The crowd nodded. Paige’s dad was known as Hanging Bonnet for his harsh way of dealing with people who appeared before him. The judge made the national news for his “shame sentences,” where he would make criminals do embarrassing things in public to teach them a lesson. Now they were saying he was a possible Republican candidate for a Senate seat.
“Do you think someone he sent to jail is getting revenge?” Emily asked. She looked nervous, as if she expected a horde of criminals to rush down the hall toward her for merely being Paige’s friend. I pretended to copy down the information from a flyer so she wouldn’t notice me.
Greyson shrugged. He was on the football team. I could never remember what position he played, but he wasn’t exactly known for his problem-solving skills. “I don’t know, maybe. I bet her parents are freaking out. She disappeared last Thursday, and it wasn’t until yesterday that they found her car. That’s a long time for an evil dude to have someone.”
Everyone was silent, as if pondering just how many bad things could happen. “Did you see the public plea her family did on TV? Her dad told Paige to stay strong and know that he’ll come find her,” Lindsey said. Everyone nodded. Anyone who missed it live had seen the clip over and over online. “Her dad even cried. You could see he didn’t want to, but he totally teared up. I mean, seriously, her dad.”
“Whoa.”
Dougie snorted and shook his head. “I feel almost bad for the guys who took her. Can you imagine how pissed she must be? Paige can be a real bitch when she’s crossed.”
Lindsey and her friends glared at him, and he backed up a step. “Geez, all I’m saying is that she can take care of herself.”
I coughed, trying to bury a nervous laugh that was about to break free. Lucy spun around and glared at me.
“You have a problem?” she asked.
“No. No problem.”
“Then maybe you should move on.” Lucy’s hands were on her hips. I could picture her fifty years in the future yelling at kids to get off her lawn while wearing her perfectly matched floral Lands’ End outfit.
I’d heard everything I needed to know anyway. I might as well go to class.
“That girl creeps me out,” Emily said in a loud whisper.
I felt another laugh burbling up. She had no idea. I spun around and slammed right into Drew, making me drop my bag. She grabbed my elbow to keep me from stumbling.
“You okay?” She picked up my bag and handed it back. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing.”
Drew watched the group move down the hall. “Did you hear about Paige last night?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Weird, huh?” Drew shuddered. “You don’t think stuff like that will happen around here.”
That was an understatement. Our town was the very definition of boring. Big excitement around here was the opening of deer season. Anyone who was a criminal mastermind had moved on to more exciting pastures. Before this, the only crime in our town was people selling weed or breaking into someone’s garage to steal power tools.
I jerked my head at the retreating group of Paige’s friends. “Yeah, I overheard those guys saying that it’s most likely related to her dad. It’s not some random thing.” I nudged her with my elbow. “I don’t think you have to worry. They’ll find her.” The last thing I needed was Drew getting sucked into this story. She’d always been fascinated by Paige.
She smiled. “I know. I hope she comes home soon.”
I threw my bag back over my shoulder. “She will.”
“You sound so certain,” she said.
I crossed my fingers. “Call it a hunch.”
Nine
Paige
I’ve been here five whole days. At least I think it’s been five days. The first day was really fuzzy. Since then I’ve been making a mark each morning so I don’t lose track. Not knowing how much time has passed makes it worse. Like my real life is less and less real. I keep pinching the skin just inside my elbow so I feel the pain.
They took my phone. They left me my backpack. I decided I should start writing things down. It’s something I can do. And I need to do something, because if I don’t, I know I’ll completely unravel.
First off—?I don’t know where “here” is. I’m pretty sure they drugged me at the airport. I remember struggling with one guy as he pulled me out of the car, then nothing. I woke up here. My head hurt so bad, and I was really nauseated. I vomited into the sink, and when I saw the blood, I was afraid something inside me was broken, but when I calmed down, I realized I must have bit my tongue when he hit me.
This place is a cabin. It’s like the bunkhouse I stayed in when I went to camp. They only left one blanket on the saggy double bed. A polyester bedspread, like the kind you find at cheap motels. It smells. At first I refused to use it. I got over that pretty quick. It gets cold at night.
All the windows are boarded up, except for a really narrow one near the ceiling. It’s way too small to crawl out. I tried for an entire afternoon to pry the boards off the other windows, but they didn’t budge. All I managed was to rip a fingernail and bury a bunch of splinters in my hands.
There’s what used to be a kitchen, but no fridge, although there’s a space where one might have been before. There’s a kettle and a hot plate. The cupboards have drifts of dried-out mouse turds in the corners. There’s a small bathroom—?just a toilet and sink. At least I have electricity. I’d rather have that than heat. I don’t think I could handle it if I had to sit in the dark. I leave the light on at night. If the bulb burns out, I don’t know what I’ll do.
The strangest thing is how silent it is. It’s almost like what it must be to be deaf, except I can hear my own heart beating. I started singing out loud just to have some noise. The second day I tried screaming for help. Nothing happened. Not that I expected it to. If they didn’t care if I yelled, it meant there was no one to hear me, but at the same time I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d disappeared into some kind of alternate reality. Someplace where I’m the only person left in the world.
They left me a case of bottled water, along with a loaf of Wonder Bread and a jar of Jif peanut butter. They didn’t leave me a knife; they weren’t that careless. All I have is a couple plastic spoons.
The first day I tried to figure out what I’d do when the kidnappers came back. I want to be the kind of person who comes up with some kind of plan for when they come in, a way to save myself. But, the truth is I don’t know what to do. I tried to fight back at the car, and all it got me was a hard slap across the face.
I always thought I was brave, but now I realize it was only because there was never anything I really needed to be scared of.
If I’m honest I’m less afraid of what they’ll do when they come back and more terrified that they won’t come back at all. The first couple of days I ate two or three sandwiches, but then I moved to one, and today I had just a half. I started doing the math to figure out how long I can make the food last, but I’m not even sure how much I need to eat to stay alive. Maybe they left just enough food to give me hope, but not enough to survive. I think that’s the most horrible part of all of this—?not knowing if I should hope or just give up.