The Closer Look

"I knew you had a thing for me."

The dumbass smirked cockily. I just looked at him silently in disgust mixed with disdain. Immediately remembering his attitude the whole day, my disappointed look slowly morphed into a scornful sour look that even the quarterback himself looked a little scared.

"You!?"

I growled

"Me what?"

He held out both of his hands in front of him as if gesturing me to calm down as he slowly backed away from me.

"I can't believe you! Your girlfriend is missing! everyone I this town is in danger, but… but all you did today was fuck around and disregard me!... with all the girls in this town you chose to screw around and waste the time we're suppose to use to save Jack and Audrey, you chose the creature itself?! over them!? You! You! Ugh!"

I stuttered yell, flailing my arms in the air in anger and frustration. Meanwhile, the boy in question just stared at me confused but amused. Hearing Micaiah groan from the ground, the two of us shifted our eyes to the injured boy.

"W-what do you mean? Audrey is missing?"

Clinton suddenly screamed as he went passed his injured friend and into his car, the broken car window to be precise.

"Noooooo!"

He went down on his knees as he gathered the broken glass into his hands and faked cry. I just rolled my eyes, now completely used to how much this guy care about the people around him. I sighed as I went to crouched down to join Micaiah on the ground.

"Audrey was taken by that thing who did this to Clinton."

I looked at him with sad eyes.

"What? When?"

He grunted as he struggled to sat up, I helped him.

"Yesterday. Clinton saw it."

Before Micaiah could ask anymore, Clinton marched back to us.

"About time."

I rolled my eyes.

"What happened here?! And why is he here?"

Now it was Micaiah's turn to roll his eyes.

"You're welcome by the way."

Micaiah sarcastically replied as I helped him to his feet.

"You did this to him too while he tried to save your ass and you're welcome for the kiss as well."

I pointed at Micaiah's broken arm.

"Hey, why are you acting like I wanted this to happen. I didn't want this either."

He went to open the backseat door of his car for us to get Micaiah settled for the trip to the hospital.

"A thank you and a sorry would be nice."

I grumble as I went to the passenger seat.

He sighed as he went to face me, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Look, I'm… "

He sighed again. He seems to struggle getting the words out of his mouth, but his bright brown eyes showed emotions I couldn't quite decode.

"Just drive us to the hospital. That can wait."

I shook my head, looking out of the window to divert my attention from the asshole beside me.

After we finally got Micaiah to the nearest and only hospital in our town, we decided to fill our stomach with food from a convenience store.

"We could eat this inside your car. Its freezing out here."

I grumbled, munching on a donut.

"And get those disgusting crumbs on my seats. No way."

He eyed the crumbs falling and into my chest with disgust.

"And if you would've just let me drive us to McDonalds we wouldn't have to eat in the cold, genius."

He continued.

"So we would have to wait in line? And we still have lots to discuss."

I nagged which he groaned while throwing his head back in response.

"We could have been talking inside McDonalds, warm, with a seat and a table."

This time, it was me who groaned.

"Would you please let it go already. How much do you remember?"

"It's not like I can't remember…"

He trailed off. I looked at him oddly.

"Just get into it."

I said dryly, already sick of his habit of dragging things longer than it should be.

"I can remember okay? I was aware of what was happening so its all on me. I'm a fucking dick."

He angrily murdered the donuts with his mouth while I just stared at him in disbelief. Is this guy serious?! He wiped the grime on the tissues we got together with the donuts we bought.

"Are you aware of how many calories these have?"

He glared at the tissues as he flaunted it in front of me. I snatched it from him angrily.

"Are you fucking serious?! Do you think I'll just accept that? Tell me exactly what happened!"

He sighed.

"Fine. It's hard to explain alright? I was aware of what I was doing… ignoring you, avoiding you and all that."

He did some hand gesture as he tried to explain it the best he could. He side-eyed me and I narrowed my eyes at him in return.

"But what I don't understand is… I was into helping you, I really was… but when that girl suddenly kissed me at the cafeteria, it's like… everything didn't matter but her… I think even if my parent were in danger at that time, I wouldn't care less as long as I'm with her."

"You were aware but wasn't yourself?"

I finished it for him and he nodded swallowing roughly. I just realized he was scared himself. I handed him my mango juice drink, he glared at it but still took a swig from it.

"Why didn't you tell me? if you did, I wouldn't be this mad at you."

This time, he glared at me.

"You think I care about what you think about me? besides, I don't want to appear like I'm making excuses."

He looked away while he grumbles the last part. I took a deep breath.

"Alright, that's good enough for me. Let's get going. We still got a town to save."

I patted him on the shoulder as I went to the passenger side of the car.

We are now currently driving to the Baker's Butchery to rescue Jack, and Clinton is not so happy about it because apparently, he though just because he was now on my side, means that I wouldn't need the retarded freak anymore.

"Any news from the police about my father?"

"None."

I groaned and slumped forward, catching my head with both my hands.

"Fuck! What if that bitch mutilated my father because he failed to get rid of me?"

"Chill out, I'm sure the police are already on it."

I stared at him with wide eyes and mouth shaped like an o. Did he just reassured me? I was about to tease him for it when a paper or a poster of another missing girl's face slapped over the car's windshield out of nowhere blocking our view of the road. Clinton's melancholic demeanor from earlier went into panic in a span of a millisecond. I laughed as he swerved to the left hitting the breaks and panting heavily as the car skidded to a halt. It all happened with me staring at him and laughing the whole time.

"What so funny?!"

He roared which made me laugh harder. He looked away; he clicked his tongue looking defeated and embarrassed at the same time.

"Just get that shit out of my sight will ya."

He yelled, seemingly getting back to his typical self.

"Alright, alright."

I waved him off. I got out and swiped the thing and took it with me inside.

Another one huh. It was a picture of a girl who just recently went missing according to the date written under the name Kate Palmer. She has a short blonde bob hair, a pair of glasses and brace.

"Another one bites the dust."

Clinton commented as he stated the car to our current mission at hand. Though my mind can't help but wonder, what is this creature doing in our town? How did it get here? Where did it came from? What does it want and what does it do to the missing girls?

…

Audrey Marshall

I woke up and felt like dying. I was panting, I couldn't breathe properly. Everything hurts. I silently whimpered in pain just from waking up.

I tried to mover but immediately regretted it as I gasped out in pain from attempting to sit up, white hot searing pain bolted through my whole body from my abdomen forcing me back to my original laying position. I went to touch my nose and immediately knew why I was struggling to breathe. It was clogged with dried blood. Lots of it. I couldn't get it off. A sob racked my body as soon as the pain and memory registered into my body and brain. I was stabbed out of nowhere and got dragged down, Clinton reaching out for me was the last thing I remembered. I probably will never get to see him again.

It took me a moment to snap out of it. Still sniffling here and there, I gathered all my strength, I tried to assess my surroundings; it was dark but not so much to the point that I couldn't see a thing. I can still make up boulders and a couple of apparatus, the walls and the ceiling. The ceiling has a huge hole on it making a weak strobe of light illuminate wherever the heck I am right now. A wet feeling dribbled down my face, is the ceiling leaking? I went to look up and wipe it of when some of it went on my mouth and a metallic taste spread through my tongue. My hands shook in the realization. I feel faint. I feel like I might have cracked my skull open. Am I going to die here? I don't want to. I still want to beat the bitch Carol from economics from trying to steal Clinton away from me. Before I could make my first step, I saw a grey figure in the distance.

I froze.

Is my kidnapper here? He didn't even tied me down or gagged me, but why? I took a few steps closer, trying to make out anything from that mysterious lump in the corner. Maybe its another kid like me. First that I recognize was the naked shoulder which guided me through its naked back then body and limbs. It was naked, the kidnapper might've had raped this poor thing and abused it to the point where it's just skin and bones. I was about to take another step closer when I saw a hand and blonde short locks sprawled on the floor just in front of the naked stick figure. My eyes seemed like it was zooming in on its own like a camera as it tried to focus on one detail at a time. I saw the naked figure rip a chunk of the girl's hair together with its scalp as it tossed it behind it, it landed directly in front of me, just by my feet. I felt sick. It took everything from me not to cream and vomit that instant from the horrific sight not so far away from me.

Please, anyone help me.