Chapter Three: The Description

Austin's POV:

The spring air is extra chilly tonight as I walk back to my house from Ally's. I zip my sweatshirt up all the way and stick my hands in my jeans pocket. My eyes stay to the ground as my toes start to go numb in my converse. I wish my mind could go numb too. My mind keeps making up images of the security tape and what could be going on with Ally right now.

I walk through my front door to reveal my parents sitting on the couch. Their heads turn to me immediately and my mother gives me a sad smile. My father picks up the remote and shuts off the T.V, "Any news?" he asks.

I sit down on the reclining chair next to them and recline it, stretching lazily, I sigh, and say "They found footage of her getting taken on the security camera." I say, shutting my eyes hard, keeping away the images.

I hear my mother gasp lowly, and my father was probably grimacing but I didn't open my eyes to look, "Well is that good? Did they see what the man looked like?" My father asks.

I shake my head, "He was disguised, but they at least know his build now." I say.

"That's a plus." My dad says.

I guess you could say that, but that's just how my dad is. He's extremely positive and he tries to think the best of every situation, and it's not a bad thing. It just doesn't make sense to do it now, because this isn't a good situation, and I can't see the positives about it. The cops have nothing, and that's far from good for Ally.

I stand up and smile weakly at my parents and go upstairs to my room. I fall onto my bed on my stomach and stuff my face in my pillow. I'm sure I have many text messages and calls from Kira, but I just don't feel like checking. I just don't think she understands how I feel. She isn't close to Ally like I am, so I guess that's why she can just go on with her life. I should really check on Trish though, she wasn't at school today. I think I won't go tomorrow either, and check on her. I'm not helping Ally but staying in school all day. I need to do something, and fast.

Ally's POV:

I awaken to the sound of noise in the distance; a television maybe, or a radio? I open my eyes slowly, revealing a small room with just a pinch of light coming through the bottom of a door. I'm lying on a bed, and that's about the only thing in the room. I look down at my body; nothings tying me down. I stand up slowly, but I feel light headed. I turn my attention to the door; I know it's locked. It has to be. But I can't stop the part of me that's dying to know, dying for an escape.

I tip toe over to it. I look around the room once more and place on my hand on the doorknob. Before I start to turn it, I feel it already turning in my hand…

Austin's POV:

I'd walk to Trish's if I could. Walking has calmed me these past two days, but she lives a bit far away for that. My mother let me borrow her car and rode into work with my dad. They didn't mind me skipping school either. They know I'm not using it as an excuse. They know how much Ally means to me.

I pull into Trish's driveway and notice there are no cars in sight. Her parents are probably at work, and either she isn't home or her jeep is in the garage. I jog up to her front porch and knock on the door. I wait what seems like forever but no one answers. I turn around to walk off when I hear the door open. I swing back around and Trish is standing in the doorway. She looks awful; her eyes are red and puffy, her pajamas are all wrinkled and her hair is bigger than usual.

"Trish." I say and frown.

I see more tears form in her eyes as she chokes out, "Austin."

I walk up to her and wrap my arms around her shoulders as she cries into my chest. It takes everything I have to stop myself from crying too. I know exactly how Trish is feeling, and I hate that we all have to go through it, but most of all I hate that it's happening to Ally.

"She's okay Trish, I know it. She's strong." I whisper into her hair.

"She's so kind and caring. How could this happen to her." She says through sobs.

"I know she is, and I don't know why this happened, Trish. But things like this never make sense." I tell her as I guide her inside. She sits down on the couch and I take the chair next to it. The couch is covered in used tissues and pictures of her and Ally, "We have to be strong for her Trish."

"We have to be strong? You haven't even been around her the last few weeks. What if we never get to see her again?" She asks.

"How can you say that to me? You know I've just been hanging out with Kira. Ally has been avoiding me." I tell her, shocked by what she said.

"And why do you think she's been avoiding you Austin?" She asks, anger rising in her voice.

"I don't know!" I say.

She rolls her eyes, "Whatever Austin. Just think about it sometime. But you are right; I need to stay strong for her. I'm going to shower and stuff. Thanks for coming by." She says with a small smile.

I nod and leave her alone, walking out of the house. The whole drive back to my house, Trish's words kept repeating themselves in my head, and why do you think she's been avoiding you Austin? Just think about it sometime. What did she mean? She is right about me spending more time with Kira than Ally lately, and I do feel terrible about it. It's not like I knew this was going to happen! I'd do anything to take these past weeks back.

When I pull into my driveway, Kira is sitting on my porch. I check the time and I can't believe school is already out. I don't know why she's here, and I can't say I'm thrilled about it. I walk over to her slowly, staring at the ground. She stands and looks up to me, "Where were you today?" She asks, with concern in her voice.

"I didn't feel like going to school." I tell her.

"Where were you then?" She asks.

"I went to Trish's house." I tell her, walking past her and up to my door.

"Why?" she asks, her tone changing. Since when does she ask so many questions?

"To talk to my friend that's hurting like I am." I tell her.

I feel her arm on my shoulder and I turn around, "What about me Austin? I'm hurting too. My boyfriends hardly been talking to me and has been avoiding me." She says.

This throws me slightly over the edge, and I can't stop myself from saying something. I look down at her in disbelief and put my fingers through my messy bed hair, "Seriously Kira? You're hurting? What about Ally? She's who the hell knows where, because some guy, some asshole took her. And she is Trish and I's best friend and we are both hurting because of it, and you have the nerve to tell that you're the one that's hurt because I'm not giving you all my attention!" I say.

Her mouth drops, and I can tell she is shocked by the way I just talked to her, but she sort of had it coming. She shakes her head at me, turns around and walks away. And no, I didn't go after her. Why would I? She's the one being selfish. She's nothing like Ally. Ally is so kind, caring and selfless. She'd never act this way if it was Kira missing. She'd feel terrible and help me through it all the way, even though she barely knows her.

I shove my door open hard and slam it shut. I run through my living room and dart up the stairs into my room. I slam that door shut, and hear a crash. I look over into the corner of my room and notice a picture frame fell off my dresser. I walk over to it and pick it up. It's a picture of Ally and me from the movie theater; we are dressed in ridiculous costumes. I knew Ally didn't want to go, but I did, and she sat through hours of cheesy horror movies just for me.

I put the picture back where it was and look around my room. There are signs of Ally everywhere; more pictures, the space on the wall where Ally wrote in permanent marker 'best friends forever', her pink sweatshirt lying over my chair that she left her a month ago. I walk over to it and pick it up. I put it up to my face and it still smells like her. I can't stop them now, the tears fall fast, "Ally." I whisper into the pink fabric.

Ally's POV:

I wake up from a nap. How long has it been? How long have I been gone; a day, two? He brought me food last night. I ran back to my bed before he could see that I was near the door. He had his cap hanging low in his eyes, but he set a tray down on the end of my bed and left. I examined it; it was just a sandwich, turkey maybe. But I didn't eat it. As hungry as I was, I couldn't bring myself to eat it for many reasons, plus what if he did something to it? I hid it under my bed in case he would get insulted that I didn't eat.

There's no light underneath the door anymore. He must be sleeping, or maybe he left. Would he leave me alone? I guess he could. He's locked me in, so why not. But I can't imagine where he'd go, or what goes on in his head. Why did he take me here? Why me? I don't understand. I always try to see the good in people but I have yet to find anything okay with him.

I should have stayed home and not went shopping like I wanted to. I had no reason to go to the dance anyway. I'd have to just stand there and watch Austin and Kira have a great time together. That would just be torture. I wonder what they are doing together right now. Would Austin even be hanging out with her? He must be freaking out that I'm gone, right? Tears flood my eyes as I think about it. I just want to be back home, I want to go to Sonic boom and be surprised when Austin walks in and wants to hangout; he hasn't done that in a while.

Austin's POV:

"Austin, are you in there?"

I open my sleepy eyes slightly, and close them again, "Austin honey?"

I open my eyes completely and stare up at the ceiling. I went to lie down on my bed earlier and I guess I fell asleep. I look down and I'm still hugging Ally's sweatshirt. My mother knocks on my door again, taking my attention away from it.

"Yes I'm in here." I call back.

"Can I come in?" She asks.

I yelled back a 'yes' and she let's herself in. She notices my appearance and frowns, sitting next to me on the bed. She brushes her fingers through my hair; something she used to do when I was a kid and looks me in the eyes. I look away and focus on the loose string on my comforter.

"Are you okay honey? That's a stupid question I guess. Of course you aren't okay." She says and shakes her head at herself, "I can tell how much you're hurting. I've never seen you like this. Ally means a lot to you huh?" I just nod; it's all I can do. It seems like all my strength to be strong is gone already.

"Everything will be okay. They will find her." She says quietly. I just nod, not in the mood to talk about it anymore.

She bends down and kisses me on the forehead before getting up and leaving me alone once again in my room. I lie back down and close my eyes. I can't stand not being able to do something to help. I need to do something, anything. I jump out of bed, lay Ally's sweatshirt on my pillow and walk downstairs. I ask to borrow my mom's car again, and drive to the police station.

Ally's POV:

I can hear him, his footsteps. He's coming to the door. He just brought me food an hour ago, so it can't be that. What does he want now? I sit on the corner of the bed, against the wall and hug my knees as the door opens, shining bright light into the room. I catch a glimpse of what's behind him. The light is from a few lamps; it looks like a living room.

He shuts the door and hangs up an old lantern that has a candle lit in it. He walks over slowly, and I notice he isn't wearing a hat this time. He sits down at the end of the bed. The bed sinks in slightly, and I have to catch myself from falling over. I look straight ahead, biting my lip. I can't cry in front of him; that shows weakness. I can feel his eyes on me, and then he speaks, "Are you okay?" He says. His voice is deeper than I imagined. I can't guess how old he is.

How can he ask me if I'm okay! Of course I'm not okay! He kidnapped me for crying out loud! I don't move a muscle, and he stays quiet, waiting for a reply that he's never going to get. Just when I think he couldn't wait any longer, he speaks again, "Everything will be okay my sweet Caroline." And with that, he gets up, takes the lamp and leaves the room. I hear the lock click on the door, and his footsteps fade away.

His sweet Caroline… Who is Caroline? Did he kidnap the wrong girl, or is he imagining me as someone else? This just got ten times scarier…

Austin's POV:

I walk into the police station and ask around for Officer Clark. He's in one of the offices in the back and another police office brings me to him. He's sitting at a desk, his head in his hands as I walk in. I clear my throat, "Officer Clark?"

He looks up, almost startled by my entrance. He smiles at me and nods, "Sit son."

I do as he says and take a seat. He straightens up his papers and looks at me, "What can I do for you Mr. Moon?"

I realize that I don't really know what to say. I rub my neck nervously and my eyes go everywhere except for him, "I- I don't know… I… I just need to do something. I just can't sit around and wonder and wait." I tell him.

He sighs, "I know you feel helpless Austin. This is common in situations like this. But there's nothing that you can do. You have to leave it to us."

"Well, not to sound rude here but what are you doing?" I ask.

"Everything we can. We don't have much to work with. We are trying to find witness from Saturday. We have an Amber Alert out; we have posters all around Miami. We have no big leads besides what his body looks like; it's a difficult time right now." He says.

"Did you put out an award for information? Because I'll give my own money to whoever can give us information!" I tell him. I don't have much money, but I know my parents would go for it.

He shakes his head, "There's no need for you to do that. We do have an award though."

I nod and put my face in my hands. It was stupid of me to think that I could come here and do something. They probably are trying there hardest, but it's not good enough for me.

The phone on the desk starts to ring, and Officer Clark picks it up instantly. I bite at my fingernails, trying not to listen in on his conversation. But when I hear, "Great, send her in!" It draws my attention. He hangs up the phone and looks at me, "We have a witness."

I jump out of my seat, "Really?"

"Yes. I have to go in the other room and talk with her. Stay here and wait, I'll be back okay?" He says. I nod fast as he walks out of the room. This is great! A witness; this could definitely be good… But it could also be nothing. What if she is just trying to get money? I've heard that people try to do that a lot. They hear about reward money and they come in and they try to make up some story that will sound good and fool the cops. But it never usually works.

After pacing around the room for what feels like a century, Officer Clark finally comes back in. His face is blank as he shuts the door and turns to me, "Okay, so it's not great news but it's a help." He says.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she witnessed what may have been him leaving the mall. So we have the make and color of the vehicle. She didn't have enough time to get the license plate down." He says.

"What did she see?"

"She was walking to her car in the parking garage and some guy with the same description we saw on the camera (baseball cap, sunglasses, medium build) he was doing something in the trunk and looking around really nervous. When he noticed her looking, he shut it really fast and ran into his car, driving away at a fast speed." He says.

I shake my head, "Sounds like an idiot, but can you use this information?"

"That's why I said it's not the best news. All we can do now is search around for a red Toyota Camry, it has a big dent on the passenger door. We don't know the license plate; that would have narrowed it down a lot. But it's a start Austin." He says.

"Can I help?" I ask.

He shakes his head, "No, but I will keep you posted, I promise. Write down your cell phone number here so I can get a hold of you at any time." He says, pushing a piece of paper across the desk.

I write it down quickly, and thank him. I exit the police station with a better attitude. Before, we knew nothing. Now, we have at least a little information. That's better than nothing right? I hop into my mom's car and head home. My eyes dart to every red car that drives by me, but none of them match the description.