Chapter Nine:

"Friendship is constant in all other things, save in the office and affairs of love." -William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing.

I wouldn't say I'm overly religious. I believe there is a god, or some all powerful being watching over us. I'm not devout in my religion at all. I'm the person that would go to church on Easter and call it good for another year. I was, at least, until Ashley. I wouldn't call her overly religious either, but she prayed every night, and during the school year she goes to church at least twice a month. She'll try to drag me with her. She's a good person. She sees good in the world, looks at the positive in every situation. I'm not sure how she does it. I don't see any good here. Does she?

I'm sitting in Mike's living room. His left hand is covered with stark white bandages and a cast, covering the broken bones in his hand, as well as covering the two new missing fingers. He's been comforting Emily ever since she found out she failed what she was supposed to do. I don't think I've ever seen Emily cry, but here she is, sitting on the edge of Mike's couch, sobbing into a pillow. She occasionally yells a profanity. All of us are here, crowded into the room. Mike is on Emily's right, Sam on her left. Beth is sitting on the edge of the recliner, focusing on Emily, but eyes occasionally darting around the room, as if she's on edge. I stand awkwardly in the middle of the room, arms crossed, looking at the usually strong, independent girl. She usually would never take this from anyone, whether she needed it or not. Mike keeps trying to comfort her, but there is a look in his eye, like there's something wrong. He and Emily have always been close, even after they broke up. They always lose themselves in one another, finding the best and worst of themselves. Seeing him be this reluctant with her, something's wrong. I walk over to him. "Mike, hey, I need to talk to you. Anyway I can borrow you for a sec?"

He gives a look at Emily, who is looking up at me with red rimmed eyes. She nods at Mike and he gets up. I've never seen her surrender something so easily. Beth quickly takes Mike's spot on the couch, rubbing the spot between her shoulder blades and Mike and I head back to his room. "Are you okay, man? You're acting strange."

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well, this whole fucking situation is strange, isn't it?"

I nod, trying to not think of the repercussions of Emily's failure. I try to not imagine Ashley or Josh somewhere, cut up in pieces, bloody and broken. I push the thoughts away. I need to be focused. I know I'm coming up, eventually. If I'm not focused someone could die. I can't let someone's death be on me. Seeing how Emily has reacted... She's stronger than me. I don't think I could even bear it. "Mike," I say, distracting myself, "what happened? You never really told us. You just said that the maniac did that to you," I say, referencing the busted hand and bruises that litter the left side of his face.

He shakes his head. "It was just a bomb, dude. Small one. It didn't kill me, obviously. It just knocked me out. I was lucky Em was there. She called an ambulance and came up with some story that I don't really know all the details to. She was able to convince them, though." He took a breath. "Dude, I need to tell someone. I can't keep it bottled in. You can't tell anyone, especially Em, okay?"

From the look in his eyes I can tell he's about to tell me what exactly happened during his trail. "I got this box from him, okay? So I read this letter and it tells me I basically have to kill Emily or kill the kidnapped people, so I was given this gun inside the box. I called Emily and asked her advice, without telling her the details, you know? And she said I should go for it, so I asked her to come over, and I aimed the gun at her, pulled the trigger, and boom. This bomb goes off. I was relieved." He pauses and looks at me, his expression grim. "I was going to shoot her. I was going to fucking shoot her, Chris! I pulled the trigger and everything. I thought she was going to die. I deserved what I got, man. I deserved every damn stitch."

I don't know what to say. Mike almost murdered Emily, but he did it to protect the people who went missing. Does that justify anything? I think back to the 10 Commandments. We're learning about them at Ashley's church right now. I'm pretty sure one of them is thou shall not murder, or something like that. Is it really murder if it's protection? I just need to focus on the fact that Emily isn't dead. "I won't tell her, man. This whole thing has been hard on us." Mike says nothing, and instead looks at the ground. He's ashamed. He'll probably blame himself for the rest of his life. The two missing fingers will forever be a reminder of what he was capable of doing. He'll have to live with that for the rest of his life.

Mike turns his attention towards me, again, a fierce look in his eyes. "Chris, we can't let this guy change us. We have to be strong, because God knows we'll have to be the strong ones once we get the others back."

I morbidly think if we get them back, but I know we will. I need Josh and Ashley. I don't know what I would do if they were gone forever. Hell, all for I know they could be. I take a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling as I do so. God, I start praying silently, if you're really there, please keep them safe. I don't know what I would do without them. I look at Mike and nod. "We'll be strong."