Blaine's phone was ringing again. He looked down at it. It was Rachel again. Probably telling him to come down. But he couldn't- not until the diner closed. Despite the fact that there was no one inside the diner at the moment, Blaine couldn't take a chance.
"You know you can leave." His boss, Amelia, answered. "No one ever comes in after 8."
"Do you close at 8?" Blaine asked, looking over at the blond woman.
She shook her head. "No. But we probably should." Blaine sighed, rubbing his eyes. He was really tired. He just wanted Kurt... "Are you alright?" Amelia asked, leaning over the counter where they would put the platters of food. "You seemed pretty desperate for a job when you came in."
Blaine shut his eyes. "It's a long story."
"We still got 15 until closing time." Amelia noted, glancing up at the clock before looking down at Blaine. "We can stay long as we need. Unless you don't want to explain. I'll respect that."
Blaine felt the emotions growing in his chest- all the words he longed to scream. He didn't want to completely explode in front of the on person who would give him a job when he needed one desperately.
Blaine looked up in Amelia's dark brown eyes and sighed, dropping his head. Tears sprung to his eyes. "Yesterday... My fiancée was kidnapped."
Finn ran a hand through his hair, hoping Rachel and Blaine wouldn't kill him once he got home. Opening the door to Kurt and Blaine's apartment, he braced himself for anything and everything.
Rachel was there, her fingers flying over her phone screen. She looked up. "Bla-" She stopped. "Oh. Hi."
"Hey." An awkward silence settled over the two.
"Blaine found a job." Rachel informed him. Finn nodded. She smiled awkwardly. This was one of the first times they'd been alone since Mr. Schue's "wedding". Finn had always wondered what it would feel like to have someone walk out on you on your wedding day. He had a feeling Sue Sylvester in the brides dress wasn't a normal part of it. He also had a feeling half the people invited wouldn't go upstairs do... Be together at the after party
But who knows. Finn had never been to any weddings- other than that and his mom and Burt's.
"That's good..." Finn stuck his hands in his pockets. "Where's Burt and mom?"
Rachel pointed back into the hallway. "They were trying to figure out how much Burt had and other ways to get more money. I tried to help them..." She sighed, slumping her shoulders. "Why did this have to happen to Kurt? Of all people?"
Finn didn't know what to do, so he walked closer and sat across from Rachel. "It sucks." Was the only semi-intelligent thing Finn could think to say.
Rache laughed a little. "Yes Finn, I believe having your brother kidnapped and tortured for a ransom sucks." She sounded a little bitter, but Finn tried not to take it personally. After all, everyone's emotions were going insane. Well, who's emotions wouldn't be going insane when a friend/lover/brother/family-member was kidnapped and most-likely being tortured at the moment?
Finn shuddered at the thought, looking up at Rachel again. "Does anyone else know?" Rachel looked up from her phone. "That Kurt's... You know, MIA."
Rachel's eyes widened slightly. "No... I haven't thought too..."
"You probably should." Finn said, shrugging. "You know, Mercedes, Artie, Quinn... They probably want to know."
Rachel nodded. "I'm just..." She sighed. "I'm just don't want to make them freak out when he comes home and is fine. I don't know if Kurt'll want to be completely smothered when he gets back-"
"They still should know." Finn cut her off. "You know..." Finn didn't even want to think about it.
Rachel shook her head. "I know... I just don't want that to be a possibility." She pulled up her phone and started texting again.
When Kurt finally somewhat came around, it was his entire body throbbing that woke him up. His headache was like a sledgehammer pounding against his skull, making him feel nauseous and dizzy, despite laying on the ground. His shoulder burned the worst- it felt like... God, he'd never felt anything like it before.
The room he was in was dark. Kurt could barely see in front of him. He could just barely make out the lines that were cage-bars. He was back inside the cage. Gritting his teeth, he tried to sit up. The pain was instant and so terrible. To keep himself from screaming, Kurt bit his lip so hard he drew blood. The taste was metallic. He hated the taste of his own blood.
Why did he hurt so much...
"Having fun there?"
Kurt's head turned faster than he thought possible. It hurt so badly... He wanted to just fall asleep again, but as soon as he made out Sebastian next to him, Kurt knew he wasn't going to have a chance to fall asleep. "What..." It hurt to talk. Kurt inhaled quickly.
Sebastian smiled slightly. Something glowed in Sebastian's hand- a phone.
Kurt's phone.
Kurt moved slightly, like he wanted to reach for it. The pain came back, stopping him in his tracks. Kurt's eyes were wide, staring up at Sebastian, who was laughing. "Oh, no, you can't have it." Sebastian slid it into his pocket, patting it. "I still need it to send updates to your precious Blaine." Blaine... Updates? Was Sebastian taking pictures of him? God, that was so sick. Sebastian smiled. "Don't worry, Kurt. I'll let you see him again before you die."
Mercedes looked over as her phone buzzed. Rachel. She smiled, picking it up and putting it against her ear. "Hey Rachel, what's up?"
"Hey, Mercedes... Do you have a second?" Rachel sounded really... unRachel-ish. She sounded really depressing.
"You alright- what's wrong?" Mercedes asked, setting down her jacket. She'd been going through her closet, trying to pick out a good outfit for tomorrow.
"It's..." Rachel took a deep breath. "It's Kurt."
"What's wrong with Kurt?!"
"He's... He's been held hostage-"
"WHAT?!" Mercedes nearly dropped the phone. "Rachel, what the hell are you talking about?!"
It sounded like she was crying. "'Cedes, we got a call yesterday from Sebastian that he had Kurt and- and we had three days to make $800 dollars in trade for Kurt. And... He sent a picture of him and he was bruised and unconscious and..." Rachel was sucking in breath in the way she did whenever she was crying hard. "Mercedes, I'm sorry I didn't call earlier-"
"Hold on, where are you?" Mercedes asked, grabbing her jacket and putting it on while running down the stairs.
"At Kurt and Blaine's-"
"I'll be there in a few hours. Don't go anywhere." Mercedes hung up, grabbed her keys, and slammed the door shut behind her as she sprinted towards her car.
The phone fell from Rachel's ear. Tears were streaming down her face. "'Cedes is... she's coming."
"I thought she lived in LA." Finn said, confused.
"She was on tour or something..." Rachel wiped at her eyes. "I don't know if I can do that again..."
"I can do it." Finn said, holding out his hand for Rachel's phone. She handed it over. The fingers brushed and Finn shivered slightly. He hoped she didn't notice. "Okay... So who am I calling now?"
Rachel shrugged. "Quinn... Artie... Puck... Sam... someone..." She took a deep breath, obviously trying to get herself together. Finn couldn't help but notice she still looked pretty, even with her eyes puffy and her makeup all over her face. Finn shook his head. Finchel can wait. He looked through Rachel's contacts, clicking the first Glee kid that wasn't himself, Blaine, Mercedes, or Kurt.
Blaine sighed, rubbing his eyes as he walked home. It was late- nearly 12. Almost time to see what damage Sebastian had done. Amelia had told him she'd give him as much extra money as she could spare- It felt like cheating, but she hadn't let him leave it. But it wasn't nearly enough. Everything added together, Blaine had $103.65. He was pretty sure that man hadn't meant to give him a $40 dollar tip, but he hadn't complained. After all, it was $40 dollars less.
But $696.35 was a lot to get in... what, a day?
At this point, they were going to take the police-men's money. It offered a little comfort to know that if they didn't make enough, that they would still have the money no matter what.
Sighing, Blaine opened the door to his apartment. Rachel and Finn were sitting by the TV, Finn on the phone and Rachel staring at her hands. She didn't look up when Blaine walked in. "Hi Blaine." Rachel said. It sounded like she had been crying. Not that he blamed her. "I called Mercedes... She's coming." Blaine nodded. "And Finn's calling everyone else."
Blaine felt a little betrayed. Not that he didn't want them to come, but... The apartment could only hold so many people. Finn and Rachel hadn't even talked to him about it. But Blaine couldn't be mad about it- everyone else did have the right to know. "I got $103.65." Blaine said, pulling the bills and change out of his pocket. "And the woman who hired me said that she'd give me whatever she could spare whenever she could spare it."
Rachel nodded. There was an awkward silence, which was broken by Finn talking on the phone. "Carole and Burt are in the other room." She said, answering the unasked question. "They brought as much as they could- Burt said he brought $100 at the least."
Blaine sighed, biting his lip. At the least, he told himself, which means they might have brought more. So that means we have to make a little more than $500 to get Kurt back. His phone buzzed. Blaine reached down, pulling it out of his pocket. His eyes widened. "Rachel." She got up immediately. Finn turned, dropping the phone.
"Is it from him?" Finn asked, nearly tripping over the table as he jumped to his feet. "Mom!" Carole and Burt were out within seconds, adding to the semi-circle around Blaine as he opened the message. It was taking too long. The tension within the 5 people was so terrible that no one dared to breathe or say a word.
Finally, the picture loaded.
Kurt, his wrists and ankles still bound, was looking up at the camera, his expression twisted in pain, although he was trying to glare at the lense. Blaine felt a flush of relief. He's not dead. Then he looked closer at the marks and bruises and felt a sick feeling return in the pit of his stomach. The bruises had spread all over his upper torso, yet you could still see it- the jagged, painful cuts along.
"Are those-" Burt sounded sick. Carole put a hand on his shoulder as he covered his mouth, looking sick. He sat down, clenching the side of the chair so tight his knuckles went white.
Blaine set his phone down on the counter. Silence settled over the group. The sick feeling in Blaine's stomach grew as he thought more and more about it. Sebastian had cut him. He'd cut Kurt- Kurt was going to have scars.
The knot twisted, anger joining the nausea. No one could just do that to someone- especially Kurt- and just get away with it. Not even Sebastian Smythe. If Burt or Finn didn't kill him, then Blaine would.
Two days, gone
A/N: Hi again!
That was a pretty long chapter, so I'll keep this as short as possible, but YAY MERCEDES NEXT CHAPTER! Sorry if I sorta fail at writing her- I've never really tried to write her before XD And yes, she was on tour and was near New York.
Other than that, that's it :) Reviewers get cookies!
Thanks for reading!