Missing ~Chapter 1~ The weather was at it's worse that winter.  The wind blew hard and the snow blew along with it.  You would have to be crazy to stay outside more than a minute.  No one was around but that girl.  The girl who had been running aimlessly for about 3 days or even longer, who could keep track?  She curled up by a snow mound that was blocking the wind off her body.  She sat staring at the empty road by her, hoping someone would be driving along and see her.  She hadn't slept in the whole time she was running.  She was too scared she might die in her sleep from hypothermia.  She held her arm close to her not feeling the pain anymore.  She thought it was broken but wasn't sure.  She pulled her hands inside the sleeves of her jacket trying to keep them from freezing but was having no such luck.  Her legs had practically gone numb.  She was beginning to think no one was out there that would help her.  She grew more and more tired by the minute and finally closed her eyes not caring if she would wake up again or not.  What's the point when you don't have any idea what you're doing there in the first place? ---------- It was a normal night for AJ, Brian, Kevin, Nick, and Howie.  They were on tour as usual and spending the rest of their night on a bus heading for another city to perform to a couple thousand screaming fans. "Oh come on someone play be!"  Nick pleaded trying to get someone to play Nintendo with him.  They all played with him for about an hour and grew tired of it. "Sorry man I have other things to do."  AJ replied going to the front of the bus to be alone for at least a minute before someone decided they wanted to join him. "I'm going to sleep."  Kevin said. "Me too."  Said Brian. Howie was already asleep.  What big bundle of energy he is huh?  Nick grumbled and put everything away and went up to the front of the bus to talk to AJ because he was the only one awake. "Hey whatcha up to?"  Nick asked joining him at the table in the kitchen area. "Just thinkin."  he replied. "About Melissa?" "Yeah."  He looked down trying to keep from making eye contact with Nick. "Don't worry man, you'll see her again." "But Nick it's been two months and she hasn't been around.  No one's seen her and she hasn't called me or answered her phone.  I'm worried about her." "We all are.  I mean she's like a sister to me.  She can't just up and disappear  Maybe she's just really busy with work.  You know how she gets with her work.  You have to think on the bright side that's all you can do."  He put his hand on AJ's shoulder.  "We have two more shows and we'll be free to look for her." "I'm going to sleep."  AJ said and with that he got up and went to his bunk while Nick followed behind him and went to his. Melissa is AJ's girlfriend of two years.  When he went on tour he never heard from her again.  None of her friends saw her or heard from her.  One day her best friend Alex went to her apartment to see if she was there.  She had a key so she went inside and there was no sight of Melissa and by the looks of the place she hadn't been there for a long time.  No one was all that worried.  She had disappeared before to her parents’ house for two weeks without telling anyone.  They figured she go back home sooner or later.  But when she didn't go home after about a month they started calling around but they got nothing.  Why they didn't go to the police is still a question AJ runs around in his mind.  He wanted so badly to go home and help look for her but he couldn't because of the tour and management and everything else.  He felt guilty because of it.  He tried so hard but they all talked him into staying. "Hey Nick?"  AJ said before he got into his bunk. "Yeah?" "What if something bad did happen to her?" "Don't worry AJ everything is going to be ok.  I'm sure she's fine."  Nick answered trying not to show the doubt he was feeling about his own response. ~Chapter 2~ Even if she wanted to sleep she couldn't.  She was over tired and thinking about all the events that had happened in the past few days.  The days she could actually remember. ~How long was I in there?~  she would ask herself.  ~What did I do to deserve it?~ was another question she would ask herself. A bright light snapped her out of her deep thoughts.  It took her a minute to be able to focus in on the object.  When her eyes were able to cooperate with her she saw that it was a bus.  A really big bus. ~Oh my god.~  she thought.  ~Finally someone can help me.~ She tried to get up but was finding it very difficult to be able to do this task.  When she did the bus was very close and she stumbled over to the side of the road and started waving her good arm while she kept the other one close to her side. "Help!"  she managed to choke out.  To her dismay, the bus kept on moving as though it had never seen her.  Tears streamed down the girls cheeks.  When she thought things couldn't get worse she heard a deep voice screaming, "Melissa!!  If you show yourself right now I promise I won't kill you!" She didn't know her name but she knew that voice so she figured it had to have been her name.  Her heart started to pound in her chest and her breathing increased.  She started limping away and going faster with every step.  Soon she was running as fast as she could.  There was no way in hell she would let him get to her without a fight. "Melissa!  I know you hear me!  Baby I'm not going to hurt you anymore!!!!"  Obviously the guy was drunk.  His speech was completely slurred  "God damn it Melissa!  Can't you see that I love you!  I'm only doing this to protect you!" She started sobbing as she was running for her life.  His voice was fading away as she ran.  She knew she was getting farther away from him.  She didn't stop running and wouldn't stop until she didn't hear his voice anymore, if then at all.  She didn't really know where he was coming from so she ran down the middle of the road.  He wasn't in his clunker of a truck.  You would be able to hear it a mile away, so he had to have been on foot.  Plus if she stayed on the road she might come across a car. "You're only hurting yourself Melissa!"  She heard him scream.  "There's no one out here to save you!  You're in the middle of no where!" ~No there has to be someone~  she thought as she continued to run.  She tried not to think of the pain running up her leg and the pain in her arm.  She couldn't think about that right now.  All she had to think about was running.  Far far away from him.  Again she saw another set of headlights. "Help me!"  she belted out while still running.  "Please help!"  Before she knew it she collapsed right there in the road and passed out. ~Chapter 3~ "AJ!  wake up!"  Brian said shaking AJ violently trying to get him to wake up. "Melissa!"  AJ said and snapped out of his sleep.  He looked at Brian confused as to why he was staring at him funny.  He figured he must have been talking in his sleep. "You're really worried about Mel aren't you?"  Brian questioned. "How'd you guess."  AJ said rolling his eyes.  "I've only been talking about her for who knows how long. "Well AJ you've been pretty quiet about everything.  Well except for Nick who you've only been talking to.  AJ you can talk to the rest of us you know that."  Brian said trying to get at least a little bit of information out of him. "I'm just so worried about her.  It isn't like her to not call me.  I just can't wait for the tour to be over so that I can find her myself." "And I'll be there to help you if you need me." "Thanks man.  You're a true friend." "And so are you and that's why I'm going to help you.  Remember all those times you helped me with all my girl troubles?  Well now I'm going to repay you." ---------- Melissa slowly opened her eyes.  She was being carried in the woods.  She was afraid to see who was carrying her.  But deep down she knew it was the guy who had been keeping her in that basement for so long. "Well it's nice to see that you're coming around."  he said. She almost threw up when she heard his voice she was so upset when she heard it.  All that time of trying to get away and in just a little amount of time he had caught her. "That was a big mistake Mel.  I had to convince that elderly couple that you weren't right in the head and that it took me all night to try and find you.  They probably went to the police but it's not like they can find us.  Just for that Mel you are never going to see the outside world for a long time." She didn't move trying to think of an escape plan.  She felt something pointy stick into her side. ~Oh right!  My cross!~  she thought.  Her mother had given her this cross on a chain before she died and Melissa kept it with her at all times.  The beer odered man kept on talking about how bad she had been and how she was going to "get it" when they got back, so he pretty much wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. ~On the count of three.~  she thought to herself.  ~One....two.....three~  quickly she pulled the cross from her pants and stabbed the guys eye with it. He let out a painful scream and dropped her and he fell to the ground as well.  She took the cross back and started to run again.  Daylight was starting to break through.  She had to run fast so she could get as far away as possible before it was too easy to see her.  She didn't know what direction she was supposed to be going in but she was going the opposite direction than that guy was going.  She could hear him screaming some vulgar words but she knew he wasn't going to go anywhere for awhile. ~Chapter 4~ "Fort Lauderdale."  Nick said to himself.  "At least we're closer to home."  He was trying to make AJ feel better.  "You know she might be around here." "One can only hope."  he answered.  Nick looked at Brian for help.  He didn't know what to do.  Obviously AJ was getting more and more depressed by the minute. Brian put up his index finger while mouthing, "One minute."  and he ran into the arena where they were going to perform that night. "Where is he going in such a hurry?"  Kevin asked while getting off the bus. "I have no idea."  Nick replied. "Well let's go inside for sound check."  Kevin said as he started to walk to the building.  The others followed silently. "This place is huge."  Nick commented when the four guys walked up on stage.  Still there was no sign of Brian.  Within a matter of minutes Brian went back up on stage and up to AJ. "Ok I pulled some strings and you can skip out on the last concert if you really want to." "No man I can't do that.  I'll just stick around for these last two."  AJ couldn't believe he just said that but he did.  At least there was an option to leave, which he probably wouldn't take. ~Melissa is ok.  I mean maybe she's staying with some friends back home and is coming back when I get home.~  he thought to himself.  Now the next thing to make himself feel better was to believe himself. "Ok maybe I won't do the next concert.  I just have this gut feeling that something's wrong." "All right.  Then after the show tonight you can go home."  Brian said. --------- Melissa wasn't running anymore.  She just couldn't.  The pain in her leg was getting worse so she was walking as fast as she could.  She knew she wasn't going in the same direction as she was the night before.  If that were so she would have been to the road again.  She had been walking for a good 4 hours.  She was beginning to think that she got away from him this time. "There has to be a road somewhere around here" she said to herself.  "There just has to be." As she walked she tried to remember who she was.  She obviously knew her name since that guy was screaming it to her.  But she couldn't remember anything else all that well.  She had images of people in her mind but she wasn't sure if they were really people she knew.  She  was beginning to get frustrated with herself.  A sound snapped her out of her thoughts. "Oh my god." she said.  She started to walk faster, almost running again but not quite.  She went through a thick line of trees and came across a highway.  She was saved. "Help!  Somebody help me!!"  she screamed while waving her arm in the air.  No one stopped.  She screamed even louder until finally a car pulled over to the side of the road. Chapters 5-8 Back to Fanfic Back to Main Page