Chapter Thirty-three

Lonely Months

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The next morning, Serena woke up to the smell of food.

"Get up; you have some food over here. Come eat."

She got up and slowly walked over to the table, still trembling from the night before. Serena had never felt such pain before.

Nichole remembered the handcuffs, so she fed Serena. Serena finished eating, surprised at the little amount.

"You're too fat. You need to eat less." She said. She got up and drug Serena over to where she had slept the night before. "Now over here. Time for some fun…well fun for me." She placed Serena on the couch where she stayed during the beating process.

The day was going by slowly, but while she was being fed lunch, she heard Darien's voice.

'Serena, are you there?'

"Don't even think about it. If I have to keep repeating myself, I'll just make it so you have no one to talk to."

"Yes ma'am."

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The days continued similar to this one: slow, little food, daily beatings, and the part. A few weeks later, Nichole was in the middle of a punching fest with Serena's face when the doorbell rang.

"I'll be right back. Don't move."

Nichole left Serena trembling on the floor.

Since the day she was taken, she hasn't seen anything and the handcuffs were never removed.

Nichole quickly returned.

"Dumbass police." She mumbled to herself as she finished her beating. "I can't wait until he comes here. He'll be happy to assist me with this." Nichole planted one final punch to Serena's cheek. She walked back upstairs and locked the door.

Great, more to look forward to. Serena sighed, forgetting that Nichole could read minds.

"You got that right."

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The group had been struggling. Not knowing where Serena was was tearing them up. They posted signs and asked everyone if they've seen her, but they received no luck.

Darien had been taking it the hardest. He could remember the conversation he had with Serena on their birthday.

'Happy birthday, my love.'

'Happy birthday. Darien, please, you need to move on. Just forget about me. You can't just stay in the house because you miss me.' She pleaded.

'But I can't do that. I love you too much to ever move on and forget about you. I will never move on. You're the only one I could ever love.'

'I'm sorry.'

He could hear the sadness and hurt. 'You have nothing to be sorry for. I'll find you. I promise you that.'

The group had decided to head to the station and check on any updates.

"I'm sorry. We've done everything possible. We've exhausted all of our resources. We have no clue where she is, or even what state she's in. We've checked all of their relatives' but none know where she disappeared to." Detective Bruter informed.

This just made Raye pissed. "TWO MONTHS AND THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE?"

"Raye, honey, please try to calm down." Kevin tried, pulling her into a hug.

"My best friend is taken from me, and we have no clue where she is. How do you expect me to be calm?" She asked, tearing pouring down her cheeks.

"I know, I know."

"Raye, it'll be fine. We'll find her. I'm sure of it." Darien said. He was crushed inside, but he never showed his emotions to other people very well. The guys knew how torn up he was, but he was trying to be strong for the girls.

"I know, I'm sorry." Raye said, backing from Kevin a little.

"You have nothing o be sorry for." Darien replied.

"No, I'm just her best friend. You love her. I'm sure whatever I'm feeling, you must be feeling ten times worse."

He just sighed. She's right. How can I argue with that?

"That's what I thought." She smiled.

"I'm going to go for a walk. I'll see you guys later?" Darien asked.

"Sure, see you later." Yella said.

He waved to them and walked out.

Josh sighed. "Poor guy. It seems like he's lost all will to live lately."

"Yah, like the only think that's keeping him alive is the hope that Serena's coming back." Zac added.

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Nichole and her son sat and ate, giving Serena very little food.

'Serena, I'm going to find you.'

'No. Please. Just forget about me. Move on with your life.' She knew Nichole was listening in on the whole conversation, but she didn't care.

'Serena, haven't you figured out that you are my life?'

'But.' She paused.

'You are my life and I can't bear all this being away from you. These past few months have been pure tourcher. I'm only semi-sane because of this communication. Without this, I don't' know what I would have done. I love you, you must remember I love you and can only ever love you.'

This made Serena teary-eyed. She tried to prevent from releasing the tears, but one fell from behind the blindfold. Serena was so focused on her conversation with Darien; she never realized Nichole had been calling her name until she was kicked.

Serena yelped at the sudden jolt of pain.

"Now that I have your attention, you get a special reward for ignoring me. You will be hurting in the morning." Nichole snickered.

She had cleared the area and started beating. She hit, kicked, threw Serena against walls, and everything else she could think of all night.

By the time morning rolled around, Serena was too hurt to move. She was covered from blood from carious cuts and some bloody noses throughout.

"That was fun. I should do that more often." Nichole said. "I could make it a weekend routine." She walked upstairs and left Serena quivering on the couch.

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The next month continued like this. Every Friday and Saturday night, Nichole would spend the whole night beating on Serena. Serena had lost track of the days, but she knew it was getting to be around Christmas time. She often heard Nichole mumble about how Christmas carolers or something of the sort. And the fact that Serena was getting cold, really cold. With her weight loss, she was even colder than usual.

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"Wow, it's been a hell of three months." Mina sighed.

"Yah." Amy agreed.

"I miss her so much." Lita said. "It's been the longest three months of my life."

"Mine too." Raye said.

The girls decided to go to Serena's favorite hangout…The Crown.

They were loosing hope. Darien had looked like he lost all hope and that depressed them even more.

It had just been over 3 months since their best friend was taken from them. The police were starting to believe that there was not much more they could do, so they weren't working so hard on it.

"Don't worry girls. We'll find her." Yella said.

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Darien and they guys had decided to get out. Just before Serena and Darien's shared birthday, he had bought a necklace for her. The necklace was a solid gold chain with a pendant hanging from the chain. The pendant was an elegant gold heart. He had the words "True Love" engraved on the front of the heart, and on the back were their names. For Christmas this year, he had gotten her a replica of the frame that hung in his living room, the one with their picture in it. He also wanted to find her something else. He wasn't sure what that something was, but he knew he would know it when he saw it.

He walked form store to store, but he saw nothing he liked. He walked into a jewelry store and saw what he was looking for. It was the most beautiful ring he'd ever seen. It had a white silver band with a pink heart on it. Surrounding the heart were small diamonds.

"I've got to get this for her." He quietly said to himself. "She'll love it."

"Can I help you sir?" A sales clerk asked from behind him.

"I'd like this ring please." He said pointing to the ring he was just looking at.

"Sure, come around to the registered and I'll get it out and ring you up."

"Thanks."

The clerk handed him the bag containing the ring as the others walked in.

Darien had told his friends that he wanted to propose to Serena. He wasn't sure when he'd get the chance, but he knew that he wanted to. The others said they wanted to as well. They each loved their girlfriends dearly, so they said they were going to propose as well. They each found a beautiful ring for the occasion.

"Hey Darien, find anything yet?" Josh asked.

"What do you think?" He grabbed the box out and opened it.

"Oh, Darien, I'm the luckiest man alive!" Josh joked. He covered his mouth in surprised shock.

"Knock it off." Darien said, punching him in the gut.

"Kidding, but it's beautiful. I'm sure she'll love it." Josh said as the others came over.

"Darien. That's beautiful." Kevin said admiring the ring.

"That's what I thought." Darien sighed. "Now if only the woman who it will belong to was here with us."

"She will be. Don't worry." Zac said.

"Yah, we'll find her." Stephen added.

"Thanks guys. But I still can't believe Jarrett is getting out so soon. I mean he tried to kill Serena, and then he kidnapped and almost raped her. But no, he just got a year for kidnapping me. I should've beaten the shit out of him while I had the chance." Darien said, leading the group out of the jewelers.

"I'd like to take a few swings too." Stephen said punching a fist into his hand.

"Just don't do anything to him. We don't need you going to jail." Darien said. "Without Serena here, these past three months have been lonely. Not that I don't appreciate all you guys have done to try to cheer me up, but the only thing that'll make me happy is holding her in my arms again." He sighed.

"It's okay, you will. I promise." Kevin said.

"Let's go eat. I'm hungry." Stephen said placing a hand over his growling stomach.

"Yah, all this shopping has made me quite hungry myself." Zac added.

They started walking towards the Crown.

As they approached the enterence, Darien grabbed Kevin's arm.

"We'll be in in a second." Darien said.

"Okay." The other three said walking in.

"What's up Darien?" Kevin asked. He noticed something was off about Darien, but he wasn't sure what.

"First off I'm sorry to tell you, but I have to tell someone. Second, Serena and I can talk telepathically." Darien started.

"Do you know where she is? Wait, no, you would've bust down the door…"

"No I don't know, and yes, I would've bust down the door. But the day she was taken, I called for her. She said that she was injected with something that made her unable to move or talk. She was then blindfolded to a viechel. She had no idea where they were going and I said I'd find her. Then a little bit later, she called me and was in tears. I asked what was wrong, but she didn't say anything. I asked her to answer me and she just said that she couldn't talk to me, she was find, which I know was a lie, and that she loved me. Ever since then, we've had one conversation. That was on our birthday. I said happy birthday and she did to me as well, but then she told me to move on. She sounded exhausted. But other then that, we haven't been able to talk to each other." Darien explained fighting tears.

"Maybe the person keeping her can read minds. That's why she can't talk to you." Kevin said. "We'll find her. She'll be fine. If anyone can find her, it'll be you."

"Thanks. But one more thing."

"Sure."

"Can you not tell anyone I told you? I just might get creamed if the girls knew I could talk to Serena and hadn't told them."

"Sure. Now let's go in. It's getting cold out here."

"Sure."

They walked in and looked for the guys, only to find them with five familiar girls.

"Kev, Darien. We're over here!" Raye yelled waving her arm in the air.

They went over to join the others. Soon they just started talking about anything and everything all night.