Chapter Eleven
I walk into the hotel room, coming back from a very lovely dinner in the café next door. Laura went with me, but decided to go sight seeing before coming back to the room. I sigh as I go through my drawers and pick out a pair of pajamas. I go into the bathroom and change quickly, not wanting to miss the Doctor Who episode about to air. This will be the first time I will ever watch Doctor Who in the country in which it originated: Great Britain. London, to be exact.
I walk out of the bathroom and sit on my bed. I look at the clock on the wall. 7:52. The episode will start in eight minutes. Where is Laura?
"Juliette." I hear a voice say behind me. I turn around and see David. How did he get in here? I was in Laura's and I's hotel room, and I'm pretty sure I locked the door.
"Oh. H-Hi David." I stutter nervously.
"What are you doing here?"
"I have a confession. I like you. A lot. In fact, I think I might be in love with you. Will you be mine?" As David says this, he steps towards me, and I step back. This continues until my back hits the wall and David can reach me.
"Oh, David, that's really sweet of you," I say slowly, "but I'm afraid I can't return your feelings." I brace myself as I finish my sentence. David is only inches away from me now, and seems extremely hurt and angry. He looks straight into my eyes and whispers quietly.
"Why not?" There is, of course, a thousand reasons why. I only met David two weeks ago. And frankly, I wouldn't even consider him a friend. Just a friendly stranger. And then, he went from friendly stranger to creepy stranger really fast. He would text and call me like 30 times every day. And I don't even know how he got my number. I never gave it to him.
I swallow down the lump in my throat and respond.
"I'm too young to fall in love. I'm only 12. And I mean, I just met you a couple of weeks ago. We're taking this too fast. Maybe if I was a little older, we could make it work. But, I'm not. I'm sorry."
"Laura's making you say these things, isn't she?" David asks.
"Yes, that's it. The connection we have is so real, so strong, you must feel it. Laura's just jealous. She's jealous that you found love before she did, so she wants to break us apart." David slowly gains more and more confidence in what he's saying as he continues.
"I mean, you're not that young. And I'm only 16. That's only a four year difference. Laura is just keeping us apart. I always knew she couldn't be trusted…"
"No, that's not it." I interject.
"Laura would never do that. She's my best friend." Just then, Laura walks through the door.
"Hey, Juliette, did you know that this hotel has a pool tha-"
"You." David growls.
"Oh, uh, hi David." Laura says, clearly uncomfortable.
"Juliette, you never told me he was coming over."
David looks at me sadly and says, "I'm sorry, Love. I have to do this." Before I have time to process what David just said, he hits me over the head with a lamp and I fall to the ground. As I'm losing consciousness, I see David go over to Laura and put something over her head.
Then I black out.
When I wake up, I have a raging headache and a bad taste in my mouth. I look around the empty hotel room in confusion. Where's Laura? Then I remember the events from earlier and stand up frantically. I run over to the hotel phone and dial the front desk.
"Hello, miss. How may I help you?" The lady at the front desk says through the phone. It's the same person who greeted me when I came back from the Café with David a couple weeks ago….
"I need to call the police."
"Why?"
"My friend has been kidnapped."
"Oh. Right away, miss."
The police come a few minutes later. They bring along 2 men with them, which they call Spencer and Johnny. Spencer is very tall, with dark curly hair and eyes that seem to change from blue to green. Johnny is shorter, with grayish blonde hair and a sort of kind feeling to him. They ask me a lot of questions, including what Laura and David look like and when David knocked me out. I tell them the whole story, from meeting David at the café, to him kidnapping Laura. Just as they're about to leave, I remember something.
"Hey, ?" I ask. He turns around stiffly and stares at me.
"What?"
"Do you remember that day, I think about a week ago, that I passed you on the street?" Spencer's eyes widen in understanding.
"That guy you were talking to, was he…. David?" I nod.
"Did David ever mention a Jack Uragartie?" I shrug.
"He might've…. Why?" Spencer runs out of the room, Johnny right on his heels. Even though I'm confused who 'Jack Uragartie' is, the situation gives me a glimmer of hope. That Spencer knows exactly what David looks like. Maybe with that information, They'll find him sooner.
They didn't.
The police start searching for any sign of Laura or David, but find nothing. Not even the slightest trace. It's as if they dropped off the face of the Earth.
A week passes. Nothing happens.
As I'm getting ready for bed in my new hotel, I hear a knock on the door.
"Come in." I say, assuming it's the police or maid service. The police seem to come everyday to ask me more questions.
"Juliette." I freeze. I could never forget that voice.
I turn around, and there's David, the guy the police have been searching for a week. And man, does he look tired. He has bags under his eyes, and his hair is all tussled up.
"How did you find me?" I ask. I changed hotels multiple times just to avoid this situation. Apparently, it didn't work.
"That doesn't matter. All that matters is that you and I can finally be together. Laura's gone now. Nothing is stopping us from being together."
"David, I told you I don't feel that way about you." I say. David laughs. Before all of this happened, I thought his laugh was really cute. Now it just sends shivers up my spine.
"Of course you do, Love. You're just afraid to admit it." David responds. I rub my head with my hands, frustrated.
"David, I need to know where Laura is."
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do."
"No, you really don't."
"David, please!" I cry out.
"She's my best friend." I feel a tear start to fall down my cheek. David tries to comfort me, but I push him away.
"Get away from me. I don't even like you." I turn around to grab the phone, but David turns me back around and pushes me on the bed. He takes his shirt off, and I realize I could never overpower him. He's too strong. David gets on top of me on the bed, putting his legs on either side of me.
"No. We were made to be together, Juliette. You just have to realize that." I try to get away, but David pins my arms down.
"David, please." I plead, tears rushing down my face.
"It's alright, Love." David coos.
"As long as we're together."
Suddenly, the door gets knocked down and a bunch of people flood the room.
"This is the police! Get off the bed and put your hands up!" David is pulled off of me, and I gasp for breathe. I didn't even realize I was holding it.
"Are you alright?" asks an officer. I nod my head, unsure if I really am alright.
The police officers handcuff David and drag him out of my room. As they're dragging him out of my room, he sticks his head back in my doorway and yells "This isn't over! I'll be back!" And then he's gone.
The remaining police officers ask me even more questions, and I tell them all about this episode with David. Then they reassure me that David is going to jail for a very long time, and I'll never see him again. That night, I fly back to the states. David is sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping, and possibly murder, of Laura Kristoff. He never does tell anyone where Laura is.
After a couple of months of searching, they pronounce Laura dead. At her funeral, they put memories of her in the casket instead of a body. I put in her journal full of fanfictions in her casket. She had just finished the fanfic she was working on a few days before we went to London for the summer. Before we met David. Before her life was unfairly taken from her.
After a while, things settle down. I start highschool without one of my best friends. Somehow, I end up in the school play, and gain lots of new friends. But I never forget I'm the reason Laura is gone. She's gone, and she will never come back. If I hadn't insisted on her going to London with me, she wouldn't have been in danger in the first place. She would've stayed home and moved on with her life, not going to London and ending it. Laura is dead because of me, and I vow to never forgive myself.
I also vow to never put a guy before my friends. Ever. And finally, I vow to never, ever, under any circumstances, fall in love. Because the only thing that comes out of love, is pain.
