Hadley's fingers hung up the last of the photographs she had of Aurora onto a tree, along with the 'MISSING: Aurora Mulven. 5'0' sign Beck and her had made. Though she had angrily ripped the photo booth strips that night, it was better than nothing. When she threw open the car door and buckled herself, the car quickly took off.

"That was the last one," Hadley exhaled.

"God," Beck mumbled, shaking his head. His exhale in fear.

Beck rubbed his stubbled jaw, his aching knuckles clutching his leather steering wheel. Images of Aurora being hurt berated his mind; He was equal parts seeing sheer red for Arlan and equal parts scared to death.

Hadley's heart jackhammered against her throat.

"Can you go faster," Hadley urgently mumbled, coiling up in the passenger seat.

"I'm going eighty."

"Well go faster!" She panicked, her eyes filling with tears.

Hadley was gutted with guilt, feeling as though Aurora would have been safe if Aurora hadn't believed Arlan. He had masterfully manipulated her and she was absolutely ill about it, her stomach coiling like snakes tightly. She exhaled quickly, just wanting the sanity of knowing Aurora was okay.

Her suspicions had been right - Arlan was abusive. She knew it. She had even asked Aurora about it before, but Aurora denied it. And why? Hadley could've helped her - she wanted to help her. She even lied to Beck that Aurora and Arlan broke up in hopes she'd actually leave him. And it still didn't work. How was Arlan so twisted?

"Where am I supposed to go, Had?" Beck blurted, driving through midnight.

"I don't know!" She cried, the tears trembling down.

"Exactly, we don't know! We don't know where Aurora lives - if that's even her real name- and she doesn't have a phone to reach her," Hadley's stomach fell in a thud of horror. She was mortified. "You told me to drive, so I've been driving. We've stopped at every town so far and no one knows her or has seen her. It's too late to go check the University for information, and even if it was daytime, they wouldn't have any real records of hers. We don't have photo evidence either. You ripped up any photos we had of her to show to the police,"-

"I know, I know," Hadley cried. "Please, stop yelling at me! I was mad at her! I wouldn't have done it if I knew the truth!"

"I'm not blaming you, Christ, I just," Beck snarled, gruffing out an exasperated sigh. He slammed his palms against the wheel. "I just don't know what to do, fuck!" He shouted. " I'm doing the best I can, I'm scared as fuck and I just want to know if she's okay!"

Hadley's top teeth sunk into her wobbling bottom lip, a whimper slipping. Dread sunk to the utmost bottom part of her gut.

"She's with a fucking lunatic, I'm fucking terrified right now, all we know is her boyfriend lives in California, so we're doing the best we can with that," Beck asserted. "I don't know how much we can do. It's almost two in the morning, we can't even see anything..."

"Well Aurora needs our help now. We've gotta stay hopeful, okay? We've gotta stay hopeful," Hadley whimpered. "And maybe the University does have her records, who knows? There's police on campus at night, there's a station nearby. Let's just ask. Please," She begged her brother.

"I'm not giving up, Had, I'm just...I don't know what to do!"

"We'll figure it out!" She yelled. Sniffling, she shook her head. "We have to."

Beck's head nodded, bobbing in agreement. "Okay," He exhaled. "I'm not giving up. I never was going to. And I'm not going to. We're about fifteen minutes from campus. We'll go."

Hadley buried her head between her knees, squeezing her eyes. An incessant pounding against her head matched the throbbing tempo of her heart. She couldn't help but feel so stupid, so manipulated, and worst of all, a traitor to her best friend. All she craved now was to find Aurora, apologize profusely, and keep her safe forever.

"Wait," Hadley's head sprung up, hope peaking in her. "Don't you have Nate's number?"

"I do," Beck's voice raised an octave, realizing. "Shit...why didn't we think of that earlier? We were so frazzled...fuck," His hand was already shoving into the cupholder, pulling out his phone. When the car pulled to a halt at the red light, his fingers flew to dial Nate.

'Calling Nate Harcroft' the iPhone voice spoke.

A muddled sound of the ringtone droned once, seemingly dragging on forever. Silence. The phone droned on ounce more, dragging on Beck and Hadley's anxieties further.

"Come on, man," Beck muttered, his knee bouncing.

The phone continued to drone on, and the green light appeared. Beck's foot pressed to the gas, his lips tightly pursed together. It was late, but Nate seemed like the type to be awake. The typical college student usually was at this time. Beck had hope. He waited continuously as the drones rang on, and on, before-

"Hey, it's Nate. Leave a message,"-

"Fuck!" Beck grunted, throwing his head violently against his head rest four times. He groaned and immediately hit the redial button.

Hadley wearily stared at the phone, its glowing light the only visible thing in the dark. The ringtone droned...and droned...and droned...

"Why isn't he picking up?" Hadley cried. "W-why isn't he picking up, where is he?"

"Hey, it's Nate. Leave a message. I probably won't listen."

"Beck!" Hadley cried, terrified.

Nate's greeting messaged ending. Then...Beep.

"Yeah, Nate, it's Beck Merit," Beck immediately spoke, gripping his phone. He exhaled with passionate anxiety, "...listen, I'm with Hadley right now, we're worried about Aurora, really worried. We think she might be in an abusive situation, we really just wanna make her as safe and okay as possible. Please, man, please, if you have any information on where she is, how we can find her, call me back at 555-0116." He ended the call. "Of course he's not fuckin answering," Beck spat, shaking his head.

"Don't give up," Hadley whimpered. "We still have the campus police. We'll find her. She'll be okay. Aurora, she's going to be okay. She's going to be okay..." Hadley sniffled, closing her eyes tightly.

But would Aurora be okay? Everything seemed all too grim. The fear was all consuming. Tears clouded her eyes. Hadley's heart clutched with terror.

"Call Nate again," She begged.