O.V
I woke up in complete darkness, in a cold, damp room, which was causing me to shiver. I only had my thin red sweatshirt on, which was not keeping out the chill of the room. Something was pressing against my eyes, keeping me from seeing. A disgusting taste flooded my mouth as I regained my full consciousness. A dirty rag was acting as a gag, which really was as I had to make a lot of effort not to gag and reel at the smell and taste of that putrid rag. My head was ringing. It felt as if my read had been run over by a steam train. I tried to move my hands and legs but they are stuck fast. Ropes burn my wrists. I try to scream but the gag muffles it. I was sure that I was just leaving the cafe a second earlier. Oh, that's right. I was leaving, but just as I began my walk home, a couple of thugs grabbed me and must have knocked me out.
"The Sleeping Beauty's awake" A gruff voice comes to my ears. I mumble something incoherent. They lifted the blindfold. Searing light entered my eyes, forcing them closed. As I get accustomed to the light, my eyes widen at seeing my captor, or at least, seeing who my captor is.
He removed the fetid gag slowly, while saying, "Don't bother screaming, no one will hear you down here,"
So we are down, well that is some news.
"You can't keep me here!" I said doing a convincing job in keeping the fear out of my voice. I think I did a pretty good job, considering.
"Ha. That's what they all say."
"What are you going to do to me?" I demanded
"Oh, I don't know, keep you in solitary, starve you, who knows? I think we'll decide on the way," He said with a chuckle, "Ay boys?" he turns to his motley crew of thugs. "Besides, this is just revenge for putting us away,"
"Hey, I was just trying to get reimbursed," I interrupted, "People will begin to look for me soon," I continued after a pause.
"They'll never find you here," He chuckled evilly and left the room, his thugs following close behind. All the lights were turned off but a single dim lamp in the far corner of the room.
Now that they were gone, I took in my surroundings. Cold walls encircled me, condensation caused by my body heat glinting. There were no windows to be seen, and no items except for that dim lamp, and a grate in the wall above the bolted door. A water pipe ran from above the door to the end of the room behind me. I have to say craning my neck backwards isn't the easiest thing in the world. It was bound to have water flowing through; maybe I could use this in my escape attempt.
The last time I had seen that man was on my 18th birthday. Wow, that was ages ago. But I never could forget that face. That was the day when I was trapped on a burning boat; the day with the counterfeiters. They had been caught and put in prison. Maybe they blamed me for being caught.
Hmm, what to do about being trapped...
I curled my fists in frustration. Unintentionally I must have heated the water up, 'cos the pipes began to jiggle.
"Ahh" I heard one of the men scream. Oopsy; must have burnt someone.
What are they going to do to me?
Better not wait to find out...
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Chapter 21
Meanwhile her friends were at Emma and Ash's house discussing what to do next. Zane called the police
"What is your emergency?"
"My fiance has gone missing, we searched everywhere for her. Shes been gone a night and a day." Zane said frantically.
The group kept their eyes out incase they saw Rikki returning home. The police wouldnt do a proper search until it was confirmed she was missing, that she wasn't still on her way. So pretty much if she was still gone the next day, they would start their search. The group found it very unhelpful. Her phone was off. (Rikki's captors had taken it off her, learning from the last time) This made everything more suspicious.
Unknown Location where Rikki is being held against her will, 48 hours later...
Rikki's P.O.V
There it goes again. My stomach has been rumbling nonstop for the past few days. At least I think its been a few days. The man's workers have brought me a drink of stale water three times since I woke up. I guess this is to keep me alive and awake, feeling the hunger and lonliness. I had always been a loner before I met Cleo and Emma, before I became a you-know-what, this silence shouldnt be bothering me. But then I guess I always had my dad to talk to when I got home, and there was always noise about me, not this dead silence. No noise except for my ragged breathing and shivering and the occasional clatter and footstep from outside my prison. Oh, its so damn cold! If I don't starve to death, I think I might freeze.
As you can see with all this time on my hands and had quite a bit of time to contemplate life and think and plan my escape...
No one in particular's P.O.V (normal perspective)
"She's been awful quite over the past few days Rodney. I'd have thought she'd at least be screaming for food, crying or begging us to let her out...the lonliness and the cold would've got to me by now," One man said. All the men there were convicted fellons, most of them had recently fufilled their sentance and had promised falsely to keep on the side of the law. Most of them had been part of the conterfeiting ring or thugs. During theirrough five years imprisonment their leader had been doing a lot of thinking. Most of it regarding who was responsible for locking them away. They decided as a group, thier leader obviously with the most input, that it was that pretty teenage girl with the blonde curly hair and striking blue eyes. She would be their target when they left prison.
The police, satisfied that she was infact missing began to help with the search by beginning an investigation. They also helped with the placement of 'Missing' posters. The face of a very cheerful Rikki was pastered on poles and in shop windows and billboards all over town. Over the two days the friends had been beside themselves with worry. The mermaids would go for extra long swims incase they could find her. Zane was in the worst state. Noone had ever seen him this way before. It was terribly out of character for him.
"Its all my fault," he would mumble to himself, "If I had gone to the cafe with her or instead of her she'd probably be safe and still with us now,"
"Have you seen this girl?" A police officer asked the manager of the petrol station holding up her photo.
"Hmm," he said thoughtfully, "Actually, yes. I think I have...there was this ute who came to buy petrol. You could see a girl of this description in the back, asleep...the men with her said she had fallen asleep on the way home, it was very suspicious..."
"Could you give us a description of those men?"
"I'll see what I can do..."