AUTHOR'S NOTE: I can't believe that only one of you (reviewers) knew what the 'pile of rags' was. I thought it was kind of obvious...well, you do have to take into account that I am the writer. It just never occured to me that you might not realize what it was. I hope you figure it out now.
And I am SOOOOO sorry for the long wait! So without further ado, here's chapter 6!
Anya sat, huddled in the corner, waiting for the pain to come. Her arms were held protectively over her face, her eyes squeezed shut.
But nothing happened.
She cautiously lowered her arms and her eyes widened, allowing the gathering tears to spill onto her face.
"No," she breathed.
Back at the Palm Woods, Carlos was listlessly stirring his cereal at the breakfast table.
"You ok, buddy?" James asked from the seat next to him.
"No," Carlos said bluntly.
"I know it's hard, Carlos, but the police are doing all they can," Logan reminded him from across the table.
"I know," Carlos grumbled, "I just feel like we should be doing something."
"Like what?" James asked.
"We could look for them," Carlos said
"Kendall and Anya could be anywhere in the world right now. We wouldn't even know where to start," Logan said.
"We could start in LA," Carlos suggested, "Who says they ever left the city?"
"Who says they didn't?" Logan shot back, "Look, we'll just be wasting our time."
"Well, it's better than sitting around here doing nothing!"
James and Logan exchanged glances.
"Carlos…" Logan began.
"Don't you even care about them?" Carlos shouted, suddenly standing up, "If one of us had been kidnapped, Kendall would be out there trying to find us in a heartbeat!"
"Carlos—"
"Kendall would be scouring the city for us day and night, and what have we been doing for the past week? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"
"Carlos, it's not that we don't want to find them, it's just that we don't want to get hurt," Logan said.
"Yeah, what if Wayne's brother gets us, too?" James added, "We wouldn't be able to do anything to help them then."
Carlos stared at his friends for a moment. "Some friends you are," he finally said before disappearing into his room.
Kendall held Anya as she sobbed into his chest.
"You aren't supposed to be here anymore…" she said, crying so hard that Kendall had trouble understanding the words.
"Shhhh," Kendall said soothingly, "Everything's going to be ok."
Anya shook her head. "No. No it's not," she said through her tears, "Nothing's ok anymore."
"Hey," Kendall said gently, looking down at her, "You can't think like that. Somebody will find us here. Ok?"
"What if they don't?" It came out as a whisper.
"If they don't we'll figure out a way to get out. Ok?"
"You don't know Ethan," Anya said shaking her head, "There isn't any way he's going to let us out."
"We'll think of a way," Kendall said.
"You don't understand," Anya said, "He's dangerous. Earlier today he was so drunk or high that he-he choked me." A fresh burst of tears began to flow down her face.
"He choked you?" Kendall asked, anger growing in his chest.
Anya nodded.
"Oh my god." Kendall had to fight the fury that was fighting to take over his body. Now was not the time to be angry.
"I'll get us out of here, Anya," Kendall said, "Ethan won't be able to lay his filthy hands on you ever again."
"Carlos," James said, knocking on the door to the room he shared with his shorter friend, "Please come out."
"No," came the muffled reply.
"Please?" James said.
"No," Carlos repeated.
"You're not doing Kendall and Anya any good in there," Logan told him.
"I'm doing more than you are," Carlos shot back. The door opened to reveal Carlos holding his laptop.
"While you've been staring at yourself in the mirror, I've been searching that Ethan character online. He's suspected of being in charge of this huge drug dealing racket but the police haven't been able to find enough evidence to arrest him. He's also suspected of killing a couple people, but the police haven't been able to get enough evidence to arrest him on that, either."
"I guess this guy is more dangerous than we thought," James said.
"Yes, which is why we'll have to be extra careful," Logan said.
"Careful?" Carlos asked.
"Yeah. When we're out looking for Kendall and Anya," Logan replied.
A small smile slowly made its way onto Carlos' face.
"Let's go."
"Shhh…" said Kendall for the umpteenth time. No matter what he did, Anya wouldn't calm down.
"Come on, Anya, you have to stop crying. You're going to make yourself sick," Kendall pleaded.
Anya tried to swallow back her tears.
"I-I can't," she said despairingly, "I'm s-sorry."
"Shhhh. It's ok," Kendall soothed, stroking the back of her head, "Just try your best."
Anya buried her face in Kendall's shirt. There were many reasons she couldn't stop crying. First and foremost was just the fact that Ethan had Kendall. For the past week, Anya had gotten by with the belief that Kendall was safe at home. It was the only thing she had to hold on to. But not anymore.
"Shhhh," Kendall repeated, "Everything's going to be ok."
Finally Anya's sobs quieted. Kendall looked down at the beautiful creature in his arms.
She had cried herself to sleep.
Kendall smiled fondly at the girl in his lap. Cuts and bruises intermingled all over her face and arms. Her clothes were ragged and bloody. There were marks on her neck where Ethan had choked her. She was trembling, even in her sleep.
But she was still beautiful.
"Mrs. Knight?"
"Yes?" Mrs. Knight said icily into the phone, immediately recognizing the voice as the one belonging to 'that awful woman,' as she was now known around apartment 2J.
"This is Lucille Thompson from Child Protective Services. After an extensive review of Anastasia's case, it has been decided that if and when Anastasia is found, she will be placed in foster care."
After twenty fruitless minutes of trying to convince 'that awful woman' to change her mind or at least allow her to speak to her superiors, Mrs. Knight hung up the phone in defeat. What was she going to do?
"Hey, Mom," Katie said, coming into the kitchen wielding her laptop, "What's up?"
Mrs. Knight took a deep breath to compose herself before answering her daughter. "They're taking Anya away from us."
Katie suddenly disappeared. A few seconds later she came back dressed in a power suit, her laptop replaced with a briefcase. "Not if I can help it," she said confidently.
Author's Note: Again, I'm really sorry for the super long wait. Between school and this SAT prep class that I'm taking I don't have as much time for fan fiction as I used to.
And in addition to school and my SAT prep class, as of today I now have a...project that I'm working on. It will cut into my fan fiction time somewhat but hopefully not too much.
And does anybody know what is up with SparklyFedora? She deleted all her stories and her pen name is now .account. Does anybody happen to know what happened to her?
Anyways, I'll try my best to get chapter 7 up as soon as possible!
Reviews are much appreciated :)
