Chapter 5: Shock

Austin's POV:

I cover my mouth with my hands and back away from the picture. I turn my back to Officer Clark and rub my fingers through my hair, "No." I whisper.

He stands up and walks over to me, "Austin what's wrong? Do you know this man?"

I start to pull at my hair. My breathing is fast and hard and I feel like I could pass out. Officer Clark grabs me by my shoulder and looks me in the eye, "You need to talk Austin. Don't you want to find Ally?"

I nod at him and he squeezes my shoulder, "Then who is it?" he asks.

"It's my uncle."

Ally's POV:

Hours later he comes back into my room. He doesn't have a tray of food with him, but he has a box. He sets it down at the end of my bed and smiles, "I brought you your favorite toys."

I stay still, staring at the box, too afraid to make a movement. He watches me for a few minutes until his smile fades, "Don't you want to play with them?" He asks, his voice changing. I just shake my head at him.

He grabs the box and looks at me, "I don't know what you're problem is." He then walks out, slamming the door behind him. He doesn't know what my problem is! He's crazy!

I run up to the door and try to open it. I can't take it anymore. I've been patient long enough. I can't stay in here any longer! I bang on the door, and I start to kick at it. I wish I was big enough to break through it; break it down. I hear footsteps charging at the door and I run back to my bed, crying hysterically, afraid of what's going to happen to me now.

Austin's POV:

"It's your uncle?" Officer Clark asks in shock. He goes back to his desk and grabs a pad of paper and a pen. I shake my head, my whole body trembling with what feels like thousands of emotions at once. I hold on to the top of the chair so hard my knuckles turn white.

"Is that his real name? Paul Johnson?" He asks.

I shake my head, "No. It's Jeff Moon." I say.

"Why did he change his name?" He asks.

I tug at my hair, "Uh, I don't know. I heard he left town not too long ago because he wanted to start fresh. He couldn't get over Caroline's death."

"Who is Caroline?" He asks.

"My cousin… His daughter, she died."

"How did she die?" He asks.

"She had cancer. She was my age now when she died; it was about a year ago. It devastated him." I say.

"Do you have any idea why Jeff would have taken Ally?" He asks.

I shake my head and swallow hard, forcing my tears to stay put. I can't believe that Ally's kidnapper is my uncle. What if this makes her family hate me? What are my parents going to think? I'll never get over this if he does something to Ally.

"Has he ever met Ally?" He asks.

"No, I don't think… Wait… Yes he has, once. We had a family a couple months ago. I invited Ally to come because my family is really fond of her and I introduced them, but they only shared a hello and that was it." I say. I should have nothing brought her to the reunion.

"Does Ally resemble Caroline in any way?" He asks, writing more information down.

I slide my fingers through my hair and lean against the wall. I feel like I might lose it at any moment, "I don't know, I guess. Caroline had the same hair color, I guess the same body type, I don't know." I say, tears breaking through and falling down my face.

Officer Clark walks over and puts his hand on my shoulder, "I know this is hard information to handle Austin, but you need to stay strong and keep yourself together. We need all the information we can get. Are your parent's home?" He asks.

"They should be home from work at any time." I tell him.

"Do you want me to call them down or should we tell them at home?" He asks.

"We should tell them at home. My dad isn't going to handle it well." I say, wiping my eyes.

"Let's go." Officer Clark says.

Ally's POV:

"What do you think you are doing?!" he yells while storming into the room.

I sit in the corner of the bed against the wall and cover my ears. He continues to yell and runs over to me, grabbing my wrists and yanking my hands away from my ears, "You will never act like that again, is that clear young lady!" He yells in my face.

All I can do is nod as I cry hysterically. He lets go hard and I fall backwards on the bed. He takes the lamp out and walks out the door, slamming it shut behind him. I cover my face with my hands and cry hard but as quietly as I can, "I hate you." I whisper into the darkness.

Austin's POV:

Officer Clark drives me in my mom's car back to the house. He didn't think I was stable enough to drive safely and I can't argue with that. I'm freaking out; I'm a complete mess. My legs are shaking and I can't stop biting at my fingernails as we pull into my driveway.

We walk inside and my parents are sitting at the table. They take one look at me and any sign of happiness vanishes from their faces. My father stands up and looks at us, "What's going on?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Moon, we have some information about the Dawson kidnapping that we need to share with you. Sit down Austin." He says. I obey him and sit down across from my parents, staring down at my hands as my eyes sting from crying. All that time I tried so hard to be strong and hold it in is gone now.

Officer Clark slides the photo of Jeff in front of my parents. My dad picks it up and looks at it, his expression confused, "What's this about?" He asks.

"Is that your brother sir?" Officer Clark asks.

"Yes… But what does he have to do"- "He took Ally dad." I interrupt.

His face goes blank and my mom goes white as a ghost. He looks at me, then at Officer Clark and then back at the picture. He shakes his head, "No, why are you saying this?"

"He matches the description from the security tape and we have on record that he owns a red Toyota Camry." Officer Clark says.

"So, that doesn't prove anything." My father says, setting the picture down.

"Maybe not but all evidence matches him, so either way we need help finding him so we can at least find out." Officer Clark says.

"I don't know where he is. He left town a couple of months ago." He says.

"Dad, you must know something. We have to find him! He took Ally for crying out loud!" I yell.

He stands up and stares at me, "You don't know that!"

"He hasn't been right since Caroline died and you know that! He goes by a different name now, if that's not suspicious I don't know what is!" I snap back.

"Guys, calm down." Officer Clark says. I can hear my mom start to sob quietly.

"Listen, where was the last place he was seen or heard from?" Officer Clark asks.

"I haven't heard from him since before he left, so I have no idea where he is." My father says. He stands up and walks out the door, leaving us in an awkward silence.

"I'm sorry about my husband." My mother says, standing up and wiping her face with a tissue.

"There is no need for an apology ma'am. It's a very understandable reaction. I'm sure that is a hard thing to learn about your brother. Do you know anything that he hasn't said?" Officer Clark asks.

"I don't think so. I can get you his phone number and his old house address." She says.

"That'd be great, thank you." He says.

She nods and walks out of the room. I stay in my spot and chew at my thumb nail. He takes a seat at the end of the table and I can feel his eyes on me, "Are you okay son?" he asks.

"As good as I can be." I tell him.