Here is the next chapter!
As Tom's vision returns, he realizes that he is back on the curb in front of the abandoned coffee shop with the stranger he came there to meet. The person sitting next to him is slowly taking his hands off Tom's head and puts them back into his lap.
"Now you know how I am connected with your sister Mikayla" the man says as he pulls his hood back.
Tom looks at the man and can see that he still has the unmanageable hair that covers half his face but now he can see his face more clearly. The man's face is covered with many scars, the biggest one covering his nose which sits at a weird angle.
"So you're Michael" Tom says finally being able to connect a name to a face.
"Yes, I am" Michael says lowering his head and smiling slightly "and your sister is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. She was the brightest spot in my horrible life." Michael looks up at Tom smile crooked on his face.
"What do you mean 'was'" Tom asks questioningly.
Michael's face drops and says "I can no longer see her"
"Why not" Tom asks
"Because I don't want them to harm her if they found out who she is" Michael says looking around as if someone besides them were there.
"If who found out" Tom pries
"Not here" Michael says standing up "let's go!"
Tom obeys and stands up, as soon as they both have stood up a bang is heard and Michael tenses.
"What was that?" Tom asks beginning to walk towards the sound before Michael grabs his arm and drags his around the building into an alleyway.
"It's not safe here, we need to go someplace else" Michael says pulling Tom through a maze of streets and alleyways.
After a dizzying amount of twists and turns, the pair finds themselves in front of a very large mansion. The building looks dark and forbidding standing as though looming over them.
"What is this place?" Tom asks looking around
"This is what's left of my childhood" Michael says walking up the steps towards the house.
"Why are we here?" Tom says following Michael up to the front door.
Just before opening the door, Michael turns to Tom. "This is the one place they won't think to look for me"
As the two walk from room to room, Tom thinks about his own house. What would his house look like if it became abandoned? What would happen to all of them if that happened? While Tom is deep in thought, Michael leads them from the front room, up some stairs and down a long hallway. The pair stops at an oak door and Michael opens it. Tom immediately recognizes the room. It is the room from the memory that Michael showed him. The room looks almost the same as it did but with a few big exceptions. The room is destroyed. The walls are now painted a dark blue but with huge cracks and dents carved into them. The floor is covered in debris from the broken furniture that has been flung around the room and the carpet has stains and rips in multiple places.
"What happened in here?" Tom asks looking at the destruction
"When I left, my father was unhappy about me being able to escape him so he took his anger out on this room" Michael says sadly.
The two step over broken table legs, desk parts and the frame from the bed which has been splintered into hundreds of pieces. They walk to the back corner of the room which has been spared from the deadly destruction. In the back corner of the room, Tom can see a bunch of computer screens on an extra-long desk. Michael walks over to the desk and shakes the mouse.
All of the computer screens light up and Michael enters a password into the keyboard. Once logged in, Tom can see just how much research Michael has done in the past. Michael's desktop is filled with files of people's names and what Tom can only assume is the information that he has on them. Michael clicks on one of the files and it brings up a bunch of photos of Mikayla. Many of the photos are shots taken while Mikayla is walking or shopping. There are even some photos of both Tom and Mikayla sitting at a café a couple months ago. Out of all the photos in the file, one stands out the most. This particular photo is of just Mikayla and she is walking down a path that leads to the lake from their house. Tom remembers her taking a walk to the lake only a few hours before she went missing. Mikayla's black hair is blowing in the wind behind her. She looks content but deep in thought and her eyes are downcast. The angle at which the photo was taken is as if the person was standing only a few yards in front of her. Tom's heart begins to swell and the past few months of her being gone cause tears to well up in his eyes. He misses Mikayla so much and in that moment, he is determined to do whatever it takes to find her and bring her home. While wiping away tears Tom looks over at Michael, Michael is staring intently at the photo. His eyes are scanning the screen as if he can find some clues in the background.
"Looking for something in particular?" Tom askes as he wipes the last of his tears away
"I'm looking to see if anything unusual appear in the photo" Michael says eyes continuing to scan.
A few minutes go by and Tom is sure that Michael has memorized every pixel of the photo when Michael lifts his head,
"About what time did Mikayla head to the lake?"
"Umm… it was right after lunch so about 1:00" Tom says
"Hmmm…."Michael said looking back at the photo.
He clicks on the photo in different spots changing color saturations and messing with the resolution. After about 10 minutes of messing with the photo, Michael whispers that Tom doesn't catch.
"What's going on?" Tom asks looking at the screen.
Michael makes a couple more clicks and the photo returns back to normal. He then swirls the chair around to face Tom.
"Something doesn't make sense with the shadow off to Mikayla's right" Michael says swirling back around to move the mouse around the area he is talking about.
Tom follows the cursor to the area and doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. He explains that he doesn't understand and Michael moves the cursor around the area again.
"Look at this area and tell me what shape the shadow of the trees are" Michael says sitting back in the chair.
"They are blob shaped but still look like trees" Tom replies confused
"Now what about this shadow" Michael says moving the cursor a little to the right
The second that Tom sees the other shadow, things start to become very clear. The shadow Michael's mouse is pointing at isn't tree shaped at all; it's more tall and lean like a person.
"Oh no" Tom says putting his hand up to his mouth. "The note was right"
"What note?" Michael asks eyebrows cocked
"Mikayla had woken up in the middle of the might the day before she went missing saying that she thought someone was in her room and then next morning she found a note saying how they have been watching her" Tom says recalling the memory wishing that he could go back and fix it.
"That's not good" Michael says typing furiously on the keyboard.
While Tom is standing in shock, Michael pulls up multiple website and looks through multiple files in attempts to find something. A few tense minutes go by and neither of the men have moved from their positions or said a word. Finally Tom breaks the silence and asks if Michael has found anything.
"Actually I have, but it's not good news" Michael says spinning around to face Tom, face uncertain.
"What is it" Tom asks anxious
"I know for certain that whoever took Mikayla isn't the same person who took all those other girls." Michael says trying to stay calm
"Ok, but what's the bad news" Tom asks chewing his fingernails
"The person who I think has Mikayla is much worse and I hope doesn't have a personal vendetta against your family" Michael says with a painful smile.
"How would you know if they do?" Tom asks.
Before Michael can answer an email pops up on Michael's screen. Michael opens it and both men are shocked by what they find. In the email is a photo of a woman who had been badly beaten, her eyes swollen shut. Her hair has been ripped out in places and her clothes are badly stained with blood and other fluids. The woman identity is hard to pin point and has no distinguishable features on her body except for a tattoo running down her right shoulder and arm. Partially covered in blood, wrapping around the woman's shoulder and arm are purple orchids. Tom only knows one person with a tattoo like that.
"That's Mikayla" Tom breathes out as his knees give out and he drops to the floor.
"Are you sure?!" Michael says turning back at the photo typing furiously trying to find out where the email came from.
"Yes because we our tattoos together a year ago" Tom says lifting up his sleeve to show ivy running down his left shoulder and arm. "When the designs touch, they blend into one tattoo"
"That's pretty cool, how is that possible?" Michael says trying to lighten the mood.
"Not the time dude" Tom says getting back up
They look the photo of Mikayla and try to find out if they can see any distinguishing features in the room behind her to pin point where she is at. While they are looking, a message pops up on the screen. The message reads:
I have been left waiting for too long so I have taken action.
If you don't come find her in the next week, I will kill her.
Better hurry Tom, time's running out
Both men are stunned at what they have seen. Mikayla is going to die in a week and they have no leads in how to find her.
"I guess he does have a personal vendetta against you, Tom" Michael states looking at Tom. Tom's face is like stone and his eyes are murderous.
"We need to find her now!" Tom says slamming his hand on the desk.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Michael says closing the message and shutting off the computer.
"Where are you going?" Tom asks confused.
"I have a hunch as to where we need to look and I hope to God that I am wrong" Michael says walking to the door with Tom in tow.
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