Jordan's POV
We arrived at the shabby restaurant in under fifteen minutes. The neon sign was blinking unevenly, mocking me.
"Okay Jordan," Jeff grabbed my hand and led me toward the door.
I highly doubted Bella would be here, now. What were the chances? But still, there was probably someone here who knows her, and could tell us a little bit about her.
We entered the building, that was rank with the smell of dead fish, and a deep fryer.
A young woman walked forward dressed in the scandalously short outfits, with a name tag that read, 'Julie.'
"If you'd care to follow me, I will happily find you somewhere to sit."
The place was rather empty, with just three or four tables filled.
"Well actually," Jeff said quickly, "We'd like to talk with you for a moment."
She suddenly looked quite nervous, as if she thought we were angry with her.
"Yes?" She prompted.
"We were wondering if you could tell us a little about a worker here," I said, taking the reins. "Her name is-"
I stopped to remember the name that had been on her name tag yesterday, that she had so blatantly pointed out.
"Elizabeth?" It was a shot in the dark, I wasn't sure if that was really it but maybe it would spark the memory of the girl.
Her eyes widened with recognition. "Yes she's one of the wait-, well, was one of the waitresses here."
I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean, was?"
"She was fired last night," she said over her shoulder as she walked away, going to help a customer that had just walked through the door.
"Fired?" I asked in surprise, only to myself.
I looked up at Jeff, who had the same curious expression on his face. He looked down at me and shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe we should go, if she was fired, we probably have no chance of even finding her..." he said, trailing off.
I rolled my eyes, "you really don't know me that well do you?"
He laughed, "I knew you were going to say that."
I looked around the restaurant quickly, noticing that Julie was busy with some customers; taking their orders. I saw a back door, leading to the kitchens.
I grabbed Jeff's hand, and whispered a quick "Come on," before I led him through the kitchen door.
"What are you doing?!" He asked looking around for any sign that she had seen us.
I didn't answer him, but instead, still dragging him behind me, led him to a wooden door in the back of the smelly kitchen. I was about to angrily knock on the door and demand an explanation, but the sound of a deep, rough voice stopped me.
"Those guys you sent in did the trick, I've never seen her so angry! Who would have known that shy little Elizabeth Anderson had such a temper."
"Yes, and what a temper it is." The second man said, his voice a low murmur. His voice reminded me of sticky syrup, sweet, but glued to you insides, slowly dripping down your throat and into your stomach, giving you a dirty and unpleasant feeling.
"I can't help but wonder however," said the first man, "why? Why go through the trouble of actually hiring some men to upset this poor girl. Not that I'm complaining or anything."I heard someone pull something out. "You have a light?" he asked. There was soon the smell of a burning cigarette.
"She and I had a-" he paused, "mutual agreement a while back, which was broken by her. I am just, well, I suppose you could call it revenge, however that sounds a little dark." he said, his voice still low as if he didn't want to be overheard.
I heard the smile in the rough man's voice as he spoke, "I see, she is very nice, if only I had such wonderful skills with women as you do, Browning, I would've had my hands on her long ago. You are a lucky man."
The man he had called Browning answered in a pleased voice, "Yes, well, be that as it may I must be heading back to the school, I have a feeling that I will be having a young visitor of the female variety today, and I want to be there when she shows up." He chuckled darkly.
There was the sound of chairs moving as they both stood up, that was when I realized we had been standing in that one place far too long. I saw some rolling carts that held dirty dishes, and Jeff and I ran to hide behind them.
We held our noses as we crouched, watching the door open. There was a man with a cigarette between his lips who shook the other man's hand. The other man, that I guessed to be Browning, who was a very fat, balding man, step out of the room and shake the other man's hand and leave promptly. As soon as he was out of sight, the man wiped his hands on his pants and pulled out a wad of bills counting them as he closed the door behind him.
I knew at that moment they began talking about this girl that I had found her. Bella, I had finally found her. Danger and disaster was always following her around.
Bella's POV
I was trapped and I knew it. I couldn't do anything but accept his offer.
I shivered at the thought. His greasy hands on my skin, hid foul breath poisoning my lungs. But I had no other way out. None.
I collapsed on the floor in the bathroom clutching my chest. I was trapped with no way to escape. They were all around me. Men.
I twisted around and began heaving into the toilet. It had been so long since I had eaten something that my stomach was being choked up my throat. I couldn't stop. It could have been hours, it could have been minutes, but I kneeled there, throwing up spit and the acid from my stomach, and then blood. Again, and again. The smell of blood making me even more nauseous.
Finally I heard some knocking on the bathroom stall. "Honey, are you alright in there?"
I gasped out, "I'm fine," choking on the blood in my mouth.
"I'm going to go get someone, you stay right there."
I choked one more time, and, quite literally forced myself to swallow.
I was dizzy, I had less fluid in me than I had from this morning. I wiped my mouth, stumbled out the door. The halls were empty. I had no sense of time, was it after school, was it sixth period? Fifth?
My vision was going black, and it felt as if I had cotton in my ears, everything, every sound was reverberating off the inner walls of my ears.
Mr. Browning.
The name made me want to vomit again. But I knew once I started I would never stop, and I would probably bleed myself to death. My sight was so dark, that I made my way down the hall feeling the lockers, the classrooms, as if I was blind.
"Ah, miss Anderson." the sickly sweet voice was the last straw of my sanity, and the last thing I heard before I passed out was, "Bella!"
