Emily:
At The Hospital:
George & Nora, Mr. & Mrs. Davis, Derek, Sam, Max, Marty, Lizzy, Edwin and the rest of their friends were in the waiting room, waiting for the doctor to come out. They had been told that both Casey and Emily had been attacked on their way home from school, but they weren't told that Casey had been kidnapped. Derek looked over at Lizzy and saw the tears spilling over his step-sisters cheeks and moved next to her. He had never before showed compassion like this for any of his siblings, but one of their own was in the hospital. Marty climbed into his lap and held onto him as the doctor and a cop walked into the waiting room. They all looked up and waited for the news.
"Mr. & Mrs. Davis, you may go in and see your daughter. She's still unconscious, so you'll only get a few minutes with her." Dr. McCoy said.
"And what about our daughter, Casey?" George asked.
"This police officer is going to want to talk to you about your daughter. I'm very sorry but I cannot tell you anymore. They did however inform me that she was not brought to the hospital, that is all I know."
"Wait, if she wasn't brought to the hospital, then where was she taken?" Max asked.
"That is why I must speak to the immediate family of Casey right now. Boys, do you belong to the family?" Officer Rosen asked Max & Sam.
"Whatever you have to tell us about our daughter, you can say in front of these boys. Max here is Casey's boyfriend and Sam is a very close friend of the family. Now where is my daughter?" Nora asked.
"We have witnesses that saw the whole thing and my partners are getting their statements as we speak. You may want to sit down for what I am about to tell you."
"Why the hell would we want to sit down? Just tell us where our sister is!" Derek yelled. He had never called Casey his sister but at the moment it didn't matter, he didn't care what he called her just as long as she was coming home.
"Your sister was kidnapped while she and Emily were walking home from school today. Ms. Davis saw the whole thing, which is probably why they knocked her unconscious. The neighbors wrote down the license plate number but so far we haven't gotten anywhere with that tip. The van was found abandoned in a parking lot several miles away. Your sister was nowhere to be seen and none of her stuff was in the van which most likely means they aloud her to keep her stuff. Now, does she have a cell phone?"
"Yeah, Derek and Casey bought phones together and mom and dad help pay for them. They had GPS chips planted in the phones so that if they were ever stranded anywhere we would know where to go to find them. Can you track her phone if we give you her number?" Edwin asked.
"We can only find her if she turns her phone on. Does she ever keep it off?"
"She only keeps it off when she in class and when her battery is low which I think it was because she had to stop texting me just before we left for the mall. She said something about her battery dying. She turns her phone off for awhile then turns it back on and she'll have some battery left, but not for long." Max said.
"She is not the only victim here," Officer Rosen said turning towards the adults again, "my superiors just got ahold of me right before I came in here to talk to you."
"What did they say?" Lizzy asked through her tears. She wanted to know more about her sister.
"Besides your daughter, Emily her friend was hurt in the attack. You will have to help her remember her memory if need be and get her to tell us what these men look like. We'll be able to get their faces out on the local news and radio stations and find her faster. If your daughter leaves Canada, we will know. We have boarder patrol stopping every car and searching them for your daughter. We will catch these men, no matter what it takes to do so."
"Why would anyone want to do this to such an innocent family?" Sam asked.
"We don't know but we're trying to find out. Everyone has been alerted and everyone is doing everything that they can in order to find her. The best thing you can do right now is to comfort Emily and plead to the media for your daughter and sister back. We'll keep you informed if we have found anything. Search parties are starting to form and I need to get over to the station to help organize them."
"Thank you officer, for telling us the truth. We'll be over at the station as soon as we can get away."
"I understand and I guess I'll see you all there. Good luck." Officer Rosen said, leaving the waiting room.
"Sam, Max go on ahead to the station and start helping with the search. We'll be there shortly." George said to the two boys who were standing next to Derek and Lizzy speechless to what they had all just been told. Not Casey, not grade-grubbing Casey that was easy to get along with. Casey didn't deserve this, nobody did.
"Max, Sam? Did you boys here what I just said?"
"Uh, yes sir. Would you like us to take Lizzy and Edwin along with us? That way they'll be able to help look for her as well."
"No, they are not leaving our sight unless we are near them. They stay here, so does the rest of our family. We'll all be there shortly to help look for Casey, now go on ahead."
"Mom, we want to help look for Casey as soon as we can. Please let us go with Sam and Max, Derek will be there with us, he can look out for us. And we'll be surrounded by other people as well and cops too. Please mom, I want to bring Casey home faster and knowing that I'm out there looking for her will at least let me sleep some at night." Lizzy said.
"Fine, but Derek, you make sure you and your friends keep a good eye on Lizzy and Edwin. I don't want them disappearing as well. Do you understand?" Nora asked.
"Crystal, besides I don't think they'll even be leaving our sight. They'll be searching with us and I'll make sure we're around a bunch of cops and neighbors as well. Give Emily our 'get well soon' talk and tell her what we're doing. We're going to find Casey Nora, no matter what. She's coming home one way or another."
"I know Derek, but she's not as strong as you think she is. I'll tell you later what I mean. Stay in constant contact and we'll be out here helping as soon as we can. Come here Marty lets go see Emily." Nora finished.
"But I want to go with Derek."
"Not now Marty, let your siblings and their friends be alone together and let's go see how Emily is doing." George said.
"But why, she's the reason Casey's missing anyways. If they hadn't been walking home together, Casey wouldn't be missing."
"That's not true Marty. Casey's the one that decided to walk home. This is nobody's fault. It happened and we have to everything in our power to get her home no matter what happens. Do you understand Marty?" Max asked.
"I understand, but it's still not fair. Why did this have to happen to our family?"
"I don't think we'll ever figure that out until Casey is found. We'll see you all at the station."
Emily's Room:
Emily was awake and sitting up in her bed when her parents and the Venturri-McDonalds walked in. George, Nora and Marty held back while Mr. and Mrs. Davis embraced their daughter who had a bandage on her right temple, a small stain of blood had seeped through gauze.
"How are you doing Emily?" Mrs. Davis asked.
"Where's Casey? Did they catch those guys yet?"
"So you do remember what happened then?" George asked.
"Of course I remember, and I even remember what they look like. They were in a tan van though I don't know what the license plate number was…"
"They found the van in an empty parking lot, abandoned, every trace of Casey and her belongings gone. The search parties started up about an hour after she went missing. Do you remember anything else?" Mr. Davis asked his daughter.
"They were taller than us and I think they had been following us since we left the school. But other than that I would have to see their faces again to completely remember them."
"We can get a sketch artist in here to help you remember what they look like. Derek, Sam, Max, Edwin and Lizzy headed over to the police station to help in the search. We're headed over as soon as we made sure you were okay. And they all say to get well soon and I think they mean that sincerely as a light speech saying 'hurry up and get well so you can help search for Casey'. Derek's the one that said to tell you to get well soon."
"Then that's probably what he meant. I'm ready to go home now but they want to keep me for observation just to be safe. I'll be out helping as soon as I can, I promise."
"At the moment, you need to just worry about getting better and we'll worry about Casey. George, Nora we can watch Marty while you head out to help search. I'm sure you want to get out there as soon as possible and as soon as they let Emily leave, we're headed out for Ice Cream."
"Ice cream, I like ice cream. Can I stay with Emily please?"
"Sure, why not." To Mr. and Mrs. Davis Nora mouthed the words 'Thank You' knowing that Marty would have more fun eating ice cream then trudging along highways, through the woods and swamps and searching every empty warehouse or building within the vicinity of Casey's disappearance. Mr. and Mrs. Davis mouthed the words 'Your Welcome' back knowing that taking care of Marty would help the Venturri-McDonald family cope a little better.
"Come here Marty, you can sit on my bed with me and watch some cartoons. It'll only be a few more hours and then we can go get some ice cream, whatever you want. How does that sound?"
"Can I have it for dinner too?"
"Of course you can. In fact I want some ice cream for dinner as well. We'll all eat ice cream for dinner tonight. How does that sound Marty?" Mrs. Davis asked.
"That sounds great!"
George and Nora left the hospital and went to the police station to help in looking for their daughter. They saw Derek, Edwin, Lizzy and a bunch of their friends from school together with a few cops. They were just about to head out in a group together and start the one search that nobody ever wanted to start.
