Chapter 24

Determination

"I'm telling you, I have no idea what you're talking about!" growled Rachael, exasperated beyond belief as she sat inside the veterinarian's small office. Two police officers stood in the room as well. This all felt like a nightmare playing out in front of her.

Rachael had been in questioning for the better part of an hour now and things hadn't progressed much during that time. She couldn't believe what was going on. Buster had belonged to Kyle of all people? What were even the chances of that? And how on earth had the dog wound up at the restaurant? She was horrified with the knowledge she now possessed.

Not that she blamed the pup, of course. That would be incredibly cruel of her. It wasn't his fault his owner had been a steaming pile of horse shit. Unfortunately though, because of said pile of shit, she was now stuck in questioning for his whereabouts and any other information she may be withholding from police. As if! She was one of MC's closest friends. She had been keeping her safe ever since the whole incident with that lunatic had gone down. Why the hell would she ever help the bastard find her?

"I'm telling you, I don't know anything! Now please, can you let me and my dog go home? I have things I need to do!" she spat, not wanting to deal with this any longer. She needed to talk to MC about what she had discovered. At least

"Why you little-" started one of the cops, taking a step forward while the other placed a hand in front of their chest to stop them.

"Come on John, we got all we needed," said his partner, shooting him a warning look. The more irritable man gave a huff before turning back to Rachael with a glare.

"We'll be in touch. You're free to go," he said as he stuck his thumb through his belt loop. The officer straightened his back before he and his partner made their way towards the door. Rachael pursed her lips as she watched them exit the room. She wasn't afraid of them.

As soon as the policemen were out of range, Rachael scrambled for her phone. She dialed MC's number, her fingers like lightning. MC needed to hear about this as quickly as possible. Rachael almost felt a little regretful, knowing she was going to be waking her friends from their last slumber in this dimension. Such a crazy world.

Her heart stuttered when she placed the phone to her ear, only to be met with not ringing, but an automated message instead.

"Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message-"

Rachael ripped her phone from her ear and stared at the screen. Okay. Don't panic. You're overreacting, she told herself. It's just likely that her phone had died sometime during the night. That was all. A prickling sensation chewed at the back of her head as she tried to shake the bad thoughts from her mind. The sound of the door reopening caught her off guard and she let out a small squeak.

"Um, ?" called the vet, jumping slightly in place from her outburst. Rachael flushed and cleared her throat, dusting her shirt off absentmindedly. A small yipping met her ears as Buster bounded into the room. Relief temporarily flooded her and a smile pulled at her lips. She lent down and scooped up the wriggling puppy.

"Sorry, yes?" she replied, unphased by the furious face licking she was now enduring thanks to Buster. "Am I free to leave now?" she finished, echoing the policeman from before.

"Ah, yes. I deeply apologize for all of that," replied the vet, his hand rubbing the back of his head as his eyes avoided her own. Rachael narrowed her eyes at him. She knew that it wasn't completely this man's fault, but her anger had to be directed somewhere during all of this. Her emotions were running on high.

"Well, then I'm leaving. Bill me later, I'll pay in full. I have someone I need to get in contact with," said Rachael, hoisting Buster up a little more. Geez, this boy was getting heavier. She wrapped her hand around the leash and started to make her way out of the door.

"Wait-"

But she didn't wait to hear what the man had to say. Granted, he had helped her out with her puppy. Unfortunately, he had also caused her to become detained for almost an hour. Coupled with the time it had even taken to get into the appointment, she had wasted an unacceptable amount of time out of the house. She needed to get ahold of Yoosung.

After slamming the drivers door and placing Buster in the passenger seat, Rachael reached for her phone again. This time she dialed Yoosung's number. She hoped that at least he had been smart enough to keep his phone charged. A ringing trilling in her ear confirmed this. At least now she could breathe easy. After a few rings, a sleepy voice drawled through the speaker.

"Uh, yes? Ng, Rachael? What's up? I thought you were at Buster's vet appointment?" yawned Yoosung from over the line. "Is everything alright?"

Yoosung stretched his legs on the bed, his phone pressed lazily against his ear. His hand reached up to rub some sleep from his eye. He had been having such a wonderful dream too.

"No," Rachael started, "Well, I mean, Buster's alright. But that's not the problem. Well, not the current one anyway-"

"Wait, is there something wrong with him, or no?" asked Yoosung, confused. An exasperated sigh rushed through the speaker.

"He's fine, for the most part, yes. Turns out that the lump is just an inflamed bit of skin from an injection. Or something. He was chipped," she replied.

"Chipped?"

"Yeah, you know. Chipped. Where they register your pet with your information and stuff incase they get lost," Rachael replied hurriedly, "But that's not the main problem here. He'll be alright. I need to speak to MC though, could you please wake her up?"

Yoosung obliged, rolling over with his head still muddled from sleep. As he reached out his hand to wake MC, however, he found that his grasp met nothing but thin air. His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Maybe she had gotten up to use the bathroom? Or make breakfast?

"Uh, I think she's already up. She's not here with me. Let me go check the rest of the house. Have you tried calling her phone?" He asked, swinging his feet over the side of the bed. An abnormally long silence fell over the line. "Uh, Rachael?"

"Yoosung I need you to look for her as quickly as possible, I think something's very wrong," came Rachael's voice back in a panic.

"Rachael, what are you talking about? What's going on?" he asked shakily as he stood from the bed.

"Please, just go look for her! I'll explain later, please just hurry!" came her desperate reply. Ice dropped into the pit of Yoosung's stomach. What the hell was happening?

Black.

Damp.

Drip. Drop. Drip.

The steady stream of gentle rainfall pattered against the window. A moist and musky smell, pungent with the aroma of rotting wood, filled the air. MC's eyes fluttered open.

Darkness. Complete and utter blindness. A soft cloth wrapped tightly around her face blocked her vision. She tried to raise a hand up to touch her face, only to feel the tight coils of rope binding them in place. Cold metal pressed against her arms and legs. Her lower half had gone numb. What was going on?

"Hello?" MC called into the unknown. A prickling sensation made its way down her back, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Stay calm. Just stay calm. She had seen plenty of documentaries and things like this before. She had to think. What did she have to do to get out of this?

"Oh, you're finally awake?" came a voice in the distance. MC's heart dropped through her shoes.

Tap. Tap. Tap

The footsteps came closer and closer and MC shrunk in on herself. Why was this happening? What had she done to deserve this?

Blinding light pierced her eyes as the sash across her face was ripped away. MC squinted in surprise and flinched. Small stars glittered in front of her face. She winced as the light swished once more before her eyes before turning to point at the face in front of her. A gleaming smile greeted her tired eyes.

"Well hello there, sleepyhead. Have a nice nap? Sorry about having to hit you over the head and all but," said the smile before her, eyes shining bright by the flashlight, "I didn't think you'd exactly come quietly."

Kyle gave a small laugh as he stepped away from her. The flashlight swayed lazily from his fingertips as he walked towards the decrepit doorway across the room. MC took the opportunity to glance about the room.

Cobwebs danced across the missing ceiling tiles and trailed down towards the floor. The walls were agape with rotten holes and paint chippings littered about, bearing the peeling wood hiding underneath. A thick layer of dust coated every surface in the room, including the small desk attached to her chair in front of her. So that was why her hands were tied behind her back. She wiggled against her restraints and hissed as a small shard of wood scraped against the skin under her wrist. The small cut burned unpleasantly.

"So! You must know why I've brought you here," said Kyle, swiveling to face MC in her chair once again. MC's head perked up as he addressed her. No, she had no fucking clue why he would bring her here of all places. Wherever it is this was. All she knew was that this man was utterly insane and she needed to get out of her. Now.

The sting from her arm pulsed again and an idea struck her. Of course, that would work perfectly. She just needed to keep him distracted. The rush of adrenaline from her initial shock was starting to wear down and she didn't want to go back to being the scared little mouse he seemed to reduce her to. She was so, so tired of being afraid. For almost a month now she had been living in terror that something exactly like this would happen. And now, here she was. It was almost surreal. Yet, she didn't feel nearly as terrified as she would've thought she'd be. She just felt buzzy and focused.

"Well? What, am I talking to myself here?" said Kyle, tilting his head as he stepped towards her, gesturing to her with the flashlight. The way the shadows swished and swayed was starting to make her nauseous. She needed to play along as soon as possible.

"I d-don't know what you're talking about," she forced out, embarrassed by the uncertainty in her voice. She winced internally as the wood pricked her skin. Her wrists felt raw from the ropes as she forced her arms cautiously up and down along the shard sticking out from her cracking seat. She only hoped she could split the rope before he decided to do anything drastic.

"Oh, you don't, do you?" Kyle's eyebrows shot up and his smile grew wider, "Well let's just have a little recap shall we?" His eyes drifted over to the large desk sitting at the front of the room. MC's glanced over and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. It was the same one. It couldn't be, though. It had to be a coincidence. Regardless, the implications of the object were made all too clear as Kyle's free hand swept up the large knife from atop the desk. He rested the flashlight down onto the desk, aiming it toward he as he did so. MC's wrists moved with more conviction. The fraying strands tickled at her arms.

"For starters, you broke my heart," he said, lips turning downward as a scowl pulled at his face. "Then you steal my dog-"

"Your dog?" asked Mc incredulously.

"Yes, MY dog. Not only did you steal my heart and rip it to pieces, setting the cops on me for god's sake, but then you went and stole my dog. The only thing I had left," said Kyle, pursing his lips. "How could you?"

MC was beyond confused. Was Buster really his dog? What were the chances of that? Even if it were, she didn't steal anything. Buster had came into their restaurant of his own accord. Does that mean Kyle was stalking her even then?

"I don't know what you're talking about," she echoed from before, this time with much more conviction than before. She took a deep breath and locked her eyes on him. The rope had loosened considerably, if she could just get a little farther-

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Kyle shouted, lurching forward before slamming the knife into the desk attached to her chair, his face growling in front of her own. She flinched backwards and yelped, pricking herself on the shard of wood again. Warmth dripped its way down her hand.

"You. Ruined. My. Life," he seethed through his teeth. MC swallowed thickly, willing to keep herself calm and quiet with her heart racing a marathon inside her chest. Kyle yanked the knife out of the wood and pointed it towards her throat. "Don't you think that's something you should be sorry for? Do you not even care?"

Something bubbled up inside of MC as she sat cornered into her chair, unable to move in such a confined and restricted space. Unlike the cold iciness of fear, this felt hot and burned deep in her gut. The fire licked up towards her throat. Before she could stop herself, the words were tumbling from her mouth.

"Sorry?" she breathed in astonishment. "Sorry? You want me to apologize?" Kyle's face scrunched inward as she spoke.

"After… after everything you've done to me, you want ME to apologize to YOU?" she couldn't believe this. It was like a fuse had lit inside her and was fast approaching its limit. "You tried to KILL me! All because I didn't want to go out with-" a sharp smack across the face silenced the rest of her sentence.

"I LOVED you! How could you not see that? That's all I ever tried to show you! But you wouldn't listen! You refused to see that we're meant to be together! Why can't you just accept that?" Kyle yelled, standing with his back straight as he glared down at her. "But instead, you decided to run away with that stupid fucking blonde ba-"

"Don't talk about him like that!" roared MC, stomping her foot against the ground in a rage. Kyle stepped backwards momentarily before righting himself again. Something dark flickered behind his eyes. "You never loved me! You don't even know what love is!"

"Well," he breathed, voice dangerously low, "I had planned on trying to persuade you to see my side of things, but… It looks like I'll have to go with plan B. I'll deal with the other one later."

Realization sparked inside her as Kyle brought the knife up higher. He really was going to kill her. Right here and now. And he planned to go after Yoosung next. She couldn't let that happen. No, no, no, no, no-

"NOOO!"

MC's hands ripped free from the severed rope and flung up towards her captor as he swung the knife down at her. She grappled at his wrist as his full weight slammed against her. Kyle's face betrayed his surprise and MC took the chance to yank his arm to the side, squeezing his wrist to try and free the knife from his grasp. The desk creaked as the seat dislodged from the metal. The pair of bodies tumbled down onto the ground, twisting and flailing as each tried to get the upper hand on the other.

MC reached forward and grabbed at Kyles face, keeping her other hand vice gripped against his offensive wrist. She pushed his head away as her hand gripped into his hair for leverage. A yelp of pain cried from his lips as his eyes scrunched shut. A smear of red colored his eyelids.

"Fuck! My eyes, you bitch!" he yelled, "You got blood in my eyes!" His grip on the knife lessened in his frustrations and MC grabbed for it, twisting them over with her legs. The knife clattered to the ground before Kyles hands made contact with MC's chest, tossing her away from him.

The breath was knocked from her lungs as she slammed against the wall. She coughed heavily before scrambling to her feet, lunging towards the knife. Her feet stumbled as she watched Kyle snatch the weapon back from the ground and turned to face her One eye was still clamped close from the pain of the blood still trapped behind the lid. He pointed the knife towards her.

"You'll pay for that," he growled, stepping towards her menacingly. MC swallowed, stumbling backwards with her eyes trained on the metal point in his hands. Her eyes darted about the room as she tried to find a way out. The windows were boarded, the light of dusk barely creeping in between the wooden planks. Bricks peaked out from behind the holes eaten into the walls. No good there either. As she backed up away from her kidnapper, she found herself pressed up against one of the other walls. MC looked to her sides, trying to find anything to grab to her advantage. A doorway to her left about ten feet away graced her eyes. She glanced back to the madman in front of her with the knife. His eyes flickered to where her gaze had been moments ago and then back to her.

"Don't you dare try and run," he ordered, his grip tightening on the knife in front of him. The room was starting to swim before Mc's eyes as the terror set in. Her legs felt like lead. She had to move. She had to move. She had to MOVE.

Right as Kyle jumped for her she leapt out of the way, nearly falling over herself as she made her way for the doorway. Kyle snarled as the knife sunk through the rotten drywall. He yanked it viciously from the wall, sending dust and chunks crumbling everywhere.

"Get back here!" he roared, chasing after her as she slipped into the hallway.

MC breathed heavily, pumping her legs as fast as they could go. There had to be a way out of here. She didn't even know what building she was in or what floor she was on. There wasn't any time to waste on thinking right now. She had to find some way out or somewhere to hide. Her heart pounded in her ears as Kyle's enraged cursing followed behind her.

Suddenly, the ground gave way from underneath her foot and she found herself tumbling down. A scream sprang from her throat as floorboards, drywall and metal clanged and scraped against her before her arms and legs slammed against solid ground. Wounds stung all over her exposed arms and legs and new holes had torn through her jeans. She seethed through her teeth and exhaled shakily, forcing her head to turn upwards. A huge hole in the ceiling met her eyes.

Well, at least now she was farther away from that psychopath.

"Where could she have gone?" cried Rachael as she swerved through traffic. Buster yapped in the backseat as Yoosung gripped the armrests fearfully in the passenger seat.

"I don't know! She didn't tell me she was going to go anywhere today! We were supposed to stay home!" Yoosung replied, his eyes darting between cars as they sped along the road. He couldn't believe this was happening. MC was missing, Buster had turned out to be Kyle's dog, and they had a whopping 4 hours before the portal was supposed to be opened.

The cars in front of Yoosung's eyes started to blur as his head lulled unconsciously. Were they supposed to do that? He didn't think they had been going so fast. So fast indeed. It felt like they were cutting through space. Were they headed to the space station Seven always talked about? He had always been… a little curious… about-

"Hey! Yoosung, snap out of it!" yelled Rachael, snapping her fingers in front of his face. Yoosung blinked in surprise before shaking his head. What had just happened? It felt like he had lost his grip there for a minute. He felt wide awake and didn't understand what was going on.

A buzzing from his pocket jolted him from his thoughts and he dug his hand into his pocket, desperate to see MC's name in his notifications. Instead, he saw Seven's name glowing back up at him. He flipped his phone open and checked the message.

"Hey, Yoosung! It's T-4 hours before go go go time! I hope you're ready because this is a one way trip. Remember what I said about staying clear when the process starts!"

Fear pricked at Yoosungs skin as realization struck him. It was the connection. That's what had made his head go fuzzy. His fingers started to shake as he held the phone. They still needed to find MC. He wasn't ready to go yet.

"Seven, there's a bit of a problem. MC's missing. We're trying to find her now but I think someone took her. Can you move the time for it? Please?"

The reply was almost instantaneous.

"Yoosung, there's nothing I can do. I don't know what's happening on your end but this kind of a life or death situation here. You NEED to be ready. If you don't, I won't be able to bring you back. At all."

Yoosung stared down at his phone. Life or death. It really was going to come down to that, wasn't it? This wasn't fair. How could he so selfishly take this now and leave her behind when she needed him? He couldn't do it. He just couldn't. The time they had together was precious. He needed to help her. They needed to help her. Help… They needed help. Help, because she was trapped. She was stuck inside the restaurant. He had to get in there. He needed to-

"Augh!" Yoosung shook his head and slapped his hands against his cheeks. He needed to wake up! She wasn't in the restaurant anymore! That had happened already!

And that's when it clicked. The restaurant. They could get help there. Surely their old coworkers would help them find her if they came to them. This was an emergency, they had nowhere else to turn.

"Rachael, you need to take us to the diner!" said Yoosung, pointing in its general direction. Rachael looked at him as if he had spontaneously sprouted wings.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, flabbergasted. "This is no time for that!"

"No! Your- Our friends! We need their help! Someone should be able to help us find MC, we need to try!" he pleaded, hand gripping his phone tightly to keep himself focused. Everything felt like it was swaying as they rode through the traffic.

Rachael's eyes lit up at his words.

"You're right! Okay, let's go!" she said, turning harshly into the right lane. Horns blared behind them and she flipped them off through the mirror. Today was not a good day for them. Yoosung desperately hoped that the ending would wouldn't follow the same pattern.

As they pulled up into the parking lot, their old boss Paul caught sight of them through the window. His scruffy mustache quivered atop the frown pulling at his lips. As Yoosung and Rachael slipped out of the car, he started to make his way outside.

"What are you two doing here? I banned you from the premises! Get out of here before I call the police! You've caused enough trouble here!" barked Paul, pointing away from his establishment. Rachael puffed out her chest and stomped towards him. Buster trailed along behind her on his leash.

"Listen here you crotchedy fuck, we're not here for you. We need help. MC is missing. So just drop it and let us go talk to our friends," said Rachael, glaring at him as she dared him to cross her. He took a noticeable step back.

"You people are insane," he pressed on, "I told you to get off of my property!"

It seemed his outburst had actually worked in Rachael's favor, however, as one of the valley twins had made their way outside.

"Rachael, Yoosung? What's going on?" asked Ashley, her voice betraying her worry. Carey trailed behind her like a shadow.

"Yeah, like, we heard yelling," said Carey, glancing at their boss. Paul turned to glare at them.

"Get back inside this instant! I will not tolerate any more insolence from my employees." he barked, hands balled into fists. Ashley and Carey shrank back slightly. Before they could head back inside, however, Rachael called out to them.

"Ash, Carey, MC is missing. We need your help, Please!"

Ashley and Carey stopped in their tracks.

"Oh my gosh are you for real? What happened?" cried Carey

"What do you want us to do?" offered Ashley, her hands clasped together against her chest with worry on her face.

"Enough of this! I said get back inside, now, or I'll be forced to fire the both of you!" yelled their manager. Ashley and Carey looked at him in astonishment.

"Like, are you serious?" balked Ashley.

"You can't be serious," mirrored Carey, "Our friend is in trouble!"

More people had begun to filter out into the parking lot.

"This is obviously just another cry for attention, and I'm not having it. Not anymore! I'm tired of my place of business being disrupted by you three," he shot back at Yoosung and Rachael, the two of the aforementioned three. "Now leave! And you two, get back inside and do your jobs for once in your life!" A couple of the other workers scoffed at his remark.

"You know what?" said Ashley, her cheeks tinged red with pursed lips. "I quit!"

"Me too!" yelled Carey, tossing her apron down onto the pavement with her friend. They both crossed the lot to join their old friends. Both of their faces set in a glare as they looked back at their former boss. His jaw had gone slack.

"You know what, man I'm out too," said Geoff, the newest of the workers as he tossed his apron down too. A disgruntled noise made its way out of Paul's throat as he watched another one of his ex workers make their way across the pavement. A few others followed suit as customers started to yell at the manager in unison. Rachael smiled triumphantly, if a bit sadistically, back at her old boss. He looked like he was going to burst.

"Fine! Go, get out of here!" he finally managed to yell back. "And don't ever think of coming back here!"

They watched as he stormed into the restaurant, fighting against the small crowd that had spilled out of the diner. Rachael and Yoosung turned to their friends in astonishment.

"I can't believe you guys just did that," said Yoosung, staring in awe.

"Honestly, we wish we would've done that sooner," replied Carey.

"Like, definitely," nodded Ashley.

"I can't say I feel any different," agreed Jeff, "Now, what can we do to help?"

Rachael looked at Yoosung before turning back to their friends. She took a deep breath.

"We think Kyle has kidnapped MC," she said with importance, "We need to find out where she is. We can't go to the police, they think I'm in on things and they might detain me-"

"Wait, why would they-"

"Yoosung here can't do it because they might do a background check on him-"

"Wait what, why-"

"So we need to hurry up and figure out where he could've taken her."

The small group looked confused but did their best to comply. As they talked amongst themselves, Buster gave a small bark and jumped up on Yoosung's leg. Before he could shoo him off of his pants, an idea struck him.

"Oh my God I think I know where she is."

He only hoped that they weren't too late.