{inserts relevant angry D.OB gif}

"No, but what would you wear."

Matthew seriously appraised the outfit I was showing the guys in order to get their opinions on the matter. Axel shook his head, laughing as he concealed his face with his hands as if he truly couldn't believe what was happening.

"I'd wear that." Matthew nodded.

"You've said that for the last five shirts." I groaned.

"Dude," Topher sounded pained. "They all looked the same. Do you still have your junk in those skinny jeans or have you completely transformed into a girl now? I feel like I've lost my masculinity even just participating in this conversation."

"Look," I snapped. "I'm already half an hour late. I mean, I wanted to be late to look cool and shit but if I take any longer she'll think I've changed my mind or something. It's taken this long to just ask her-"

"He's definitely grown a vagina." Axel stated.

I glowered at both Axel and Topher. "I've never been on a proper date in my entire life so fuck you, guys. I don't know what stupid protocol I'm meant to follow. I just know it needs to be better than that posh brat Beckett's that she went on. Just tell me what to wear, it's not that hard."

"They all look good, but I think a bow tie would look cute." Matthew replied earnestly.

I turned to the other two again, pleading. "Do I honestly have to beg you?"

"Jeans, sneakers and bomber jacket. What you usually wear so it doesn't look like you're making too much of an effort. Put on a nice shirt." Axel said, then having lost interest wandered off toward the kitchen no doubt in search of ice cream.

"We don't have icecream in!" I called, hurriedly lacing my tatty Chuck Taylor's as Axel's groan travelled down the hallway. I turned to Topher, "What shirt?"

"Red and blue checked one," He said immediately. At my questioning look he elaborated further, "Its buttons pop rather than fasten. Easier to rip off during sexy time."

He threw it to me from the crumpled heap it was in by his feet, winking. I shot him the middle finger before whipping my black tee off to replace it with the shirt.

"You know," I fumbled over the buttons as I hurried. "This could have been over ages ago. This was one of the first outfits I'd tried on and you guys were as much help to me as a brick wall."

"Obviously we didn't think it'd drag on. Go hire someone else to be your fashion guru, dude, I'm beat." He rested his head against my sofa's arm rest and shut his eyes.

Driving to Flora's didn't take long. Surprisingly, it was her answering the door that seemed to be the problem. I banged my fist against the wooden frame for what had to be the tenth time. The doorbell didn't seem to be working.

"Flora?" I yelled through the letter box. "Quit being difficult, honey. I know I'm really late but- eh," Was she mad? Christ it had taken me this long to get the balls to ask her out and I'd blown it, hadn't I? "I'm sorry. Can you just answer the door? I'm freezing my butt off out here."

No answer.

"Flora?" I tried the handle, which of course was locked. Though it might have been convenient if it hadn't been, I was glad she was keeping herself safe. Safe with Ian a voice in the back of my head reminded me and I shuddered. "Flora I'm going to have to climb through the window like old times. Well, I still do it so I guess it's like present times, but I'm going to ruin the whole gentleman picks you up on your doorstep vibe I had going on..."

Something wasn't right. Flora was many things, sometimes even slightly neurotic if I was being honest with myself, but I knew she wasn't terribly sensitive. In certain respects she was sensitive, but most definitely not in this one. She took things on the chin. If anything offended her, managed to somehow make it through that tough exterior of hers she so often put up, she'd hide it by all means. She didn't like people seeing her weak or knowing that anything was wrong with her. Flora hated that, and so ignoring me over being late shouldn't have been a problem. Even if it had, I should have at least heard a laugh when I referred to myself as a gentleman. A witty retort claiming otherwise from the other side of the door.

I hadn't.

I made my way toward the window. Thankfully it was already slightly ajar and so I didn't have to do any lock picking. Not that I wasn't capable of breaking and entering within the space of a few moments (because I took more pride in that than I should have) but I had this overwhelming feeling that something was amiss and I needed to make sure Flora was alright as soon as possible. I'd probably get an earful of complaints within no time, Flora shouting about me not taking a hint. Something would happen that'd prove I was overreacting... I hoped.

The first thing I noticed was the heaps of clothing dotted around the living room in evenly spaced out mountains. The thought of her having as much trouble deciding what to wear as I did, if not more, and it being Flora of all people made me grin. It didn't stay on my face long, however, as I caught sight of the mess that was the hallway.

My stomach sank.

Two pictures had been torn from the wall, glass fronts shattered and wooden frames splintered as though having been trod upon; the bowl that normally sat on the shelf near the door containing the keys was in a dozen pieces, fragments scattered along the hallway and some stuck between the floorboards; an ornament had been beheaded, presumably from its fall to the ground, and lay on its side next to my foot. Worst of all was the red smear on the floor. I tried to convince myself Flora had taken up a new hobby. Surely this hallway was abstract art, the red was paint, and any moment now the spritely girl would skip down the stairs to claim she was simply letting her creative juices flow before our outing.

"Flora?" The panic was rising, I could feel it. It was Olivia all over again. She'd been thrown out of the car as we'd crashed and I'd crawled out to see her lying on the roadside, motionless. She'd looked asleep. Content. Nobody could have told the difference if it hadn't been for that red smear across the tarmac that led straight to her tiny little head. It only took a smudge of crimson after a head whacking to turn out somebody's light for good. "Flora!"

The house was silent. Empty.

If I hadn't been concentrating so hard on detecting signs of life, I wouldn't have heard the creak of foot upon old flooring above me. I took to the stairs two at a time.

It wasn't Flora that that greeted me, however, but Skylar. Her face set with grim determination and a broken, sharp ended piece of wooden picture frame held in her grasp, she charged. There was barely any time to step out of the way and it was nothing short of a miracle that the makeshift weapon only snagged my shirt sleeve. I'd been quick, and Skylar's aim hadn't been the best what with her shaking like a leaf.

"What the fuck is going on?" I all but shouted.

"You tell me!" She screeched, eyes glistening with fresh tears.

"Where's Flora? Is she alright? What happened?"

Skylar threw the makeshift weapon that she'd previously been clinging to like a lifeline at my chest. "You honestly think I know any of the answers to your questions? I just got here before you because I left my keys and I knew where her spare was kept and- and I was welcomed to this! You should be giving me those answers. What happened to your date? Maybe you should have arrived on freaking time to tell me what the hell went on here. Did you or any of your stinking friends have anything to do with this? Has she run off scared because you've tried to take her some place or touch her or-"

"Don't you dare blame me for this," I grit my teeth together. "Get your cell. Call the police."

Her eyes went wide. "What?"

"Call. The. Police. You know, those guys in uniform with the badges and sirens on their cars? Ring a bell?"

Apparently it didn't, for she continued to gawp at me like a fish out of water. "The p-police? Do you think it's that serious?"

"Take a look around, you idiot!"

"Okay... Okay! Okay!" She brought out her phone and fumbled over the buttons before raising it to her ear. "Hi, um, I'd like to report a- a-" She looked to me for guidance.

"A break in and-" I hesitated myself this time. "Missing person."

Skylar burst into tears. Unable to understand her myself, I knew the police would have even less of a chance of distinguishing the English language in amongst the wails. I took the phone from her and reported the issue myself, supplying them with Flora's address and the urgency of the matter from what looked like a blood stain on the floor. Upon hearing this, Skylar's hysteria level reached its peak. I hung up.

"Skylar, I know this is hard but you've got to keep it together. Now, can you tell me anything important that I need to know before the police come here?"

"What?" She wiped at her leaking eyes.

"Did you see anybody when you came to pick up your keys? Even just a shadow? Enough to tell if the person that took her had the shape of a man or a woman?" Was he a ginger man with a vendetta against me known by the name Ian? Was what I really wanted to ask.

"N-no, but I looked for clues. Flora's not the sort of person to go down lightly. Neither of us are. We might be different in a lot of other aspects, but we both share the same idea when it comes to- abduction. If Liam Neeson in Taken taught us anything, it's to leave clues if you can't reach a phone quick enough to scream the description of your enemy down the line. We had a discussion about that, believe it or not."

I ran my hands down my face. "There's zero time for film references, Skylar. I think I know what's roughly happening here and I need you to tell me if you know anything before the police come. They're bound to be here any minute now and I have to go."

"I- wait, why won't you be here when the police arrive?"

"Skylar!" I snapped. "What do you know?"

"W-well I didn't recognise the name, but it looked like she tried to trace Mason into the flour on the kitchen count-"

I didn't let her finish before I raced to the kitchen to see for myself. Everything was a mess, including the barely legible name on the flour, but I knew who it was immediately. Nobody else that I knew of would be likely to target Flora. It had to be one of three people, and the name on the counter top certainly didn't look like Ian's or Hayden's.

"Where are you going?" Skylar, breathless and bemused, moved in front of me to block the door. "The police will be here soon. We need to give statements and- and tell them what we know! You can't leave me to handle this all by myself!"

"Skylar," I tried to keep my voice calm for her sake. "The police will come here within the next few minutes. You're not going to tell them about my being here-"

"But-"

"-because that'll create suspicion. I know things that the police don't. Things that will help bring Flora back to us. Unfortunately if I told them any of it, it would just lead to more questions and bigger drama. They'd want to know why she was targeted, why the guy was dangerous... They'd postpone looking for her in order to interrogate me first. Flora has to be the priority. You're strong. I trust you can handle this on your own. Just don't let them know I was here."

"Okay, but what if they ask who the guy was that was on the phone with me?" Her face was dry now and she had a very fierce look plastered to it. It was a look that meant no matter how shifty I was acting, she was trusting me to find her best friend who she'd do anything for. It was a look that meant if I failed to bring her back and she'd lied to the police for no good reason, she'd hunt me down to the ends of the earth and slaughter me slowly and painfully.

"A random guy passing by. He planned on being an anonymous tipper until you showed up looking for your keys. He stayed until you'd called them before leaving." I put my hands on her shoulders and she half shut her eyes, trying and failing to keep her breathing steady. "I'll be back with Flora before they get the chance to check CCTV or anything like that. It'll be alright."

She nodded and shrugged my hands from her. "Hurry up. Go."

"I'll see you soon, Skylar. Everything will be sorted before you know it." I called over my shoulder as I sprinted out of the house with Jason's place in mind.

***

After calling Matthew, Axel and Topher to request their help, we searched the streets from Flora's house all the way to Jason's on a painfully slow drive. I wanted nothing more than to press my foot down on the gas and speed directly to Jason's house, but our best bet was to ensure there was no sign of them on the streets. Jason was sly. I'd known him for years, and so I knew that taking Flora to his place was too obvious. Unfortunately it was the only lead we had.

It had to have been hours later when I finally parked in front of Jason's house, and just as I did, my phone rang. I could see the guys pulling over behind me, the three of them piled in Axel's car with grave faces. They were all beginning to clamber out, but this was the third time Hayden had called me within that minute. I was starting to get a feeling that he might know something.

"Dude!" Topher knocked at my window. I rolled it down. "This is literally life or death and you're making a call?"

"It's Hayden. I let him know that we've been out searching the streets. Asked if Jason had said anything to him about Flora. He said he didn't. Told me I was overreacting and to let the police handle it if something had happened rather than get myself into more trouble."

"Are you kidding? You know how friendly the two of them have been! Why would you-"

"And you know that no matter how hostile Hayden is, he wouldn't kidnap an innocent girl." I interrupted, glancing at my phone. "He hardly ever calls anymore... I don't know. I've just got a bad feeling. What if I don't pick up and it turns out he knew something about Flora?"

Topher looked how I felt. Torn. "Whatever. Just make it snappy, we're waiting on you to break into that sicko's house."

"You're right, what am I doing?" I hit ignore and threw the phone to the passenger seat as I climbed out. "We're wasting time. We need to get Flora. Now."

Crying usually made me tired. Whether it was the excessive amount of tears that leaked from my eyes before drying them that made them feel like shrivelled prunes unable to stay open; or plainly for the fact that my face got so puffy I had no other alternative but to shut my eyes and let them get lost in my pink, inflamed cheeks, I didn't know. What I did know was that I'd never cried more than I had tonight - at least not for a long time - and I'd never felt this exhausted. Tears weren't the only thing that had left my body, for I'd lost every ounce of energy I had left.

Somewhere between my hysterical blubbering and numerous attempts of escape from the room filled to the brim with pictures of myself, I'd been tied to a chair. It was wooden, uneven legged, and just about as comfortable as sitting on a slab of concrete. Something that looked like electrical wire had been bound around my wrists to keep them pinned behind the seat's back and I couldn't even bring myself to struggle out of the tightly wound loops. Not only did I feel like a lifeless corpse, but the wire was so snug that it was already cutting off my circulation without ever having attempted to free myself of it.

Jason was smoking, the epitome of relaxed as he leant against the wall before me with one of his legs bent and foot flush against the wall. He slapped one hand to the thigh of his bent leg leaving his cancer stick wedged between his lips unattended.

"Well," He sighed, voice a little muffled as he tried to keep the cigarette balanced with his teeth. "At least the crying is over. You know, it's kind of heartbreaking. Watching you cry, I mean. Knowing I'm the cause of it. You're so pretty when you aren't crying. I hate to be the one ruining your looks."

"I'll stop crying if you untie me." I said in as even a voice as I could muster. Unfortunately it cracked halfway through and I sounded more like a hoarse old woman.

"You know what my favourite picture is?" He asked, ignoring my response. Jason walked to the wall farthest right and pointed to one of the polaroids. It was a closeup of my face peering out of a broken window. The window that had been shattered by the brick Jason convinced Hayden to throw. "This one. That's when I knew I really wanted you. You don't look fearful, scared of the person lurking out there. You look fierce..."

He walked toward me, smiling, and tilted my chin up with his fingers. Three burning pokers forcing my head to look at him as he towered above me, brushing up the side of my face and through my hair. I let out an involuntary whimper.

"I wish I were as talented at taking photographs. I offered to help him cut them up. Create this sort of- wall collage. I can't help but be a little jealous that he got to capture that moment. See you that way. I was always interested in you, but it was he that really made me see you. Made me have this... need for you to be in my life. I was just doing him a favour at first. He helped me get out of that rehabilitation centre. He's a family friend afterall. Convinced my parents to let me come back under his care for a while. Said it'd be good for me what with him being a therapist and all," He laughed, brushing a flaming thumb over my cheek. "Suckers."

"W-wait what? Are you talking about Ian? How m-many people are involved in this stupid plan?"

"Tsk tsk tsk," He bent lower, his lips brushing against my ear as he talked. "Ian has always wanted you, Flora. Shouldn't you know that? Haven't you always known that?"

"Just let me go," The sobs were bubbling in my throat again as I tried to lean my head as far away from him as I could. It was no use. "Please!"

"That's right. I forgot you can't recognise him. How could you possibly when he always wears his mask..." He traced a finger up the flesh of my exposed arm leaving a fiery trail in its wake. "Ian got me out so that I could to help him. Unknown to Ian, I now want you. Sticky situation, right? So I convinced my buddy, Hayden Cross, to help out a little. Piece of cake when he has a shine for Parker. You were meant to get scared of him and come running into my arms... but it didn't happen. Why did that not happen, Flora?"

"You're crazy. You're actually crazy." I closed my eyes and pretended that I wasn't there as he cupped my face in his hands. Pretended I wasn't anywhere. Pretended I didn't exist. That his touch wasn't fire, that my skin wasn't burning, that I was no longer Flora Montgomery.

"Sweetheart, I've never been more sane."