Gone (Gone #1) (10 page)

Chad nodded. "Between my phone and the land line, I'm ready to smash them all."

"If it weren't for the chance of Macy calling, I would join you."

He smiled. "Could you imagine that? Us running around, destroying the phones?"

One corner of Alyssa's mouth curled up. "That would be quite a sight."

Chad's phone rang. "We could always start now. I've been wanting to upgrade anyway."

She shook her head. "Who's calling now?"

He looked at his phone. "Sherry again."

"Maybe we should answer. What if it's important?"

Chad handed her his phone.

Alyssa rolled her eyes, but took it anyway. "Sherry?"

"Hi, Alyssa. I'm sorry to bother you, and I won't keep you. I want to let you know that a bunch of the kids from the high school put together a candlelight service at the park near your house. It's supposed to start around seven. Then in the morning, there's going to be a rally. Missing posters have been printing all day and people are going to hand them out."

Alyssa stared into space, trying to take it all in. "I'm a terrible mother."

Chad gave her a questioning look.

"What do you mean?" Sherry asked. "Of course you're a wonderful mom."

"I should have been the one to put all that stuff together. I've been sitting around feeling sorry for myself."

"You're doing everything you can. You've been talking with the police and everything, dear. The community wants to rally around you. The news keeps talking about the worst, but the good news is that everyone is banding together. Everyone wants to help Macy return safely."

"Thanks, Sherry. Where's the rally?"

"Everyone is meeting at the high school around eight in the morning. You guys don't need to show up, but I think the support would really help."

"Of course we'll help. We'll be at the front of the line."

"We'll see you tonight. Just to let you know, the news media will probably be there."

"Good. The more coverage, the better. Thanks, Sherry." Alyssa ended the call and looked at Chad.

"What's going on?"

She repeated everything Sherry had told her, barely getting through without tears.

Chad held her again. "We'll get through all of this—and of course you're not a bad mom. How could you say that? You're the best mom around."

Alyssa couldn't hold the tears in any longer. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed.

The broken look on her face made him want to make everything right again. He kissed the top of her head and held her until she calmed down. "We've done what we could. Dealing with the police has been time consuming and stressful. They're being nice enough, but still treating us like we could be criminals. Family is always the first suspect."

"They need to get out there and find
Macy
."

"Between the fliers and the news coverage, everyone is going to know what Macy looks like, and hopefully someone will see her. When they do, they'll recognize her immediately."

"I hope she didn't get kidnapped. Do you think that's what happened?"

"I've been staring at that status update, and it sounded exactly like her. They say a predator could have forced her to log in and write that, but I don't know what to think. I've been so sure she was flipping us a giant bird for all to see, but with each passing hour, I start to doubt a bit more. She wouldn't be gone this long on purpose, would she?"

Alyssa shook again, more tears falling down her face. "It's not like her. She always threatens us before she does something. Even before going vegan, remember? She told us several times if we didn't start making healthier meals, she was going to follow the Hollywood trend and get skinny like the actors."

"I don't want to think about her being abducted. I can't." Chad blinked away tears of his own. "Teenagers are impulsive. They don't think anything through. She's been complaining that I let Alex get away with murder. She may have decided to stick it to me, and now she's afraid to come back, knowing I'll ground her."

"We need to give her more freedom. We have to. She's right. Her younger brother can do more than her."

Chad took a deep breath. "I don't want to have this argument now. We need to stick together. I don't know about you, but I can't make it through this, living at odds like we have been."

Alyssa looked like she was going to say something, but nodded instead. Chad moved the scrapbooks out of the way. "Let's get some rest before the rally." He grabbed his phone. "What time should I set the alarm?"

"Six."

He got comfortable and extended his arm. She crawled next to him and for the first time in a long while, they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Thwarted

Macy sat in the bed, listening for sounds of her fake dad going to bed. She could hear a sitcom, and every once in a while, his laughter. She didn't want to lie down—if her head felt the pillow, she knew she would be asleep right away.

It had already been two hours. When was he going to go to bed? She yawned, unable to deny how tired she was. Sleeping in a bale of hay had been almost as bad as not sleeping at all. Sleeping in the truck had been even worse.

She could hear music, and it sounded like a new show starting. Maybe he was staying up on purpose—to keep her inside. His laughter drifted in through the door along with canned laughter from the sitcom, as though in response to her thoughts.

Perhaps sleep was her best option, at least for the time being. Maybe it would take a couple of days for him to trust her enough for her to get away.

Giving into her heavy eyes, she set the alarm for eight, figuring that would be enough time. She wouldn't need a shower, and the cold pie would already be ready.

She dug through the drawers for some pajamas. At least Heather had comfortable ones.

Who was Heather, anyway? Aside from being his daughter, of course. Being in her room, Macy had a feel for the kinds of things she liked, but still knew nothing about her. Most importantly, where was she?

It sounded like her mom had been killed, but she didn't know for sure. She was supposed to say the mother was staying in Paris. Macy shook her head. Whatever had happened to Heather, it couldn't have been good.

Unless she and her mom really had stayed in Paris. It stood to reason that they would have wanted to get away from Chester. Maybe they were living it up under the Eiffel Tower—eating cold pie for breakfast—while Macy was forced to be the fill-in daughter.

She climbed into bed and pulled the covers up. She looked around the room before lying down. If she wasn't able to make her escape soon, she would go through the room to figure out what she could. She turned off the light on the nightstand.

As her head hit the pillow, she fell right to sleep. She dreamed of her family and Zoey. In her dreams, she was back home and everything was back to normal, except for everyone asking her where she had gone.

Macy sat up in bed, clutching the blankets. She didn't know what had woken her. She couldn't remember any bad dreams, nor did she think she heard any sounds. The house was quiet, so much so that she could hear some of the animals from the barn. Maybe that was what had woken her.

She certainly wasn't used to those noises when she slept in a bed.

The sun was starting to come up.

Could this be her chance? She climbed out of bed, holding her breath, fearful to make even a small noise. She tip-toed to the door, cringing each time her foot found a squeaky board.

Macy took a slow, quiet, deep breath before grabbing the doorknob. Should she get dressed first? In case she was able to make a run for it? She shook her head, holding her breath. She needed to check everything out first.

Turning the knob as slow as possible, she was relieved to find that it made no noise. She pulled the door open, silent except the noise of it sliding over the carpet. She stepped out of the room and gasped, covering her mouth.

Leaning against the wall, on the floor in front of her was the picture he had stolen from her house. Her parents, her brother and herself all smiled from the frame. She stared at it for a moment before closing the door as quietly as she could, her heart pounding nearly out of her chest.

She leaned against the closed door, trying to catch her breath.

He was reminding her of his threat to kill her family if she tried to get away. He was letting her know that he had gotten into her house once, and he could do it again.

Her heart sank. She couldn't risk the lives of her family.

What if she ran away, and then he went straight to her home and killed them?

She looked around the room. What if Chester had killed Heather and her mother? Someone crazy enough to kidnap would be nuts enough to kill.

Shaking, she climbed back into the warm bed. Even with the covers pulled up, she couldn't stop shivering.

What was she going to do? She couldn't live here, pretending to be Heather. Someone would have to figure it out, wouldn't they? He had said something about grandparents. Surely they would know Macy wasn't their granddaughter. They would have to. Even if Macy looked exactly like her, there was no way she spoke and acted like her.

Heather had to have gone to school and had friends.
They
would know she wasn't Heather. Zoey would know right away if someone posed as Macy.

Pulling her knees to her chest, Macy held her legs close, and took deep breaths. She couldn't stop shaking, nor would her heart slow down.

Even though she had called Chester "dad," he didn't trust her yet. How long would that take? When would she have enough trust to be able to sneak away?

She sighed and looked around the room, which was slowly getting lighter. If she stayed up a little longer, she'd have enough light to go through the room and see if she could find anything out about the girl who had lived there.

Hopefully, Heather was in Paris with her mom, but what were the chances of that? Who was Macy kidding? She couldn't imagine Chester leaving without them. He would have insisted they come with him, even if he had to threaten them. Either they had run away, like Macy wanted to, or Chester had done something to them, like he had threatened to do to her family.

She had finally stopped shaking. Even though she knew she would have to get up soon, she still felt sleepy. With a little more rest, she would have the energy to get away if given the chance.

Sometime later a loud, obnoxious beeping woke her up. She sat up, looking for the alarm, not remembering where it was. When she saw it, she hit every button until it turned off.

She would have to fix that before she set it again. Macy was a light sleeper. She didn't need an alarm loud enough to wake the dead.

Pulling the covers up, she wanted to stay in bed. She remembered the horrible room under the barn. At least this was better than that. She had an actual bed, and even food. She could even pee in a toilet. Who would have thought that would be a blessing?

Macy got up and went to the drawers, finding something to wear. The clothes were dull compared to what she normally wore, but at least they were clean.

She found a couple pieces of makeup in a box on top of the dresser—mascara and pale lip-gloss. She was going to have to get used to seeing herself without eyeliner, unless she was allowed to go to the store and get some—which she figured was out of the question.

Using the mirror on top of the dresser, she put the makeup on, refusing to think of how gross it was to wear someone else's products. Her mom had always lectured her on how unhygienic that was. But what else was she supposed to do? She was even wearing Heather's underwear, which she didn't want to think about.

When Macy was done, she looked in vain for a brush. She would have to go to the bathroom.

Macy took a deep breath. She didn't want to face the picture again. But when she opened the door, she was surprised to see it was gone.

Was he messing with her? She almost laughed at herself. Of course he was messing with her. That's what all of this was about.

She found a brush in the bathroom. Her hair had gone wild, sticking out in every direction. Brushing only made it worse. She dug through the drawers, hoping to find something. There were no gels or anything. Didn't the girl even have a cheap, drugstore brand flat iron? Something?

All she found was a small container full of hair bands. She pulled out a black one and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Yuck. She hated how she looked in those. She saw some clips and pulled her bangs back too. There was no way she would be able to style her side bangs without a flat iron or hairspray.

Macy looked in the mirror. She looked like someone else with her hair pulled back and barely any makeup. Was that the point? So she would forget who she really was?

Her stomach rumbled, so she went to the kitchen. Chester sat at the table, reading a newspaper. Some music played in the background. Music?
That's classy
, Macy thought sarcastically.

He looked up. "Oh, good. You have barely enough time to eat. I left the pie in the fridge, so it will be as cold as possible—just how you like it, Heather. Grab some and sit down. I've already eaten."