Originally Published in 2012
Read the comic book on the side. Sorry for all of you Justin Bieber fans.
Song: Five For Fighting because I think it really represents well the situation that Ridge is in.
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me
I'm more than a bird... I'm more than a plane
I'm more than some pretty face beside a train
And it's not easy to be me
Chapter 7
Ridge
He woke up to the sound of someone bagging on his apartment door. He rolled on the right side of his bed to see what time it was on his alarm clock; barely seven AM. Ridge groaned, and naturally did not get up. Maybe whoever was there would eventually leave. Besides, he doubted that it was anyone of importance. It couldn't be the police because for the past year and a half he'd been clean, Tara was probably too mad at him to come by, his friends knew better then to wake him up so early in the morning and it couldn't be the owner of the cheap apartment because he'd been paying his rent every month. So, Ridge concluded that it was some probably salesmen, knocking on his door to ruin his morning.
"Ridgemont Johansson, you better open the damn door right now!" He froze, he recognized that voice all to well. And there was only one person left alive that still called him that. What in the world was he doing at his door? How did he even know where he lived?
Slowly, Ridge got out of his bed and made his way to the door. He looked in the little hole, to see if it really was his father standing outside; sadly it was. With a dramatic sigh, Ridge unlocked the door and opened it. Naturally, his father came storming in.
"Where the hell is she?" Kyle shouted. Ridge could smell the odour of whisky all over him. "Where are you hiding her?"
"Who?" Ridge asked rubbing his temples, was he hearing right? What was going on anyway? He wanted to go back to bed.
"Your sister you moron!" His father yelled.
Reality suddenly just slapped him in the face. "Wait, wait, wait" He responded, finally grasping the situation. "Tara's gone?"
He had always doubted of course that one day his sister would run away for good, but he had always assumed that Tara would come see him first, or at least tell him where she was going.
"You bastard!" Ridge shouted at his father, punching him straight in the face. "You did this! You sent her away!" While his father was still on the ground, Ridge went through his drawers and took out a gun.
Kyle let out a cry, as Ridge pointed it at him. "What are you going to do? Shoot me?" His father asked him completely panicked.
"You have no idea how much I want to." He replied coldly.
But what Kyle didn't know was that the gun wasn't loaded, he forgot where he put the bullets. The gun really didn't have much use at the moment, besides pretending that it posed a threat. Ridge kept on the most serious face as possible, and kept the gun on his father
"When was the last time you saw her?" Ridge asked him, bringing the gun closer to his head. When Kyle didn't answer, Ridge hit him behind the head. "Answer the damn question!"
His father let out a small cry of pain, before finally responding. "I, I, saw her when she ran out of the house...almost tow days ago, when I—" Ridge didn't want to hear anymore of what his father did to him sister, so he hit Kyle behind the head again with the gun again. Blood was starting to drip onto the floor, but Ridge couldn't care less. Right now, only his sister mattered.
"Two fucking days ago!" He shouted to his father. "And you didn't call the police!" He never thought he could be so furious. "I knew that you were irresponsible and careless, but I never thought you could be so stupid!"
"You're not better then me Ridgemont." Kyle mumbled through his teeth, obviously containing himself for saying anything more. "You're in and out of prison, you can't keep a job, and you clam that you want to help Tarabelle? Please, you don't give a damn about her."
"My name is Ridge." He pointed out in a rather dead tone, getting angrier by the second. "And do you want to know the difference between me and you Dad? At least I try to make up for my mistakes. All you've done since Mom died is sit on the couch watch TV and drink all day, not to mention physically abuse your own daughter." Ridge threw his gun back on his bed, knowing that he wouldn't need it anymore. "I hate you." And with that, he hit his father so hard, it knocked Kyle unconscious. "Bastard."
...
He ran through the streets. He didn't have a car because his precious money was limited, and he got his bike stolen last week, so now he ran to get where he needed to go; it was good exercise. His direction now: Shellie's and Fish. Tara had once told him that she'd slept on the outside of the restaurant when things went wrong at home; maybe she was staying there. Ridge knew that he didn't need to bring the not-loaded gun, because Rick would tell him all he needed to know. The man was as weak as a bug, even if he considered himself as strong as an ape.
He arrived at the restaurant fast, but sadly it didn't open until nine; that was in a good hour and a half. What was he supposed to do until then? He looked around him, his options where very limited. He could go back to his apartment and deal with his father, or go eat breakfast somewhere cheap, or maybe just hang around the beach. He preferred the last option; mostly because it didn't involve any murderous thoughts and him spending money.
He sat down in the sand and watched the ocean. He didn't particularly like it. He remembered that one time when he was younger, maybe nine years old, when his mother and father had brought him and Tara swimming into the ocean for the first time, because they had a pool at home and Tara was afraid of sharks. He and his sister had practically drowned in the first three minutes. No, it was not because of the current and the force of the waters; but because some sort of strange force pulling them deep down. His father had of course saved them— because at the time, Kyle's family meant the world to him— and since then, neither him nor Tara went swimming in the ocean again.
Tara; the simple thought of his little sister being gone somewhere alone left him with an empty hole in his stomach. Would he even ever see her again?
He had been sitting in the sand for almost thirty minutes, when something washed up onto shore. Out of curiosity, Ridge got up slowly to see what it was. It had happened a couple times that dolphins' got stuck, and there was always someone somewhere there to help. But, as he got closer, he realised that it was not a sea creature that had found its way to land, but a boot. A black chained boot, size eight. He didn't want to accept the coincidence or the unacceptable truth. That was Tara' boot, there was no doubt about it. What was it doing in the water?
Damn, Ridge got up as fast as he could, and ran like hell to the police station. Maybe he still had time to do something. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe none of this was actually happening. Maybe...maybe; he stopped running, and eventually slowed down to a walk, which resulted him to pause in one spot. He couldn't do anything. This hadn't been his choice to make; and Ridge was pretty sure he was too late to do anything. Tara was gone. Wait what? No! No! No! No! No! His sister might have been living in hell, but she wasn't the type of person to kill herself; he seriously doubted it. With that in mind, he continued running to the police station.
...................................................................................................... (weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)........
"I'd like to report a missing person." Ridge said practically jumping onto the police desk. He was completely out of breath and started to doubt the reason why he even came to the station. The cops didn't even investigate to find proof that Kyle was abusing Tara. The Force really wasn't the best these days, and Ridge would have been better off on his own.
"Ridgemont?" The officer at the desk said obvious recognizing him. "Didn't expect to see you back here; thought you be tired of being behind these walls."
"Screw you Ethan" Ridge snapped, not caring if it violated some sort of rule. "I'm not here about me; I'm here about my sister." He saw Ethan open his mouth to object, but Ridge was faster. "She's missing."
"I hope this isn't some other story about Kyle abusing Tarabelle, because we've already established that as false." The officer commented, not seeming to care. It drove Ridge mad.
"It isn't some story!" He objected sounding like a ten year old. "My sister's been getting—" He was interrupted by the sound of the police station door slamming. Of course, because he had such bad luck, it was Kyle that stepped into the place.
His head was still heavily bleeding, and he looked incredibly dizzy and lost. "Kyle!" Ethan exclaimed. "What happened?"
Before Ridge could even make a run for it, officers had already pinned him against the wall. For some reason they knew it was him, and he was already getting punish. It wasn't fair. How was he supposed to help Tara if he was going to be locked up in a jail cell? Again.
Stay tuned!!! Tara's gonna sneak up to the surface (oops spoiler alert)
Enjoying my work so far? I encourage you to check out my other stories such as The Way to Neverland: A Peter Pan Story and The Walkers Saga! Available on my profile!