Chapter 26: The Kidnap 1

"So my guess was not wrong. He is not in school", Jessie said to Alyssa, who she met again at the cafeteria. She had asked Carl about Charles when she met him, and she was told he was not in school.
"But do you have any idea why he is not in school?", Alyssa questioned, taking a bite from the sausage she was eating. The night before, while Alyssa and Jessie were chatting, even before Charles called, they deeply talked about things that concerned their relationships.
With the cool breeze of the night blowing on their skin, Alyssa kept on throwing questions at Jessie, asking her what she felt towards Charles, and Jessie trying to act tough, continued standing on the ground that they were just friends. That night also, Jessie did a good job convincing Alyssa to forgive Charles. Though Alyssa had not forgiven him, the hatred and anger she was beginning to feel towards him were subsiding, to Jessica, it was definitely a good start.
"I have no idea, he never told me he wasn't coming when he dropped me off earlier this morning"
"Oh my..., Charles dropped you off this morning?", Alyssa yelled out, raising her palms to her mouth, "where did you go to? tell me, tell me, I want to know everything that happened and how you ended up with him?"
"Okay", Jessie smiled, then went on telling her the story. Skipping the part of the conversation she had with Charles before he decided to drop her off and leaving the part where he caused her chills also.
In the suburbs of Carlton city, Oswald parked his car gazing into the open space through the front windshield. The evening sun cast long shadows on the ground and the slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky. The fast movement of vehicles broke the silence of the evening, and Oswald's gaze stayed steadily, fixed on nothing.
"Bro", a guy walked over to where Oswald's car parked and knocked on the passenger door. Oswald picking up the action immediately opened the door and let him in. "Any useful information?", he asked.
"I've not found much, but the people around the area said she had passed her night there a couple of days as they noticed she always went there in the evening"
"Jessica", Oswald gritted his teeth, and the sides of his chin fell into a frown, with his eyes darkened.
"The last of her whereabouts I know, she was making her way to the grocery store situated by the left of the City Hospital, I'm not familiar with the name of the store though", the man who just got into the car, informed.
"Thank you. I think that's enough information", Oswald voiced out, as he opened his dashboard and brought out a wad of cash, handing it over to the man, who opened the car and went away after receiving it.
Stepping on the accelerator, Oswald drove off at speed, into the busy life of Carlton city.
"Hello", Jessie voiced out. It was the second time she was dialing Charles's number, so she felt glad that he finally picked up the call. Not seeing him at school that day, she was bothered what the reason may be and she decided to call him.
On that particular day, Charles had to travel back to his family house not too long after dropping Jessie, off to settle some issues that were about developing between his parents. His Father always had an attitude of womanizing which pained his mother deeply, so once again she threatened to break out of the marriage. The divorce, as Charles was certain, was not only going to affect his younger siblings but was going to weaken the company's financial strength also. He decided to come back that day, no matter what, as he had a very important test the next day. He was just on his way back, riding towards his house at Carlton when a call came on his phone.
"Hi ", he said bluntly to the caller, that turned out to be Jessie.
"I hope you are doing okay?", Jessie asked, as she made her way to the exit door of the grocery store with the stuff she had bought.
With one of his hands on the steering wheel, and the other holding his phone to his ear, Charles still managed to mumble, "I am fine", in response to Jessie. He was not in a good mood, because of the happenings at his home earlier, but he did not want to pour out his frustration on her either, so he decided to keep his conversation short.
"Oh.., okay", Jessie stuttered, noticing the reluctance in his voice to have the conversation with her, "I was just a little bit bothered, so I decided to check on you. But since you are fine, then it's cool. We will just talk some other time"
"Okay", Charles said, then hung up.
Walking down the street, as she was in no hurry to go home, and Jessie wanted to clear her mind also, the evening gradually began to draw into the night, and the colorful street lights beautifying Carlton city went on. She had spent a lot of time shopping, and she still delayed herself from going home, as she strolled, taking slow calculated steps.
The night sky was aglow with bright city lights, and the pale crescent moon shone like a silvery claw in the night sky. Lost in the awe of the night, Jessie looked up at the blanket of stars that stretched to infinity, trying to form an image from them. The occasional barking of faraway dogs broke the silence of the night she was lost in, and then she heard another noise.
It was a footstep, then another. The street she walked in was quite dark and lonely, so she did not feel good about the footsteps she heard behind, and not just that, it felt like they were following her. Trying to not act scared, she picked up her pace, trying to walk fast to where people were. A thought came to her mind, and immediately she picked up her phone. The closest number to dial was Charles's number as he was the last caller, so she tapped on it instantly, taking fast strides also.
On her emergency dial, the two numbers that were there were that of Luciana and Mrs. Ranez. But it had never crossed her mind that she was going to use it, so she just placed it there to fulfill all righteousness. But now, that it seemed like she was in danger, she realized none of those two numbers was a good option, as Mrs. Ranez will be at work and Luciana was not really strong, so she settled on Charles.
"Hello", she hastily said, not even waiting to get a response from him, "I think I am in danger, some people are trailing me".
Charles picked up the call mistakenly, as he did not understand why she had to call him again. He felt she was obsessed with him, and that day was not the day to endure her disturbance, so decided to drop the phone aside. But as luck will have it, he tapped on the answer button instead. The only thing he was aware of, was that he was on a call, and his ears caught the word, "I am in danger, some people are trailing me", then he rushingly took his phone and placed it in his ear.
"Where are you?", he inquired tensely. His adrenaline pumped into action instantly, and his heartbeat increased faster, with his pupils dilating.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
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