A/N: Well thanks you so very much to those of you who reviewed the last chapter and put me on alert, favorites, ect. I can tell this is going to be one of my best fanfics yet and I'm so excited about where it's going to go. Well, you know, excluding the fact that it's about a girl who was kidnapped. Hehe. Well I'm going to try to update as fast as possible so bear with me. I'm working on two stories at once.
Now enjoy the new chapter!
Nate had no time to think, he had to do something. He wasn't a doctor but was pretty sure it wasn't a good sign if a girl stood up and fainted. In his short life any fainting experiences he'd had were usually followed by ambulance sirens or something of that nature.
"Jason! Shane! Somebody come quick!" It felt like such a cliché thing to say but at the moment he really didn't care. Jason, God bless him, was just finishing in the bathroom and was the first one to the scene.
"Nate! Who is that and what happened?" Nate could only answer half the question because the first half was something he was also wondering.
"I don't know she just stood up and collapsed I heard her crying while I was waiting for the bathroom and I asked her what was wrong and she wouldn't tell me." Nate said very fast and all in one breath. He paused to catch his breath and saw that Shane had arrived, the girls and Mrs. Gray all in tow. Mr. Gray was still on the bus, trying to keep Frankie occupied.
"Jason out of my way please!" Mrs. Jonas said, rushing past her oldest son. He gladly let her pass, sure that if anyone knew what to do, it was his mom. "Nate, what happened?" Nate really wished everyone would stop asking him that.
"I don't know. She just tried to stand up and then fainted. She'd been crying before and looked like she was pretty tired but that's all I know." There. He felt that covered it thoroughly.
"Woah there Nate, you little show off." Shane began. "You made a girl pass out. You really are a stud muffin, aren't ya?" he patted his little brother on the back.
"Shane, she had no idea who I was. I know that sounds kind of conceited but come on. She had never even heard of us before." Nate said seriously.
"Well did she say anything?" Shane asked and Nate shook his head. "There you go. Maybe she's from another country and doesn't speak English. Ever think of that?"
"Yeah but I asked her a couple questions and she shook her head. She knew what I was saying, she just didn't say anything back." This made Shane scrunch up his face in confusion.
"Jason, Shane," Mrs Gray started. "You two need to help me get her onto the bus. She has nothing with her, not even a cell phone so we're going to take her with us. We aren't going far and this way we can help her. Christine, sweet heart, I need you to help me get a lot of cold compresses together. You'll help me take care of her. Karla, can you go and let Paul know what's happening and then come help me and your sister?" The two girls nodded and ran off. "And Nate and Phoebe, if you two could go keep an eye on Frankie for me that'd be a big help."
"Sure Mrs. Gray," Phoebe said. She tugged on Nate's arm and, reluctantly, he turned and followed her.
"Okay boys, on three lift her up. One. Two. Three," she told Shane and Jason. They then carried her limp body onto the tour bus. "Set her down on Nate's bunk. It's the closest one and low to the ground,"
They gently put her down and then went to find Christine and Karla to help get supplies together. Once the four returned with not only cold compresses, but water, juice, granola bars, extra blankets, and pillows, they laid them down next to Mrs. Gray who sat at the mysterious girl's bedside.
"Thanks kids. Jason, Shane, and Karla, you guys can go in with Nate and Phoebe. Try to keep Frankie quiet and please don't tell him what's happening yet. I think Christine and I can take things from here." And with that, the group dispersed.
About tan hour later, the girl had color back in her face and was starting to move. She didn't wake yet, she just tossed and turned a little, groaning in her sleep. They had just arrived at the arena for their concert that night and Nate was the first to come waltzing down the hall, checking if the girl had woken up yet.
"Hey mom, how's she doing?" he asked.
"Better," she sighed. "Listen I'm going to go help your father unload the bus a bit. Christine, if you could go tell everyone they can get off the bus now. Nate, can you stay with her," she motioned to the still unconscious girl, "and just make sure she's okay?"
"Oh yeah. Of course." He sat down next to his bunk and looked down on the girl's face. A minute later everyone walked by them quietly. Phoebe was the last to leave and she bent down to say something quickly.
"Hey Nate?" she paused so he would look at her. She could read his worried expression like an open book. "She'll be okay. And it's not your fault either." She then offered a small smile and followed the rest of the group off the bus, leaving him staring after his best friend in total bewilderment.
As if on cue, the girl suddenly jerked in her sleep and shot straight up, banging her head on the bunk above her which, ironically, was Joe's. She snapped her head to the right and saw Nate staring at her, mouth hanging open in surprise. She screamed once and curled up into a ball, sliding as far back into the corner as possible. She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth, shivering and whispering "Please don't hurt me. Please." She kept repeating her plea over and over, each time making Nate more and more confused.
"Woah woah." He said reaching out slowly. "I'm not gonna hurt you. You're safe right now." This didn't help and she kept shaking and begging him. Then, just as Nate's fingertips brushed her shoulder she jerked away sharply and began sobbing so hard it wasn't long before she started hiccupping.
And then as suddenly as it all started…it stopped. She looked up, staring Nate in the eyes, still hiccupping, and just stopped. Nate sat down on his bed and saw that she had blue, green, and brown in her wide eyes. She looked like she'd been through a lot.
He took a chance and said softly so as not to scare her, "What's your name?"
She just looked at him for a minute before answering "Gracie," Nate smiled.
"I'm Nate in case you don't remember. I saw you outside the gas station." He gave her a moment to let it sink in. "You fainted and we brought you with us. There was no one else there so we figured you were alone. Am I right?" She nodded.
"I…I…I'm…alone," she stuttered. "Where am I?" she continued slowly.
"On our tour bus. Me and my brothers have are in a band and we are on tour right now. We're only an hour away from the gas station if you need to be taken back-" he didn't get to finish before her instantaneous "NO!"
Nate was taken aback. Then she went on. "I mean, no. There's nothing back there that I want to be near. And what town exactly are we in?"
"Anaheim. California." Nate added in case she didn't know. She nodded slowly and said no more. So he tried again.
"Umm…where do you live?"
"East coast, I think." It puzzled Nate that she wasn't sure of where she lived, but he didn't say anything about it. She seemed chatty now so he kept going.
"Listen. When I found you, you were crying…what happened?" His question was meant to be an innocent one but her reaction took it to a level he never thought possible. She completely shut down. She buried her head into her arms and started shaking again. He heard her crying again and was in shock. What had happened to make her act like this?
Then it hit him.
It was almost a year ago but he remembered seeing something on the news about a girl who'd been kidnapped. She was fourteen when she was taken and after a few moths of intense searching there was no more on the case. No more news stories on it once her family had announced they were giving up the search, pronouncing their daughter officially dead.
It was her. This girl was the one on the news who'd been kidnapped. At once his heart went out to her and he felt a lump forming in his throat. How had she survived this long? He was sure if he'd known his family had stopped searching for him he'd have probably died a long time ago.
"Gracie?" she jumped at the sound of her name. "Were you kidnapped?" A completely normal question of course.
It took a moment but she slowly nodded her head. A tear slipped down his face as he realized the situation she was in…the one his family was now in.
"You know you can talk to me if you ever need to, right?" he waited until she nodded again. "And just so you know, you're safe here. No one will hurt you while you're with us. We just want to help."
Switching POV
Safe. What was safe? Gracie's head swam with all the promises he was making her. And how did he know? Stupid question Gracie. He probably saw it on the news ages ago. She thought. But he looked nice enough. And he also looked like he was her age so there was no way he could be someone affiliated with him. She decided, against her better judgment, to trust him. Or at least as close as she could come trusting anyone at the moment.
Trust. What was trust?
Oooo, very serious chapter. Hope you all liked this one. And the next one will be at the concert so I promise Kirsten and Claire, you will be coming in.
Now review please! 10 alerts and only 7 reviews? Please! You can do better than that!
Peace out girl scout!