Chapter 4

Jeff was huddled over his desk with his camera attached to the computer, looking through all of his pictures. His heart broke every time he saw one with Nick in it (and there were a lot of them) but he couldn't tear his eyes away. Nick had been so wonderful, and so sweet - What had happened?

The more Jeff looked at the pictures, the more he started to notice something. He went into his other files and opened up the pictures from the day before. And the day before that. And the day before that. The same figure was in the background of them all, a tall man, wearing a black coat with long shaggy brown hair. Why was he in all of these photos? In some, he was just standing half behind a tree, others, somewhere else blending in with the background. Was he a stalker? Did he know Nick or something?

For a moment, the thought that he might be the guy that Nick was probably seeing crossed Jeff's mind. But he looked far too old and tramp - like, and was extremely heavily built - like a wrestler. He couldn't see Nick ever being with someone like that. So what was this man doing in all of their photos? That's when Jeff remembered. That same man had been at the bus stop. Jeff remembered because he had seemed completely out of it, mumbling to himself. What if he had done something to Nick?

Jeff grabbed his coat and shoes, and began running down the street. The bus stop was only a few streets away from here, and the same bus that should've taken Nick to his parents' house was going to be pulling up there in five minutes. He ran as fast as he could (which was quite fast actually, because he was a dancer) and reached the bus stop just as the bus was about to pull away. The driver knew Nick as he was the father of one of Nick's sister's friends, so Jeff asked him if Nick had got on the bus the other day.

"No" The man said, and Jeff's heart leapt. "He was standing here, and then this man started talking to him and they walked away together, weird actually".

"Where! Where did they go?" Jeff shouted.

"Down that street I think" The man replied, a bit taken aback by how jumpy Jeff was being. He motioned to the street ahead and to the left, and Jeff was halfway down there already by the time he had finished saying 'street'.

Jeff had been searching the streets around that area for hours. He couldn't find anything that might lead him to Nick. He had a bad feeling in his gut, and it all seemed to add up. He knew Nick - he never would have been that cruel. Unless he was forced to. Jeff stopped running for a moment to catch his breath, and tried calling Nick again. No answer. He took out his water and gulped some of it down, before checking his phone again. He had been doing that a lot. As if by magic, a new message was received. Jeff's heart was in his throat when he saw the text message was from Nick. He clicked it and got really agitated as the message took it's time to load. And then there it was:

'HELP. OLD WAREHOUSE WATSON STREET'

He had been kidnapped! And now Jeff knew where he was! He had to save him! Jeff grabbed his bag and ran down the street towards where he could remember the warehouse was. When he reached it, he stood outside for a moment and called the police, stating where he was and what was going on. He kept losing signal though, and eventually, the call failed. He guessed he would have to do this without them then, but for Nick, it was worth it. He climbed the fence and jumped down on the other side, and broke into one of the parts of the buildings. There were so many offices in this warehouse though - It could take quite a long time to find Nick. But he wouldn't give up.

"No! Please no! Oh god, This can't be happening!" Nick sobbed as the man pressed send. He had been getting mad about not being able to locate Jeff for the second day in a row, so had decided to let Jeff come here himself by sending him a help message. Now Jeff was going to fall straight into his trap. He put his head on his knees and curled up into a ball on the floor. He wanted to scream, but he didn't want Jeff to hear when he got here and find them, so he kept as silent as possible. That was a really hard thing to do when you are in this much pain. Fifteen minutes passed by, and the man stood up, not bothering to tie Nick up this time but locking the door behind him again. Nick struggled to his feet, which could barely hold his weight anymore, and leaned his palm against the wall for support. A few minutes went by and then he heard screaming and rushed footsteps. Those weren't just any screams though. He had Jeff.

The door was unlocked and Jeff was thrown in, where he hit the far wall and stumbled to the ground. Straight away he was up again with his hands making fists infront of his face, preparing to fight the man.

"Where's Nick?" Jeff shouted, looking the man up and down and trying to keep a strong glare up, even though Nick could tell how scared he was. The man laughed and walked towards Jeff who began to step back, before deciding against it and standing his ground. Nick's legs couldn't take it anymore, from the corner he collapsed onto his side, and shouted in pain at the impact. Jeff instantly turned and saw Nick now, black eyes half shut, covered in bruises, deep cuts and his own blood, with what looked like a badly dislocated shoulder.

"Nick! Oh my god! Nick! Please tell me you're ok!" Jeff screamed. "How could you do this to him?" He ran to the man and managed to get one punch in around the man's face, before he reacted and punched Jeff back in the stomach. He fell to his knees, then was instantly pulled back up by his neck, now being strangled against the wall. He kicked out and managed to collide his foot with the man's knee, making him lose his grip and allowing Jeff to move away. He ran to Nick and put a hand on his back to comfort him, but pulled away again as Nick groaned in pain.

"Hold on, I'm going to help you. Just stay awake Nick!" Jeff shouted, before running at the man once more and throwing some more punches, it was a fairly even fight in the way of how many hits both got in, but the stranger's hits were a lot harder, and soon Jeff had a black eye and had broken one of his fingers. Nick was trying as best as he could to get up - he knew what a fear Jeff had of any type of pain, and this must be unbearable for him right now. But Nick couldn't move. Everything hurt too much, all his muscles had given up on him. The only thing he could do was refuse to shut his eyes. He wasn't going to pass out without knowing if Jeff was safe or not, so all he could do was watch.

Jeff hit the floor a lot more times, but managed to cause a lot of pain to his opponent too. With every hit Jeff was reaching his limit, and it was clear he wouldn't hold out much longer. He was grabbed by the throat and pushed to the wall once more, and saw Nick watching him from the other side of the room. He had to keep fighting. He couldn't let Nick die here. Even if he ended up dying, as long as Nick was safe, it would be ok. He breathed in what was left of the air he could before he felt his throat close up, and as the man reached for his knife behind him on the table, Jeff leant his head back, and then forwards as fast as he could - head butting the man with all the force he was capable of. The man staggered back over the table as Jeff fell forwards, his head now bleeding uncontrollably. He hit the floor and looked up to see the man retrieving the knife, and turning to face Nick. Jeff got to his feet as he felt his head getting light, and ran to Nick, spreading his arms out and blocking the man from being able to reach Nick without having to kill Jeff first. The knife was raised, and Jeff turned with his back to the man to hold Nick for the last time. He held Nick's head up so that it was buried in Jeff's chest, as he brought Nick close to him and they both cried, waiting for death to come and greet them.

"I love you Nick" Jeff whispered, and looked into Nick's eyes for the last time.

"I love you too Jeff, forever" Nick tried his best to say back, as the both closed their eyes together and held on tighter. Nick didn't even care about the pain. He wanted to hold Jeff as they died together.

A gunshot was heard. Jeff shook as he realised that he had not been shot. He opened his eyes fearing the worst - that somehow Nick had been shot. But he hadn't. He then realised all of the people around them wearing dark blue uniforms and hats. It was the police. Had they been saved? Jeff was so confused as he felt himself slipping away, and ducked his head down again to be with Nick. He kissed Nick on his bruised head, before passing out as the sirens and the room around them faded to black.