"You really have to go?" Jb looked at her friend's faces, wishing they would stay in Riverdale a little while longer.

"We have to," Mercy confirmed, glancing sadly at her boyfriend. "My parents wouldn't allow me to stay longer than the school term, and Tyler needs to get back too."

It had been 3 weeks since Ryder left, or I guess disappeared and I couldn't locate him anywhere, not for the lack of trying though. It was now holidays, and I was bored out of my mind. Or was going to be, if her only two close friends went back home. I needed something to distract myself from thinking about Ryder and how much I miss him.

I had an idea. "What if I came with you? Just for the drive, I mean, then I could take the bus back or something."

Mercy and Tyler shared a glance.

"I mean, it's holidays now and I have nothing better to do," I pleaded.

"Of course, yeah," Tyler said.

"I'm sure it will be alright with my parents," Mercy told me, getting excited.

"Okay," I said, I myself getting excited too. "Let's do this!"

… ….

It was a few hours later, when Ty, Mercy, Mercy's parent and I were halfway through the drive. We stopped at a rest stop to stretch our legs for a minute. Mercy's parents went into a coffee shop for a quick espresso, and Tyler, Mercy and I were left to go to the bathroom and such.

There was a very beautiful flower bush near the path towards the toilets, and Mercy asked me to take her and Tyler's picture. I took her phone and they positioned themselves in front of the bush and I started taking photos.

Ty pulled Mercy towards him and gave her a chaste kiss, then pulled back and gazed in her eyes. It was a sweet moment and as I captured photos of it, I found myself missing Ryder even more than usual.

Ty and Mercy were such a sweet couple, and I was glad that I had a part in getting them finally together and all, but the two of them reminded me what Ryder and I had together.

Being the great friend that she was, Mercy noticed the sad look in her best friend's eyes. Mercy motioned to Ty to go on ahead and walked up to Jb.

"The photos turned out great," Jb said, trying to disguise the sadness in her voice, but Mercy had known her for years, and she wasn't about to be fooled with Jb antics.

"And you? Are you great?"

Jb looked up from the phone. "I'm fine…" she started, but once she saw her friend's raised eyebrows, she sighed. "I just miss Ryder."

"Oh, sweetie," Mercy comforted her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "It must be hard. First losing your mother, then moving across states, then finally finding someone to cheer you up, and then he disappears."

Jb's eyes pricked with tears, but rather than being angry with Mercy for bringing up all her painful memories, she felt a strange relief. For so long, Jb had felt like she was carrying all those burdens by herself, but now knowing that someone understood and appreciated all of Jb's hardships, she felt so much better.

"You are so strong," Mercy continued. "I don't know if I could have gone through all that, but you did, and you are stronger for it." Mercy gave her friend's shoulders a gentle squeeze.

"You always knew how to make me feel better," Jb smiled softly.

"What else are best friends for?" Mercy gave a gentle laugh.

"Practising my extraordinary match-making skills," Jb replied, her grin widening, motioning to Tyler as he made his way back to the pair.

By the time Tyler arrived at his friend's and girlfriend's side, they were full out laughing, and the boy was so confused with what was happening, which only made the two girls laugh harder.

… …

"I'm really going to miss you," Jb said to her friend, hugging her one last time.

"Me too," Mercy pulled back and looked into her friend's eyes. "If you need to talk or anything, I'm only a phone call, or eight-hour drive, away."

I smiled. "Duly noted."

Tyler came up then and said his goodbye, then I was off. After spending the night with Mercy, she had offered to come with me to the bus station, but I told her to stay home and relax. She had a lot of unpacking to do anyway.

Since the bus station wasn't far from Mercy's place, I decided to walk. As I passed through the streets of Toledo, I thought of how much I was going to miss my friends. Without them this next one week of holidays, I was going to be so bored. I had to think of something to do to prevent my thoughts travelling to Ryder. Who was I kidding? Nothing was going to make me forget about him.

Just then, as if my thoughts alone had conquered up the one figure who I could be sure about Ryder's whereabouts with, there, through a shop window, was Ryder's kidnapped, or so I presumed. It was the guy that was with Ryder the night he disappeared, and my theory was that he kidnapped my love. No one had told me anything about Ryder leaving, and my brain came up with a few possibilities of its own.

Ryder's kidnapper made his way through the shop's exit, heading straight towards me! I quickly ducked into an alleyway, praying that he didn't see me. Peeking out from the small pathway once I was sure he was past, I tried to find him again. Looking around, I saw him nowhere.

'Dang it!' I thought to myself. If I had been able to follow him, I might be able to find where Ryder was!

I turned to make my way back towards the bus station, very disappointed in myself when a rough hand covered my mouth and pulled me back deep into the alleyway. I tried to scream, but the foul hand muffled any noise from my mouth.

I tried struggling to release myself from the man's grasp, but that didn't work either, as the guy had wrapped his free arm around my body.

"You're not going anywhere," the guy snarled in my ear, his breath reeking of alcohol.

Having not been a stranger to kidnapping before, thanks to Penny and the Ghoulies, I pretended to faint. Since the guy was apparently severely intoxicated, he didn't overthink it. All the better for him, I assumed he thought.

When the man had loosened his grip a bit due to him thinking that I would no longer put up a fight -oh how wrong he was!- I simultaneously knocked my head back to hit him in the face and kicked my ankle upwards to his crotch.

As the man doubled over from my dual attack on him, I slipped out of his arms. I was running towards the exit of the alleyway when the man grabbed me again. Apparently, I didn't kick him hard enough.

He pulled me roughly against him, grabbed my neck in a chokehold. and just before he would've harshly pressed his lips to mine, his weight was suddenly thrown off me.

It was my turn to double over this time, trying to catch my breath. Looking up, I saw a younger guy with brown hair, his back facing me as he landed a forceful blow to the man's face. My protector turned to face me. I gasped.

"Ryder?"

Author's note: So, Ryder's back! Sorry about the changing between first and third person in this chapter, it just worked that way for me. Hopefully, it's not too confusing! Only a few more chapters left in this story, but I'm pretty sure I will be writing a sequal! Please let me know what you think!