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Nate dropped the headset and fell back into a seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mitchie in the opposite corner, crying. Shane pressed stop on the tape and looked down at Nate. For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. Then Nate's soft, grief-stricken voice was heard.
"I can't believe it," he murmured, staring out in front of him.
"I know," Shane said. "Come on. Let's get you home. I'll drive."
Shane motioned for Mitchie to come and they both helped Nate out of the station and into his car.
On the way back to Nate's house, Shane and Mitchie conversed about what had happened.
"I just can't believe it's Jason," Mitchie moaned afterward from the front seat. Shane nodded and Nate just sat in the back seat, staring out the window at the setting sun.
"Nate? Are you ok?" Mitchie asked, looking back at him.
"What!? Who?!" Nate cried out, looking around.
"You, Nate. Are you ok?" Mitchie asked her expression filled with doubt and worry.
"What? Me? Yeah," Nate answered. Mitchie looked anxiously at him for a moment and then turned her head back to Shane.
"Shane?" she whispered.
"What is it, beautiful?"
"We cannot leave him alone, tonight. There's no knowing what he could…what he would do to himself."
"Yeah," Shane mumbled, his eyes fixed on the road in front of him. "We can camp out in the guest room. Luckily, it's right next to Nate's room."
Mitchie agreed and a few minutes later, they pulled into the driveway. Nate hurried inside first and leaped up the steps to the second floor two at a time.
"We're gonna' stay here tonight," Shane called out, but Nate ignored him and ran into his room. A second later, he collapsed onto his bed and, since no one was around, curled up into the covers and cried himself to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Nate awoke to the faint music of his cell-phone ring tone and a vibrating in his pants' pockets. He reached down and pulled out the small phone.
"Hello?" he said, yawning.
"Hello," a voice answered. It was Jason. Nate stiffened.
"What do you want," he growled.
"Did you get my message?"
"What message?" Nate asked. Jason laughed.
"The second to latest," he said. Nate was confused. The tape had been the latest that he knew of. What was Jason talking about?
"Yeah," Nate replied. "I got the tape. That's not the latest?"
"Nope," Jason said, chuckling.
"Then what is?"
"Look out your window," the Jason said; then he hung up.
Nate slowly and fearfully rose up out of bed and tip-toed over to the window. There, in the darkness on the misty lawn, two people were struggling. Nate got closer to the glass and, as the two people got nearer and nearer to the lamplight of the pole by the street, Nate saw that it was a man holding a girl. She thrashed wildly, trying to escape the man's grip. Nate gasped.
"Linda," he whispered. Nate flew open his door and ran downstairs. Reaching the front door, he flung it open and ran out. The man and the girl were no-where in sight.
"Linda!" Nate cried. Then, suddenly, he felt something hard strike the back of his head and then the world became engulfed in utter darkness.
In case you are wondering, yes. That does mean he became unconscious.
The posting more process will continue as soon as I have more. Hope you liked it and aren't too mad that it's a cliffy. Just to let my regular readers know, the only reason I keep writing "REVIEW" is for the people who are first time readers and who are starting the story right here. I know you guys are already nice enough to do it and smart enough to know I like them. Thanks again!!