31

The mattress was cold, and the sheets were wet. I still couldn’t believe I was in his gasp after all I did to prevent it. Silence roamed the room until chains filled it. “Ellie.” a soft voice next to me called out.

I only knew who spoke once they repeated something. “Jennie? Is that you??”

“Oh, Ells. It’s good to hear from you again.” She excitedly said. You could tell she was in pain and could feel the tears running down her cheeks. Was everything okay? She wasn’t hurt too much, was she?? Another voice chimed in; however, they were making sounds. Bailey. Another voice joined, and my heart dropped to the ground.

“Eunha!” I shouted. When did she go missing? She wasn’t here for too long, like a day before I arrived. Panic mode set in when I asked about my best friend. Nobody knew anything except she was taken. Disappointed, I crawled back from the cell door. I brought my knees up to my body and placed my head in between. A sharp pain stabbed me out of nowhere. What the hell did he do?? Silence again as the others knew Brad could hear the conversations. If he hears something bad, he will do unspeakable things to us. All we can do is take the punishment. One false move, and we are dead. I wish I had been more careful.

~ Evan ~

~ The night before Ellie’s capture~

I woke up to the hospital lights. Ughhh, what happened? All I know is that it wasn’t good. The doctor told me about my evaluation. I had to stay two more nights until I could be discharged. Good thing Kaylee and I shared rooms, or I would have been bored. “You alright, Kaylee?” I asked.

“Do I look alright to you? My sides hurt, and my company is in shatters. So being alright is far from my expectations.”

“Just checking to see, that’s all. You are my boss.” I sat up to get more comfortable, then turned the tv on since no one was talking. That’s when Kaylee glanced at me— what was Bead’s motive?? What was in his mind to kidnap these women?? Which was a great question. What was his reasoning for all this chaos?

Maybe he didn’t have a clear motive. Perhaps he was a psychopath who loved pleasure. People do things just because they know. This isn’t a movie where the suspect needs a motive to kill.

“Maybe. But doing everything in his power to get and take people is odd. There’s got to be something.” She said; I shrugged my shoulders and stared back at the television. The question came back— is there a motive? With everything happening, you can’t say no more. A knock came at the door, and a detective from Kevin’s team walked in.

He didn’t want to bother us but needed to talk to us about the incident. We didn’t hesitate to answer his questions truthfully. We hope to catch him and bring everyone to justice. The detective asked his first question, and it was stupid.

We need to find out why he is doing this. Why would we know?? It’s not like we got into his mind and took notes. That is something for Brad to answer. The detective left the room without a goodbye. Frustrated, I got up and went for a walk. When leaving the room, police flooded the hallways. The hospital became a police station and a newsroom as well. Cameras were everywhere, so I sneaked the other way to find peace.

My heart was full of aches. The people I deeply care about are gone or even dead. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn’t help it. I sat on a bench and looked up to see a picture of a nurse. “Come back soon” was the lettering at the bottom. I tilted my head in utter confusion; a janitor walked by.

I waved him down and asked about the picture. I saw her before. She was the nurse who went missing for a month. Nobody in the hospital has seen her since she left that day. She was a very young nurse and had great potential too. So– nobody knows what happened to her??

“Nope. We tried everything in the book to find her. She just up and vanished like someone burned her life away.” He stated. “Her name was Kimberly Gates. She was dating some guy, but I forgot his name. They were going to get married in less than two months. They were a good couple.” He shakes his head.

Married huh?? I thanked the worker and stared at the picture. Ellie?? But she wasn’t my sister; she just looked like her. The face structure, eye color, and hair type were the same. A detective found me and wondered why I was staring at a wall. I pointed to the picture and asked about it.

He squinted his eyes and said the same thing– Ellie. He had to get up to examine it closely to notice some differences. My mind was blown when he stated that was the first victim. She matched the description. “I know someone who can confirm that it is her. That is your sister.”

Ellie did see her body at a clear angle. The detective didn’t take long to dash off into the distance. I got up from the bench and returned to the room in pain. Kaylee was on the phone with Ryan. “How is everything, Ryan?” she said sweetly. I stood there without a word. “I’m fine. Miss you too, bub. Just keep everything in line for me, okay? Tell my secretary that everything needs to be reported back to me. Okay, bye.”

“Sounds like you guys are in love.”

“What?? No! Whoever told you that is lying. Ryan is my cousin, dipshit. His mom is my father’s sister. Plus, he is a fucking minor.”

“Hey! I wasn’t the one who started that rumor. Anyways guess who helped find the missing link.” I grinned.