Chapter Three

There is evil everywhere, even in our own homes. We're just too trusting to know that not everyone is for us but against us.

- Grace Chanbee

[Author's POV]

Justin drove his van in the dark and there were hardly any vehicles in sight. To make the whole situation worse, it was raining cats and dogs and he couldn't help but shiver as the cold crept up his body slowly.

He glanced at the white Bolognese puppy which was sleeping peacefully in the Passenger seat and wrapped in his jacket.

Justin muttered a cuss word under his breath as he had been taught never to say out such shitty things aloud. It was disheartening for him to see the runaway animal sleeping so profoundly in his own jacket while he was shivering like he was about to die.

He was aware he could make a U-turn and go back home, but he had made a promise to his grandmother to bring Amber home and promises were meant to be kept and he never broke a promise.

It was around 8:00pm and Justin had driven all the way to the Psychiatric center which was about forty minutes drive from his home. He had found out that in all sincerity, Amber had left with no trace.

After blasting the hospital and their low security provision, he had left in a rage.

Getting back to the van, he started driving and he'd stop the van whenever he saw anybody around. He had been describing Amber and asking if anyone had seen her. All these, of course, proved to be a waste of effort.

Justin was getting tired and sleepy. He needed to sleep especially in a cold weather such as this one. There was no reason attached to him not liking to miss sleeping when it was raining, it was just that sleeping when it was raining hit differently to him.

It was at that point he'd draw up the blankets and sleep like a newborn till Grams woke him up, whenever that was.

Justin kept on driving around the area hoping to see Amber somewhere. He had a hunch she was just wandering around the whole area. After all, no one will like to offer an insane girl a home for free in Arroyo Grande like his grandmother.

The people of the town were afraid of criminals and thieves and so, although they were kind and hospitable people, they rarely opened their doors to strangers.

The atmosphere seemed polluted as the stench of a foul smell hit the nose of Justin. He squeezed his face in disgust and wondered the reason for such smell.

Could it be the area he was in presently? He didn't think so.

From the corner of his left eye, he saw the puppy stir and wag its tail even with its eyes still closed.

"Yuck!" He yelled, realising it was the puppy that had farted, which had caused the eruption of a smell that irritating and disgusting.

Maybe he should have left the puppy to die in the cold instead of being so kind-hearted as to let it come with him and even extending his generosity to letting it have his jacket.

Barely two hours prior to now, the puppy had jumped on Justin's face and sent him crashing to the ground which was a mystery Justin couldn't unravel. How could something weighing not more than three kilograms send him all the way down to the floor?

After getting the puppy off his face, he was overwhelmed with pity seeing how it looked starved and puppy eyes just couldn't be ignored.

Now, he had a lost puppy in his care and he may soon get Amber back meaning his calling was probably for him to take care of puppies and crazy people with no family.

Justin was famished and exhausted and was beginning to doze off in the van when he caught sight of someone... Someone he suspected to be Amber because although he couldn't see the face of the person, he had two solid reasons why the person was her.

First of all, the short yellow dress with flowers all over belonged to Nelly and secondly, only a crazy person like Amber will walk in the rain with no jacket nor footwear on.

****

Amber felt really terrible and alone. Her breath was husky and her feet was tired from walking in circles ever since she left the home made for lunatics.

Her head hurt with a banging headache and her stomach rumbled like horses were stampeding on it due to hunger.

She felt tired but couldn't stop walking in search of a home or where to stay.

After asking for help all over without getting any, she gave up and tried locating Justin's house with the help of her instincts but that had been futile and pointless.

Her next hope was to go back to the crazy home and know that she was safe at least, but she couldn't trace the place.

It was hard for her to see clearly as it was raining heavily and it was also pitch dark.

Twice now, she had hit her foot on two different stones because someone somewhere had decided to leave stones lying around carelessly.

Tears slid down her face as she regretted ever leaving the mental home in the first place. She felt so scared of the darkness and the inability to see anyone walking around like her made her all the more tensed.

She felt the lights of a vehicle flash in her direction and it moved towards her. Finally, she had company but she was also worried the person may be bad or not grant her help like the rest of the people she had been begging.

The vehicle came closer to her and she covered her eyes with her hands, blocking out the strong light that disturbed her eyesight, yelling for the person driving the vehicle to stop.

Her life flashed before her eyes and just when she thought the driver of the vehicle was going to crash his vehicle into her and probably end her life even before she knew what it was all about, the vehicle stopped, right in front of her.

Breaths escaped from her lungs as she felt relieved and better off knowing she could still find a meaning for her life before she died.

She could see now that it was a van which had been making its way to her then the doors of the van opened and a tall figure alighted from it.

She stood still; transfixed, and unable to move. Even if she went backwards or decided to run, there was no way she could escape what was coming to her, she thought. After all, she was weak and tired; it wasn't like she could run very far even if she tried.

The figure approached her slowly and as he got nearer, she could tell who it was.

"J....Jus.... Justin," She managed to say, teeth clattering and all.

"Amber," He said, putting his hands in his pocket, feeling relieved after finding her finally.

Amber hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around him and shivering terribly.

Justin's heart softened and melted for the girl hugging him so tightly like she needed to feel secure.

"Why did you run away?" He asked.

"I'm not crazy like those people. They wanted to kill me. I don't wanna go back there, please," She begged, still hugging him tightly, not letting him go.

"I never thought I'll say this, but you can come stay at my place till whenever you decide to regain your memory," Justin said, nonchalantly.

She let him go this time around and looked up to him.

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Yes, Amber."

"Why are you calling me that? Is that my name?" She asked.

"I don't know... I ummm... I think so, it should be," Justin said.

"Amber..... I like it," She said with a smile.

Her stomach growled.

"We should get going," Justin said.

"Thank you," She mumbled.

"Whatever," He retorted.

"Go to the backseat, please. I have someone in the passenger seat already," He yelled.

"Is it a girl?" She asked.

"Yeah," Justin said and bit his lip.

He ran his hands through his blonde hair and got into the van, smirking.

Amber got into the backseat and started looking around for the alleged girl in the passenger seat.

"There's no girl there, you just didn't want me to sit with you," She said.

Justin snickered. The puppy was now on the floor, sitting timidly and wide awake.

"I thought it was still sleeping. You can come over," He said.

He didn't get a response.

"Amber?"

Soon, the van was filled with sounds of snores. He glanced at the back and saw her sleeping calmly but shivering really badly, her eyes were closed and her red lips pursed in a cute manner.

He retrieved his jacket from the unsuspecting puppy and stretched over to the backseat to wrap her in it.

He turned the key in the ignition and reared the engine to life. While she was sleeping peacefully, he may as well die from pneumonia and crash them all, he thought.

He was completely drenched from the rain and he was feeling really cold and he couldn't wait to be wrapped in several blankets with a hot cup of tea at his beck and call.

He had an option to have not gone in search of Amber but he had, not just for his grandmother alone, but because he was scared of what she could have been passing through.

He had found her and was relieved to have her back in his home where he could watch over her. He may never admit he cared about her to anyone but deep down, he knew he did.

****

Los Angeles, California.

[Home of Amber Sanders]

Gilbert Sanders flung the tray one of the maids had handed over to him, spilling coffee all over the floor and sending the mug shattering into pieces.

"Are you crazy?" He thundered.

The maid shuddered, shaking her head vigorously.

"How dare you give me coffee?" He thundered once more.

"But sir, you love coffee and I thought it will help you relax your nerves," She said, trembling in fear.

"You want to help me relax my nerves?" He asked calmly, holding her wrist.

She nodded in the affirmative.

"Then find me my daughter," He yelled, tightening the grip his hand had around her wrist.

She winced in pain.

He let her go but sent her sprawling to the ground, sobbing in pain.

Gilbert was a kind man and his recent actions of yelling, getting offended and maltreating his staff was only because his only daughter and the heiress to all his properties was missing with no clue.

Only the members of his household were aware of what was going on as he didn't want the information to be given to the public to ensure his daughter's safety wherever she was.

Inasmuch as he wouldn't admit it, the main reason Gilbert wasn't letting in on any information disclosing the disappearance of his daughter was to protect his image so it wouldn't be as though he couldn't provide maximum security for his family.

There had been spies and security officers set up in all and sundry of Los Angeles where they resided in the hopes of getting back his daughter, but their search had been proven futile.

Two detectives who had been questioning Daisy, Amber's cousin in her bedroom came downstairs and Gilbert Sanders ran up to meet them.

"Did you get any information out of her?" He asked.

The detectives shook their heads.

"She just kept on crying as usual," Detective Johnson said.

"It's been two weeks, two freaking weeks and she's still not saying anything?" Eunice Sanders asked, standing up from the couch.

"Sweetheart, calm down," Her husband said.

"I don't trust that niece of yours. Why will Amber leave the prom before it's even over only to get into an accident and disappear all of a sudden? Amber will never leave anywhere without Daisy and we all know that. Tell me, what was different that day?" Eunice screamed.

She had been forced to eat for the past two weeks and she had been having nightmares which was about her beloved Amber being in trouble.

"Madam, you have to be calm. Your niece still appears traumatised about the whole incident and I suggest we give her some time," Detective Andrew said.

"How much more time?" Eunice asked.

"A week. I promise that we'll torture her if she doesn't speak up the next time we're here," Detective Andrew said.

She looked at her husband who nodded his head. She sighed thoughtfully and agreed with them.

"We have decided to extend our search to other cities in California to make sure we find your daughter," Detective Johnson said.

"Just do whatever it takes to get Amber back home," Gilbert said.

The detectives nodded and walked out of the house.

Gilbert took his wife in his arms.

She sobbed gently as her husband stroked her hair.

"We'll find our baby, right?" She asked.

"We'll definitely do," He reassured.

A muscular man who was in the passage, pretending to be who he wasn't, smirked as he overheard their conversation.

How were they going to find their darling daughter when they didn't even know where she was and if she was dead or alive?

He put a call across to his partner in crime to give him details of the latest development of the situation of things.

"Hello," His partner's voice said from the other end.

"They're extending the search for the Blondie to other cities in California," He said.

"That spells trouble for us," His partner panicked.

He scoffed, "Trouble? Are you as dumb as they are?"

"What do you mean?" His partner retorted.

"You made a foolish mistake of putting the dead body in someone else's van. We were supposed to hand her lifeless body to her family but now, we don't even know where she is, neither do they," The man said coarsely.

"How is this related to the fact that they may find her?"

"No one in his right senses will show off a dead body that was found in his van. I'm sure the owner of the van already disposed of her body. She has been declared missing and no matter what they do, she will never be found," The man said.

"That calls for a celebration then," His partner said, his tone getting triumphant.

"There'll be no celebration till we get him to forget about his daughter and get his money," The man said.

"But how?" His partner asked.

"When the time comes, you'll know," The man said and hung up.

Peering at the luxurious living room, he saw Gilbert still comforting his wife and giving her false hopes of ever finding their precious nuisance of a daughter again.

As he stood there, he cackled like a cold-hearted wizard unable to stop himself from being amused at the bootless optimism of Amber Sanders' parents.

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