Just a few more days left to short story week and then I'll be on break for the holidays. I will however be posting a few Christmas chapters for stories that never got there like I Was at This Party.

Sorry for the short chapter but it was an incredibly long day preparing for the holidays and a long day at work.

Ch.4 Gotta Get out of this Life

(ADAM)

I wake up panting and sweating, my face wet with tears and my heart racing. Suddenly I notice a figure in my room, cloaked in the darkness and sitting on my bed. Out of instinct I jump back ready to scream and a strong hand grabs my arm.

"Adam it's me you were having a nightmare," my brother's voice gets me to settle and I let out a deep breath. "You were thrashing around and hitting the wall it woke me up. A dream about Clare I assume?"

"Yeah same as always, she's out there Drew I know she's out there I just wish I knew where. We have to find her," I proclaim for at least the millionth time since my female best friend went missing.

"We're looking, everyone is looking and we have been for a month. We won't give up, if Clare's out there we'll find her. You may as well get up it's after four and Owen is picking us up at five to drive to the states so we can put up posters this weekend. We'll find her Adam," Drew assures me putting his arm around my shoulders.

I nod but don't reply, I do get up though. Clare's been missing for a month now, since finding her phone there haven't been any solid leads, there's been a ton of sightings of her or girls that look like her but nothing that's been substantiated. It's like the earth just swallowed her up, but I'm not giving up, I won't ever give up.

We've spent the last three weekends driving around to various parts of Canada and the states to put up posters. Clare's family, my family, Eli's family, the Bhandari's and even the Coyne's put together a fund as reward money and to fund the search for Clare. Local businesses added to it so it's pretty high now. Her parents and Jake have even flown out to B.C. to put up posters there. Prom is in two weeks and if Clare isn't there it just won't feel right. Neither will watching the seniors graduate and I can't even imagine summer without Clare.

I've been having nightmares recently, nightmare's about Clare where she's being swallowed by this dark shadow. Only this shadow has hands and eyes, it swallows her off the street and she's just gone. Except she's not completely gone I can hear her screaming and crying in the darkness. I try to find her, I run through the darkness searching for her and even though I can hear her scream and cry I can't find her.

"Another nightmare Adam?" Mom asks when she sees Drew and I at the table drinking coffee.

"Yeah," I nod.

"You kids all packed?" Dad questions.

"Yeah been packed since we got back last weekend," I reply.

"They're coming more frequently maybe you should talk to someone," Mom suggests.

"I don't need to talk to anyone I need to find my best friend, the nightmares will stop when we find Clare," I assert.

No one says anything after that they just start making breakfast. Drew and I are ready and waiting on the porch when Owen picks us up. He already got Bianca; the four of us are driving up to Kingston and through Vermont and Maine to New Brunswick. Then we'd come back through the north and put posters the whole way. It would be a long weekend but I don't care we need to find Clare.

"I was thinking we should do another news story, get the word out again and make sure it's still on people's minds," Owen comments as he's driving.

"Yeah I'll have Mom arrange it when we get back," I reply.

We stop in Kingston then drive north and cross the border into Vermont. We stop in every town we come to along the highway and when it gets dark we get a couple rooms at a motel. We call Mom and tell her where we are and that we're sleeping here, after checking in at home we go to a nearby diner to get some dinner. Outside the diner are some hookers, I don't really pay attention to them until we're sitting inside the diner. I can see them through the diner window, young girls that can't be much older than Clare.

"Adam what do you want?" Drew says nudging me and I realize the waiter is here to take our order.

"Oh uh a burger, cheeseburger medium well and a cola," I order and the waiter writes it down.

"We'll head out at six tomorrow and hit as many towns as we can," Owen says when the waiter walks away to put in our order.

"Yeah," I nod but I'm still watching the hookers across the street.

"I'm betting you don't want a date with one of those prostitutes so what's on your mind Adam?" Bianca asks.

"Just thinking what if Clare's doing that, or ends up like them? Or what if she's being held in a basement and ch…"

"Adam," Owen says my name sharply to cut me off and I look at him. "You can't think that way, we'll find Clare but you can't think about what she might going through. If you think like that it will destroy you, and you won't be able to find Clare," Owen advises.

"Yeah I know but I can't help it, I know she's out there somewhere but no one's seen her. All the sightings we've had and no one's actually seen Clare. She just vanished," I sigh.

"Yeah just like Fitz," Bianca comments as our drinks are brought to us.

"Fitz?" Drew asks looking at his girlfriend.

"Yeah he left his job and was just gone. We looked at his house, his church, the ravine; everywhere he used to hang out or started after he came back from juvie. He just vanished only we didn't notice until it was too late and we never looked for him not like we are for Clare. We just never tried and I guess no one cared, no one but us," Bianca replies and Owen nods. They both look regretful that they never made an effort to search like we are for Clare.

"Never really thought about Fitz going missing, honestly I didn't really notice," Drew comments.

"No one did, not even me and Bianca, not until he'd been gone a couple of weeks," Owen sighs.

I never thought about Fitz going missing either, honestly I don't think I even really noticed. Fitz was just gone one day it never occurred to me that he was missing. I never thought people were worried about him or how his absence would be affecting his friends. I've been going out of my mind for a month looking for Clare and Fitz has been gone for over a year. If Fitz was taken and just vanished with hardly anyone noticing then how many other kids does it happen to every year? Month? Day?

(FITZ)

I was in my cell waiting for Clare to return, I couldn't go with her tonight because I had my own job. I'd only been back for about ten minutes, I was eating and hoping Clare would be back soon. She was more trusted now and they put her on house duty more, which meant instead of being sold for sex she answered phones or did laundry or something. Tonight though she'd been taken a job, one that required her to wear a slutty nurse outfit which meant the guy had a fantasy and was paying extra. Because Clare learned so fast they liked her and they allowed us to share one cell and one bed. I'm pretty sure it's the only thing that keep Clare going, or I guess I should say I'm the only thing that keeps her going in this hell hole. We spent as much time in our cell and together as we could, mostly we just sat in bed and held each other, going into that place in our minds where we were free and happy.

I finished dinner and Clare still wasn't back, I tried to find out what was taking so long but they wouldn't tell me anything. To keep myself occupied I read my book, a book I've read three times already but they haven't given us anything new. My job only took an hour which is normal but Clare has been gone over three hours. Finally I hear the main door open and go to the cell door hanging on the bars and looking for Clare, she's not in costume and she's not walking. She's wrapped in a blanket and being carried by Wache.

"What the hell happened? What's wrong with her?" I growl but with a worried tone.

"Guy had a violent streak, she's your responsibility, if she's not working again in two days then she's gone," Wache informs me while opening the door.

He sets her on the bed and leaves; I rush over pull back the blanket to look at her. She's sobbing and groaning slightly, her face is covered by her hair so I brush it back.

"Fuck Clare," I breathe out when I see her. Violent customers are not uncommon, it's not like the trafficking ring really cares about us and it's not like we can complain to anyone. Usually beaten merchandise is just killed only the really good ones are allowed to heal a little and go back to work again. "Hey I need water and rags and some ice," I call out in the hallway.

I go back to Clare and pull down the blanket more, she's mostly bruised on her face but she has a few on her arms. I'm sure she's got more but I don't have time to look right now since Wache comes in with a bucket of water and some rags. There's a cup of ice too but no bags so I'll to put it in rags. Wache locks the cell again and I open the blanket to look at Clare, carefully helping her out of her nurse's costume. I'm not too worried about the few bruises on her legs and arms but she has a cut from something on one arm, a couple really bad bruises on her abdomen, a black eye and a busted lip.

"Mark," Clare cries.

"It's okay I'm here, you're safe now," I assure her taking a rag and dipping it in the water and cleaning the blood from her lip.

"I did everything he wanted, everything…" she sobs.

"I know it's not your fault Clare, I'll take care of you just rest," I tell her.

She reaches for my hand and I take hers while I continue cleaning the blood from her face. I clean her lip, then the blood from her arm and then putting ice in a rag I sit with her head in my lap and put the ice on her black eye. I leave it there a few minutes and then move it to her lip.

"Mark my side hurts and it's hard to breathe," she says and whimpers in pain when she tries to move.

"You probably broke a rib, hang on hold this to your lip I'll be right back. I promise you I'll be right back I just need more supplies," I assure Clare kissing her forehead. She takes the ice pack and holds it; I slowly get up and move her head from my lap. I get up and go back to the cell door, rattling it and calling out. "HEY I NEED MORE SUPPLIES SHE BROKE A RIB!"

"That not my problem," Konigin tells me when she comes out of her office. "Make her better or she goes," Konigin says.

"I can't make her better without more supplies, let me go to the medical closet I need medical tape. You want to keep Clare she's one of the good ones, she makes you a lot of money but she can't do that if I don't take care of her," I remind the ring leader of this sick fucking ring.

Konigin takes out her keys and lets me out she doesn't even lock the cell door again since Clare can barely move. I'm so trusted she doesn't even escort me to the doctor's office and the medical closet. I grab some medical tape and pain reliever; I also grab some of the rohypnol that they use to drug us at the beginning. I don't plan on drugging Clare but I might need it, I need to get us out of here, we've built up their trust and I need to get us out of here.

I return to the cell, I don't close the door but I know it will be closed for us soon. I sit on the bed and tape up Clare's rib where she says it hurts. I give her the pain reliever and she soon falls asleep, I hold her close and start thinking about how to get us out of here. I've been here over a year, I will not let Clare be here that long, she's been here two months and that's two months to long. There's no way we can run from a job and I'll have to wait for a perfect opportunity because we can't just walk out.

Clare wakes up after she moves in her sleep and the pain wakes her up. I give her some water and she slowly rolls on her side holding me more. I stroke her back gently, she's sobbing quietly and I know it will stop in a few minutes.

"Mark I can't do this anymore, I can't. I don't want to live anymore, not like this," Clare cries.

"I know, I'm going to get us out of here I promise you I will get us out of here whatever it takes," I promise her.

"I've been hit by customers before but not like this, I was told I just had to be a naughty nurse but he just beat me and anally raped me. Everything hurts, I want to die I can't do this anymore, just kill me, it's not worth it just kill me," she pleads and my heart breaks.

"No I won't do that Clare we're getting out of here just rest and get better," I assure her and she shakes her head. "Go to our place Clare, in your mind go to our place. You're on the swing and I'm pushing you, the wind is blowing softly through the trees, the river is softly bubbling and it's peaceful and it's just us, no one else is there it's just us," I whisper to her and she falls asleep again.

I fall asleep soon after and spend all the next day getting Clare to rest and heal. Her bruises were healing and I was making her stay real still so her rib could heal. By the second day Clare's feeling better and they put her on answering the phones. I want to stay with her but I'm sent on a job, I'm not alone either there's two girls with me so it's a group job.

"Cross up front you're not merchandise on this one, I need a second person," Vollstrecker informs me.

I sit in the front of the van, needing a second person means he needs more security. Vollstrecker drives to a house and I look at the streets, we go to a house in Laval, a two story white house that sounds like a party is going on. I get out with Vollstrecker and we take the girls inside, there's about ten guys here, a few of them take the girls back to the bedrooms.

"Cross go out to the van I have a kit in the glove box bring it to me," Vollstrecker orders.

I nod and go out to the van, I can hear the girls in the rooms being abused and raped. I hate it but there's not much I can do about it, nothing I can do about it actually, now without getting myself killed and then Clare will die or try and kill herself. I can't let that happen, I can't save all the people those fuckers kidnapped and forced into this life but I can save me and Clare and I have to concentrate on that. I do feel bad for the girls, they've only been here a couple of weeks and this is a way to break them.

I go out to the van and open the glove box, I see the kit it's for testing drugs because human trafficking isn't enough the ring also sells drugs. That's not all I see though, there's a gun, an actual gun and I see a way out. Not now and not right here because Clare needs to be with me. I check the gun and it's loaded so now we have a way and we just need an opportunity. I take the kit in Vollstrecker then stand near the rooms where the girls are while he buys drugs from these people. Next time Clare is sent on a job I'll make sure I go with her and I'll kill to get us out of this life.

The next update is Monday and that will be the last posting for short story month and very possibly the last chapter to this story.