I got nothing but encouragement from you guys, I appreciate it!
I want to let you know that while Rory's kidnapper remains a minor character, most of the story from now on will be dealing with another conflict that will be revealed to you momentarily.
And without further ado, the (sort of) sequel!
He just didn't understand it. How had those kids found Rory? He had planned it so that he could collect the money in a different location so that no one knew where the girl was, in case he needed to use her as leverage or the police didn't actually bring the money.
He needed that money. Most of what he had said to the girl on the sidewalk was false, but him saying he was from Vegas was like a metaphor, he really wasn't from Vegas, but he owed a lot of money to some nasty people. He needed the money to pay them off, but the brat and her friends ruined it all.
He had it planned so well, Phase One was to kidnap the girl. Phase Two was probably the easiest, the purpose was to hold the girl hostage for twenty four hours to hyper activate everyone's nerves. Phase Three was to send word to the girl's family that he had her captive. Phase Four was the phase that wasn't completed. He was supposed to go to the designated location, pick up the money, then release Rory and send her on her way.
But the police didn't bring the money and he was forced to go back and kill the girl. But her friends had somehow discovered that she was being held there and rescued her before he got back. That he could not understand. He could not understand how anyone could have possibly figured it out so fast without the help of the police.
He had tried to forget it, that plan to earn the money had failed and he had to find another way to get the it.
He had been hiding in plain sight while the girl was recovering. He stayed at the girl's mother's inn, where no one would suspect he would be. He went to the market and any other place in town just like a normal person. He hadn't seen Rory though, she must have been hiding. He'd seen her mother though. He knew how easily and quickly Rory was recovering by watching how quickly Lorelei was happy again. It upset him.
Once the case had finally calmed down, he decided it was time to leave. His newest idea wasn't very well thought out and it was more of a last-minute attempt to pull together some money. He was running out of time to get it to the people he owed and it was making him careless.
"Now can I have coffee?" Rory begged. It had been weeks since her kidnapping and although the police still hadn't found the culprit, Rory had begun to feel safe again. Whoever it was probably skipped town and never came back.
"Fine." Lorelei sighed and made eye contact with Luke, which was the equivalent of ordering coffee.
When the coffee finally arrived at their table Rory took it straight out of Luke's hands and took a large sip of it even though it was still hot. Lorelei could hear Rory's audible noise of contentment and laughed. Rory hadn't been allowed caffeine because of her concussion and she had been going through withdrawal.
"Thank you." Rory said gratefully. She only stopped a few seconds to let her coffee cool before starting up on it again.
"You ready for your test tomorrow?" Lorelei asked Rory, mostly to force her to slow down on her coffee when she answered.
"Definitely. Super ready." Rory replied. Luke walked over and rolled his eyes as he refilled Rory's mug.
"Good. That means you don't need to study tonight. It's laundry night." Lorelei said. She was amused with the horrified look on Rory's face.
"That was last week." She countered.
"No, it was the week before." Lorelei told her. Rory seemed to maul this over for a second before disappointment flooded her face.
"Yeah, you're right." She sighed. "I hate laundry." She muttered.
Lorelei was feeling perfectly content with her life at that moment until she saw every muscle in Rory's body tighten.
"M-mom." She stuttered. Her eyes were locked on someone just entering the cafe and she had begun to shake.
Lorelei tried to look around one of the guests at the inn to see what Rory was looking at.
"What Rory?" Lorelei faced her daughter and asked.
"H-him." Rory sunk in her seat and weakly pointed at the man who was a customer to Lorelei.
"Is he...?" Lorelei had hardly begun the question, she was terrified that the man was in the same room as her baby girl again and even more disturbed that she'd been friendly with him when she saw him at the inn.
Rory nodded furiously. The man made eye contact with Lorelei, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to rise and a chill to move down her spine, he quickly looked past her to Rory, and then his eyes hardened.
He looked as if he was going to leave them alone until Lorelei brought her phone up to her ear, having already dialed 911. Then all hell broke loose. He lunged for Lorelei and her phone, but she jumped out of the way and tried explaining into the phone what was going on. Lorelei stood protectively in front of her daughter. He charged at them again, and this time Luke jumped over the counter and tried to stop him.
Rory's kidnapper struck Luke in the face and continued to go after Lorelei and Rory.
Even though Rory was absolutely terrified, she knew one thing: she wasn't going to let her mother take a hit for her. Rory shoved Lorelei out of the way just as he got to them.
He was in a rage, he was angry that Rory had gotten away and all he wanted to do was hurt the little brat.
He shoved his hands against her shoulders so hard that Rory more than staggered backwards. The glass shattered behind her and the only thing between her and the sidewalk outside was air.
"Rory!" Lorelei shouted. By this time Luke and every other male in the cafe had apprehended Rory's kidnapper and were intent on keeping him there until the police arrived.
Instead of feeling pain like she had expected, Rory felt a strange numbing feeling and thought it best not to move. Lorelei jumped out the window after her with tears streaming down her face.
Lorelei remembered one of the first times Rory had hurt herself, she had fallen off a bicycle when she was little and scraped her knee. She had come running home crying, and seeing Rory bleed then sickened her.
But the amount of blood on the sidewalk and staining the glass was more than sickening, it was unnaturally terrifying.
"Rory, do you know what's wrong?" Lorelei called to her quickly fading daughter on the sidewalk. She couldn't believe that something terrible had happened to Rory again, how could it? She couldn't believe that Rory's kidnapper had been under her nose the ENTIRE time, and that she had been NICE to him.
When it finally occurred to Rory what was different, she was shocked and in denial.
"I can't feel my legs." Rory cried out. Lorelei choked on her next breath and carefully lifted Rory's shoulders from the ground. Lorelei began to sob when she realized what was wrong with Rory. A shard of glass from the window was piercing Rory's skin right next to her spine.
What do you think of the new conflict? Do you still want me to continue? I wasn't sure if the conflict was going to be too cliché or if it would actually be interesting, so I'm going to have to rely on you to tell me.
And I'm a little stuck on what to do with Dean. Some of you want me to add more of him and some of you are glad that I didn't write much about him. In your reviews I would love it if you would tell me if you wanted more, less, or the same of Dean in this story and I'll go with whatever the majority wanted, because I want this story to be what you want it to be.
Well, let me know what you think, send me ideas or predictions, and tell me what you think about the Dean situation. Review!
