This installment kind of wrote itself the other night. Thanks for reading and please review!
It's set the morning after the incident and the nightmares.
Claudia and Steve met the next morning at a diner near their hotel for breakfast.
"Hey Claude, how did you sleep?" The girl looked so tired. Purple bags still hung under her eyes. She seemed withdrawn, her expression even more guarded than usual.
"Erm, okay..." She scraped an obscene amount of butter on her toast and stirred a third packet of sugar into her full coffee cup.
He raised his eyebrows, giving her a knowing look. "Just... had a few more nightmares." she admitted, letting herself slump over resting her head in her hand, elbow on the sticky plastic table.
He grimaced. "Sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"So, I thought I'd go back to... that bar today. And you could stay here, or-"
"No, no way. We need to find this artifact before someone else dies like that poor lady yesterday. I'm coming to the bar too." She was now sitting up straight again, trying to prove herself capable of handling the day.
"Claude, this sounds like a bad idea..."
"No. I'm going. I'm not going to let my personal life get in the way of our job."
"Okay." he said slowly. He noticed the untouched food on her plate. "Are you going to eat?"
"Nah, I'm not hungry." She said, shoving away the still-full cup of coffee.
"You're not even going to caf' up?"
She gave him a look that told him not to press the issue.
They drove over to the bar later that day and began questioning people about the lady who had died the day before. Her name had been April. Apparently, she had frozen to death even though it had been 90 degrees outside. Steve was talking with the owner while Claudia talked with an old, fairly drunk woman who had known the victim.
"Honey, I need a smoke break." the lady said, and Claudia followed her outside as the woman lit up.
"So April never had anyone who was angry at her?"
"No... Everyone loved her. She made the best apple pie." The woman began to ramble.
"No angry lovers or anything?"
"No. As far as I know, she didn't have anyone who didn't like her. Look, I need to go." She turned abruptly and staggered off.
Claudia was about to walk back inside when she felt a heavy, warm hand on her arm and turned to find her former foster father.
Her heart dropped to her stomach and she couldn't breathe as her face paled to an ashy white.
"It is you." he said. His voice sounded the same, gravelly from too much smoking and alcohol and yelling. He still had the same unpleasant smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"I want to talk. I've missed you." he said, tightening his grip on her arm.
Her heart was beating in her ears and her mouth was void of any moisture. She tried to swallow, tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.
"So how have you been?"
Suddenly, she found herself being dragged off by him, down streets and through alleyways. She didn't know why she wasn't screaming. She was trying to squirm out of his grasp, but wasn't strong enough.
"Let go of my arm!" She finally managed. He didn't even glance back as he continued to pull her. "Let go of me now!" She yelled. "Help! Somebody help!" This got his attention. All of a sudden he swung around and grabbed her by the shoulders, throwing her against a wall. Her head made contact with the brick with a dull thud and things went dark.
Steve had finished talking with the owner of the bar when he realized Claudia hadn't come back inside. He walked quickly through the bar and out the door, searching for her. She was nowhere to be found.
"Claudia? Claudia!" He yelled her name frantically, but she didn't appear. Pulling out his Farnsworth, he called Artie.
"Yes?"
" Claudia's gone." he said, feeling sick. He should have been watching her. He should have been protecting her. This was all his fault.
"What? What happened?"
"She disappeared! I don't know where she is. Artie, I think she may have been kidnapped by her old foster father."
So what did you think? Let me know in the reviews, and also if you have any ideas for the story! Thanks for reading.