Westerville Inquirer: July 28th

WESTERVILLE TEEN STILL MISSING

Blaine Anderson (18) a student at Dalton Academy Prepartory High School disappeared on March 25th. Anderson was last seen meeting with a friend in Lima, Ohio at Lima City Mall around 3 PM on March 25th. He was summoned home by his mother via telephone around 4 PM and was never heard from since.

Police remain at a loss of evidence and are still unsure if they suspect any foul play. The only lead in the investigation is Anderson's 2011 Toyota Camry found at the Lima City Mall where he left it the day of his disappearance. No evidence confirms foul play at this time.

"Blaine is my best friend. I miss him every day. I know someone took him. Blaine doesn't just disappear, someone has him. If anyone has any information, please step forward." Kurt Hummel (18) pleaded. Hummel was the friend Anderson met with that day and was the last one to see Anderson according to police knowledge.

"My son is a good boy. He wouldn't run away," Natalie Anderson (46) mother of Blaine Anderson confided. "I would just like whoever took him to have a heart and give him back to me. I need my little boy. Please..."

Blaine's father, Christopher Anderson (51) a lawyer at Westerville Lawfirm was unable to reach for comment on the matter. Sources close to Mr. Anderson state that he is "completely devastated by the disappearance of his youngest son." The Anderson's also have another son, Cooper Anderson (26) who resides in Los Angeles, California working on a career in Film/Television.

Anyone who has any information to the whereabouts of Blaine Anderson or any additional information are urged to contact the Westerville or Lima Police Department.

Kurt sat at the Lima Bean stirring his coffee absent mindedly. He'd been stirring away for the past hour and the coffee had since gone cold, but Kurt was distracted by the news article beneath his hands. He read the words with evident annoyance. Blaine's father may not have been available for comment, but his presence was certainly evident. It was Mr. Anderson who went in and had the word "boyfriend" edited to "friend" any time it was mentioned.

Blaine's relationship with his parents was on the mend, but his father was still afraid for the papers to find out that he had a gay son. Kurt was angered by such an act of stupidity. His son has been missing for 4 months and he was worried about the world finding out his son wasn't straight? What kind of a father does that?

Blaine had been gone for four months now, leaving a dark void inside of Kurt. They had all since graduated and left high school behind. Blaine didn't get that chance. Whoever had him had kept him from that. His heart broke at the thought. Graduation hadn't been the same without him. Even though Kurt had transferred, the fact that Blaine wasn't there to celebrate their graduations together had taken away any joy he could have felt about it.

The summer had been a rough one as well. The police had stopped actively looking for Blaine over a month ago. It was still an open case, but it had since been placed on the back burner. The police had even mentioned the possibility that Blaine might not even be alive anymore. Kurt couldn't bear the thought. He couldn't lose hope. He just couldn't.

Every night he continued to send Blaine "good night" texts. He never expected an answer, but it kept his hope alive that maybe in some way Blaine was reading them. Kurt wasn't one to stray from habit and if he started now, that would mean that he truly had given up on him.

He picked up his phone from the edge of the table and dialed Blaine's number. Straight to voice mail as always. Hearing his voice mail gave him hope that maybe one day he'd hear him pick up...but it was just nice to hear his voice. It was a way to feel like Blaine was still there.

Hey, you've reached Blaine. Sorry I missed your call. Leave your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Kurt hit the end call button and sighed. "As soon as you can isn't soon enough, sweetheart."

The bell chimed from the door and out of habit, his gaze was pulled to the door. Kurt liked to keep the hope alive that maybe one of these times it would be him...that this whole thing was some nightmare and Blaine would walk through that door to come meet him for coffee. It wasn't him. It never was. In his place was Rachel who stood scanning the room for Kurt. As soon as her gaze landed on him located in his usual spot, she sighed and made her way through the crowded shop and over to him.

He sighed and placed what he hoped look close to a smile on his face, but his voice came out deadpan. "Hey, Rachel."

Rachel sat down across from him and assessed the situation she had in front of her. She took in Kurt's coffee that he routinely kept stirring, the way he seemed to scan the room with his eyes but not actively look at anything in particular and the news article.

"What's this?" She asked, picking the article up from beneath Kurt's hands.

"An article on Blaine. A horribly edited one at that. Blaine's father still wants him to pass as straight. Because you know, it's obviously more important to have a missing kid who's straight rather than a gay one."

"Kurt," She licked her lips and took in a breath. "You need to stop this."

Kurt proceeded to stare at her in confusion. "Stop what?"

"This..." She gestured to everything around her. "This depression. You need to find a way to-"

He felt his anger boil. "To what, Rachel? To 'move on'? To forget about him? You want me to stop hoping, is that it?"

"No, that's not what I-"

He didn't let her finish. "You want me to stop hoping that maybe one day when I hear that door chime that it might be him? You want me to own up to the fact that I'm never going to see him again?"

Rachel brushed a tear from her cheek. "You know that's not what I meant, Kurt."

"Really? So what did you mean?" Kurt fired back in irritation.

"It's just that we're leaving for New York in a couple of days for apartment hunting. We both got into NYADA like we dreamed about-"

"Blaine got in, too," Kurt pointed out, softly.

Rachel bit her lip and tried to find her words. "Yes, he did. Which means he also knew how important this was to you. He wouldn't want you to hold yourself back, Kurt. He wouldn't want you to give up on your dreams-"

"He's not dead, Rachel!"

Silence fell between the two of them whilst Kurt struggled to calm himself down. Why couldn't she see that she wasn't making this situation any better?

"I never said he was-" Rachel tried, but Kurt cut her off at the pass again.

"Then if you would stop speaking of him in past tense as if he were dead, I'd really appreciate it," Kurt spoke through gritted teeth.

Rachel didn't hold back her tears at this point. Instead, she grabbed one of Kurt's hands and held it in both of hers. "I'm sorry, Kurt. I didn't mean to do that. I-I just...I need you. I need my friend. I'm not telling you to move on or anything. We will find Blaine, I'm sure of it. Sitting down here isn't going to find him, though. Giving up on yourself is like giving up on him. You know he doesn't want that."

"I'm sure that's the least of his concerns right now."

"I'm just asking you to try, Kurt. For me. I still need you," Rachel begged, holding onto his hand even tighter.

"What do you want from me, Rachel?" Kurt asked, exasperated.

"I just want you to come look at apartments with me in New York-" Rachel saw that Kurt was about to object, so she continued. "Just to look...please? It might do you some good to get out of Lima for a week. Please, Kurt?"

Kurt couldn't help but fall for her desperate pleas.

"OK, fine, Rachel. I'll go with you to New York."

Rachel clapped her hands in victory. "It'll be amazing, Kurt! You'll see!"

2 months later.

"17, Sir."

Blaine bit back his hiss of pain and just tried to focus on the next number. Only 3 more and his "punishment" was over.

"18, Sir."

"That's a good boy, Blaine." Mr. Lawrence commended before bringing the belt down for another swat.

"19, Sir." The pain was unbearable. Only one more left to go.

"20, Sir."

Blaine took a deep breath now that the final stroke had been delivered. Even after six months, these punishment videos weren't getting any easier. Luckily in these past months, Blaine had learned to lay low and avoid any additional punishments off camera. It hadn't been easy playing a role on and off screen, but somehow he managed.

Mr. Lawrence had luckily not brought out the cane again after the first scene. He had threatened to use it which had kept Blaine in line so far. The cane was still Blaine's worst fear and he hoped to never feel it ever again, which is why he tried so hard to avoid it at all costs. The belt hurt beyond belief, but it had nothing on the pain from the cane.

"Did that teach you a lesson, Blaine?"

"Yes, Sir. I've learned my lesson."

"And what lesson is that?"

"I'll try harder to study in class and not pass notes," Blaine answered back playing his role well of the trouble making student who got caught passing notes.

Mr. Lawrence looked satisfied. "Very well. Get out of here, don't let me see you in the Principal's office again."

He pulled his pants back up acting like a well chastised student, exited out of the camera frame and stood waiting for Lenny to call 'cut.'

Once he did, Mr. Lawrence hung the belt back up on the wall of the set of the Principal's office and sighed deeply before turning back to the other two men in the room with a large smile.

"Well, I think this calls for a celebration! Blaine has finished his 12th scene! Son, you make your fathers very proud!" Mr. Lawrence exclaimed, bringing Blaine in for a huge hug. Blaine remained still but attempted to make it seem like a genuine hug. Mr. Lawrence seemed fooled, so it was just another victory to add to the list.

"I was thinking that we could order a pizza tonight and watch the new Thor movie I picked up from the Redbox," Mr. Lawrence babbled on as he started to fix up the set.

He was interrupted from his chatter as his cell phone started ringing. Mr. Lawrence looked to Lenny and Blaine knew what was coming. The ball gag. Any time someone came to the door for whatever reason or if either of their cell phones would ring, they would quickly gag Blaine so that he couldn't scream out to anyone. It was something that Blaine had become very accustomed to.

After the past four months, Lenny and Mr. Lawrence kept a really tight watch on Blaine. When they weren't filming, they generally locked him in his room unless they wanted to have a family movie night or something of the like, but even then, they had installed little metal rings on almost every object of furniture in the house so that Blaine could be handcuffed to them.

It had taken 2 and a half months for Mr. Lawrence and Lenny to even allow Blaine to walk around the house from time to time without being handcuffed. They still handcuffed him to his bed at night, the couch when they were watching movies and to the table during meals so that he couldn't try to run away whilst Mr. Lawrence and Lenny had their guard down. He still hadn't tried making a break for it with his occasional new found freedom yet. It was too risky. He'd been waiting for the right opportunity by playing the role of a well behaved teenager, which he had hoped would get them to let their guard down.

"All right, Blaine, open up," Lenny instructed. Blaine did as he was told and felt the uncomfortable feeling of the gag enter his mouth as Lenny quickly did the strap to keep it in place. Once it was securely fastened, Lenny gave Mr. Lawrence the go-ahead to answer his phone.

"John Lawrence," Mr. Lawrence greeted. "Mm-hm...today? Where? Ah, I see. Only 2 classes? All right, I'll be down in an hour." With that, Mr. Lawrence hung up and sighed deeply. "Seems I'm needed for a sub job."

As time went on, Blaine had been able to learn more about Lenny and Mr. Lawrence. Turns out Mr. Lawrence was still a substitute teacher. Blaine was never allowed to know the names of the schools just in case he recognized any names. That would be a dead give away as to where he was. Lenny was a manager at a near by gas station. It was curious to Blaine that Mr. Lawrence was what he was and hadn't been caught doing these things online. If only someone would look into this guy a little further, things might be able to be brought to the light of day.

Lenny unfastened the gag and took it out of Blaine's mouth. With that, he was guided back to his room by both men.

"I'll be back tonight, son. Pizza and a movie are still in the cards," Mr. Lawrence promised with a smile. "In the meantime, be a good boy for Lenny, OK?"

Blaine nodded in response as Mr. Lawrence closed the door and locked it behind him as he left.

Once the lock clicked, Blaine was ready to make his way over to his bed to continue the book he had been instructed to read by Mr. Lawrence. Even after kidnapping him and subjecting him to this life he didn't want, Mr. Lawrence somehow still cared about his education at the end of the day.

"I don't understand why I'm going there. I'm no performer. It's only to supervise and offer critique. I always hate the idea of leaving you and Blaine here alone, but bills gotta be paid, eh?"

"What school?"

It was faint, but Blaine could here Lenny's question through the door causing him to stop in his tracks. He silently crept back over to the door to see if he could hear Mr. Lawrence's response so that he could finally pick up a clue as to where he was.

It was very quiet, it was obvious that Mr. Lawrence was taking precaution to be quiet in case Blaine could hear them.

He wasn't sure if he heard it right. The voices were really muffled, but if he heard right...then he had his answer.

"NYADA."

Wow, it's really great to be back after this unplanned year hiatus. Hopefully you guys enjoyed. Don't forget to review! Reviews = motivation! Thanks again, guys and hope to see ya soon!

- Jamie