Title: Disappearances
Summary: When the New Directions glee club decides to take a summer road trip after senior year, everyone is excited. The goal: to have as much fun as possible before half their team starts college. Unfortunately for them, their plans are derailed by a mysterious group. Who will survive the summer? Only time will tell…
Warnings: So far, the ones I can think of are: swearing, character death (not sure yet whether any major characters will die…you may even get a say), and possible descriptions (not too graphic) of torture…if I think of any others, they will be added on the relevant chapters.
A/N: I already had this chapter ready, and I didn't like just uploading the prologue, so here is the first chapter too. I will say, this story will be slightly (or not so slightly if my plan does change) AU at times. Also, as I am Australian, there will probably be things in here that are Aussie slang. Please, please, please tell me if you find anything, I will fix it right away. Thank you for reading :).
Loading Up, Heading Off
I watched and waited as the clock slowly counted down the last few seconds of school for the day. When the bell finally rang, I quickly picked up my books and my bag and rushed to my locker. The start of summer break meant one thing – road trip.
My group of friends and I were packing our bags, and loading up three Volvo XC90's – owned by my sister, my ex-boyfriend and I – and heading out on a trip to a few select places. Eventually we would end up at my parent's holiday house. It was located on one of my favourite beaches. For the last month of the summer holidays we would soak up the sun, and swim and surf day in, day out.
"Slow down Rachel, we're not leaving until tomorrow. There is no need to rush." I turned to find my best friend Quinn smiling and laughing at me. Quinn had been the one to organise the road trip, mapping out our stops, arranging our stays in hotels and speaking to our parents about using the holiday houses we all had in various places around the country.
I laughed back at her, "Says the girl who already has her bag and is ready to go."
"Mrs. Hagberg let us out early. Santana told me that she is going to Brittany's now and they will be back at your house later. Tina is going to find Mike before he leaves. She said she will meet us at the car in 10 minutes." I nodded my head and continued to empty my locker. A tap on my shoulder made me turn. Santana was standing right behind me, Brittany leaning up against the locker beside mine.
"Hey Rach, I'm going to head off with Britt instead," Santana said, nodding towards her best friend, "We have to pick up her bags for the trip. Can you please make sure that Mom leaves us some dinner? Tell her we'll be back late, so just put it in the fridge. Could you also clean out my car? It's a little messy and it needs to be cleaned before the trip." I smiled at my twin and shook my head incredulously. Santana was one to always leave things to the last minute. When she would finally remember she had something that needed to be done, she'd rush to me and ask for help, or demand that I do it. I would oblige of course, but sometimes it still came as a surprise to me.
"San, Rachel will have enough to do tonight without you piling more onto her. I'll help you clean the car when we get to your house. Come on, leave her be," Brittany said pulling Santana towards the door before yelling over her shoulder, "We'll see you two later, have fun tonight."
I turned back to my locker, finally emptying it out with Quinn's help and we walked out to my car. We climbed into the front and began our wait for Tina to come back. Earlier that morning, I drove around to her place and Quinn's house and loaded their bags in the boot. According to Quinn's plans, they would stay at my place before we left on the first leg of our trip. That way we had less places to swing by the next morning. Quinn decided to occupy the time waiting by turning on the radio. After flicking through many stations and not finding any good songs on, she turned it off. I heard the rear door close.
"Did you and Mike have fun or is he waiting for an encore?" I teased, assuming it was Tina.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I hope he doesn't want any encores from me," a male voice replied. I looked into the rear–vision mirror and saw Noah, my next door neighbour smirking back at me. He and Quinn laughed as I blushed. "She was coming across the lot when I closed the door, so she should be here any second now..." he trailed off as Tina jumped in beside him.
"I don't want to know, just drive," Tina sighed as she took in my blush and Noah's smirk. Turning the key, I started the car and quickly sped out of the parking lot.
The first half of the drive home was filled with silence, until Quinn lent forward and turned the radio on. She messed with the dial, trying to find a good station, eventually turning it off again and sighing.
"Please tell me that someone made a road mix and we don't have to listen to the radio for the whole trip," Noah groaned.
"I left that up to Rach," Quinn replied, turning to look at me, "Please tell me you organised the music." I nodded in reply.
In fact, I had spent the last few weeks creating multiple playlist's on my iPod depending on multiple factors. I had playlists for moods we could possibly be in, and ones for the different people who were going to be sitting in the car. Yeah, so I over organise a bit. Maybe I do it a lot. Quinn gave the job to me for two reasons though, that being one of them. The other was my extensive music collection.
I inherited my love of music from my father. He started playing the guitar when he was 5 and from there his love for music and musical instruments blossomed. My siblings and I were brought up around music, and lots of it. I started learning guitar when I was young and progressed to other instruments as I grew older. Dad loved that I was as in love with music as he was, so he funded the majority of my collection.
My music assortment was vast, varying from my parent's old records to the latest CD's and music on iTunes. When I turned six my Dad and I started our own tradition. During the week Dad had usually gone to work already by the time I got up, and didn't come home until after I went to bed. On the weekends, he liked to spend as much time with my siblings and I, some one–on–one time and some as a whole.
Every Sunday morning, bright and early, my Dad would wake me up and we would drive to the local café for breakfast. Once that was finished with, we would go to the record store in town, and buy the newest releases. CD's, records, it didn't matter. Whatever was new and sounded interesting, we bought. For the rest of the day, our house would be filled with the sounds of the new music we had bought.
As I got older, the tradition wilted away and became almost obsolete. Once every month, the tradition was kept, and we would pour over the latest music together, by this stage discussing it in length rather than just listening to it.
Among my friends, I was known as a sort of music geek, though the term geek was widely used in relation to me, no matter which word preceded it. Therefore, my musical expertise was called upon whenever a new mix needed to be created.
"I'll bet she has it all sorted on her iPod, into different playlists. Oh, it will all be classified too. How many playlists have you created, Rach?" Noah teased from the back seat.
"Ok, ok, Noah, point taken. You know me too well for your own good sometimes," I retorted. The truth was he did know me too well for my own good. For ten long years Noah had been living next door to me, and for ten long years we had been the best of friends. At first Quinn assumed that Noah and I would be perfect for each other – a match made in heaven. However, after a few years and many, many attempts to try to play matchmaker, she realised it wasn't meant to be.
Noah had always been like an older brother to me. One who was much cooler than my own older brother and one whom I actually managed to get along with quite well. He was very protective of me, always had been, and loved to tease me just to see me blush. Living next door to him gave me the advantage of always having a male to get opinions from about things that I couldn't talk to my brother or father about. Needless to say, Noah knew far too much about me for his or my own good.
We would remain friends forever – purely because he knew too much.
After a few more silent minutes in the car, Quinn and Noah started conversing about our upcoming trip, Noah quizzing Quinn about all the places she planned for us to visit and Quinn gushing over her choices. A look in the rear-vision mirror told me Tina was texting Mike, and judging by the smile on her face it was probably something sweet. When we finally pulled up my driveway, Quinn and Noah had managed to get around to who had rights to the front seat in the morning.
"Quinn, you know I called shotgun last week."
"I organised this trip Puckerman, therefore I get the front seat for the first leg of the drive."
"I get it first. You can't beat first call of shot gun just because you were the one who organised trip."
"I can, and I will."
I turned in my seat, as Tina and I to watch the verbal battle which had now turned into a staring contest, trying to hold in my laughter. Out of all our friends, Quinn and Noah had the most childish arguments, usually using childish actions and words during them.
"Rock, paper, scissors, best of three, whoever wins gets the front seat," Noah finally conceded.
"You know I'll win," Quinn retorted. The first battle was a draw, with both playing scissors. The next was won by Noah, his paper beating Quinn's rock. Quinn won the next round by playing scissors. The staring competition between the two was now intense as they found themselves at a tie. It seemed like slow motion as their hands moved up and down, finally landing on their chosen hand signal.
"Yes! I get the front seat!" Quinn exclaimed, her rock beating Noah's scissors. Noah sighed in defeat and exited the car, closely followed by myself and Quinn.
"Ok, you win this time, but next time, I'll win. I'm sure of it," Noah said with a smile, turning to walk towards his own house.
"I've managed to beat you every other time we have played. I just beat you then. What are the odds you'll win next time?" Quinn called out to his retreating figure. The reply she received was a simple wave as Noah walked through his front door.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head at their antics, while Tina laughed. Quinn turned to us and smiled, shrugging her shoulders.
"I can't help it if I always win, can I?"
"Both of you help me, please. I don't know which bikini to pack."
For the past few hours Quinn, Tina and I had done random activities around the house to pass the time. Dinner had passed, and Santana and Brittany had come home and eaten. It was Quinn who finally decided that I should finish packing. It was getting close to midnight, Tina was already asleep on an inflatable mattress and it was almost time for Quinn and I to sleep, but I was still unable to decide on some items.
"You know what? Just throw it all in," Quinn replied with a yawn, "You have enough room and it's been a long day. Hurry up and finish so I can get my beauty sleep."
Following her advice, I threw in the rest of the items I couldn't decide between and closed the suitcase. I pulled it downstairs behind me and left it with the other bags waiting to be packed into the cars. Once I walked back into my bedroom, I quickly changed into some pyjamas, turned out the lights and fell down onto my bed next to Quinn.
"Night, Quinn," I whispered, pulling the covers over myself.
"Night," came the reply.
Half an hour later I lay there, still wide awake. I couldn't help but keep thinking that I'd forgotten to pack something. I was also starting to get a bad feeling about the trip, as though something was going to go wrong.
"Are you still awake?" I turned to face the Quinn, finding her wide awake and staring at me.
"Yes, I can't sleep. I keep thinking I forgot to pack something," I replied quietly.
"You didn't. Unless you planned to take the rest of your wardrobe with you, I'm sure you packed enough clothes. If not, we can just buy more along the way."
"I know. I just have this feeling..."
"You always have a feeling," Quinn interrupted, rolling her eyes.
"They're usually right though. I have another feeling too. Something is going to go wrong on this trip and I don't mean the 'break down on the highway' kind of going wrong. I mean something is really going to go wrong," I confessed, looking to the window instead.
"It will be fine. This holiday is going to be fun, we are going to have fun, and you need to stop worrying. Your feeling is probably just that. A feeling. If anything goes wrong it will be that we get a flat, or Puck annoys us all to the point of wanting to kill him," Quinn replied.
"Still..."
"Hey," I felt Quinn's hand on mine and looked back to her, "Nothing will go wrong, I promise. Now, stop worrying and get some sleep." I nodded and rolled over to face my door. "Besides, you're driving first, and we have to be up in eight hours. I do not want to be in the passenger seat with you falling asleep at the wheel."
I sat up and grabbed my pillow, hitting her over the head with it, "Thank you. That makes me feel so much better." Quinn laughed in reply and I lay back down.
When I could finally hear Quinn snoring lightly, I crept out of bed to get a late night snack. I entered the kitchen, turned on the light and stifled a scream. Santana and Brittany were sitting at the table and looked towards me like they'd been caught red handed. Both relaxed when they realised it was only me.
"You scared us," Brittany breathed out.
"You scared me! What are you doing down here with the lights out?" I questioned, turning on the kettle and opening the fridge.
"We were trying not to get caught," Santana replied.
"No one is going to care if you are up having a snack. You know that," I said, starting to fix myself a sandwich. I paused to gaze at Santana, who looked to be stumbling for an excuse. She eventually just shrugged. I finished making my sandwich just as the kettle stopped boiling. Making myself a cup of tea, I carried my snack to the table and sat down.
"So, we were talking to Puck before. He said you thought there was something going on between him and Mike," Brittany said with a smile. I immediately started blushing.
"He was not meant to tell you anything about that. I made a simple mistake, ok, I thought he was Tina."
"I can't tell if that's a compliment to Puck, or an insult to Tina," Santana laughed, "What do you think Britt?"
"Sounds like both to be honest."
"Oh, you know I didn't mean it like that. All I heard was the door opening and I said something before I turned to see who it was."
"Sure, if that's your excuse."
"San, leave her alone. You know she probably said it because she likes Puck, and she knows how much he loves to see her blush," Brittany said with a smirk. Unfortunately, Brittany and Santana were the only two who didn't believe that there was nothing between me and Noah.
"I don't like Noah. You know that."
"If you say so, Sis, I believe you."
"Good. Anyway, who is your crush of the week, San? I saw you eyeing off David at lunch. Is he on your radar?" I saw Brittany glance at Santana quickly, a strange look on her face, before turning to look back at me with a smile
Santana stuttered her answer, "N...no. He...I...I don't like him at all."
"Well, that sure convinced me," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
Santana cleared her throat, "No, really, I don't like him. I have my eyes on someone else actually." Santana smiled. Brittany's smile faltered.
"What about you Britt, it's been a while since you and Artie broke up, who do you like at the moment?" I inquired, taking my empty plate and cup to the sink.
"I don't like anyone at the moment. I don't know. I'm just a bit confused." I returned to the table and sat to face Brittany.
"Confused about what?" I asked, glancing at Santana. Her worried face told me this was the first she had heard of it too. That was strange. Santana and Brittany instantly became best friends when they met in pre–school, and since then they had just grown closer. They told each other everything and never kept secrets from each other, as far as I knew. It was odd that Santana was just hearing of this.
"I think I like someone, but I'm not entirely sure. I don't know if they'll like me back. In fact, I'm positively sure they won't. It's complicated," she finished with a shrug.
"Okay then, well, if you ever want to talk about it, I've dealt with complicated before."
"Thanks Rach. I think I'm just going to go to bed," Brittany said, standing up and hugging Santana and I before disappearing up the stairs.
As soon as I was sure Brittany was out of earshot, I turned to Santana, "What was that about?"
"I'm as clueless as you. It's the first I've heard about it. She's been acting a little bit weird for a few days though, so it's not entirely surprising. Maybe I should go upstairs and see if she's all right?"
I nodded, "Yeah, I think I'm going to get some sleep. Quinn said she doesn't want me falling asleep at the wheel."
Santana and I both stood up, clearing up the table and turning out the lights.
"Night, San. Find out what's going on with Britt. Tell me what's going on tomorrow, please?" I asked when we went to go our separate ways.
"Sure, unless she makes me promise not to. Then you'll just have to wait for her to tell you."
"At least tell me if she's all right?"
"Ok then. Night Rae," Santana yawned, walking into her bedroom.
I quickly tiptoed into my room, and snuggled back underneath the covers. It wasn't long before I fell into a deep sleep.
I woke up to find Quinn standing in my wardrobe in a towel, searching for something to wear.
"Don't you have your own clothes?" I mumbled, pulling the blanket over my head.
"Good morning to you too," she replied, all too cheery for that early in the morning. The covers were pulled from above me, and a smiling Quinn replaced them. "Time to get up missy, we leave in an hour."
I begrudgingly sat up, "You didn't answer my question you know."
Quinn returned to the wardrobe, "Yes, I do. I'm not going through your clothes anyway, I'm going through mine." Because Quinn spent so much time at my house, she kept her own collection of clothing in my wardrobe.
"Oh, right. Well, can you get something out for me then? I'm going to take a shower."
"Yeah, I'll leave it on the bed. I've already had a shower. What do want for breakfast? I'll make you something while you're in there, that way we can leave on time. Tina is already eating hers."
"I figured you'd already taken a shower when I saw you were only in a towel. I'll just have some toast and a banana, but it would be nice if you could make me a coffee?" I replied, walking into my en suite and shutting the door.
"Done and done!" Quinn's muffled reply came through the door.
I quickly turned on the shower, stepping in under the steaming hot stream. The water was soothing, and I took the chance to wash my hair. When I was finished, I wrapped myself in a towel and exited the bathroom. As promised, Quinn had left a set of clothes on the bed for me. I hastily towelled myself off and changed into the clothes, taking the stairs two at a time as I hurried down the stairs into the kitchen. Quinn stood in the doorway, a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.
"Your coffee, as promised," she smiled, handing the cup to me.
I seized it from her, and sat down at the table where toast and a banana awaited.
"Thank you, I really needed this," I said, taking a sip of the coffee, "Has anyone packed the cars yet?"
Quinn laughed and sat down next to me, "Yes, B and I packed them earlier this morning. San is still in bed by the way. B just went upstairs to wake her up." A loud blast of music followed by a loud thump could be heard coming from upstairs.
I started laughing, "I'd say San is up now." Quinn laughed too as Brittany sped through the kitchen, hiding in the walk-in-pantry. A tired looking Santana stormed into the kitchen. I stifled another laugh as I took in her dishevelled appearance. Her hair was sticking up at odd angles, one of her socks was missing, and one of the straps on her pyjama top had fallen down her arm.
"Where is she? I'm going to kill her!" Santana exclaimed looking around wildly.
Tina looked up from the sink where she was placing her dishes, "I think I'm going to have my shower now." She quickly scurried out of the room, trying to avoid Santana's gaze. Waking up Santana in the morning was always a challenge but waking her up this early meant you were asking for it. Trying to deal with her before she'd had her morning coffee? Death wish on your part.
"Nice to see you're up San. Would you like a cup of coffee?" Quinn asked seriously, trying to hide a smile.
"Please," Santana replied falling into a chair. Quinn went off to get Santana's coffee, just as the front door opened.
"Knock, knock," a voice yelled. The identity was soon confirmed as Noah walked into the kitchen. He looked around the room, his eyes finally resting on Santana.
"Well, it looks like you had a good morning, San," he smirked, rubbing his hand over her head.
"I wouldn't if I were you, she hasn't had her coffee yet," Quinn told him, handing a cup to Santana.
"Oh sorry, didn't realise. So, where is Britt? She was staying here last night, wasn't she?" Noah asked, oblivious to the incident that had just occurred.
The pantry door opened to reveal a scared looking Brittany.
"It's okay Britt. San has had some coffee now. You're safe," I smiled, as Brittany breathed a sigh of relief. I picked up my banana and threw it to Quinn, then gathered up my plate and mug, and placed them in the sink. "Ok, we're going to get going I think. Which of the two of you is driving?" I asked, glancing between Santana and Brittany.
"I am," Brittany chimed.
"Ok, well, we're going to pick up Mike, Mercedes and Sam. We are all meeting at the Hudson-Hummel house to split our luggage into the separate cars. Could you bring Tina with you? " Brittany nodded, "Noah is your suitcase in the car yet?"
"I left it with your parents. They were sitting on the swing chair outside and your dad said he'd put it in there for me."
"Quinn, did you put my handbag in the car? Did you make sure my iPod was in there? What about my phone? Are you sure we haven't left anything behind? Did you..." Quinn held up a hand to silence me.
"I checked it all. Everything is in the car, I promise."
"Ok then, let's go. Bye girls," I said, waving goodbye and turning to leave. I'd made it about one half step before Brittany's voice stopped me.
"Uh, guys, I kind of forgot to tell you. I may or may not have invited Artie again, and he may or may not have decided to come." We all looked questioningly towards her. "Okay, so he said he wasn't coming after we broke up because it would be too hard for him, but we've been talking lately and we're getting along again so I thought I'd mention it and see if he wanted to come along. He said yes, so I told him he could ride with San and I. We have enough room. It's really not a big deal."
"Really? Wheels is tagging along on our summer holiday, we're now going to have to have to find wheelchair access everywhere, and lift him in and out of the car, and to top it off he's riding in the car with us? I'd call that a big deal," Santana sighed, "You could have given us some warning Britt."
"I'm sorry," Brittany responded, dropping her head to her chest.
"It is fine Britt," I answered jovially, trying to cheer her up, "We'll just have to make a few changes to the plans, it shouldn't be that hard, should it Quinn?" Quinn looked like she was going to disagree, but after a pointed look from me and Noah she quickly smiled and nodded in agreement. "See Britt, no problems. If that's all, we're going to leave now." After only getting waves in response Quinn, Noah and I walked out to the entrance hall, to see Tina walking down the stairs.
"Are you guys leaving now? I'd like to come with you to pick up Mike if that's okay. I just need to grab my purse and I'll be ready to go."
I nodded in reply, "Just go tell Britt and San you're coming with us and we'll meet you in the car." The three of us continued on our way to the car, only to find my parents leaning against the side of it. When they saw us, they walked over, smiles on their faces.
"I think you are all set to go. I put your case in Santana's car, Noah, I hope you don't mind?" Dad asked.
"No that's fine. I think that was the plan anyway."
"Ok then, well, have fun. Be careful," Dad said, shaking Noah's hand and hugging Quinn and I before walking to the door, hugging Tina goodbye as she flew out of it. Noah hugged my Mom, and climbed into the car.
"Girls, please be careful. Make sure you call too. I want to hear all about your trip. We'll meet you at the holiday house," Mom said, hugging Quinn, then Tina, then me.
"Bye Mom, we'll be careful, I promise," I said, following the girls to the car and getting into the driver's seat. I turned the car on and put it into reverse, backing out of the driveway while waving to my mother. Her figure became smaller and smaller as we drove off towards our friend, and Tina's boyfriend, Mike's house.
As I pulled into Mike's driveway Tina undid her seatbelt and jumped out of the car before it stopped. I parked the car, and exited it, motioning for Noah to get out as well and put Mike's luggage in the car. I watched as Tina ran towards Mike, her body melting into his arms as they came around her.
Quinn and I watched as they swayed on the sidewalk for a while, finally parting to talk for a second, only to embrace each other once more. I started the car up again as Noah climbed back in. Tina and Mike parted, before they both walked to the car and climbed in. I slowly backed the car out of the driveway, turning it to face the direction of our next destination; Sam's house.
"I received a text from Sam. He said that Mercedes is at his house, they thought it would be easier to just pick them both up from there," I nodded a reply. It wasn't surprising that Mercedes was at Sam's; we all knew they liked each other. Well, everybody but Mercedes and Sam knew they liked each other.
"Were your parents' home to say goodbye?" Tina asked, taking Mike's hand. I looked in the rear vision mirror to gage his reply. Mike's fixed and steely gaze told us all we needed to know.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Tina. They are the ones who don't seem to care."
Mercedes and Sam were waiting on the sidewalk for us to get there. They climbed into the back of the car while Noah loaded their suitcases. Once Noah was back in the car, small talk started between the six passengers in my car, and I drove towards our final destination before our road trip began.