The Sound of Life and Death
Title: The Sound of Life and Death
Rating: PG-14
Fandom: iCarly with minor Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Hints of Creddie and Seddie
Genre: Drama/Suspense
Summary: Sam is kidnapped by a serial kidnapper and killer that targets blonde girls through their own web shows. When bodies of other missing girls start to show up near Carly and Freddie, the FBI is called to assist the local PD on the case. They soon realise there can be a deeper connection that Sam has with the kidnapper than everyone else would like to believe.
Warnings: Mature subject matter.
Disclaimer: I own neither iCarly nor Criminal Minds. However, I do own the plot of the story proudly.
Author's Note: Presenting the brand new chapter~~~ I am so very sorry again for my late update… Don't kill me again… I blame this entirely on both my parents and my Internet, so point your fingers at them...
Chapter Nine (Carly)
"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
~ Franklin D. Roosewelt
Carly is completely numb by the time she returns to her apartment. She can't get the image of Kaitlyn Hanson's lifeless body underneath the blue blanket out of her mind.
Kaitlyn's body is inside her head alongside the hunting voice of the kidnapper, the devastating look she'd seen in the Hanson's eyes and their cries to their lost daughter.
She hates this situation she's stuck in right now.
She wants all these things out of her mind right now.
The only problem is, she can't.
The closing of the door behind her snaps her attention back from the voices echoing through her mind. She sees Freddie and Ms Puckett walking into the apartment. No Agents followed them. They're all probably too busy working on who put the body in the dumpster behind their building.
Carly plops herself down on the couch, leaning back on it. She didn't feel like talking at all right now.
Fortunately, none of them feels like talking right now.
After what they've just seen, it's probably for the best.
After all that they've see, there's really nothing to say.
Carly thinks she isn't the only one with voices hunting her mind.
Freddie makes his way silently into the kitchen, following Spencer and helping him with dinner without asking. Carly wants to help as well, but she can't get herself to stand up from the couch.
For some unknown reason, she feels exhausted. More so than she'd ever felt before.
The couch shifts as Ms Puckett sits on it next to Carly. Carly glances at her company and sits up straighter awkwardly.
She can see the exhaustion in Ms Puckett's eyes as well.
Carly feels better just a little bit, knowing she wasn't the only one that's tired.
"Whatcha guys want to eat tonight?" Spencer's question lacks its usual playfulness. This time it's all serious. Carly looks at her older brother worriedly, seeing him opening the fridge and stares into it. Carly wasn't even sure what he's staring at.
She wonders if he's seeing faces and hearing voices too.
Carly sighs, catching Freddie's eyes for a millisecond. He gives her a brief nod, and Carly knows that Freddie sees what's happening to Spencer too.
"What about Spaghetti and meatballs?" The question went unanswered as Spencer takes out the ingredients out from the fridge, taking the silence as a yes.
It was just as well, Carly thinks, putting a hand on her stomch mechanically, feeling it growl with hunger.
Freddie turns on the tap, filling a pot with water. Carly suddenly realizes how hungry she really is.
Even if part of her appetite was ruined by the body of one of her former friends.
Former friends, Carly grimaces. She hopes it doesn't have to come down to that with Sam.
Another part of her appetite disappears as well.
Her stomach growls again as if on cue, trying to tell her otherwise. She winces, wondering if anyone had heard it.
Ms Puckett stands up all of a sudden, the couch shifts again with the lost of pressure. Carly looks up at her as Ms Puckett makes her way into the kitchen.
"Let me help," She suggests, turning off the tap and taking the pot away from Freddie. "That's too much water," She pours some into the sink and puts the pot on the stove. The way she does this looks so natural, as if she didn't see a dead body no more than ten minutes ago.
"Wow, I didn't know you cook, Ms Puckett." Carly states as she stands up. Ms Puckett gives her a look, making Carly's eyes widen. "Oh, no. I don't mean this the wrong way. It's just…" She trails off, not sure what she should say next.
Ms Puckett seems to smile for the first time all day. Even if the smile never quite reach her eyes. "Despite what Sam might've told you guys, I can cook a mean meal, you know."
Carly nods with embarrassment, not sure what to say to that. Freddie looks at her again, she shrugs, not really wanting to talk.
There's really nothing to talk about right now.
She walks over to the kitchen, deciding to help.
Also to take her mind off a few things.
Maybe it'll get her mind off of things she never want there in the first place.
She focuses herself with a bag of meatballs, sorting them into a large, orange bowl. As the bowl fills, she notices Freddie staring at it, seemingly in a trance. She wonders what he's thinking about.
About Sam, no doubt. But Carly can't remember a connection between Sam, Freddie and meatballs.
She waves a hand in front of Freddie's doze off face as he just stands there, staring at the bowl full of meatballs. "Dude," Carly stops waving, noticing that it's not working and punches Freddie on the arm. "Freddie!"
"Huh," Freddie snaps his head up to face Carly. "What?"
Carly allows herself to smirk a little. "What were the meatballs saying to you?" She anticipates the joke to brighten up the atmosphere around them.
Even it's just a little bit.
"Nothing." He mutters, shaking his head and grabbing the empty meatball bag in a swift motion.
As Freddie leaves to throw the bag into the trash can, Carly shakes her head after him. She was about to ask Spencer - who is now turning on the stove - where he wants the meatballs before Ms Puckett takes the bowl from her.
"Let me," She smiles a smile that Carly can see it's real, although it's full of exhaustion. "It's the least I can do."
Carly nods, smiling at her and handing her the bowl. Ms Puckett takes it and Carly was immediately glad that she doesn't have to be in the kitchen. They don't usually get this much people working in the kitchen and it's making Carly feel a little claustrophobic.
She sits back on the couch again, drowning into her own thoughts.
She seems to be doing this a lot lately.
And every time, only one thing appears in her mind.
Sam.
Her whereabouts, her state.
Her life.
Carly can feel herself tense up at the thought of her best friend being kidnapped because of her web show makes her blood boil with a mixture of anger, worry and depression.
Wait… She glances at an abstract calendar in the living room that her bother kept. All the dates circled in a red pen represents the dates they are supposed to upload iCarly.
Shit.
"iCarly," Carly suddenly stands up, moving way to fast to the calendar than humanly possible. "iCarly!"
"What?" Spencer was next to her within seconds, looking at the calendar as well. His mouth forming an "O" shape. "iCarly." He mutters.
"It's supposed to be today," She addresses the unasked question.
Freddie appears next to Carly without her hearing him. "We can't do it today," He states matter-of-factly. "I'll put on a note on our website announcing that iCarly will be postponed until further notice."
Carly sighs. Right now it's not the time to be thinking about the fans. She thinks, following Freddie to the computer rather dully. Right now it's the time to think about Sam.
"Whoa…" Freddie says, bring Carly back to reality. He turns to Carly with a ghost of grin on his face. "Look at what our viewers sent us."
Carly looks at the screen of the iCarly's homepage. It's filled with encouragements for Sam. Carly lets out a little gasp, she wasn't expecting this.
"Hang in there, Carly and Freddie! You guys will get through this!"
"Be strong, guys! My sister and I a HUGE fans and we won't stop leaving you guys messages until Sam is found."
"I love iCarly, me and my friends watches every episode. I'm sure Sam is okay."
Carly was in astonishment as she and Freddie reads the comments the viewers send them. She has no idea that so many people cares about Sam's safety.
They must've saw the six o'clock news. Carly glances at the clock on the computer without thinking, noticing that it is already seven.
Knowing that there was so much supporters for iCarly makes Carly feel at least a tiny bit better about his situation.
Knowing that so many people cares about Sam's safety.
Freddie continues to scroll down to read more comments. His grin was evident now.
And that makes Carly smile a little.
They finishes reading the comments in a more comfortable silence than before. All of the comments shows support from their fans. These kind words warms Carly's heart in more ways than one.
It almost makes her pain go away.
"Wow," That was all Freddie says after more than ten minutes of reading more than five thousand comments.
"I know," Carly agrees. "Wow."
"Dinner's ready." Spencer calls from the kitchen, already setting the table with Ms Puckett. Carly can smell the aroma from the Spaghetti and Meatballs. Her stomch growls for the third time since they entered the apartment.
Carly walks to the table with Freddie following suit. She sits down in the seat on the left side of the table and grabs a fork from Spencer.
"Somebody's hungry," Spencer remarks, sitting down next to Carly.
Carly nods, never taking her mind off the reassuring comments from the iCarly fans.
It seems to lighten up her whole mood altogether. She's feeling better than she'd felt all day.
Dinner went quieter than usual. In fact, Carly couldn't think of a time when Spencer didn't talk with food in his mouth during dinner time. This time, he didn't talk at all.
She looks up from her half-eaten food at Freddie, who is sitting across from her. She frowns, seeing that Freddie had barely touched his food when hers is already halfway done. He was playing with the meatballs with his fork, his head resting on his left hand which was supported by his elbow. Carly sighs.
What the hell is the deal with Freddie and meatballs?
She looks down at her own dinner, poking a meatball with her fork, bring it into her mouth and chewing it.
Her eyes wonders to the clock hanging on the wall behind Freddie, noticing that it's already seven thirty. Normally, they would be getting ready for iCarly.
Sam, Freddie and herself.
She swallows the chewed up meatball and twists her fork with the noodles. They do iCarly every week and she really, truly wants to keep that up. Even though they can still do iCarly with Sam absent, none of them had even brought up the idea.
None of them are in the mood to do the show tonight.
That mood went missing the moment Sam went missing.
Carly swallows the food with more difficulty than she did with the last bite.
"Farewell, Miss Shay." Her head snaps up from her food, she pauses the fork-full of Spaghetti en rout to her mouth.
Why is she hearing things right now?
"Farewell."
The voice of the man echoes through her mind and she wasn't sure why it's happening.
She doesn't even care why.
She just wants it to stop.
"Miss Shay."
The way he said her name, even if it's just her last name, makes her want to throw up.
The use of "Miss" makes her dizzy.
Why is it happening now, when she's eating dinner?
Or at least trying to.
"Hey," Spencer looks at his sister worriedly. And Carly realizes she's still holding the fork halfway to her mouth. "You okay, Carly?"
From the corner of her eye, Carly sees Freddie look up from his uneaten food at her with concern.
"Yeah," Carly forces a smile and a nod, putting the Spaghetti into her mouth and chews, rather forcefully.
All of her previous appetite disappeared into the thin air within the second.
Carly puts the fork down.
"Excuse me," She tries to look as normal as she can, pushing herself to get out of the chair.
The overwhelming feeling of vomit enters her system.
She runs to the bathroom.
The last thing she hears before she is at the toilet, puking her just eaten dinner out, is the man.
"Farewell, Miss Shay."
So please, please, lemme know what you're all thinking. I love your feedbacks a lot~~~ SO SORRY AGAIN... I will try my best to update twice, or maybe even three times, tomorrow~~~ Review and I shall love you forever.