Chapter 3: A friend in need

Place and Time:

The same evening that Jenny's weird call came to Jessica. 3:04 A.M..

"How can I be this stupid?" Jessica exclaimed and shook her head. Rachel looked at Jessica with concern.

"What's wrong, Jessica?" Rachel tried to read her face. Jessica looked like she had just woken up, her hair was messy, and she was only wearing her night-wear and her coat. Jessicas lower lip trembled as she tried to explain.

"I-I got a really weird call from Jenny. She sounded like she was really in t-trouble."

Rachel didn't know either Jessica nor Jenny really well. She was an okay friend with Carmelita, and only knew that Jessica and Jenny were her friends. She had seen them together sometimes.

"I will do anything to help you find her. But you can't do anything right now. Tomorrow morning everything will look brighter. Come on in, you can sleep over here."

Jessica started to protest immediately.

"No..! I-I have to find Carmelita, and tell her! I didn't even find Jack.. I forgot that he was out of town." She sighed as she said the last part and hung her head down.

Rachel opened the door entirely and motioned for Jessica to come inside. Surprisingly, she didn't protest on that and came inside. Rachel guided Jessica to her kitchen and started to dig the cupboards. Finally she found what she was looking for, opened up another cupboard and took a coffee mug out. She started to make some coffee. Rachel watched what Jessica was doing on the mean time. She was sitting in the kitchen table, clearly thinking about Jenny and looking at the table like it was really interesting. When the coffee was ready, Rachel poured some to Jessicas mug, and with a quick move, put the thing she took from the first cupboard to the mug. She mixed it with a spoon and walked over to Jessica, trying to smile a little.

"Here.. Drink this. I'll make a bed ready for you."

Jessica was starting to protest, but Rachel quickened her steps so that Jessica couldn't start with it again.

After a few minutes Rachel came back and found that Jessica had drank the coffee al right, and looked really sleepy. She guided her to her bed, even though she was still faintly trying to protest. She covered Jessica with a warm blanket, put the lights off, and went to her own bedroom.

Before the cat fell to sleep, she thought:

"I'll ask her more about it tomorrow. Maybe I can help her find her friend. Yeah.. tomorrow..."

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Jessica started to wake up slowly. She heard some faint noises, like somebody would walk around the house silently. She started to remember things, but didn't dare to open her eyes and see if it was all true.

Finally after a few minutes, she opened them. She recognized the place immediately, and jumped up like crazy and moved around Rachel's house to search for her coat.

Rachel peeked from the kitchen and noticed that Jessica was awake. Now it would be a good time to ask more about the events of last night. But apparently Jessica was in a hurry, looking for something.

"Oh, I see you're up! Hey, what's the hurry, Jessica? I was thinking if you could..?"

But Jessica cut Rachel off.

"Have you seen my coat?"

Rachel just stared a while, then regained her composure.

"Uhh.. I think I put it there." She pointed at the closet.

Jessica was silent and mumbled a thank you. Rachel decided to try and wire up a conversation again.

"I thought about the thing you said yesterday, and I was just wondering..?"

But she got cut off again.

"Hey now that I remember", Jessica said while putting her coat on in a hurry and looked around for her car keys now, "Do you have Carmelita's new address? I didn't have the time to ask for it the last time I saw her."

Rachel thought a while and tried to remember where she had stashed the paper where she had written the address..

"Hmm.. Wait I'll go check." She came back a moment later, bringing a yellow post-it note with her. "But Jessica, wait a second before you leave, I have to-"

But she was cutt off yet again when Jessica took the paper and finally found her car keys and started to leave.

"Thanks a million times, Rachel. But now I gotta go, I'll inform you later!" And with that, she practically ran for the door and was out in a split second. Rachel just stood there, dumbfounded, a coffee mug in her other hand and her purse in the other.

"I hate mornings." She thought before she went back to the kitchen. She put her mobilephone near on the table just in case if Jessica or Carmelita called.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Jessica drove at a regular speed around Paris. She checked Jenny's home just to be sure. The place was dark and it seemed that she hadn't even been at home. Frustrated Jessica went back to her car and looked at the post-it note that Rachel had given to her.

The address that Rachel had given her didn't look familiar. She remembered that she had a map of Paris somewhere in her car, so she stopped for a while and started to look around for it. Finally she found it, and noticed that the address was near the centre of Paris, actually the area was a five minute- drive from the Eiffel Tower. Jessica decided to start from the Eiffel Tower and go on from there.

"This can't possibly be the right address" Jessica tohught in disbelief. The house, or it looked a little like a house, was kinda like a summer cottage, only it looked abandoned and like no one would live there anymore. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either.

Actually Jessica didn't know anything about Carmelita's boyfriend, she just knew that they had a history together and they had moved together shortly after the party in Jessica's parents mansion. Jessica noticed that there wasn't any particular front door, so she just parked her car near the house or cottage or whatever, and approached the door. She hesitated at the door, but finally took a deep breath and knocked.

A minute went, and no one came..

I knew it, this must be the wrong address...

Just after that thought Jessica heard some steps approaching the door. She felt herself a little bit nervous. Someone opened the door, peeked one eye out, noticed Jessica, looked around and noticed that Jessica had come alone, and opened the door entirely. Finally Jessica saw the person who opened the door. Apparently it was a pink hippo. He looked big, but not scary at all. They just stared at each other a while, but after a while the hippo found his voice and smiled.

"Can I help you..?"

He had a deep voice, but kind. Jessica swallowed and spoke up.

"Yes. I'm.. I mean...I don't know if this is the right address..?" She mumbled.

Murray just continued to smile and arched an eyebrow.

"Depends on who or what you are searching for."

"Well.. Actually, I'm looking for Carmelita Fox." She finally spluttered out.

A deep "Oh." was Murray's comment. He opened the door for Jessica. "You've come to the right address, then. I'll get her."

Jessica stepped inside and Murray closed the door after her. He disappeared from the view, and she was left alone. The house wasn't really that bad from the inside. The outside of the house just tricked a bit. There was a living room close to the kitchen. The kitchen was clean and it smelled like food. The living room was big, and the tv was on. There was a hall that lead to some other part of the houses, but she didn't dare to go there. Apparently there was something Carmelita hadn't told her. Was there more poeple? Was that hippo Carmelita's boyfriend? Why had Carmelita been so secretive about giving the address? Would they be able to help Jenny?

Finally Jessica heard approaching steps and sighed in relief. She would meet Carmelita again. It had been a while, and she missed her friend.

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A/N: A nice place to end the chapter! Yeah, it was super super short. How come... After all, we must see how Jenny and Lindsay are doing, and how will things go. Review!

Heid