Chapter 20: Relentless pursuit

Twitty and Tawny arrived at the Stevens' residence aboard the car they 'borrowed' from Dr. Dean. As soon as they arrived, Twitty frantically sounded the horn. Tawny, on the other hand, bolted out of the car and rang the doorbell.

Louis, who had been deep in thought, jumped a few good feet off the bed as soon as he heard the ruckus.

"What the hell," he muttered, sticking his head out of the window. Noticing the unfamiliar car, he called out to the driver. "Hey, what wrong with you, man?" A look of irritation was etched on his face.

Upon hearing his voice, Tawny backed away from the door a few steps and turned up her head to look. "Louis!"

He was very much surprised when he saw who it was. "Hey Tawny, what are you doing? Why are you making all these commotion?" Louis turned his head in time to see Twitty alighting from the car.

"Louis, would you just come down here." Twitty shouted. "I really need to tell you something, fast! It's really important."

He knew better than to ask questions when he saw the grave expression on both his friends' faces.

Outside, the two friends could hear the loud thud of footsteps as Louis bounded down the stairs. Within seconds, the front door burst wide open. Louis came stumbling out of the door and into the lawn.

"Okay, what's the big emergency?" Louis asked, slightly panting.

"Is your sister home?" Twitty suddenly asked.

"What?" He looked at him, suddenly confused. From the looks on their faces, he assumed that there was an accident or emergency of some sort. Why, then, was his friend asking about his sister?

"Dude, Ren, your sister, where is she?" his tone gradually getting edgy.

"Uh, I don't know; she's not here."

Twitty cursed under his breath. "Do you know where she might be?"

Louis opened his mouth to speak but Tawny quickly interrupted him. "Twitty, would you just get to the point and tell him what you heard."

As soon as he heard her, Louis' mouth ran dry. Tell him what, actually? The look on their faces made his heart race.

"Okay, okay," Twitty said, taking in a deep breath. "Here's the deal: this morning I heard Will Coulson and his friend talking in a diner, the one near Miller Drive. And they were talking about a bet they made, and how Will totally blew his chances of scoring with a girl last night. I just thought you might want to warn –"  

The color on Louis' face drained. Cold sweat started to trickle down his back.  "Ren," he whispered.

"Yeah, you should really warn your sister, dude. That man is up to no good." Twitty shook his head in disapproval. "I think he's planning on scoring with the same girl today."

Even under the scorching heat of the sun, his friend's last sentence made him shiver.

It was Tawny, who noticed his ashen complexion. "Louis, what's wrong?"

Louis wiped the sweat that started to form in his forehead. "Remember what I told you this morning about Ren? How she came home at one in the morning flat out drunk?"

Tawny nodded her head slowly, not sure where he was heading.

"Did I ever mention that it was Will who had personally invited her to his party?"

The silence that followed only seemed to punctuate the building tension.

Tawny was the first to speak, addressing the two panic-stricken guys in front of him. "Okay, let's not jump to conclusions here, guys. Maybe they were not really talking about Ren."

Louis and Twitty turned to her as if she has gone completely insane.

"Wait... that sounded stupid." Tawny ignored the look they gave her and continued. "Okay, so there's a great possibility that they were talking about her," she started again, correcting herself. "But let's not panic just yet, alright?"

"Tawny," Louis said, exasperated, "we are talking about my sister here. How can I not panic?!"

"Dude, we better call the cops!" Twitty piped in. He was practically jumping up and down.

"Twitty, would you please stop jumping. No one's calling the cops," she paused, "not yet. What she should do is…" Tawny rubbed her forehead and thought for a moment.  "We should go and check out with Ruby first. For all we know, your sister just might be hanging out with her, or something."

"Yes!" Louis nodded his head vigorously in agreement. "That's a brilliant idea. Let's go do that!" Without further saying a word he hopped in the passenger seat of the car and buckled his seatbelt. 

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Ruby was busy painting her toe nails when someone rang the doorbell. "Just a minute," she called out. Gingerly, she stood up and slowly made her way towards the door.

Whoever it was at the door, he was evidently getting impatient. He had started knocking on the door incessantly.

She narrowed her eyes at the door, obviously annoyed. Without warning, Ruby quickly swung the door open, ready to pounce on the person.

Ruby was very much surprised to see Louis, Tawny and Twitty standing in front of her. Louis and his best friends were the last persons she expected to see at her door steps.

"Hey guys," she greeted them uncertainly. "What brings you here?" Ruby noticed the harried expressions on their faces as she motioned them to step inside.

"Is Ren here?" Louis quickly asked without answering her question.

"What?"

"Ren, is she here?"

"No, she's not." Ruby raised her eyebrows and stared at them. This better not be one of their sick jokes. She changed her mind when she saw their crestfallen faces. "Can someone tell me what's going on?"

In just one breath, Twitty had amazingly filled her in.

"That bastard, I knew that guy was up to something last night!" Ruby angrily exclaimed.

Louis paced back and forth. That does it. Where in hell are they supposed to find his sister?!

"Wait," Ruby suddenly exclaimed.

They all turned to look at her.

"What?!" Louis quickly asked.

"…No, she told me she wouldn't." Ruby muttered to herself. "But how long would a trip to the store take?"  

Louis grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Ruby, if you know something, anything, just tell us!"

"Ow, could you please calm down for a minute!"

Immediately, Louis let her go. "Sorry," he mumbled, breathing heavily.

"I talked to Ren this morning," Ruby started, rubbing her shoulders.

Tawny looked at her expectantly. "And?"

"She told me she was going to run to the store to get something."

"Well if she did, she should've been home a few hours ago, right?" Twitty chirped in.

"No, that's not my point." Ruby answered, shaking her head. "Ren mentioned that Will had again invited her to go out this afternoon." She noticed Louis' furious expression. "But after I told her what happened last night, she agreed to break it off." Ruby quickly added.

Suddenly, everything seemed to fall into place.

Louis swallowed hard.

"Did she mention a place or something?" Tawny softly asked.

"Yeah. They were going to meet at that café near the beach."

"Are you talking about that café down at Hudson?!" Twitty urgently asked.

Everybody was surprised at his sudden outburst.

"Yes, I think." She nervously answered.

Twitty placed his hand on his forehead. "Oh man," he whispered. "Dude, the Coulsons own that café." he said, turning towards Louis. "And I'm pretty sure that place is under renovation when I passed by a couple of days ago."

In a heartbeat, Louis had snatched the car keys from Twitty's hands and charged outside. Ruby, Tawny and Twitty rushed after him.

"Louis, wait!" Tawny called out, arms flinging.

Too late. He had already started the engine and was backing out of the garage, fast. If he waited any longer, he's afraid that he might actually be too late.

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She could feel the cold, hard floor under her cheek. Disoriented, Ren blinked a few times, trying to examine her surroundings. The place was bathed in pitch darkness. She tried to move, but a sharp pain in her abdomen stopped her. "Ow," she exclaimed. It was only after then that she remembered what has happened.

Just then, a door suddenly opened. Ren squinted, blinded by the unexpected brightness. She could barely make out the figure of a man standing by the doorway. The door promptly closed, revealing Will, with a sinister smile on his face.

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I'm sooo sorry for this late update! I was (actually I still am ^_^) buried in a MOUNTAIN of school work, and I haven't got the time to continue my story. I'm really sorry! The next chapter is on the way. I'm trying to write as many chapters as I could with the free time I have right now.

By the way, I just wanted to thank EVERYONE for giving those great reviews! Thanks a million, guys! I hope you keep 'em coming! ^_^