"She is the one and she is coming with us" Doug said and they saw both men walking out of the school so Lane paused the footage and there was silence for a few seconds, they couldn't process what they had just seen.
"Dead…Jade is dead" Andre said in shock and Beck shook his head, he had not prepared himself for what he'd just seen and he couldn't cope.
"No, no, no she can't be dead" Beck said and took a breath "She is alive, she has to be alive"
"Beck…" Tori said sadly.
"WHAT?" He asked angrily "You are gonna say she is dead? She wouldn't be if YOU HADN'T BEEN SO FUCKING SELFISH" He screamed furiously and she stared at him as she cried.
"Beck, calm down" Lane said but he shook his head.
"It's the truth" Beck responded annoyed and turned back to Tori "I hope you enjoyed your stupid prom" He added and walked out of the office, so she broke out crying.
"Hey, it's okay, it's not your fault" Andre said trying to make her feel better, but she knew Beck was right.
"I…I'm gonna call the police, please leave" Lane said still in shock and they walked out of the office as well, but Beck wasn't there anymore, he'd left the school because he felt he was suffocating and he needed some air. Everything felt like a nightmare and he didn't know what to do next, he just wanted to see her again.
Lane sent the video to the police and Doug's photo was published everywhere, Jade's parents even paid special TV spots to get more attention and offered a reward to anyone who had relevant information, so Jade's kidnapping and presumed murder became a very public case. However, no one had come forward with real information and days turned into weeks of not having any news.
"That bastard couldn't have just disappeared!" Mr. West exclaimed angrily at the police officers in his living room, Jade's friends and mother were also there because they were still waiting for news.
"We know he hasn't left the city and the search won't cease, as soon as he tries anything he'll be in cuffs" The cop responded.
"What about my daughter?" Diana asked with tears in her eyes and the cops looked at each other.
"Ma'am, as we told you before, it is very unlikely that she is still alive" The other man informed sadly "She suffered severe trauma on her head, the video doesn't give any indication that she was alive when they left the school"
"Then why haven't you found her body?" She asked upset "My daughter is alive, I know she is" she added.
"They probably buried her" The man commented and Beck closed his eyes in pain and impotence, he couldn't get that horrible video out of his head but he still couldn't accept her death.
"No, that bastard wanted her for something" Andre said "Otherwise he would have listened to his friend and left her there"
"Whatever he wanted her for, it wouldn't have required her to be alive for long" The cop explained "He wouldn't have killed her from the get-go if he'd had plans for her"
"He clearly has anger management issues, I don't think he meant to kill her there" Robbie commented.
"But he did and he didn't seem too concern about it, so he didn't plan to keep her alive for long" The cop said and Tori looked down with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I don't care about your assumptions, you need to keep looking for her until you find her" Mr. West demanded.
"Listen, we are not supposed to tell you this…but we have a theory" One of the cops sighed.
"What kind of theory?" Beck asked.
"There have been a series of disappearances in the last few years, at first they didn't seem connected but after 9 cases, we found a pattern and 5 more girls went missing since then, confirming our theory" The other cop explained.
"And?" Diana asked.
"All these girls were in their late teens or early 20s, they were all tall, lean, they had brown or black hair, pale skin and blue eyes" The cop informed "Sounds familiar?"
"That's literally Jade's description" Tori said and they nodded.
"Exactly" He responded.
"And all of them went missing in public places, they were with people and then they just disappeared, but we never managed to find footage, not until now" The other cop added.
"So…you think Doug kidnapped all those girls?" Andre questioned and they nodded.
"How did Jade even contact him?" Tori asked.
"We haven't found her phone and the browse history on her laptop doesn't show any links to him, we believe he might've seen her before the party and maybe he gave her a card" He explained "It would match his M.O., he usually stalks his victims before taking them"
"How do you know that?" Robbie questioned.
"Because friends of the other victims told us, apparently some of the girls realized someone was following them but they didn't call the police and then they went missing" One of them responded.
"Jade didn't mention being followed" Beck said.
"Maybe she didn't realize it or maybe he bumped into her and gave her his card hoping she'd call for something" The man commented "The point is we believe it's the same man, it can't be a coincidence"
"So, use the information from the other cases to solve this one" Tori said "You said he's been doing it for years, so what do you know about the other girls?" She asked and the men looked at each other.
"12 of them have been found" The cop informed.
"Where?" Diana asked and he looked down.
"Buried" The man said and their eyes wide opened "We haven't found the most recent ones yet, but all the others follow the same pattern, they were all mutilated and buried outside the city, we suspect he changed the location for the new ones after we found his personal graveyard"
"Oh god" Diana said scared as she covered her mouth.
"But…what happened to them? What did that bastard want them for?" Mr. West asked trying to remain calm and rational.
"We used to think he just liked them but the bodies we examined weren't sexually abused, so it must be something else, it's not about sex" The cop explained.
"Then what is it about?" Beck questioned "That man kept saying she was the one"
"This guy has a very specific fixation, there must be a deeper meaning to it but we have no way to know what it is, we only know he takes their heads" He informed and their eyes wide opened.
"What?" Tori asked shocked.
"All the bodies were beheaded and we never found the heads, the victims were identified thanks to DNA" The cop informed.
"Oh my god" Beck said appalled and covered his face.
"I'm sorry, I know this is hard to hear" The other man said and Diana started crying even more.
"How much time passed between each kidnapping? Maybe, maybe if you hurry…" Mr. West said nervously.
"4 girls a year, so every three months or so" The cop responded.
"Then we have time! She's only been missing for a month, maybe she is still alive" Beck commented anxiously "You have to find her!"
"We are doing our best, but we have to be honest with you" The man said "Chances of finding her alive are minimal, even more so after what happened at the school, I'm sorry"
"You can't give up, not yet" Beck responded.
"We'll do our best to catch him, but you need to start considering the very big possibility that she is gone"
Jade opened her eyes only to see the horrifying image she'd been looking at for weeks, nothing had changed, not even the angle. She was awake, she was sitting on a bed with her head laid back on some pillows and a blanket on her legs, but she couldn't move any part of her body, only her eyes and it had been that way since she'd woken up.
She was forced to look at the dreadful room around her, full of colors and toys, it was clearly the room of a young child but there was one terrifying detail that made Jade panic every time she opened her eyes. There were shelves all around the room with the stuffed heads of several women who looked like her, along with several photographs of a baby with similar features.
However, one of the photos was strange because there were two babies who looked exactly the same, they seemed to be around 2 years old and they were surrounded by a younger Doug, another 8 year old looking girl with similar features and their parents; it was a family portrait and Jade looked at it every day trying to understand why the baby and the girl on the photo looked so much like her.
"Hello" Doug said nicely as he walked into the room with a tray, which carried a few syringes he used to feed her and keep her in that state.
Doug put the tray on the night stand and sat down on the bed with her, she simply looked at him because that was all she could do and he smiled as he sighed happily "You look so beautiful" He said and stroked her cheek.
He leaned closer to her and smelled her skin and then her hair, so she stared at the wall terrified, she was used to him doing that, but it never became less disturbing "It's time for your medicine" He said and she felt him injecting her two different syringes, knowing exactly what they would do.
One was meant to keep her fed and well nourished, while the other was meant to keep her paralyzed. She'd come close to being completely off the drug at one point, but Doug had arrived just before she recovered enough mobility to escape and he'd made sure she stayed exactly where she was.
"All done" He said when he finished and he smiled "You look absolutely perfect"
"Hey Doug, you ready?" Tug asked as he came into the room and Jade looked at him, so he looked away, he'd seen many girls in that position, but it never became any easier.
"Yes" Doug responded and stood up with the tray in his hands.
"So, what's the plan? What are you gonna do with her?" Tug asked curiously.
"I told you, she is the one" The man responded but Tug seemed incredulous "I mean it, it's her, just look at her"
"Buddy, you have to move on" He said "It's been 15 years, your sister is gone"
"No, no…this is Delilah, I'm sure, the kidnappers must've sold her to that rich family, but I finally found her and I got her back" Doug affirmed "My family will be so happy"
"You've said the same thing about all the others and look at them now" Tug said as he pointed at all the heads around the room, so Doug looked down.
"I mistook them, I thought maybe she'd grow up looking different but I'm right about this, she looks exactly like Hannah" Doug affirmed and smiled at Jade, but she couldn't even move her face so she just stared at them "This is my Delilah, I can feel it"
"I admit they look alike, from what I remember anyway…but so do many others" Tug said.
"No, this is her" Doug affirmed.
"Even if she were, what's your plan? You can't keep her paralyzed forever" Tug said "You are lucky she is alive after what you did at the school, all those drugs will affect her at some point if you don't stop"
"Shut up" Doug said anxiously "She is fine, she will be fine" He added.
"Really? So, you won't turn her into one of your little trophies?" Tug asked incredulously.
"No!" Doug affirmed "She is family, she just needs to understand that and then it will all be good"
"You need to do something soon, everyone is looking for her and we can't keep hiding forever" Tug said "Every time we go outside, we risk getting caught"
"And what am I supposed to do? Abandon my baby sister?" Doug asked and Jade only wanted to scream 'yes' but she couldn't, she could only see and hear what happened around her, it was maddening.
"I know you won't, so maybe it's time to go home" Tug said "That way you won't have to keep her frozen and she won't escape"
"I know, I know…I just need time to figure out how to get there safely, I can't risk losing her again" Doug commented scared and looked at her "She is the one, she is the person I looked for my whole life and now that I finally have her, I will never let her go"
;)
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