A/N: And the craziness of me starting new stories strikes again! Consider this to be an apology for taking so long to finally update Raising EM again. This should be interesting and well, I kind of got the idea from Unsolved Mysteries. I just saw an abandoned car in the story and the rest grew from there. *nods* Different I know. It didn't go the direction I'd been thinking at first but this new idea that came out at the end of this first chapter is much more of an original direction. Hope you like it! Rating for violence and sexual situations and probably gore.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee and I don't know the actors though I would love to know Chris and Darren. *sigh* A girl can dream right?
Blaine remembered the day his life turned upside down. He remembered the day he got that phone call. He remembered the day he rushed to the police department with Burt Hummel to confirm that the abandoned vehicle picked up at the side of the road en route to Columbus, Ohio was in fact Kurt's Navigator. He couldn't get it out of his mind.
Blaine Anderson felt the worst thing anyone can imagine happening was happened in his life. His boyfriend, eighteen-year-old Kurt Hummel, was missing.
The day he got that call was just like any other. Blaine was in his room, after school doing homework when his phone rang. He looked at it to see Finn's name flash across the screen. That was kind of odd. Frowning, he slid his finger across the screen to unlock his phone and tapped the answer button.
"Hey Finn, what's up?" Blaine asked. Finn's voice on the other end of the line was frantic. That was enough to worry him.
"Blaine, is Kurt with you?" he asked. Blaine furrowed his brow.
"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Why?"
There was a breath drawn on Finn's end and he said in a huff, "Because we don't know where he is." Blaine froze. It dawned on him than that Kurt hadn't been at school that day but he'd thought that maybe he may have caught a bug and just stayed home, even though he knew Kurt was stubborn enough to go to school sick anyway. He would have been forced to stay for sure. But Blaine also remembered how Finn had looked incredibly worried all day. He swallowed hard.
"Finn, did Kurt leave for school this morning?" he asked.
There was silence for a moment and Blaine wondered if Finn was nodding and forgetting that he was on the other end of the line and couldn't see him. Finally, he replied.
"Yes, I know he did because he offered me a ride but I told him that Rachel was picking me up. I watched him leave. I swear Blaine nothing was out of the ordinary this morning. But than he never showed up at school and he's not answering his phone. Burt's flying off the handle with worry. If Kurt were here, he'd have a panic attack over how much his dad is worrying about him."
Blaine remained quiet. Kurt had left for school that morning. Kurt had not shown up at school. Kurt was not answering his phone. This was not Kurt. He wondered if he should try calling him.
"Blaine?" Blaine snapped out of his reverie than.
"Sorry Finn. I'm still here." He took a breath. He could feel my heart beating out of my chest. Something was seriously wrong and Blaine didn't like it. He was scared shitless. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't. The questing vibrating in his head, what had happened to Kurt?
The rest of the call was a blur. It didn't last too long and Finn was asking him multiple times if he was absolutely sure that he didn't know where Kurt was. As much as he wanted to tell him he did, he really didn't know. Blaine hadn't heard from him all day.
That had been on Friday. The next call came on Sunday. It was from Burt.
"Blaine?" He sounded a bit choked. Blaine dropped his pen, having been working on homework again.
"Burt? Mr. Hummel sir? What's wrong?" he asked.
He drew a breath. "Listen son, are you free? The police just called. They…they said they found a vehicle matching the description of Kurt's Navigator." Blaine froze, swallowing hard at the lump that had immediately started to form in the back of his throat. "It was abandoned Blaine." Those words were whispered and he barely caught them. "They want me to come in and identify it, confirm that it's Kurt's car. I wanted to know if…if you wanted to come with me."
Blaine wasn't going to lie. The situation was heartbreaking and it scared the shit out of him. He don't even know what possessed him to answer. "Yes, yes I'll go."
Damnit Blaine! Why do you want to go see Kurt's abandoned car? It just makes the whole fact that he's missing more real, he scolded himself. But a part of him felt that there had to have been some clue.
Burt picked Blaine up after they hung up the phone. The drive to the police department in Lima was very quiet, aside from Burt filling him in on the fact that the police had found Kurt's car on the shoulder of the highway en route to Columbus. Neither of them could figure out why the hell Kurt would be going to Columbus when they knew he had left for school that morning. Immediately, the idea of foul play clenched his heart.
The visit to the police department only made things worse.
The car they had picked up was indeed Kurt's Navigator. It was in perfect condition aside from the fact that someone had ripped both license plates off. The keys were still in the ignition. But the clearest clues that something had happened were a cigarette butt sitting in the cup holder and there was a small empty flask of what had been vodka sitting on the floor of the driver's side. But the worst thing about it was the red stain on the dashboard on the passenger side of the car. Blaine didn't need an expert to tell him it was Kurt's blood.
His worst fears clenched at him and he had to fight himself not to break into tears.
That was a month ago. There were no new leads and people were starting to give up the search. The numbers of people who had broken out all over Lima and Ohio between our small town and the location Kurt's Navigator had been found, were dwindling. More and more people were giving up the search. Blaine and the rest of New Directions, the Glee Club of McKinley High and Kurt's other friends were furious.
"They're giving him up for dead," Mercedes whispered. Blaine looked up. The lot of them were sitting in the choir room, waiting for Mr. Schue to come in.
Finn became violent suddenly, picking up a chair and throwing it across the room. Blaine stared at him.
"It's not fair!" He was tugging at his hair. It was common knowledge that Finn had an incredible guilt about Kurt's sudden disappearance. He felt that if he had agreed to that ride, Kurt might still be here. Or else, the two of them would both be missing.
Rachel put a hand on his arm. "Finn, it's not your fault," she said quietly. Finn looked at her as though he thought she was crazy.
Blaine let out a sigh and stood. He didn't think he could handle rehearsal today. "Where are you going?" Quinn asked. He looked back at her.
"I don't feel like singing." His friends exchanged looks and Mercedes slowly stood, walking over to me and placing a hand on my arm. He looked at her.
"None of us do. But we have to keep going. Kurt wouldn't want us to spend all our time worrying about him. I'm not giving up, but I'm going to try and live my life at the same time," she said. Blaine looked at her for several long moments.
And then, he couldn't take it anymore. Blaine broke down, collapsing to his knees.
"Finn's right!" he cried, retching out choked sobs. "It's not fair! How could something like this happen to someone so perfect as Kurt? And the community's starting not to care! They're giving up! How could they do that?" His body wracked with tears and the next thing he knew, the whole lot of them had engulfed him in a hug.
That's how they all were when Mr. Schue walked into the room.
"Guys?" he said hesitantly. Blaine sniffed and struggled to his feet with the help of the others. "What's going on?"
Rachel was the one who answered. "Blaine's having a breakdown Mr. Schue," she said quietly. Mr. Schue looked at him and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "People have started giving Kurt up for dead."
Quiet fell over all of them. "To hell with them," Puck broke it a few minutes later. They all turned and looked at him. "I refuse to believe Kurt's dead. I don't care if there are no more clues of what happened to him. There's no evidence proving he's been killed either."
Blaine looked at him. Puck was right. There wasn't any evidence to prove that Kurt was dead. His hysterics turned to anger and he kicked the chair on the floor that Finn had thrown, throwing my arms over his chest.
"What the fuck is wrong with the world?" he shouted. His friends and Mr. Schue stared at him in surprise. It was not typical Blaine Anderson behavior to get incredibly angry and flip a lid. He didn't have a temper. Kurt was the one that had the temper. "You can't just assume someone's dead because you have no idea where they are! Why the hell does it work that way? You need proof that they're really dead just as much as you need proof that they're still alive! You can't just assume but oh no, it doesn't work like that. No trace of them automatically means they're dead, regardless of whether or not there's any evidence of them possibly being dead!"
No one said anything. They all knew that was the truth. Rachel opened her mouth but just than, there was a knock at the door. They all turned to see Burt standing there.
"Mr. Hummel?" Mr. Schue said and Blaine could hear the surprise in his voice.
Burt was carrying a box in his hands. His face was white as a sheet. He entered the room and set the box on the floor. They all watched him as he knelt beside it and proceeded to open the top. From his position, Blaine could tell that he'd already opened it once.
"I opened the front door this morning to find this box sitting on the step." Fear vibrated through Blaine. The room fell deftly quiet as they watched Burt. They could see him trembling.
He reached his hands into the box and pulled out Kurt's cell phone. That was all Blaine needed to see to know that whomever had Kurt was the person who had sent the package. The fact that they knew Kurt's address was extremely unnerving. But it didn't stop there. Burt reached back into the box and pulled out a small zip lock bag and Blaine was appalled to find that a lock of Kurt's hair was inside it. He heard a gasp and turned to see Rachel clamping a hand to her mouth. Next, Burt extracted an audiotape. This was where he froze and looked up at them.
"I haven't listened to it yet. I'm not sure I want to," he said quietly. Mr. Schue carefully walked over and took the tape from his hands, placing it on the piano. For a moment, no one moved. But then Burt took a breath and reached into the box again. When he extracted the next item, his hands were shaking terribly and it took Blaine a moment to realize that he was clutching a stack of photos. Not able to really keep his grip on them, Burt threw them and they scattered the choir room floor.
One landed at Blaine's feet. He knelt very carefully and picked it up. He nearly immediately dropped it again. The photo showed Kurt. He was tied to a bed, clothes stripped away. There was evidence of tried blood at his hairline. Cuts and scrapes and bruises littered his body. A look twisted of fear and tears was written across his face. Hands shaking, he turned the photograph over to find two words written there. Still alive.
That was all it took for him to drop the picture. His eyes wide as saucers, Blaine turned and ran from the room. He was going to find Kurt if it was the last thing he did. He could hear the others making commotion over the photos, probably more indications of what had been done to Kurt. He didn't care. All that mattered to him now was finding him. He had to find him.
It hurt. God it still fucking hurt. But that would always be a prominent pain. Every time he thought the bruises were subsiding, that evil man came back and renewed them. He hid his head in shame.
"No use hiding," said a voice from the left. Kurt turned his head slowly and glanced at the naked boy on the next bed. He too was tied to the bed and covered in scrapes and bruises. "We all have to deal with the same thing."
The eighteen-year-old knew he was right. The two of them were tied to beds in a ward of a building that had to have once been an orphanage. They weren't the only ones in the room. There were eight others, ten teenagers in all. Three of them, other than Kurt and his neighbor were boys and the other five were girls. Kurt was battling himself not to look at anyone else in the room. They were all in the same state. Tied to the bed, naked, and covered in scrapes and bruises. They took turns being the abuse bag apparently.
Kurt sighed. He was fighting tears. He wanted Blaine. He wanted Finn. He wanted Carole. He wanted his dad. He wanted everyone he cared about. But he was alone.
"It's been a month," spoke up another voice. Kurt dared to stare at the bed across from him. A girl with long red hair was tied to it. Her lip was freshly cut, evidence of her most recent attack.
"What does that mean?" Kurt managed to choke out.
The boy on his right answered. "It means that we'll be getting a new friend any day now." Kurt swallowed. He knew what that meant. It meant that his kidnapper was going to bring in another poor soul to suffer. Whenever that happened, he would no longer be the new one, which would mean, attacks would be a little less frequent, as he'd observed with the others.
The first boy who had spoken to Kurt looked at him. "So, tell us about yourself?" Kurt looked at him.
"Are you kidding me?" he said, turning his head quickly away and flushing. "We're naked, tied to beds, and in a hostage situation and you want to make small talk?"
The boy frowned. "Do you have any better ideas?" he asked in a quiet voice.
Kurt's eyes went up to the far corner of the room. "How about trying to free ourselves so we can put out that camera," he said shortly.
That got the attention of all the other teens in the room. "There's a camera in here?" a blonde girl asked. Kurt sighed. Obviously these kids didn't know anything about observation. He was glad that he was good at it. If breaking out on his own was possible, he had to take in the full situation.
He struggled against his bindings to look at the girl better but found that it tightened them in a way that cut his circulation off so he fell back in defeat.
"I miss Blaine," he said quietly after a long silence.
The boy on his left again looked at him. "Who is Blaine?" he asked. Damn nosey brat. This kid annoyed Kurt. Not that he would say so aloud.
"My boyfriend," he said shortly, eyes on the ceiling.
No one said anything for several moments. When someone did, it was the girl with the red hair in the bed across from him. "You're gay?" she asked. It wasn't an accusation and it wasn't in disgust. It was a genuine question of curiosity.
Kurt lifted his head slightly and nodded. "Yes. Does that bother you?" he asked.
"No," she said. "My brother is gay too. Doesn't bother me." Kurt nodded again and rested his head back on the bed. God this was uncomfortable.
Silence fell over the room. Several of the teens didn't bother talking at all though it was clear they were all listening in. Kurt allowed his mind to wander to Blaine.
His thoughts about his boyfriend couldn't be more terrifying. He feared that Blaine might have given up by now. It had been a month of no contact. What if Blaine had given him up for dead and was now dating someone else? What if that someone else was Sebastian? Had everyone else moved on too? There wasn't exactly much clue of what had happened to him. He didn't know how long some of the other kids had been there. But surely people had given up on finding them right? And if they had, they probably had given up on finding Kurt by now too.
The sound of the room door banging open interrupted his thoughts and along with the other nine kids in the room, Kurt turned his head. In stomped their captor, a rather burly man with a scruffy face and small black beady eyes. He had an unconscious teenager slung over his shoulder.
There were still empty beds but to everyone's surprise, he stopped at the bed being occupied by the boy on Kurt's left. "I'm moving you," he growled. The kid stared up at him wide-eyed.
"W-what?" he asked in a small voice. Kurt got the notion that moving kids was not normal.
"You heard me!" the man growled. He dropped the new kid on an empty bed carelessly and Kurt couldn't get a good enough look at him. Moving quickly, he untied the bindings of the boy and picked him up. The naked teen squealed but didn't resist.
Kurt watched him cross the room with the boy and tie him back up on a bed at the other end of the room near the door before he grabbed his jaw and kissed him roughly. The eighteen-year-old turned his eyes away, wincing.
The man stomped back over to where he'd dropped the unconscious teen, stripping the boy of his clothes. One eye, however, rested on Kurt.
"I've got a present for you," he growled. Kurt stared at him wide-eyed, heart beating with fear.
That was until the man dumped the unconscious boy on the bed next to him and proceeded to tie him up. It took all of Kurt's willpower to not let out a gasp. The captor grinned.
"Enjoy Kurtie," he spat before marching to him and grabbing his chin like the other boy. He kissed him hard and Kurt held back a grimace of disgust. He tasted badly of cigarettes and vodka and it wasn't at all pleasant. "I figured since you'd been so well behaved, you could have him. But step out of line Kurtie and I'll be sure you never see him again. Do I make myself clear?"
Kurt just nodded. The man slapped him lightly on the cheek and stomped from the room.
"Kurt?" said the redheaded girl quietly after he left. Kurt turned to look at her. "What's wrong?" she asked.
A sigh left him and looked at the newcomer once before looking back at her.
"Blaine," he said shortly.
What the hell? Blaine's mind was swirling with thoughts, telling him he had to wake up. Wait! When had he fallen asleep? Why was his head in such pain? What was going on? All these thoughts were coursing through his head as he fought with himself to open his eyes. Why was it so hard?
The last thing Blaine remembered was running from the choir room. He'd sprinted through the empty halls of McKinley and out to the parking lot. He'd run to his car and…than what? Everything after that seemed to go black on him.
A groan fell through his lips and Blaine suddenly because aware of a draft. Blinking very slowly, his vision swam in front of him. Shapes blurred and doubled.
"Blaine?" asked a voice and the boy blinked hard, trying to clear his vision and focus. He knew that voice. It sounded like Kurt. Was he dead? Had Kurt been waiting for him in heaven?
Slowly, Blaine's vision came into focus and he noticed he was in a ward full of beds figures were on some of them. Including the one to his immediate right.
"Blaine," the voice said again, and there was no doubt in his mind now that it was Kurt. The seventeen-year-old carefully turned his head to be present by the sight of his naked and battered boyfriend tied to the bed next door. He opened his mouth to cry out and Kurt quickly shook his head. Blaine snapped his mouth shut.
Murmurs filled the room and Blaine took a moment to take in what was going on. Every single person he could see was just like Kurt. Naked, tied to the bed, and battered.
"What's going on?" he managed to ask.
Kurt felt his heart leap. He tried not to blush at the sight of Blaine's naked body. It wasn't like he hadn't seen it before. He felt both glad and sad. Glad because Blaine was there with him now but sad because it meant that Blaine had just become his captor's new plaything. Oh God. What if he tormented them both together now? He did say Blaine was a present for him. Kurt shuddered.
"You're not going anywhere anytime soon baby," he said quietly.
Blaine looked at him. "Am I dead?" Kurt furrowed his brow but quickly shook his head. "Than you're alive?" Kurt nodded. "I knew it…we have to tell everyone, we have to!"
Kurt looked at him and his heart broke. "How Blaine? We're kidnapped sex slaves to a child molester. I've known since I first woke up here that he's filming us and I still haven't come up with anyway to break free. The bindings are solid. Tight, but not too much so but also seemingly unbreakable. Some of these kids have been here for months. Every time we heal some, he attacks us again. Takes his turn with us. But now that he's got you, you'll be his main prize until he brings another. There's no evidence and no way of knowing how long it might take for the cops to discover all this."
Blaine was staring at him wide-eyed. The redheaded girl spoke up. "He's been taking teens once a month. You're number eleven. I was number one. I've been here nearly a year." Blaine swallowed. Once a month and he was number eleven. That meant that girl was a month away from having been missing for a year. How the hell did these kids survive?
He found himself thinking of that box Burt had delivered and remembered the tape.
"Kurt, what was on the tape?" Kurt looked confused.
"Tape? What tape?" he asked. Blaine wondered if he had any idea about the box.
He furrowed his brow. "Your dad showed up at the choir room today. He had a box that he said he'd found on the doorstep. It contained your cell phone, a lock of your hair in a zip lock bag, several pictures of you in this…well state, and a cassette tape. What was on it?"
Kurt found himself thinking hard, trying to remember what it could be. It was the blonde girl who found the answer.
"Pleas. He records us pleading to our parents and crying out in pain. Than he mails them with various other things." Blaine looked horribly disgusted. "I still don't know how he knows our addresses."
The room was quiet for a moment. Kurt again was thinking hard. After a moment he said the only thing that he thought could explain. "He's been watching us." All attention turned to him. "That's why it takes a month before he kidnaps someone new. He observes his selected victim until he's gathered enough information to pull off the abduction smoothly," he went on.
Logical. Only Kurt would realize that. But than, did that mean Blaine had been a target all along? Kurt glanced over at his boyfriend. One look in Blaine's hazel eyes and Kurt knew he was thinking the same thing.
"Next victim will be a girl," the redhead said. Blaine tore his gaze from Kurt and looked at her.
"How do you know that?" he asked. She shrugged.
"I told you I was number one, right?" Blaine nodded. "I've noticed he likes to keep numbers even. Kurt was the last person he took before you, giving us five boys and five girls in our number. And now he's brought you. That means there is one more boy than girl. So, the next victim with be a girl," she said.
Kurt wasn't going to lie. This sounded really odd. Was the guy bisexual? Or just a flat out sexual predator? The eighteen-year-old guessed the latter.
If there was one thing that was certain between all of them, it was the fear that they may never be found. And now that Blaine was with him in this situation, Kurt was quite sure things in Lima would stir up a bit more. The search may be renewed.
"Where are we?" Blaine asked. Kurt looked at him.
"Abandoned orphanage, Columbus, Ohio." Blaine wasn't surprised.
"Police found your Navigator Kurt." The taller boy lifted a brow.
"Oh?" he asked.
"Yeah. Two days after you disappeared. Your dad and I went to the station to confirm it was your car. The only real damage was that both license plates had been ripped off." Kurt cringed and glared. Oh if he ever got out of this that bastard was going to pay for vandalizing his baby. He didn't care if it was just license plates. Nobody messed with his car.
"I'll kill him," Kurt spat. That was enough to cause a light chuckle to leave Blaine's mouth. Kurt just stared at him. At least one good thing came out of this. They would be able to keep each other's hopes up.
For the first time in his life, Kurt prayed that they would be found safe and sound.
A/N: So there it is! Thoughts? Comments? Reviews make me smile and keep me writing. Originally, Blaine wasn't going to be taken too but I've decided to start a bit of a riot for little old Lima. Give a reason for them to maybe make headline news. You'll see as the story progressed. Brownie points if you can guess what I have in mind. :) I'd say I'll give you a shout out next chapter but I wouldn't want to give away plot to those who can't figure it out. What fun is that? xD Happy reading!