I was too shocked to say anything after what Zacky had just said. There was a strong possibility he was taken? But, he’s Brian. Who would want to take him? Was it physically possible for him to just be snatched up? I couldn’t help but hope he was okay during my broken thought process of not being able to say anything.

“Hello? Earth to Payden? What’s going on,” Johnny asked, sounding frightened himself. I could also hear Zacky calling out my name from the other end of the line, until Johnny decided to take my phone, pressing it to his own ear, “What the hell is going on? Care to explain?” he asked, and he went silent for a minute as I assumed Zacky was explaining everything, “How can this be? Did you guys report it to the police?” he asked, and went silent again, “I don’t care. I’m calling them, and I’m going to say he’s been gone for two days. You’ve got to think outside of the box,” he said, hanging up and dialing another three digit number, “Yeah, I’d like to report a missing person,” he said, and I finally snapped out of it, looking at him as he made the call, “Yeah, for about 48 hours,” he lied, and then gave them an address. It wasn’t long before he was off of the phone, “they’re on their way over here, okay,” he asked, looking at me with concern, and I nodded, not being able to trust my voice. We sat in silence until there was knocking on the door, and Johnny got up to go answer it, and I could once again see the navy blue uniform of the police officer.

They talked for a little bit at the door until they finally came in, and the officer stood in front of me, while Johnny sat back down. I looked up at him, because that’s the only thing I could really do.

“Ms. Harris?” the officer asked, and I just looked at him with a blank expression on my face. Of course I was worried, but I wasn’t yet able to process any of my thoughts or emotions.

“Yes,” I asked, my tone not adopting any feeling whatsoever.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen Mr. Haner?” he asked, and I shrugged.

“About two days,” I lied. I didn’t like lying, but if it meant them looking for Brian a lot sooner, then I would do what I had to.

“Well, we’ll start searching for your friend. Where was the last place you saw him,” he asked.

“Here, I broke my leg, so I was staying with him. He went to the guys’ studio to record some solos, and never came back,” I told them, this time I was able to be truthful about it.

“Did you ever go check the studio,” he asked skeptically, and I carefully nodded my head.

“My friends should be heading back from there now,” I told him, and he wrote that down on the little pad he was writing on.

“I understand that not too long ago, there was a call to the cops here,” he asked, and I nodded, causing Johnny to look at me in a confused way. That’s right, nobody but Brian knew that there was somebody ‘hunting me down’. I had almost forgot that somebody wanted me dead, and I was wishing I was able to forget again.

“What exactly was that for,” he asked.

“Somebody threw a brick in through the window, and there was a note attached to it saying somebody was hunting me down. It didn’t say who it was from, just the initials ‘RH’,” It all rushed out, so now Johnny knew about the previous incident.

“Ma’am, do you think it would be possible that whoever threw that brick took your friend,” he asked, and I once again shrugged.

“I don’t know what happened, but I guess it could be possible,” actually, it would make a lot of sense. If somebody was out to get me, of course they would take away any protection I had. Not to mention, he was a close friend, and it was a low and very personal hit for them to ‘nap him.

“Well, we’ll start doing as much as we can Ms. Harris, though with all those other missing persons, I can’t guarantee that much,” he told me, and I nodded understanding.

“As long as it’s something,” I said, and he gave me a smile.

“Most certainly. You’ll hear from us soon,” he said, and turned to walk to the door. I sighed, hoping the next time I heard from them, it would be them telling us Brian was found and safe, though I had a bad feeling that it wasn’t going to be the case. I didn’t listen to it, which was another bad sign, because every time I didn’t listen to my gut instinct, something bad happened. Right as the officer walked out, Zacky and Saleigh rushed in with concerned looks on their faces.

“What are we going to do,” Zacky moaned as he plopped down in the recliner, his heads landing in the palms of his hands.

“We have to tell everybody else,” I said, my worry rising as the realization of the seriousness of this situation hit me, “I mean, as glad as we’d usually be with Brian not being here, everybody else needs to know, even if everybody else is just Matt and Val,” I continued and finished.

“She’s right,” Zacky agreed, “we have to get Matt and Val over here, and tell them about this. I’ll call them now,” he said, and stepped into the kitchen as Saleigh sat down next to me, worry all over her face.

“I never thought this day would come, but I’m worried about him,” she said, not seeming too pleased with the thought she had any emotion towards Brian.

“It’s the same for me, too. I actually kind of got close to him since I’ve been staying here. This feel like home,” I said, feeling like a sad expression came across my face, and a face of what Saleigh thought was realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

“Oh my god,” she stared at me wide-eyed, “you totally love him,” she said, and I just looked at her with a face so full of concern mainly for her mental health.

“I’m not even going to respond to that,” I looked at her, and then shook her statement off.

“Do they know about the whole brick-in-the-window thing?” Johnny asked, and I could have punched him as he said that. Something I wanted to keep from everybody was now out thanks to the little short shit.

“No, and they weren’t going to,” Zack stared at him blankly, and he stared back at me with the same expression, “but the cat’s out of the bag now, so I guess they’ll have to know,” I said, and slouched back in the couch. I looked down at my cast, excited that I was finally getting it removed tomorrow, and Saleigh forced a fake cough from her throat, and I looked up at her with a puzzled look.

“What happened with a brick?” she asked, confusion very noticeable in the face she was making.

“I’ll tell you when Matt and Val get here,” I promised, though I still didn’t want to talk about it, possibly psyching everybody out.

,,,

“And yeah, there may be somebody wanting me dead,” I finished the story to everybody, trying my best to remember all of the incidents.

“Who do we know with the initials ‘RH’?” Val asked, “It seems familiar.”

“Nobody that I know of,” Zacky said, shaking his head as he sat on the arm of the loveseat Matt, Val, and Saleigh grouped up together on. The front door opened, and everybody looked to see Brian limping through the frame, shutting the door behind him.

“Oh my fucking god, you the fuck have you been,” Val stood up, whilst balling up her fists.

“I don’t even know. I was working on a solo at the studio, and then I woke up in some abandoned house in the other part of Huntington. They took everything. My phone. Wallet. Guitar. Luckily I took the wrong wallet, so all of my cards and shit are in my room,” he said, and plopped down on the couch. His hair was fucked up, and his clothes were dirty.

“Shit, are you alright?” Johnny asked, looking at him with concern.

“Yeah, I feel alright, I just need to take a shower. I’m hoping I wasn’t drugged though,” he said, putting his head in his hands.

“Yeah, it would suck if you died, wouldn’t it,” Saleigh said, sarcastically.

“You know, Saleigh. I think I have some pictures of you when you were blonde,” Brian smirked sadistically.

“Where? On your phone?” Saleigh’s grin matched Brian’s almost perfectly.

“Yea-“ He started, and once he realized what was going on, his face dropped, “fuck,” he muttered.

“Brian,” I interrupted them, “I think you should go take a shower. You smell like ass,” I said in the nicest way possible.

“You’re right,” he said, starting to stand up.

“And we should probably go back home, too,” Valary got up as well, “I’d hug you, but ew,” she said jokingly, “also, I think we should all go out tomorrow, since Payden’s finally getting her cast off. Mexican, maybe?” she asked, and there was a quiet agreement going around.

“That will be a cluster fuck,” Zacky mumbled, and I laughed slightly, remembering the last time we all went out to eat together. Johnny and Jimmy started a food fight between each other. Then thinking of Jimmy, I remember seeing him in my apartment, after his death. It would be dangerous, but I had to figure out what was going on. There were people after me. I don’t know what reasons they were after me for, because I always stayed away from anything harmful. But then thinking back to what Jimmy said in his note, I wondered how much of this current situation has to do with Jimmy. I was snapped out of it when Brian was clapping in my face, and I looked up at him to see that he had showered and the living room was empty.

“Are you alive now? Is Payden’s mind back on Earth?” he asked, and a smile started crawling its way onto his face.

“Yeah. I was just thinking,” I admitted sheepishly, and started playing with the fabric on the couch, hoping he wouldn’t ask what I was thinking about.

“What were you thinking about,” his voice soothed, and I shrugged.

“Jimmy,” I muttered, quickly blinking, so I could drive away any threatening tears.

“I’m sorry,” he said, the frown obvious in his voice. I looked up at him, and he put his arms around me, cradling me to his chest, “I know it must be hard on you. It’s hard for us to. He was my closest fucking friend ever. We grew up together. I know how this loss feels, trust me,” he said, and a few tears guided themselves out of my eyes, and down to my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away and straightened up.

“We’ve got to get up tomorrow pretty early. Doctor’s appointment. Cast,” I kept my sentences short as Brian helped me stand up, and I grabbed the crutches, and took myself to the room I was staying in. He helped me get into the bed, there was no need for changing, because all I wore around the house was pajama pants, and I barely ever even left. He tucked me in, and closed the door as he walked out. I turned over, facing the big window, staring at the closed blinds. I wasn’t really tired, but I had to have an excuse to be left alone.

All I could really think about at the moment was what was going on. I’m not going to lie, it scared me.

©Shannon.

Notes

Brian sho shweet. Or is he just acting? o;

xoxo, Shannon.