Nicks P.O.V.
"Claudia, I'm getting worried. Cole should have been back an hour ago"
"Nick, she's a teenage girl. She's probably just lost track of time"
"I'm going to call her again". I grabbed the phone and called dialed Coles phone.
'Hi, you've reached Cole Cutter. Sorry I can't get to the phone right now. Just leave a message and I'll get back to you'.
"Cole, it's your Dad. Just call me, I'm getting worried you should have been home an hour ago. Just call me and let me know your safe. Bye"
"Where's the last place she went"
"She went to go sort things out with Stephen, I'll give him a ring"
"Hello"
"Stephen, it's Nick Cutter. Listen is Cole there"
"She left mine 2 hours ago. Is she not home yet"
"No and I'm beginning to freak out"
"Have you tried ringing her"
"It goes straight to voicemail. Stephen, if she's not here and she's not with you where is she?"
"I'll go out and look for her. You call her friends and see if she's there"
"And if she's not?"
"Even if we call the police about it they won't class her as missing until 24 hours have passed"
"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that"
I rang her friends and not one of them have seen her since the incident at the school. I also rang Abby and Connor, they haven't seen her either. I'm beginning to panic, Stephens been out looking for her for an hour and he hasn't got back to me. If we can't find her by morning I'm calling the police.
Stephens P.O.V.
Cole left mine two hours ago and when she left I continued with my work out and kept thinking about what happened when she was here. I soon finished and when I did my phone rang.
"Hello"
"Stephen, it's Nick Cutter. Listen is Cole there"
"She left mine 2 hours ago. Is she not home yet"
"No and I'm beginning to freak out"
"Have you tried ringing her"
"It goes straight to voicemail. Stephen, if she's not here and she's not with you where is she?"
"I'll go out and look for her. You call her friends and see if she's there"
"And if she's not?"
"Even if we call the police about it they won't class her as missing until 24 hours have passed"
"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that". He hung up the phone, I grabbed my jacket and went out looking for her.
I looked just about everywhere for her nut when I got to the bridge to catch me breath I saw a phone lying on the floor. I picked it up and pressed the home button, The background was a photo Nick took a few weeks ago at the barbecue we had, it's of me giving Cole a piggyback ride. I looked over onto the road and saw tire tracks, I moved over to them to get a better look at them. They couldn't have been more than a couple of hours old, and the tread matches those from a Ford Transit Connect van. I stood up and said to myself
"Where are you, Cole? What's happened to you?".
No ones P.O.V.
When they pulled Cole into the van they injected her with a drug that rendered her unconscious. They bound her hands behind her back, put tape over her mouth and bag over her head. They drove through the city and about 20 minutes later arrived at the giant abandoned house at the corner of the abandoned street Twomey Grove. Cole was coming around as they were pulling her out of the van. They dragged her through the house and down the the basement. Her bounds were removed and replaced with hand cuffs that wrapped around a pole behind her back in the center of the room, she was then pushed to her knees. The bag was taken off head and she was immediately blinded by the light. The people that brought her here left. Cole struggled in the cuffs thinking she was alone but from the corner a Low, male voice said
"Hello, CC. Long time no see"
Cole's head snapped up to see who it was. The man stepped from the shadows and towards her. She recognized him straight away and struggled even more in the cuffs. The man in question was in fact, Carlisle Laidly, the abusive father of Cole's ex best friend, Stacey. He came towards Cole and took the tape off her mouth and she said with fear in her voice and eyes
"When did you get out of prison?"
"I was broken out by one of my old work colleagues about, um, 2 weeks ago"
"Does Stacey know you're here?"
"No. Well, Not yet anyway"
"Why me?"
"I was in prison for 4 years all because you convinced my little girl to call the cops on me. And now I'm going to repay you for that and when you're weak, I'm going to get Stacey and bring her here so she can watch you fade away". He placed a new piece of tape over her mouth and went over to a table and picked up a piece of metal tubing. He then said smirking
"But first this is for giving my daughter a black eye".
He went back over to her and swung the pipe down onto her head making a medium size gash that oozed thick, red blood down the side of her head and into her hair. Because of wear the pipe struck and the force, she had a big, black, bruise traveling from the gash to her left eye in a matter of seconds. The brute force of the impact brought red spots to Coles vision and of course a killer headache, as she was trying to stay conscious she was thinking to herself 'fractured skull. Bloody fantastic'. After Cole was struck, Carlisle dropped the pipe and then then left the room. When he was up the stairs and out the door Cole heard the door being locked and then gave into the darkness and fell into a dreamless sleep.
Nicks P.O.V.
When Stephen came to me with Coles phone and said that there were tire tracks next to it we agreed to call the police then and there. They came and took a statement from all of us and told us that they can't file an official report until this time tomorrow, I gave them a recent picture of Cole and they then left. Stephen insisted on staying at the house last night just in case Cole came back, he stayed in the spare room and at about 3 am Claudia dragged me to bed. I didn't get any sleep and I'm guessing that Stephen didn't either because when I came down the next morning he was sat on the sofa in clean clothes spinning Coles phone around in his hand. He always kept some clothes here in case we had a late night at the university, he would stay in the back room. He looked up at me briefly and then went back to looking at the phone.
"Stephen looking at the phone won't bring her home"
"I know, I'm just worried"
"I am too but all we can do is trust that the police will find her"
"How are you so calm?"
"Because if I wasn't I would be out there looking no stop for Cole. I want her back as much as you do"
"Nick I need to tell you something"
"Okay"
"When Cole came to see me yesterday we, um ... we kinda kissed"
"About time"
"Wait, what!?"
"How stupid do you think I am. I see the way that you two look at each other"
"Are you all right with it?"
"In time I think I'll come to accept it but nothing happens until she's 18, fair"
"Fair"
"Oh and if you break her heart, I break you. Am I clear"
"Crystal... Do you think we'll get her back before her birthday?".
Coles birthday is 4 weeks away and we planned to have a family Barbecue. It would be me, her, Stephen, Claudia, Connor and Abby. Those are the people we think as family now.
"We have to have hope that we'll find her". Just as I said that Claudia came into the room all ready for work. She came over to me and said
"I'm so sorry but I have to go to work"
"Anomaly"
"Yes but me, Connor and Abby can deal with it. You two should stay here in case the police call. If we need anything we will call. Also if I get a spare second I will see if I can pull anything up on Cole's case"
"Thank you. Now go to work" we kissed and then she left.
The rest of the day was spent moping around the house worrying about Cole. But the 24 hour deadline came and went, it's official Cole is a missing person.
