Anya had left the Palm Woods hours ago and now she was thoroughly lost. She couldn't find her way around Los Angeles when it was light out, let alone in the dark. And now the sun was coming up.
Anya turned left and began to walk down the street, holding back tears. She was leaving her adoptive family, the first real family she'd had in four years. How would they react? Would they understand why she had to leave? Or…would they hate her?
And then the true effects of her action hit her—she would never see her family again.
Anya sat down on the sidewalk and burst into tears.
"Ok. We'll split up. Logan, you look in the north side of town. James, you look in the south side of town. Carlos, you look in the west side of town. I'll look in the east side of town," Kendall instructed, pointing to the corresponding areas on a large map he had laid out on the kitchen table.
"And no goofing off," Logan added, pointedly looking towards his Hispanic friend.
Carlos nodded solemnly, his brown eyes huge with worry.
"What about me?" Katie asked.
"You are going to stay here just in case she comes back," James said.
"Oh, and you should probably call the police," Logan suggested.
"Right," Katie said.
"Let's go," Kendall said, and the four friends left the apartment to search for the missing girl.
Anya had been crying for almost twenty minutes. She could no longer imagine a life without James, Carlos, Logan, Mrs. Knight, Katie, and, most of all, Kendall. Sure, it was worth it in order to protect them all, but that didn't make it any less painful. Where would she go? What was going to happen to her? Anya felt like she had the day that she had run away from her stepparents' house. She hadn't even begun to think about her future, but she knew she had to go. It was the same this time around, except that she was leaving for an entirely different reason.
Oh, why had Ethan had to find her? Why couldn't he have stayed in his dirty warehouse, breaking the law in ways that didn't involve her? Why couldn't Anya just have some peace for once in her life?
The first place Kendall went was the cemetery where Anya's parents were buried, even though that was in the south side of town. It was the only place that Kendall could think of that she might be.
The cemetery was disappointingly empty. Kendall sighed. He went over to the graves of Anya's parents. He hadn't been there since the anniversary of their death, almost a year ago, when Anya had come to talk to them.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I'll find Anya and I'll-I'll bring her back. I promise."
Anya stood up, wiping her tears away. Crying wouldn't do any good. It hadn't brought her mother back, it hadn't made Wayne stop hurting her, and it wasn't going to help now.
Anya looked around. She had no idea where she was. She had never been to this part of town before. Come to think of it, she hadn't been to many parts of town before.
Anya sighed and started walking. She needed to think of a plan.
"Anya? Anya, please come out!" Kendall called through the streets of Los Angeles. He'd been searching for her all day and his feet were killing him. "Please! Anya!" Kendall's voice was growing hoarse, but he wasn't about to give up. "Anya!"
Suddenly, a small, dirty car that had once been red but was now an ugly mixture of chipped paint and rust pulled up alongside of Kendall. A large, familiar-looking man with a bruised jaw stepped out.
"Yer comin' with me," he growled.
Anya had been walking the streets of LA for hours. She stumbled along exhaustedly, one hand on the buildings she passed in order to keep herself from falling. She had nowhere to go, no goal in sight. Just as Anya was about to collapse, she heard an all-too familiar voice.
"Yer comin' with me."
Anya's head shot up.
She ran towards the source of the words, watching helplessly as Ethan forced Kendall into his car and then sped away. She was too late. Tears filled her eyes as she sat down dejectedly on the sidewalk.
Kendall was gone. Ethan had taken him.
Who knew what he would do to him? Ethan was no nicer than his brother. He wouldn't show any mercy.
Anya stood up, a determined expression planting itself on her face. She had to go save Kendall.
She was the only one that knew where Ethan would take him.
"What do you want with me?" Kendall asked as Ethan drove the car through LA, weaving in and out of traffic.
"Shut up," Ethan said, swerving to avoid hitting an oncoming car.
"Where are you taking me?" Kendall asked.
"I said shut up!" Ethan shouted.
"Why are you taking me?"
Ethan slammed on the brakes.
"That's it. We're walkin' the rest of the way." He roughly pulled Kendall out of the car and forced him forward.
"Move."
"I'm going, I'm going," Kendall said, "It would help if I knew where I was going."
Ethan shoved Kendall so that he fell on the sidewalk, scraping his hands and knees.
"Shut up," Ethan said once again.
Kendall slowly stood up and then suddenly whipped around towards him, his fist poised to make contact with his jaw.
Ethan grabbed his fist in midair and grinned at him mockingly.
It was at that moment that Kendall began to panic.
After almost twenty minutes of walking, Kendall and Ethan reached what looked like an old, abandoned warehouse.
"Welcome home," Ethan said with a smirk, "Let me show you 'round." He pulled Kendall inside and led him to a room. "Here's the garage, where we get deliveries," he said, allowing Kendall a quick glance before pulling him away, "And here's the storage room, where we keep our product before selling it," Kendall saw what looked like dozens of cases of Coca-Cola before he was whisked to the next room, "And here's the supply closet, where you'll be staying." Ethan pushed Kendall inside and shut the door.
"Hey!" Kendall said, beating against the door with his fists, "Let me out of here!" Kendall could hear Ethan laughing from the hallway outside the room. He sighed, knowing that he should save his energy. He turned around to examine his new living space.
The room was small and dark. There was a single, dirty window high on the wall, near the ceiling, letting in a small amount of light. In the corner sat a bucket filled with dirty water. Other than that, the room was empty.
Kendall sighed and sat down, letting his head rest against the wall. He had a feeling that he was going to be there for a while.
Anya hurried along the sidewalk, the bad feeling that was growing in the pit of her stomach telling her that she was getting closer. She had only been to there a few times, but as it was one of the only places she had ever gone to when she lived with her stepparents, she didn't have any trouble getting there.
Finally, the old warehouse came into view. Now she just had to find a way inside.
Author's Note: Oh, I almost forgot to tell you—I met Big Time Rush! I'm not even kidding. It was AMAZING and I got a hug from James :D If you want more details, go to my profile. I totally fangirled about it there.
And speaking of my profile, I also stuck descriptions of all 11 of my Big Time Rush dreams on it. They're pretty amusing. Feel free to go read about them.
Oh, and don't forget to review!
