Author's note: I'll admit, this chapter is kind of boring. Sorry. :\

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


Chapter 8

Lost

"He's torn between his honor, and the true love of his life. He prayed for both, but was denied.
So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed. Was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind?" - 'Hand of Sorrow' - Within Temptation

"This can't be happening." Kendall said as he paced back and forth.

"Logan." Carlos sobbed. He sat on the steps in front of Rocque Records.

"Why would Logan do this?" James asked furiously. He sat with an arm around Carlos, trying in vain to comfort him and calm him down.

"This isn't like him!" Carlos sobbed. "Logan wouldn't do this. He wouldn't say those mean things."

"You're right Carlos." Kendall said. "Logan wouldn't do this. There has to be some other explanation."

"Like what?" James asked bitterly. "You heard him. It sounded pretty clear to me that he doesn't want to be a part of this band anymore."

"What are we gonna do?" Carlos asked in a shaky voice. "We can't do this without Logan."

"Gustavo is already looking for his replacement, Carlos." James said. "There's nothing we can do. And besides, Logan doesn't even want to do this anymore! Well I say good riddance! We don't need him!" He said furiously.

"You don't mean that James." Carlos said softly.

"No,". James said quietly. "I don't."

They didn't know what to think, what to do. Everything had happened so sudden, so fast. They felt confused and frustrated. Without Logan, they felt lost.

"We have to do something." Kendall said. "We have to figure this out, we can't just let him walk away! We have to find him and convince him to come back."

"How?" James asked. "He never told us his new address and his dad won't give it to your mom for some reason. Something about privacy or whatever."

"I don't know how." Kendall admitted. "But we have to find a way."


"Really?"

"Yep. Now we get as long as we want! No rehearsal or nosy friends asking questions!"

"That's great brother!" Phil exclaimed, then kicked Logan's leg. Logan sat against the stone wall with his wrists bound by the shackles, and Mr. Mitchell and Phil stood over him.

"I know!" Mr. Mitchell said. "So, what do you want to do first?"

"Hmm. . ." Phil hummed in thought. He turned to his right where a rolling table sat, buried in various tools. "There's so much to choose from, I don't know where to start!"

Logan watched them with teary eyes. He knew what was coming. He knew it was only pain. But after what he did, what he said, he felt he deserved it. Logan wanted to die. He'd lost the only people he ever cared about, the only people that cared about him. Without them, Logan had nothing to live for. Without his best friends, his family, he was lost.

Mr. Mitchell chuckled. "I know brother, why don't you just let fate decide?"

"Great idea." Phil said. He closed his eyes and waved his hand over the table, stopping at random and grabbing a fireplace poker. "Ooo." He said in interest.

"Nice choice." Mr. Mitchell smiled.


"Are you sure that's the right place?" Carlos asked.

"That's what it says. Logan's cell phone signal is down here." Mr. Garcia said as he pointed at the screen.

Once the boys had reached home, Carlos immediately called his father and told him everything. Mr. Garcia insisted they don't do anything until he got there, and then insisted he have a talk with Mr. Mitchell.

Mr. Garcia saved the location in his cell and got up from the computer. "I'll go check it out. You boys stay here and wait for your mom and Katie to get back."

"What?" Kendall exclaimed. "But-"

"Kendall, I'm sorry." Mr. Garcia said and he headed for the door. "You can't come with me. I don't want you boys anywhere near these men. Stay here and wait for your mother."

"But he's our best friend!" James said. "Who better to convince him to come back than us?"

"Papi,". Carlos said. "Please. He's our brother!"

Mr. Garcia felt a tug at his heart strings. He desperately wanted to take them with him. But these men could be dangerous, and there was no way he was putting these boys in danger. "I'm sorry boys. But I promise. I'll find out what's going on with him and his father." He sent one last apologetic look to the boys and closed the door behind him.


"What do you mean 'no'?" Mrs. Knight screamed at the cashier. "I know for a fact, that those coupons don't expire for another day!"

"Mom please,". Katie said quietly as she tugged at her mother's arm. "You're embarrassing me!"

"You're not trying to scam me, are you boy?" Mrs. Knight asked threateningly.

"N-no ma'am." The cashier stuttered. "H-here you go." He said nervously and handed Mrs. Knight her groceries.

"Thank you." She said with a glare, and they exited the store. "There, you see Katie? That's how you deal with the scammers." Katie huffed and facepalmed.

They got into the car and Mrs. Knight started the engine, when her cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hey mom, it's me."

"Kendall sweetie! How's everyone at the apartment? You didn't get into any trouble did you?"

"No mom, it's. . ." Kendall sounded weird, like he was nervous and. . .Scared. And also like. . .He'd been crying.

Mrs. Knight was getting extremely worried. "Kendall? Kendall what's going on?" She asked, fear raising in her throat.

Katie watched from the passenger seat as the expression on her mother's face grew from happy, to slightly annoyed, to worried, to extreamely worried, to. . .Well now she had tears running down her cheeks as she listened to Kendall on the other end of the phone.

Finally she hung up. "Mom?" Katie asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"


"Hold. . .Hold. . .Hold." Mr. Mitchell said.

"How much longer?" Phil asked.

"Keep holding, I'm sure you got at least, 5 more minutes to go!" Mr. Mitchell said. "Look, it's still red hot!"

"You're the expert brother!" Phil said, and pressed down harder on the hot poker that he held against Logan's arm.

Logan squeezed his eyes tighter and let out a small scream, before barely stiffling it and breathing hard through clenched teeth.

Finally, the poker cooled, allowing Logan some relief and he breathed heavily. "Aw man." Phil said as he raised the poker. "Cold." He sighed and dropped it on the ground. "What now?"

"How about,". Mr. Mitchell began, his back was turned, facing the fireplace. When he turned around to face Phil he held another poker, hot from just being in the fire. "Other side?" He asked eagerly.


Kendall paced anxiously around the room as he bit his thumb nail. James sat on the edge of the couch facing the door bouncing his leg up and down nervously. Carlos sat in the chair at the counter spinning around.

Finally the front door burst open and Mrs. Knight and Katie came stumbling in. "Oh Kendall." Mrs. Knight said as she embraced her son.

"Mom." Kendall said in a cracking and shaky voice. "What do we do?" He whispered.

"I'm going to call Joanna." Mrs. Knight said once she pulled away. "Hopefully she'll talk to me, and maybe she knows what's going on."

The boys nodded and Mrs. Knight went around the counter to the phone.

The boys and Katie went into the living room to give Mrs. Knight some quiet while she spoke to Logan's mother.

"So,". Katie started hesitantly. "What exactly did he say?"

Carlos let a sob escape his lips and James immediately wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. "You don't want to know." James said.

"It doesn't matter." Kendall said. "It wasn't really him."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked.

"We all know Logan wouldn't say those things." Kendall said. "There's something else going on. I know it."

"But, what if there isn't?" Katie asked. "I mean, what if Logan really meant it? What if he's just tired of being here and being in the band and wants out?"

"Are you even hearing yourself Katie?" James asked annoyedly. "Do you even know Logan?"

Katie sighed. "I know." She said softly. "But what else could be happening then?"

"I don't know." Kendall said. He glanced over at his mother who seemed to be arguing over the phone. "But clearly we aren't gonig to find out by just sitting here."

"What are you suggesting?" Carlos asked. He looked to Kendall and could clearly see the determination in his eyes. He knew exactly what Kendall was suggesting.


Mr. Garcia pulled up to a nice, small house. It looked new and very clean, but very small. Mr. Garcia got out hesitantly and slowly walked up to the front door, making sure he had his gun handy, just in case. He rang the door bell twice and waited anxiously.

After a couple minutes of silence, he decided to peek through the curtains. He saw nice clean walls and furniture, clean kitchen, and a firplace in the living room. It was a mystery how Mr. Mitchell was able to get such a nice, little house so soon after being released from prison.

Two more rings, finally Mr. Garcia heard footsteps, then the door opened. "Good evening." Mr. Garcia greeted.

"What do you want?" Phil sneered. "We haven't done anything."

"Oh I know." Mr. Garcia said. "I was merely checking in on you is all. Is your brother here?"

Phil glared at him, then called over his shoulder. "Greg!"

"What is it?" His voice came back from another room.

"It's the copper. He wants to talk to you!" Phil called back, not taking his eyes off Mr. Garcia.

Mr. Mitchell finally made it around to the front door where he saw Mr. Garcia standing. "How may I help you officer?" Mr. Mitchell asked politely.

"I was just checking in on you boys." Mr. Garcia said brightly. "I didn't get to see you out when you were released."

"Well clearly we're fine." Mr. Mitchell said. "Now if that is all, we were kind of in the middle of something." He started to close the door.

"Actually,". Mr. Garcia put his foot in the door to keep it from closing, and Mr. Mitchell reopened it. "There was another reason why I came by." Mr. Garcia said.

"And what reason is that?" Mr. Mitchell asked.

"I was hoping to see your son, Logan." Mr. Garcia said.

Anger rose up in Mr. Mitchell's chest. "Why would you want to see him?"

"I'm a good friend of his."

"Really? I wasn't aware that Logan had such friends." Mr. Mitchell seethed.

"I just want to talk to him is all." Mr. Garcia said.

"Well I'm afraid he's busy right now." Mr. Mitchell said.

"Really?" Mr. Garcia asked incredulously. "What's he doing?"

Mr. Mitchell thought for a reasonable excuse, but was coming up short.

"Homework." Phil finally said.

"Couldn't he come talk for just a few minutes?" Mr. Garcia asked.

"Sorry,". Mr. Mitchell said. "He really needs to focus."

"Oh come now." Mr. Garcia pressed lightly. "I'm sure he can stop his work for just a few minutes to talk. Knowing Logan, he's probably already ahead of his class, he can afford to take a small break for now."

"Sorry,". Mr. Mitchell said. "No can do. We have to go now. Goodbye officer." He said quickly and slammed the door in his face, then started walking back down the stairs, Phil following.

"You sure that was a good idea?" Phil asked his brother as they descended the stairs. "He's suspicious, what if he tries something?"

"Then we'll lie some more." Mr. Mitchell said. "What could the stupid officer Garcia possibly do? He doesn't know where we're keeping him." He said smiling.