Disclaimer: Kate Brian owns Private, not me.
I have officially decided that the rest of this book would be dedicated to Sabrina, my Aunt Laurie, and my friend Lisa. Also to anyone else who may have struggled through cancer or died from it. You will always be in our hearts 3
On a lighter note I need ideas for a vacation spot. After the week Josh and Reed spend here they will spend some time with the Billings girls and some of the St. Bart's crew and Ketlar boys. Please PM me or review the story to tell me where I should have this awesome vacation spot be.
Here we go.
Josh spent a week in the hospital. I was there every minute with him. He was tired but they did a check up every day and he was tumor free every time.
We were on the way home, I was driving this time. He wasn't supposed to drive unless it was absolutely necessary. For a day at least.
"Reed, I'm sorry about everything, I ruined one of our last weeks together." He said.
I pulled the car over. He shouldn't apologize.
"Never say that, don't be sorry. We spent time together and that's all I will ever need. Your alive Josh and a week ago I wasn't sure that you would be. Don't apologize for being in the hospital. Your ok and that is all that matters to me." I said in a serious voice.
I looked over at him and opened my hand for him to take and he graciously accepted with a winning smile on his face.
I drove the car again and shortly we reached his house.
He was unaware of the small party we were having for him. He was thankfully home and well and feeling as good as ever.
As a parked the car and led him into the house he was shocked to see the welcome home banner. Tess and Tori were there with Chad and Thomas who were staying as well. Also Maggie from next door and Josh's parents. Lynn and Gia were there as well.
Josh smiled acknowledging his family being there. I decided then was a good time to mention a few of our friends were coming over later too. We hadn't really seen anyone in a while. Noelle and Dash had both stopped by in the hospital once or twice. Trey had sent a card and a few of the Billings girls had sent cards and teddy bears which had been girly but sweet. I had my own collection of hospital bears and puppies. After the third time the collection gets pretty big.
We had sat down for a wonderful dinner followed by a fabulous dessert. It was one of the best meals I had in a while, well a week anyway. It beat the hospital food I had everyday. It wasn't until after dessert that Lynn stood up and smiled at everyone. He winked at Josh and Josh smiled in excitement. Tess and Tori knew what was coming too. I felt out of the loop.
"I would like to say something." Lynn said. He had our full attention.
"I am completely in love. In love with Gia. You have been in my life for as long as I can remember because my life before you is not worth remembering. Ever since the day we met I knew you were out of my league. When I had asked you out and you said yes I was the happiest man alive. You said yes to a second date and then every date after that. I hope to hear that answer again." Lynn said smiling. Gia was blushing with tears in her eyes.
"Gia, will you do me the great honor of spending the rest of your life with me, and marrying me?" Lynn asked.
"Yes, of course. A million times yes." Gia said excitement pouring out of her every word.
Lynn pulled her close slipping a beautiful ring onto her finger and then kissed her. The table shared awe's as they took their seats once again.
I smiled out of excitement weddings were so exciting. I loved TV weddings. I figured theirs would be perfect. Knowing Gia she wouldn't be bridezilla though, she would get what she wanted.
Tess, Tori, Gia, and I all went out in the other room to talk.
"I think I want a New Years Eve wedding." Gia said.
"That would be totally awesome!" I said.
"There would be dancing all night long, and I think I know where I want it too." Gia said.
"Where?" Tess asked.
"Well my parents grew up in western New York in a city called Niagara Falls. It is right near the Canadian border. The falls are one of the Seven Wonders of the World and are gorgeous. I've always wanted to be married in the winter with snow everywhere and I think near the falls they would be gorgeous." Gia said.
"That's really cool!" Tori said.
"I see you have been planning this for a while." I said jokingly.
"Well every girl knows what they want for their wedding," Gia said. I laughed. I wasn't sure what I wanted yet but Noelle had a binder hidden in on of her drawers. In the bind was the dress of her dreams and this spot in Paris for an outdoor wedding. The binder was super thick.
"I guess they do," I said smiling to myself. I had the feeling Noelle might just might be a bridezilla.
"I am so happy for you," I said.
"Me too," Tess and Tori said at the same time.
"Thanks guys," Gia said smiling at us.
We had talked a little while longer before we were sent back to the dining room for a game of cards.
A few hours later Josh's parents had taken Maggie out for a drink, Tess, Tori, Chad, and Thomas had gone to the movies, and people had started to arrive. Most of Billings had shown up along with some of the Ketlar boys. Lynn and Gia had stayed with us.
It wasn't a fancy party by any means. We all kind of just hung out and talked about our summers so far.
A lot of the girls had done a lot of tanning and spa's. Most of the guys had spent their time hanging out or playing sports. Trey even spent a chunk of his time learning how to surf with Astrid. The summers had definitely been good so far.
"I can't believe Easton cracked down hard enough to give everyone uniforms." Noelle said.
"Tell me about it, right after you leave," I said.
"Well I guess your brought drama everywhere you went," She joked. I playfully hit her.
"I guess it wont be al that bad, I mean I can accessorize all I want and that will give me leeway add color." I said.
"A new kind of style is always good, I'm sure Kiki can help plan some stuff for it too, she has always had that unique sense of style, and always pulls it off." Noelle said.
"I still don't like it," I said.
"Make the best, but personally I liked having he freedom to wear what I want to wear." Noelle said.
"Yeah, it sucks not to mention being forced into cheerleading." I said.
"That was an interesting move she will pay for, that is if she stays in the house," Noelle offered.
"Why not, I mean it does help with bonding which we could always use." I said.
"True I mean good bonding is always nice." Noelle said.
Josh and Dash came over and sat next me and Noelle.
"I am so happy that all of our friends are here before next week." I said.
"Well not all of them," Josh said sadly.
We had mentioned once Thomas once in the hospital. Josh had said it would have been nice to have his other best friend by his side. He missed Thomas. As much as they bickered, they got along quite well too. They were like brothers. Thomas being missing again was like the first time. We all thought he was alive and then he ended up dead. Having the same ending would be tragic. We were all secretly hoping he would show up everywhere, anywhere, somewhere.
"Would it make you feel better to talk about it man, it isn't good to hold in feelings." Dash offered.
"I don't know, I mean we are all praying that this ends in a good way. We never know what life has in store for us. I mean one minute Thomas is drunk like usual then the next his head was bashed in and then he is alive again. One minute I was off to dinner and the next I am in the hospital with a tumor on my lung. I got lucky that my medications I have to take caused a reaction to the tumor so they could catch it and rid me of it. Who knows if Thomas will be as lucky as he was before? I can't stand losing him again knowing that there is a chance out there for him but also bad people out there that could use him as bait. He is like a brother to me and I just want to see him safe." Josh said sincerely. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He repeated this gesture.
"Well then what are we going to do about it. I mean we already have every police unit out there looking for him. We have PI's looking for him. Do you want to all search the city of New York to see if we can find him?" Noelle asked.
"I want to but who can say if he's in New York. He could be in Germany for all we know." Josh said.
"Is it worth the try?" I asked.
"I think so," He answered. I looked at him like he was crazy and he simply gave me a smile that I knew meant he wanted this.
"Ok, search parties. Groups of four." Noelle said.
"Everyone gather round," I yelled. Everyone piled over to our area.
"Ok, we all know Thomas I missing and there is little chance he is in New York. He is our friend and it would never hurt to try and find him. We are splitting into groups of four and we are searching New York City for Thomas Pearson, well the parts we are near anyway, and if and when we find him we can put our fears to rest. Keep your phones on you at all times and remember never to travel off alone. It is 7 now. Josh's family will be back at 11 so be back here by 10. Here are the groups and the assigned places..." Noelle continued on with her plan as I smiled and held Josh's hand tight. We had to search central park and alleys near there. I was with Josh, Noelle, and Dash.
Dash drove us in that direction. We had gotten flashlights with extra batteries just in case.
It was about 8 by the time we got there. We searched the whole park in an hour and got most of the buildings searched in the next hour. We had found traces of blood but that is expected in dark alleys. It was safe to say that Thomas wasn't where we could see at the time. Hopefully the four of us could go out again tomorrow.
We were out of time and heading back to the car when strangely enough each of our flashlights died for a few seconds. I heard heavy panting behind me and running feet. You could tell something wasn't right. We all faced back to back and turned around a lot waiting and hoping for our flashlights to turn back on or for our eyes to adjust. A small scream I could have sworn was Thomas' and then a gunshot was fired and everything was silent. Our flashlights lit back up to an empty everything.
I froze in my place. What was that? We ran frantically toward where we heard the gun and nothing was there. There was nothing anywhere. If we had searched good before we searched great this time. We took every step we had taken before about ten times looking everything over. We had searched every alley and nothing was in sight. I had no idea what was going on and doubted that we would figure it out in the middle of the night.
It was 10:30 and everyone was calling us so we headed back.
"What the hell was that?" Noelle asked panicked.
"Maybe someone was playing a trick on us," Josh suggested.
"I know that scream," Noelle and I said at the same time. I didn't ask why she knew it because we all knew what she had done. I flinched slightly and she looked ashamed but we moved past it quickly.
"I know but maybe someone wants us to think he's hurt." Dash said.
"Let's hope it was just a similar scream." I said tears threatening to fall from my eyes. I felt my throat swell a little bit. I just wanted to go back and go to bed.
Noelle and Dash were crashing at Josh's place but everybody else had to go. After we explained the story of what we heard and didn't see everyone headed out promising we could look again tomorrow. We were our own search party.
It was just about eleven when there was the opening and closing of a door.
To Reed:
I hope you like my present, I mean it cost me a man to give him to you. I'll pay you back Reedy!
Love,
You wish you knew who.
Josh was figuring it was his family and I was confused. On our way to the door I read the text aloud and no one could decipher it.
When we reached the door being shocked was an understatement.
Thomas was in the doorway barely on his feet. He was out of breath from being forced to run and he was beat up pretty badly. He had many scratches on his face and dried blood in many places. He had a black eye and bruises covered his body. He looked even worse than before.
"Thomas," I said before he collapsed onto the floor out of breath and in pain. He cringed at the sound of my voice and I got down to hold him up slightly.
"Cal 911" Josh ordered Noelle. She nodded and picked up the phone Dash and Josh grabbed Thomas and brought him to the first floor guest bedroom. I picked up a phone that didn't belong to Thomas and brought it in. His eyes were open slightly.
"It was self defense, I swear." He said. His eyes closed and his strength wasn't there any longer.
We all looked at each other after he spoke his words and no one knew what to say.
We waited around for about ten minutes before an ambulance got there. Thomas still was unconscious when they loaded him up. Dash and Josh went with them and Noelle and I stayed back to let everyone know what happened.
Noelle and I called Thomas's parents and his brother, although they didn't seem to be too worried or care much. They hadn't been excited at all when Thomas ended up being alive.
We sent out mass texts telling everyone he showed up and finally The Hollis's all got home. Lynn and Gia explained everything as Noelle and I grabbed some fresh clothes for him and for everybody else. We figured he was close enough to Josh's size he would fit in some of his clothes.
Noelle drove us to the hospital as I talked with Josh.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"It looked like a rib may have been broken and there was some sight internal bleeding. He will be hurting for a few days. He just got in surgery but it won't be long. After that we just have to wait for him to wake up and hope he remembers everything that happened. Unfortunately for us whoever did this left no DNA, no fingerprints, hair, blood, anything at all. He knew what he was doing." Josh said.
"We'll be there in a few seconds, we are pulling in now. I have really had enough of this place." I said. I spend more time in the hospital than I do at my own house. That's really sad.
Noelle and I rushed up to the 5th floor where Thomas was staying after his surgery. Josh and Dash were waiting in the waiting room. They both looked like they had seen a ghost. Who could blame them? I mean Thomas was like both of their brothers. I remember walking through Josh's house after Thomas had supposedly died and I remembered seeing pictures of the three of them having snowball wars and playing football. Josh always took an extra second looking at them. Also the first day of school when I met Thomas he was playing football with Josh and Dash. They were always close, together through thick and thin, like when Thomas got drunk or stupid, Josh was always there.
Soon a doctor had come out to tell us what the progress was.
"Miss Brennan, Mr. Hollis, long time no see." Dr. Jameson said. He was Josh's doctor too.
"Hello," I said Josh just smiled slightly. I could tell he was tense and stressed.
"Well, Mr. Pearson has a broken rib and had slight internal bleeding. We fixed him up pretty easily but he is pretty beaten up. He can leave in two days if he feels up to it, which I don't know if he will. Just make sure someone is there to take care of him at all times." Dr. Jameson said.
"Thanks, doctor. When can we see him?" I asked.
"He is asleep still but you guys can go in whenever." The doctor said. He walked away and we took a deep breath and headed towards Thomas's room. I held Josh's hand and squeezed each step I took.
Walking into his room was hard but seeing his limp body in the bed was even harder. He had a bandage across his chest were the rib was broken and he had some stitches in some of the deep cuts he had. He was going to have some serious scars.
Most of his body was black and blue and his non bruised skin was extremely pale. It reminded me of my body after St. Bart's. Every little touch hurt and just seeing the pity in people eyes made the pain worse.
I wouldn't doubt that his body was tired. I just about guarantee that after he woke up he would be asleep again too. Surgery took a lot out of a person. Not only that but he had to have been tired from being beaten and running and functioning with his injuries.
Who knows how long he had been beaten for or how long his ribs had been broken? Who knows how long whoever it was tat beat him up, beat him up for? It could have been a day and it could have been over a month. Who knows if he will recover? Who knows how long it will take? I would bet that it didn't take super long because surviving what he has, Thomas was strong and wouldn't want to be helped for a long period of time.
Looking around the room I noticed we were all staring helplessly. We wanted to help but couldn't and it was hard to see his weak body. Everyone tried to avoid looking at the bruises on his stomach and the bandage. We tried to focus on the face but it was hard when he had a left black eye and the bruises here black and blue, and even yellow on his right cheek. There were stitches above his right eye where he had been cut, then again across his left cheek. He had scrapes up and down his arms. He was beaten up but really badly.
The one thing I couldn't figure out was that gunshot. He had no bullet wounds but it had to have been him. I mean he was panting just the same as he reached Josh's house.
I saw his eye flicker slightly. I perked up a bit as did the rest of the room.
Shortly after that his eyes opened wide and he made a cringing face due to his pain. His medications were wearing off.
"Josh, Reed." He said happily.
"Thomas," I said smiling brightly.
"Noelle and Dash too," He said trying to hide the pain.
"Thomas what happened?" Dash asked.
He looked at all of us as we had expectant looks on our faces. He looked down at himself and then back up.
"I had run away from everything. I stopped at my house in the middle of the night and grabbed some things I needed. I had run some more and made my way to Northern New York and finally Western. I planned on going down to the city and finding you guys. I just wanted some time. While in Western New York someone grabbed me. It was the same man as before, the one who found me left for dead. He had beaten me; this was about three weeks ago. He beat me and beat me and beat me. He brought me down to the city. I would run and he would find me and beat me some more. He always made calls about how he had me. He would get orders and then beat me some more. Last night while he wasn't looking I took off running through central park. It was around 9. He had a gun and was pointing it at me. First he threw me to the ground and I screamed. He held the gun at me. I had kicked him grabbed the gun and ran again. He chased me with a knife. He cornered me in an alley with the knife, as he was about to stab me I shot him. Scared out of my mind I moved him behind a dumpster grabbed his phone and ran. His last thrown against me though was so powerful, it broke my rib finally and I could barely move. I got to your house as fast as I could because I had been trying to get there for weeks. After getting to your house I remember saying something and then I blacked out and woke up here." Thomas said looking afraid and hurt and confused all at the same time.
"Any idea who grabbed you?" I asked.
"None, I thought the stalking was over with Sabine but I guess not." He said.
"I'm sorry about that," I said. Thomas stiffened.
"It's not your fault, not at all. If anything it's mine. Listen I know I blamed you but I got to thinking, if I had never broken the promise to Ariana or let Josh have you that first day then none f this would have happened and you wouldn't have been blacklisted. I don't believe for a second that this isn't still Sabine behind this." Thomas said.
"But if I had never come to Easton you wouldn't have ever met me," I said.
"That would have been the worst thing ever," Josh butt in. I smiled and snuggled closer to him.
"It's no ones fault but Ariana's and Sabine's. Who says this stalker is even after Reed anymore, I mean it could very well be any one of us." Noelle said. I shuttered at the thought of anyone being mad at Josh or Noelle. Even at Thomas or Dash or anyone.
"You know what, Noelle is right. This person could be after any one of us." Josh said.
"Well then why do I get the texts still?" I asked.
"Think about it seriously, I mean the stalkers in the past were definitely out for Reed and I mean with the house burning down and stuff it seems that way but think, they could be trying to distract us from what is really going on. I mean knowing anything about us you would know Reed has been stalked. Knowing that the way to most easily distract every single one of us and have us not suspect something happening to one of us is to send things to the person it is expected to go to." Noelle said.
"Think about it, every instance where there has been a sighting of this person since Sabine died we have all been there, plus Sawyer, Kiran, and Taylor. Besides finding Thomas but they were still involved." Dash said.
"I think it's safe to rule out Scott because even though he is there sometimes he isn't always and I doubt anyone hates him." Josh said.
"Ok, but still keep tabs on him." Thomas said finally entering this conversation.
"I think this is a new theory we should all look into." Noelle said.
"I think you might actually be right," Thomas said.
"This is so unrealistic, who would have the brains to do that?" I said.
"Think about it, it isn't that hard to figure out, plus they have done their research." Thomas said.
"We don't have enough information to prove this could be against any one of us." I said. I didn't want to think of any of my friends being stalked. They were all too good for that and this shouldn't be happening.
"Think about it, last time when things were against you, Reed, the guy wanted no harm to come to me, this time, however, the guy beat the shit out of me. Different kidnapper definitely." Thomas said.
"That kind of rules you out; I mean they could have killed you which means that you were important to the scheme but it wasn't necessary for you to stay alive." Noelle said.
"Good thought but maybe they wanted me dead," Thomas said.
"True," Noelle said.
"Ok let's pretend this is possible, how will we deal with it?" I asked.
Oddly enough everyone's phone went off at the same time. That is never a good sign.
I opened my phone shocked at what I saw.
To: Too many to list
Well, well, well you are all smarter than I thought. Let's see if you can figure this one out.
You don't know who I'm after or who this'll hurt most but I've got a member of your little group. You want them to live, you'll follow my rules. You'll do what I say and no one gets hurt. You break the directions and you'll feel my wrath…and so will they.
Good luck my pretties, more texts to follow.
-You all wish you knew who
P.S. Hospitals have thin walls; you never know who is listening!
We all looked up not knowing what to say. Thomas who couldn't reach his phone glanced at us all curiously. Josh showed him the phone.
Almost immediately after we received the texts we got calls from Kiran, Taylor, and Sawyer.
"Hello," I answered Taylor's call.
"Reed, did you guys get them too, those awful texts?" Taylor asked worry in her voice, making her voice tremble.
"Yeah, we'll talk later mom," I said trying to hide who I was talking too. Noelle and Dash did the same. Noelle was talking to Kiran, and Dash to Sawyer.
"Can someone here you guys," Taylor said.
"Yeah I think you have to preheat the oven to 350 degrees for cookies." I said.
"That's a yes then. Just so you know Scott called us too, I thought that h may be exempt but nope, he got it too. He is really confused and so am I Reed. He was supposed to be home this week and then he was going to come with us next week to who knows where." Taylor said.
"Oh I didn't expect that, you already burnt them." I said.
"I told him to come down now and we would discuss what was happening." Taylor said.
"Prefect, great plan, store bought cookies will work." I said laughing.
"I don't know where you get some of the things you come up with Reed." Taylor said.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked looking around the room. They all nodded in approval.
"Ok, text me anything else." Taylor said.
"I love you too mom, bye." I said hanging up.
I quickly texted Noelle:
We'll talk to Dr. Jameson when he comes back. We'll write what we need to and make random small talk that isn't true, which we should do now.
She gave me thumbs up.
I started writing down everything for Dr. Jameson to know while Noelle showed everyone the text.
"So how do you feel Thomas?" Josh asked.
"In less pain," He lied.
"I mean about Cheyenne. I know it's a rough subject but, how are you coping?" Josh asked.
Thomas winced at her name.
"I really liked Cheyenne. I may have loved her. If fate separated us though it wasn't meant to be. I thought about it and fate took me away from Reed and brought her to you. You two are meant to be together." Thomas said and I smiled at Josh.
"I think you need to not forget about her but be willing to move on. You never know who you might end up really liking." I said looking at Josh.
"That's a good point. I had thought Cheyenne might be the one. I miss her a lot. She would have wanted me to move on, just like when I thought I was dead or dying, I wanted you to move on," Thomas said to me.
"I think that's a good attitude." I said.
"She just wouldn't want you to return to your old ways." Josh said.
"That is probably true, in the past few months I have done a lot of thinking. I thought about my life and how I wish there was a reset button for life. But even without that, I am pressing my own reset button. I will change, starting with my bad behaviors. They are gone for good. You are all looking at a new man," Thomas said.
I hoped he stayed to that.
There was a knock on the door then Dr. Jameson entered.
"Hello," I said. I passed him the note pad.
Dr. Jameson. Don't react to this at all. Act as if everything is normal. We are being stalked by someone here. We need to leave here now. Noelle will show you a text that we just received. Can Thomas leave tomorrow? We need to find safety somewhere…anywhere. Act normal, they are listening to our every word.
He looked up at me and then Noelle handed him her phone. He read the text and horror struck across his face. I trusted him. He dealt with the Tiffany and Dash issue. He was Josh's doctor and talked to us about what's gone on. I've seen him a few times for random check ups. He knew we had abnormal lives and I hoped he would understand this.
"Well Mr. Pearson, it appears as though you can leave tomorrow first thing in the morning. Just remember to take your pain pills and don't push yourself. I know you all plan on going on vacation next week so I'll give you a big enough prescription, I think relaxing will be good for you." Dr. Jameson said.
We all mouthed a big thank you to him.
"Thanks, doctor. That's good to hear." Thomas said.
I scribbled down my phone number and told him to keep it near to him and we'd be in touch about the legal things with the shooting and what not.
He gave us permission to spend the rest of the night there so we did. We hoped we would make it through the night anyway.
I was honestly hoping to wake up in my bed and hope that ever since I left my house this summer, everything's been a dream. And that Thomas never ran away. I knew that wasn't going to happen. Things like that never happened. Then again when do things like this happen either?
How do you like it? It was a spur of the moment idea to have the stalker be stalking someone new. I felt like Reed had enough of that. Not that she won't hear stuff but the attention won't all be on her this time.
I would like to give a special thanks to Irrevocably Ives for helping me out with this story and some ideas! Thanks a bunch!
Tell me how you liked it so far? Give me your honest opinion and if you have any ideas for a vacation spot for them to go to I will be very grateful for the help. Either review them or PM them to me whichever works for you!
Review Please!