Hello! So sorry for not updating sooner. Work is murder. And so is this story! Hope you enjoy the chapter and reviews are always appreciated! Disclaimer: You know I don't own it.
Gone
The streets were lined for blocks. Banners of silver and blue lined the streets as the town cheered and celebrated. The Raiders had won the game. Atemu walked through the crowds, dodging the enthusiasts carrying banners and beer bottles hand in drunken hand. Beside him walked two of his closest friends: A boy his age with jet black hair pulled back in to a ponytail and green eyes. His name was Duke Devlin, owner of one of the most popular gameing stores in the area. With the boys was Duke's girlfriend, Vivian Wong. A pretty brunette with strong asian features and a sweet smile to her cherry lips. Vivian and Duke chattered on excitedly about the game debating re-plays and the player's stratagies. Atemu was only half-listening as his eyes scaned over the sea of faces before him, searching for a certain someone. "...And all I'm saying is I think that guy copped that foul-ball on purpose. Right Atemu?" Vivian's question caught a part of his attention and he turned back to her and blinked in confusion.
" Huh?" Duke smirked knowingly and chuckled at him.
" He's not listening, Viv. He's looking for his MVP, eh Atemu?" Duke asked, a sly look on his face that incinuated much.
" Shut up." The insult was half hearted and unconvincing due in large part to the smile on his lips. It was hard to fight back a smile when Yugi was involved. Even indirectly. But perhaps that was just what love had done to him. As far as Atemu was concerned that was okay. Speaking of whom, Atemu's smile grew wider as he spotted a familiar shock of hair and shining amethyst eyes. Yugi was a few yards ahead of them, chatting happily with a few of his team mates, all of them wearing blue and white jackets. The team name printed boldly on the back of the jacket, and below it a white sword and torch crossed. " Yugi!" The boy had not heard him. How could he with all of this noise?
He was going to have to run, wasn't he? With a resigned sigh Atemu picked up the pace and began jogging away. " Yo, Man! What's goi'n on?" Duke called. Atemu looked back.
" I'm going to catch up to Yugi! I'll meet you guys at the movie theater later!" Only a block away. The duo nodded, both with worried faces. It was not a good idea to seperate in a crowd this big. But Yugi was just ahead...so there was nothing to worry about. Right? Atemu flashed his friends one last smile... Then disappeared in to the crowd.
Time passed.
When the trio of friends had left the game it was around ten o'clock. Now it was half-past midnight. Duke and Vivian stood dutifully at the theater entrance. Alone. The neighborhood was empty now. Quiet. Only the celebration's residue of beer bottles, streamers and discarded signs gave evidence to the life present only hours ago. Vivian hugged her jacket closer to herself to ward off the fall chill as Duke paced back and fourth impatiently, holding his cell phone to his ear. A messaging service was his only companion on the other side of the line. " Damn it! This is the sixth time I tried to call!"
" Maybe Atemu and Yugi got caught up in something. Like talking, or maybe they got invited to a party." Duke shook his head.
" No. Atemu wouldn't have forgotten to call us." They looked in to eachother's eyes and through the contact their shared feelings were exposed to the other. They were scared. Vivian let out a heavy sigh to dispel a fraction of her nervous energy and bit her lip.
" Try calling Yugi. Maybe Atemu's cell battery's down." To Duke it sounded like they were both grasping for straws now, as one might say. But it was possible. Still as he began dialing the other number he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He had felt it the moment their friend had left them and stayed with Duke ever since. ' He'd better be with Yugi. Damn it- I shouldn't have letg him go!' He finished punching the numbers in furiously then held the reciever to his ear. A phone's shrill ringing sounded both from his ears and from somewhere nearby. Vivian and Duke took off at once following the sound. Yugi spotted them instantly and jogged to catch up, just from around the corner of the building.
" Hey guys, where's Atemu?" A deep coldness seeped in to Duke's very bones, and it had nothing to do with the weather.
" He's not with you?" Worry in all of their eyes now.
" No. I thought he was with you." Vivian wrung her hands together in fear.
" He saw you in the crowd. That's why he's not with us. He ran after you to get you...just after the game. That was a couple of hours ago." Yugi's eyes widened in fear for his love and he looked around the area.
" His car! Where did he park?"
" Um...uhhh..." Vivian's face became stressed with worry as she struggled to remember. " It's that place on Gentara Road...you know, the one?" Yugi shook his head in confusion and frusteration.
" No I don't know the one!" Yugi shouted. Yugi was a soft spoken person by nature. He never rose his voice. A testement to how scared he truly was. Duke thought hard. Where...where...! Then the memory came back in a flash and he guestured to the street excitedly Maybe he was there!
" I know! It was at that art gallery on Gentara Road! The one where the fence is covred in ivy!" And with that Yugi shot off in to the night, Duke and Vivian hot on his heels as he ran. All of them desperate to find their missing friend. Yugi's heart hammered in his chest with every beat and his body shook with every step pounded in to the pavement. Three blocks later the trio found the gallery in question and came face to metal face with Atemu's dark blue mustang convertiable. The driver however was no where in sight. But what concerned them all the most was what was in the car. Resting peacefully on the dashboard was a single blue carnation flower, Atemu's cell phone lying right by it's side.
Time passed.
News of the disappearance of Atemu Sennen had spread like wildfire. The media was already a buzz with speculations. Straight A student, four time winner of the Young Artist's competition, son of a prominent family and all around good guy Atemu Sennen had vanished without a trace. Similarities to Miho Kuji's disappearance and death were alreading being played out and many were suspecting Atemu's case was destined to be the same. If there was any truth in that then the police might as well prepare another family for a loss and the coroner for another body to his slab. And he had only been missing for ten hours now. Neighbors drove up and down the streets looking for the young man. College kids in school who knew him looked up the news on their computers with disbelief, even now debating what could have happened to him. Duke, Vivian and Yugi had already spoken to the police, naming the place and time they had last seen Atemu Sennen.
The Sennen house was different. Though the sun was out dark shadows loomed around the home, fenced off with bright yellow tape with bold black letters printed over it: POLICE LINE! DO NOT CROSS! At least three squad cars parked themselves by the house, red and blue lights strobing the area. Inside was no better. A somber man sat in a red armchair, his tanned face lined with age and anxietly. His coal black hair was combed back smoothly, with the smallest hints of grey evident at the temples and in his nicely trimmed beard. This man was Aknamkanon " Aknam" Sennen. Atemu's father. Standing in front of him was A man with dark brown eyes and brown hair, dressed in a tan trench coat and white button-down shirt and black jeans. A badge hung on a chain around his neck, the name tag reading: Tristain Taylor. Detective Taylor had seen alot of bad cases like this. Seriously. This was the nineth disappearance he'd had to deal with in the past two years. Always the same.
A good school kid abducted from an innocuous place, never to be seen again. Alive. ' Please, let this time be different.' He sat down across from the father and looked at him with sympathy. " Mr. Sennen. Can you tell us anything about your son that might help us?" Aknam rubbed a hand over his face and stared back with tired mahogany eyes and cleared his throat.
" My...My son...he plays the piano. He's always been a good student in school. He's never been in trouble, never had any enemies... Everyone loves him." He smiled, and a tear fell down his face. The detective placed a caring hand on the man's shoulder as he struggled to collect himself. " He...he like writing. Atemu is a brilliant writer." He guestured to the dining room where a black laptop rested on the surface. Atemu had been working on his story again before he left. " That's his computer."
" May we take this? I might be able to gather some useful information from this if we analyze it." Especically if he kept a diary on it. Maybe he saw the kidnapper, or maybe even knew him. Any lead was a good one now. Especially in the first fourty-eight hours of a missing perrson's case. Aknam nodded and gripped his hands tightly together.
" Of course. Anything you need. Just...please. Help me find my son." Upstairs two women stood together in Atemu's room. Detective Taylor's partner, a brunette with sea blue eyes held a notepad as she patiently questioned Atemu's mother, who held the family cat in her arms seeking comfort. The detective gazed at her with sympathy and asked her questions gently.
" Mrs. sennen, does Atemu go out on his own alot?" The mother spoke with a forced calm, staying strong as she stared at the young woman.
" Who are you again?" She lowered her pen and offered her a small smile.
" Anzu Mazaki." Mrs. Sennen nodded at the other woman then eyed her seriously, with all of the wight of the world in her eyes. Atemu would never leave without saying good-bye. He wouldn't go away on a whim. Her son was not that kind of man. This woman didn't know her son. How could she know?
" Anzu...do you have any children?" Anzu let her smile fall and a gentle breath escape her then shook her head. No, she had no children. So she could only imagine what pain this woman felt. She had seen grief, but prayed she would never truly know what it was-or could be to lose your child. Kira Sennen sat down on the bed and held the sandy cat clser to herself. " How many times do they leave us? For school, for a date, for practice or shopping or even just to get the mail. We never..." She sniffled and wiped a tear from her face, but didn't stop the others from coming. " We never really care to think too much about when we saw them last, or what we said last. Because we know they'll come back. Our children always come back to us in the end. And we can have more moments to..." She gasped and was barely able to contain a sob. " To say we love them. To hold them. Hear their voice. To watch them grow. They always come back." She couldn't fight her tears anymore. She cried hard as the sobs escaped her. Anzu put down her paper and gatherd the shaking woman in her arms as the cat leapt down and watched with knowing eyes, watching his mistress suffer and wishing for his master.
" My son always comes back. My son never doesen't come back!"
It was dark. How long had he been here? His head felt so foggy, his eyes heavy. A stabbing pain behind his eyes. He slowly engouraged his eyes to open and he was met with darkness. A dimly lit room. He could see stone..no, bricks. It was warm in here, dim flickering lights on the walls. A cracking sound. There must be a fireplace nearby. He could see an overhanging light above him, turned off at the moment. Where was he? ' Last I remember...I was at the game. Yugi's team won. Duke and Vivian. We...walked down the street. I saw Yugi in the crowd. I ran after him and then... And then... Pain.' Yes, he remembered the pain in his body. Not bad, but more like a prick. Like someone had stabbed him with a sharp pencul in the arm. His arm! He tried to sit up only to find it impossible. He was tied down to what he realized was a gurney of some kind, his arms pressed top his sides as he was held down by tight leather straps. He could move his hands and his head.
He focused his sight and looked at himself. Hid legs had been tied down too. His mouth was gagged with what tasted like cloth, not rope or more leather. Why was he here? What was going to happen to him? His breathing increased as his heart began hammering hin his chest. The lights blasted to life and Atemu was blinded. He shut his eyes tightly and grunted as the footsteps came closer to him. It was right next to him now. He forced his eyes open and glared at the one holding him. It was a man, the build of this person told him as much. He wore a black hoodie over his body and black slacks on his legs. A black fadora hat rested on his head...and a strange red cloth mask covered his face. What?
The man wore white surgical goves on his hands, which he used to force the gag off of his mouth just long enough to put something in his mouth. He could tase the residue. It was a drug. Atemu angrily spat the drug out of his mouth. He was backhanded hard for his effort, and pain exploded in his head. Dazed from the pain he couldn't stop the pill this time and the gag was replaced.
Done! Poor them. Well it gets harder from here. Next time: Blood, tourture, police harassment, and someone is found. But is it Atemu? Dun, dun, duuuun!
Please R&R and have a nice day!