Jade:

"Hello Jade? It's me, Robbie. I just spotted Ryder coming out of a room."

I rubbed my forehead with my hand, trying to control myself from screaming at him. Sinjin has been calling me every two minutes to inform me every time the bush rustles or a leaf drops, and I swear I'm this close to driving over to Beck's place to stab him.

"And how is this unusual activity?"

"Well, Ryder went into the room with a white shirt, then came out a few minutes later with large splashes of red all over the shirt."

I put down Tori's diary and jumped up from her bed, alert. "Thanks, Robbie. Continue observing him and let me know if you see anything else."

Scrolling through my contacts, I pressed on the name of someone I never in a million years thought I would call.

"Trina? I think I may have a clue on where Tori is. Come back to your house and we'll go find out if she's there."

We reached Ryder's place in twelve minutes despite hitting every red light on the way. Robbie hopped down from the branches of a large oak tree upon seeing us, the drone controller in his hand. "Nothing else unusual happened, but Ryder just went into the same room without wearing a shirt a couple of minutes ago."

"Good job, Robbie. Stay out here. If you hear gunshots or screams, dial 911 immediately."

Trina broke the glass patio door with the shovel she took from the back seat of my car. Wooden floors spread out throughout the interior of the unlit house, with the only light coming from the slit of a slightly ajar door at the far end of the house. We stole a quick glance at each other before creeping over to the door, pushing it open slowly, and descended the stairs as quietly as we could. Ryder's voice rang out from the bottom of the steps. "Come on, wake up already."

I felt my blood run cold at the scene before me.

My Tori was laying on the floor with her eyes closed, and there was duct tape around her legs. Her prosthetic had been taken off, with the end of the metal rod showing through her cut up jeans. Ryder was kicking her abdomen rapidly, his back facing us.

I heard a loud war cry from behind me, as a body flew past and leaped onto Ryder, sending the both of them crashing onto the ground. Trina began punching him in the face as I ran over to Tori to pick her up. There was red pools all over the floor, both dried and fresh, and more of the substance was oozing through a large gash on her thigh. I took off my jacket and held it tightly to her wound, attempting to stem the gushing of blood.

There was a large purple bruise on the right side of her face, and both her eyes looked swollen. She was breathing, thank god, but her breaths were slow and shallow. Her hands were bound behind her back at her wrists, and I managed to free them with the scissors from my boot. Fresh cuts were littered all over her arms. Her hands felt so cold. I could feel bumps on her head as I carefully lifted her up in my arms, my chest getting tighter every second.

"Tori? Tori? Can you hear me?"

There was no response, so I shook her harder. "Tori! I beg you, don't die on me. Open your eyes, please!"

It felt like a lifetime had passed before Tori opened her right eye slowly, her voice wheezing. She managed a few words before she passed out again. "Jade, you came. I'm so sor…"

Trina's voice screeched a few feet away from me. I looked up to see her imprinting her heel onto Ryder's belly. His entire face was red and puffed up, and there was blood coming out of his lips. Both his eyes had been blackened. I watched as he coughed out a tooth. "I've just called dad and an ambulance. They should be here soon. My baby sister is still alive, right?"

I nodded and continued cradling Tori in my arms. As much as I want to go over and stab both his eyes out, I can't leave her on the floor.

Trina spotted a few cans of dog food lying all over the floor. "Oh my god, have you been trying to feed my sister that?" She gasped, reaching her hand out to pick one up and lifted the ring to open it up.

"No no no, please don't," Ryder squirmed under her weight. I watched as she forced his mouth open and poured the contents down his throat. He began gagging and started throwing up, as the sound of sirens became louder.

It's no wonder André didn't want to face an angry cop. Mr Vega's face was scarlet, his entire body shaking with the intensity of his rage. He grabbed Ryder by his neck as he struggled in the detective's large hand, while another cop slipped cuffs onto his wrists behind his back. "¡Tu puta madre! How dare you kidnap and torture my baby girl! If I'm not a cop, I would have bashed your skull in with my bare hands. But I'll make sure you never see the light outside of a cell again. And I'll make sure to tell the wardens to give you extra special attention."

The paramedics put Tori onto a stretcher after they somehow managed to wrestle her from my arms, and strapped an oxygen mask on her face. As they were attaching needles into her arms, I suddenly recalled something I had to do. Stomping over to my car, I pulled out the school withdrawal letter, held it to Ryder's face and made sure he got a good look as I tore the paper up.

I also decided to try out one of the things I've seen on the "Extreme groin injuries" show, and kicked Ryder hard where he deserved it. His knees buckled as he trashed around and screamed at the cops holding on to his arms. "Are you going to let her do that to me? This is assault!"

One of the cops took out his taser and zapped him in his abdomen, and we leered at his embarrassment as a stream of piss leaked from his pants. "Just shut up already, son. You know you deserve this."

Trina rode with her dad in the cruiser to the station for a statement while I held Tori's hand as we sped to the hospital in the ambulance.