"i am desperate, if nothing else... i talk in circles. i watch for signals, for a clue."
mason.
i can't find her.
and i know i shouldn't be freaking out because she's probably in the dressing rooms with her phone away in her bag or she's in another store and forgot to text me or it died, but i've been searching for her around topshop for ten minutes. my fingers rapidly tapped on my phone screen, texting and calling her as i frantically kept searching. the painfully long ring of the call dragged on with no promises of her picking up.
answer scarlett, please i need you to answer your phone. let me know that you're okay. tell me this is a cruel trick.
it's not like her to not respond to me. feelings of worry overcame me as i thought about the worst imaginable happening. someone kidnapped her, she's in danger. there's a million what if's. i shook my head, there's no way that could happen. i rushed up to the check out clerk, shoving a picture on my phone of scarlett sitting across the table from one of our dates in her face.
"have you seen this girl?" i panicked, retracting my phone.
"um yeah.. she was searching through the jean rack right there about twenty minutes ago. i saw her walking out with her boyfriend i think a little bit later." she explained, pointing to the areas she was talking about.
"n-no. i'm her boyfriend!" i emphasized by pointing to myself.
her facial expression dropped in confusion and surprise. she thought a little further before adding on, "they went out that way. do you need me to call the bobbies for you?"
"yes please!" i shouted, starting to run away but remembering to leave the picture of her with the girl. "i'll be right back. her name is scarlett westfield. she's 17, 110 pounds, and the love of my life."
the hallway led to an exit door marked 'for employees only', but i shoved the handle in an instant to slam the door open. sunlight poured throughout the opening, blinding me at first. it was an almost empty parking lot to my left and a brick alley to my right. wherever this was, it wasn't where scarlett was and therefore unimportant. as i turned around to catch the door before it shut, something crunched under my foot. i bent down to inspect the shining item. it was a silver ring with a heart-shaped diamond in the center.
scarlett's ring.
she wears it all the time on her left ring finger. this means she must've been here at one point. i sprinted my way back to the front of the store, seeing the girl talking to a bobby and pointing at me as i got closer.
"i found her ring outside right through those doors!" i spluttered, showing them as if it would help them find her faster.
"sir, i'm going to need you to calm down and tell me more details. how long ago did you notice she was missing?"
i looked down to my watch, seeing that another ten minutes had passed. i gulped, "half an hour ago."
"can you give me a description of the missing girl?" he asked.
"scarlett westfield, 17, 110 pounds, chocolate brown eyes, she was wearing my grey sweatpants that are huge on her and a red tank top." i described. "we have to find her."
the bobby repeated her description into his radio and then reassured me, "we already have units out looking for her. until then, we're going to need to contact her parents-"
i cut him off, "what do you mean until then? how am i supposed to sit here and wait for her to be found?"
"i understand your panic mate, but trust that our team is actively searching and will find wherever she is. the first few hours are crucial in these kind of cases. i'm going to give you my card so that you can call me if you find anything out yourself. don't be hesitant to call." he confirmed, nodding.
nothing he said brought me comfort and i grew impatient as he continued to shoot me questions about scarlett. he instructed me to wait either here or at my house while they looked for her, but i couldn't let myself be that useless. i needed to look for her on my own. it was the only way i could deal with the rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins and feel useful.
the minute the bobby left, i ran to my car using the same hallway scarlett must've been taken through. i carefully kept my eyes on the ground, searching for another clue or something else of hers. the rest of the gravel was empty and it seemed like the ring was the only item of hers she left behind. i circled around the parking lot at least five times, thinking that it was at least a possibility that she wasn't gone yet. however, i was wrong. she was nowhere in sight.
i felt utterly helpless. add feeling lost to that too because i had no sense of direction of where to go from here. the world is so big, who knew where they could be right now? and i didn't have any clues to lead me to travel one way over another. she could be anywhere. i figured i might as well start heading home to sit down for a bit and clear my mind while i come up with a plan of where to search for her.
while thinking about this, i figured someone should tell connor about scarlett and i'd have to be the one to do it. her parents were probably too distraught right now to tell him themselves. i rang him up on the phone to which he answered on the fourth ring.
"hey man!" he greeted enthusiastically. he wouldn't be so happy in a few seconds after i tell him what's happened.
"hey dude," i tried to greet in return with equal excitement, but mine came out way less confident. the weakness in my voice was obvious.
"is everything alright?" he asked with suspicion.
"no." my voice cracked. "scar, she's... missing. we were at the mall and she went into a store while i got food and when i went to find her, she wasn't there."
"mason, what?" connor freaked out, followed by a jumbling noise in the background. "s-she can't be missing. i have to go find her. i have to go at least look. i-"
"i've been attempting to do the same thing mate but there's no leads right now. the bobbies now and are actively searching for her. why don't you meet me at my house in ten minutes and we can develop a plan of where to go?" i suggested.
i heard the distant clinking of his keys in his hands. his voice now sounded as worried as mine did, "yeah, okay. i'll see you there."
as soon as he hung up, i let out a large breath. i would have to go home and now alert my family about the situation. i hope skylar wouldn't freak out. i was actually working of not freaking out myself as much. if i believed that she would be okay, then it would have to happen. that's how the law of attraction works. the magic is all in believing.
in all the chaos of discovering that she was gone, i forgot to stop and think about who might've even done this in the first place. why would anybody want to take scarlett? i don't mean that in a negative way, of course i know why anyone would want scarlett. she's beautiful and as strong as hell. i was so lucky, i couldn't lose her. i meant more, what would be someone's motive for taking her?
it couldn't be andrew. he's been locked up in jail for quite some time now. there was no one else i could even hypothesize of committing the crime. she had no enemies i was aware of, no vendettas, no one that i thought would be out to get her. unfortunately, this means it could be almost anyone who stole her, which is another dead end. this whole case seemed like one dead end after another.
my phone started ringing again. like a fool, i excitedly grab it like with the hopes of it being scarlett or at the very least, a call from the bobbies. when the caller id read connor's name, i wanted to groan because he wasn't scarlett.
"i'm almost home dude." i blurted as i picked up, assuming that's what he was ringing me about.
"have you watched the news today?" he hurriedly questioned.
he really just called me.. in a state of emergency.. to ask me if i'm up to date on current events.
i answered his dumb question anyways, "no, i was with scarlett all day."
the background of the call was staticky and i knew it was because he was in his car driving to meet me too. "andrew's out of jail bro, he escaped this morning!" he almost shouted in a panic.
son of a bitch.
"what the fuck man?" i yelled, smacking my wheel to release the anger. my blood boiled beneath my skin.
it had to be him. why was it always fucking him? it seemed like andrew had to ruin everyone who mattered to me. what for? questions buzzed in my mind as i raced inside my house. to my luck, it was empty and i didn't have to worry about informing my family right now.
this seemed to be one of those important tips the bobby warned me of earlier. right as i finished dialing the number listed on the card, the doors to my house almost slammed open. connor's silhouette appeared in the carve out frame before he walked right in.
"jesus christ, do you not know how to knock?" i frustratedly tugged at my curls after ending the call with the officer.
"i knew it was open." he shrugged. "besides, we have way more important things to worry about."
i paced back and forth in the living room, "it has to be him. it has to be andrew. there's no one else it would be."
"i know, i know." connor agreed, taking a seat on the couch in front of me. "i just don't know what to do about it. andrew has always been a sketchy kid. you never know what his cynical mind is up to."
the possibilities of what andrew could be doing with scarlett right now made my stomach churn with uneasiness. the thought of my poor baby, all alone with a criminal. i missed her chocolate eyes already and fantasied about the moment that i would get to hug her small body again. she had to be out there, we just have to find her.
"we need to think smartly. if we were andrew comiter, where would we take scarlett?" i questioned, finally stopping my fast steps and sitting down beside him.
connor looked to me, "i don't know. i'm not a psychopath."
i shook my head, "seriously connor, think."
i took a moment too, to think like andrew would think. i wouldn't take scarlett somewhere easy that the bobbies would look right away, like at his house or school. he wouldn't take scarlett anywhere too far either because he didn't have the money to travel long distance. having no idea where the bobbies had searched, no place could truly be scratched off the list.
connor's face scrunched up deep in thought as well. he threw his hands up in the air, "i seriously don't know, but it shouldn't be that hard to figure out. he's not that smart."
"smart enough to break out of jail." i mumbled underneath my breath. "i don't understand man, i searched all around the mall and outside for her and all i found was her ring. nothing makes sense."
we sat in silence while staring at the empty reflections of ourselves in the television. neither of us had said anything intelligent in the past ten minutes. it was connor who finally broke the quiet spell with a laugh. before i could even mutter a 'what?', he began explaining himself while i threw my head into my hands.
"do you remember freshman year how we used to call andrew a 'master of the obvious' because
of all those dumb things he used to say? like marriage is the number one cause of divorce or that the locker room shower water felt wet." he chuckled.
a smile crept up on my face, "how could i forget the dumbest captain obvious of all time?"
after sharing a laugh, we went back to sitting in awkward silence again.
"holy shit." i screamed, standing up and frantically searching for my keys. i let out profanities as i scrambled around the house.
"mason, chill out. what happened?" connor panicked, running over to me.
"andrew's always been a master of the obvious." i repeated his words, holding up my keys proudly that i found underneath a stack of mail.
"so?" he asked, following me to the door.
"what if andrew has her kept in such an obvious place that everyone would glance it over? what if they never left mall?"
a/n
sorry it's been so long lovelies. the closer i get to finishing this book, the harder it gets to write. with that being said, yes this book is coming close to its ending soon. i'm thinking around two more chapters..