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Longing to Break Free

Chapter 4

"Nothing?" Jack had questioned Chad and Gabriella as they stepped back into his house. He had a bad feeling by the looks on their faces that they hadn't come up with a thing, like everyone else had so far. They had just returned back to the Boltons after a few hours of searching for Troy.

Gabriella and Chad looked at each other then sadly looked at Jack Bolton and his wife, Laura. They then looked over at Kelsi and Jason who were standing next to them. Gabriella looked back at the Boltons and shook her head, "We went back to where we found the necklace. We thought maybe we might be able to find something there. We thought we might have missed something. And we looked more around the area of my house. We came up with nothing," Gabriella filled them in. She just hated that the information she gave them was no good. She looked at the rest of the group that stood in the room with them, "How about all of you?"

"Jason and I have looked everywhere we can think of," Kelsi let out a sigh, "He just seems to be nowhere. I don't understand this! It really worries me! I Hope the rest of the group has more luck then we all have had but I'm beginning to loose faith in this."

The rest of the group included Taylor, Zeke, Ryan and Sharpay. Taylor had closed the party quickly after Chad had called her explaining that they were getting really worried about Troy. Everyone else arrived at the Boltons within a few minutes after he called her and before they knew it they were all looking for Troy like crazy. Everyone agreed that it wasn't like Troy at all to miss his best friends surprise party and wanted to help find him. The groups had quickly divided up into a few pairs and were looking everywhere. And so far it appeared that no one had come up with a thing.

Jack nervously ran a hand through his hair; this was frustrating the hell out of him. Why was it so incredibly difficult to finding his son? Why was this scaring him to death that they couldn't seem to find his son yet? This just wasn't like his son at all. It was breaking his heart that they had not found him yet. "I've been calling around," he quickly told the group, "I've been trying to think of any place he might be where I can call and see if anyone has seen him. So far I'm having no luck."

"What about the hospital?" Chad asked suddenly, even though he really didn't like the possibility. The idea had been in his head for awhile but he hadn't been wanting want to say it.

Jack shook his head, "I've tried there but there is no one there matching Troy's description. And I've just completely run out of places to call for right now."

Laura started pacing back and fourth, tears were starting to fall out, "Oh Jack! Where is our son? It's like he has vanished into thin air! I don't like this; I just don't like this at all! I want to find my boy!"

Jack immediately wrapped his arms around her, "I don't know honey, I just don't know. But I can guarantee I will give my all to find our son. And soon, I hope." He held onto his wife tightly but she pulled away.

"But what if we don't find him soon?" She looked desperately at him. She just needed to know where her son was. She could just feel in her heart that something had happened to her son and she didn't like the bad feeling she was feeling at all.

No one wanted to respond after she asked that question; they just all stared at each other, all wondering the same thing. What if something really bad had happened to Troy and it would be awhile before they found him? What if they couldn't find him at all? And none of them liked that thought.

Jack swallowed hard, was about to respond, but suddenly the door burst open, and Taylor and Zeke came in. They were about to speak to the group when suddenly Chad's cell phone rang. He quickly reached for it and then answered it after a couple of rings; "Hello?" he went quickly into the phone.

"Chad, hey man, any luck?" It was Ryan who was speaking to him.

"Hey Ryan," Chad looked at the eyes watching him as he spoke to Ryan on the phone, "No we have had no leads yet, have you and Sharpay found anything?" He asked hopefully, for they were the last part of the group out at the moment.

"I'm sorry but we aren't having much luck either," Ryan went sadly, "I really wish I had better news and could tell you we knew where Troy was," Chad could feel his heart sink. He just felt angry that even though everyone seemed to be searching they still couldn't seem to find his best friend anywhere.

"Damn." Chad swore out loud suddenly, feeling very disappointed, "Ryan, we are all at the house. You are the last ones still out at the moment."

"Okay, well we might still look a little longer then," Ryan told him.

"Okay, good luck Ryan." Chad nodded, he frustratingly shut the phone off, he looked at everyone, "Obviously you probably could tell they haven't found him either."

"And neither have we," Zeke spoke up. Chad gazed at Taylor and she just nodded. He could tell both of them had concerned looks on their faces as well now and he sighed.

Gabriella gazed from Zeke to Chad and suddenly let out a frustrated cry, "What in the hell has happened to him! Is he hurt somewhere? Was he in an accident? Lying in a ditch somewhere? I just don't get this! Why can't any of us find him?!" So many possibilities ran through her head at the moment about what could have happened and she just absolutely hated the thought of any of them happening. God she so desperately wanted to find him right now and make sure he was okay so she could stop thinking about all of these terrible thoughts. She just wanted Troy to be okay more than anything.

Jason suddenly ran up to Gabriella and hugged her tightly, she collapsed against him, tears just streaming down her face now, "Hey, hey," he whispered, "It's going to be okay. We will find him!" he tried to reassure her as he looked helplessly around the room at the rest of the group.

Jack just couldn't stand it anymore. It was all starting to get to him and he was desperate to do something. He paced around the floor for awhile, and then stared at the phone ahead of him. He then immediately decided he had to do something that he dreaded and hated having to do. He looked at the group, and they all looked back at him, as he picked up the phone. He gazed directly at all of them as he suddenly went, "I really wish I didn't have to do this, but I'm calling the police."

Troy wanted so badly to scream as loud as he could for help and simply couldn't stand that he couldn't because he was currently gagged. The gag was starting to really get on his nerves, as were the extremely tight ropes that bound him to the chair.

It was just driving him mad that he had been trapped down here for who knew how long and he had no idea how much longer he would be held here. Even worse, no one had any clue where he was. And how in the hell were they supposed to find him in this place? He didn't even know where he was! He strongly felt that it was up to him to get away from here but he was simply having no luck at all. He had tried so many attempts with busting away from the ropes but so far it was just impossible for him to accomplish. He was worn out from the exhaustion of spending the last few hours constantly trying to escape. Yet he knew he couldn't give up what little hope he had at the moment and had to keep trying.

What was also frustrating him was that he had no idea if it was day or night. He had no way of being able to look outside. He had no way to tell if the sun was up or not or if it was dark out. He had no idea knowing just how long he had been knocked out and that messed up him knowing how long exactly he had been trapped here. For all he knew, he could have been knocked out for a couple of hours or he could have been knocked out for a lot longer. All he knew was he felt like he had been in this basement for eternity and he felt like this would never end.

Suddenly he could feel his stomach rumble and he let out a painful groan. He had not eaten at all since he had had lunch earlier that day. He had been so incredibly busy after school that he had had no time to grab anything to eat. He completely regretted not having done so now. Plus he figured that he would be eating like crazy at Chad's party, like he should have been, rather then being stuck here. He felt the hunger pangs in his stomach and began to wonder if the man was ever planning to feed him. He wondered how long it would be before he would. And even if he did feed him, did he really want to take food from the man who kidnapped him? What if it was poisonous? He then couldn't help but wonder if he was just planning on him starving to death, as much as he hated that idea.

He also wondered if the man was ever going to show himself again or was he trapped down here alone for days waiting till death slowly and painfully took him over.

Suddenly however, he immediately lifted his head up to look at the top of the stairs, feeling rather startled, for he soon could hear the sound of footsteps coming from behind the door. He fearfully looked at the door in alarm. His entire body was trembling as he waited for something to happen.

He gazed up at the door in wide eyed terror as it slowly started to crack open.