A/N: Thanks to all who wished me well! Since I'm officially home again, and figured there's nothing worse than an unfinished story. I missed a bunch of new episodes (everything since May), and the new album, so this is not up to date. Maybe when I finish I'll go back and edit some parts : ). And thanks to my little sister for everything!
So far, this is a recap:
-Miley is in senior year, decides to bring out Hannah Montana after learning that Ingrid, her dad's girlfriend, is blackmailing him to marry her. Her son, Tim, is abusive and cruel. Jake has come back, and helps her so-called coming out on stage at the Staple's Center in LA. After her next concert in Denver, where for the first time she sings an entire concert as herself, she gets attacked in her room and blacks out. Wow…sorry for leaving everyone with that huge cliffie!!
As always, nothing is mine!
-C
.
.
.
I'm so mad at you right now
I can't even find the words
And you're on the way down
I can't wait to see you burn
-The Veronicas
Chasing Fire: Chapter 21
Miley woke up to darkness. For a disorienting moment, she thought that she was on stage and the lights were about to go on, then reality crept in and she realized that no one was screaming. She sat up suddenly, slightly panicking, but sank quickly back to the floor as a wave of dizziness hit her. She was confused, hungry, and had a throbbing headache.
What's going on? She wondered, trying all her limbs to find them fully functional and unbound. Unbound? Her pulse sped up. Someone was in my room!
Miley vaguely remembered someone grabbing her and pressing something over her mouth and nose. Must've knocked me out! She thought. Where am I? Miley sat up more slowly and experienced only a little lightheadedness. She cocked her head to the side to try and get some clue as to where she was. Silence. She took a deep breath and tried not to freak out.
Twenty minutes later, she determined that she was in some sort of basement. She'd crawled on her hands and knees until she hit a concrete wall and had followed it in a square, only bumping into what she assumed were oil tanks or boilers in one corner. She was currently feeling her way up some stairs. She was halfway up when suddenly the door at the top of the stairs opened, blinding her. She quickly clamped a hand over her eyes.
"Well, lookie, lookie! Miss Hannah Montana is awake!!" Miley grimaced as her almost-stepbrother's voice came from the head of the stairs. Tim. Of course. She took a deep breath and gathered her courage.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, trying to keep the shaking in her voice to a minimum. There was hardly any waver, but her voice sounded weak nonetheless. She shaded her eyes against the light streaming in from the top of the stairs. She tried to see the expression on Tim's face, but he was in shadow with the light behind him.
He didn't answer her question. Instead, he just laughed maniacally and shut the door, sending her into darkness again. Miley heard a lock click into place. She sighed and slid down the stairs again. If he opened the door again he'd have to come down into the darkness to find her. She could make it work. There was no way she was letting him overpower her ever again.
.*.*.
Miley was left alone for a long time. So long that she began to drift in and out of sleep, waking at the smallest noises; the sound of footsteps overhead, a steady drip in one corner of the basement. She supposed that it was a good thing. If they leave me down here a long time, at least I'll have something to drink. The thought came when she was half-asleep, and she crinkled her nose in disgust. The drip could be from the sewage system, for all she knew. It was because of this thought that she was awake when the basement door opened again. She instantly tensed as a shadow started down the stairs.
She'd taken up a place under the stairs, figuring that she'd be out of line of sight of the door if someone came down when she was asleep, and the clomping of feet would wake her in time in case Tim tried anything. The light from the door also revealed something else. There was space between the stairs, and she could see Tim's ankles as they descended cautiously.
The last of her dizziness from whatever they'd (because there had been a second person in her bedroom, she remembered) drugged her with had faded, so when she stood up, she no longer felt the disorientation. She was hungry, tired, and thirsty though, so she was weaker than she normally would be.
It didn't matter. Her hand shot out, grabbing the bottom of his baggy jeans. He uttered a soft cry of surprise and fell the rest of the way down the stairs. It wasn't far, not even five steps, and she hadn't expected him to stay down once at the bottom. But he did, in a crumpled heap that she glared at for a good few moments before moving toward the base of the stairs. Halfway up, she paused to let her eyes adjust to the light and to listen to the sounds of the rest of the house. Nothing but silence.
She heard a groan from behind her and scrambled the rest of the way up. At least she knew that he wasn't dead now. She got the top and after a quick look around, swung the door shut and locked it. Heart pounding, she tried to recognize her surroundings. She was in a green-painted room, decorated with black checked couches and a television set. There was an end table with a picture of a man she didn't recognize on it. To her right, a door led into a kitchen, and beyond the kitchen…Traffic.
Miley rushed toward the exit, and stepped out into a warm California evening. She didn't waste any time making her way toward the road. She hadn't walked more than a few steps before a shrill voice called out,
"Look, mommy! It's Hannah Montana!" She turned toward the voice and saw a girl tugging a middle-aged woman by the hand and pointing at her. The woman was frowning at her daughter, and then took in Miley's disheveled appearance. "They said on the news that she was missing!" The girl said. The mother's eyes widened.
"Are you Han-Miley Stewart?" she asked in concern. Miley nodded. She wanted to cry in relief.
"Please. Do you have a phone I could use?" she needed to call her dad. He'd be beside himself with worry. The woman nodded, fishing in her pocket with her free hand and pulling out a cell phone. She handed it over. Miley punched in her home number.
Her dad answered on the first ring. His typical hello sounded tense and strange. Miley paused.
"Daddy?"
"Miley! Where are you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm borrowing a cell right now, and I'm…" She looked around for a clue as to where she was, and then at the mother, questioning.
"Sacramento," the woman supplied. Miley blinked.
"In Sacramento," she said slowly in slight disbelief.
"Okay, bud. Don't move-they're tracing the location of the call, they'll have the police come to get you. Oh, Miles, are you sure you're all right?" His tone of concern sent her over the edge and she started to cry. She was attracting a small crowd now, and Miley shrank back, handing the phone to the woman, who took it and started speaking rapidly into it.
"Hello? This is Peggy Walker, we found your daughter right here on the street…no, she doesn't look harmed…a bit rumpled, yes. My Sarah recognized her on our way to the..." Mrs. Walker started firing off directions to their location, looking in concern at Miley. Miley took a couple of deep breaths to compose herself, wiped her tears and looked at the girl.
"Thank you," she said. The girl, Sarah, her name is Sarah, frowned at her.
"Are you going to be okay?" Miley managed a smile and a terse nod.
"I'll survive." And she would
.*.*.
She'd only been found for a couple of hours, and was resting in a hospital bed (private room, of course, once the word got out that Miley Stewart alias Hannah Montana was in a hospital in Sacramento), when they burst through the door. Her dad came in first, followed closely by Lilly, Oliver, and Jake. Her dad looked older than she'd ever seen him, but that could've been because he hadn't done his hair up in a while (the first thing she said to him after things calmed down a bit). They all touched her, making sure she was all right, making sure she was really there.
"I'm okay, guys," she said. They backed off a little, giving her breathing room, though Jake kept her hand in his.
"We were so worried!" Lilly sobbed, leaning on Oliver for support. He nodded somberly, biting his lip. Miley knew that Lilly had probably been tense the entire ride to Sacramento, not willing to believe that they'd found her friend until she saw Miley with her own eyes. Miley smiled at them all. Her family. Things would be all right
.*.*.