Elle sat on her bed in the dark. It had been a few weeks now, Elle still worried about Noah, and if he had woken up, if he was still asleep. It was before wake up call. The moonlight shone through the windows boxing her shelf bed. The room was very bright at night when the moon was full. Her legs dangled off of the bed. She used to be afraid of doing that. Putting her legs off of the bed at night, she'd always been afraid that a monster would grab her foot. She prayed for sleep but it always evaded her at this hour. Wake up call was at six-o-clock, it was currently four thirty. Elle hadn't been able to sleep past this time in the three weeks she'd been here. She sighed. She might as well get ready for the day. She hopped down from the bed and grabbed some clothes out of the dresser by the door. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. If she wasn't going to get sleep the least she could do was shower. She turned on the warm water and stepped inside. She let the heat come down. She hated this place, hated its people, hated the memories of Noah it held, but she loved its shower. She let the water rush down her back and closed her eyes. She prayed that Noah had awoken.

Noah was not awake yet. Lee hated this. The doctors had said he wasn't in a coma, but it seemed like he was. He wasn't waking up, they had to put a pick-line in for food and nutrients, all things that were done for a person in a coma. Lee had been staying in Noah's room with Noah for the pats three weeks. Elle had been searched for and nothing found. Her name and face were all over the news. He was hoping to god she was still alive. He knew what Noah would be waking up to if Elle was still missing, he knew what Noah's reaction would be. He would want blood if he woke up and Elle

was missing, presumed dead. Three weeks had gone by without a trace of evidence leading to Elle's disappearance. All they knew is that Elle never came home after the hospital. Lee's mom hadn't spoken a word in weeks. She sat in her room crying. She occasionally would stop by to see Noah, but she wouldn't speak. Lee couldn't blame her, she'd lost her niece, her oldest child was in a coma like sleep, her husband was chef he on her, and her youngest child had become a cynical mindless freak who had the company of women most nights. Lee tried to be good, to love one girl, to be a good student, to be a good son, but he couldn't. He'd lost everything this last month. He'd lost Elle, Noah, Rachel, now his mom and his dad. Yes Rachel was his own fault but that still didn't mean he wasn't lost without her. Elle was like his twin, his other half. Losing her this past month had been torture. First it was Noah being and asshole and putting her into a depression, then it was her "uncle", and now it was her disappearance. Noah had always been distant, but not almost dead five times over. He often wondered what had happened to the guy that had been in Elle's hospital room. He'd never heard how he was stopped, or why he was there. Noah had kept that part to himself, only saying, Elle wouldn't want them to know. He had become more and more distant after that. Lee had begun to feel like Elle and Noah were in their own circle. He heard a knock at The door.

"Come in!" Lee called. A girl who looked to be about four months pregnant walked in. M

"Hi my name is Gia, Noah and Elle were with me in Dan's house?" She asked Lee as if trying to confirm it was okay to be there.

"Yeah uh come on in." Lee nodded. She gave him a small smile and sat down in a chair by Lee.

"So Gia, you were with Elle in her uncles house?" Gia nodded.

"Elle and Noah saved my life, I don't know how to thank them. I mean I guess I can't now since Noah's here and Elle's... gone." Lee nodded.

"Yeah it's horrible."

"You're Lee right?" She asked. He nodded taken aback by the fact that she knew him.

"Yeah uh how did you know?"

"Noah and Elle couldn't shut up about how hilarious you are! They would talk for hours about how you never fail to make them smile. Elle said you were like her twin. Noah said you could be a pain sometimes too!" She laughed.

"Noah also said that you and Elle always find a way to embarrass him, but in a good way. You're a hero in their eyes or something I'll tell you!" Lee was surprised. He'd thought they were enveloped in their own life to much to notice him. He smiled.

"Yeah, I didn't know that was that important." He chuckled.

"You were!" Gia laughed. Lee nodded.

"So how have you been holding up? Any news on either of them?" She asked. Lee's shook his head.

"Noah's stuck like this for now and Elle, well, she's nowhere to be seen." Gia nodded knowingly.

"So I hear that you have a girlfriend, what's she like?" Lee looked down.

"We uh actually broke up." Lee said awkwardly.

"Oh! Sorry, the last time I talked to Elle y'all were dating." Lee smiled.

"It's okay. I didn't tell many people." Lee said solemnly.

"Hmm if I didn't know any better I'd say you were sad." Gia said softly.

"Yeah, this whole thing you know. Like my life went from cross dressing with my twin to kidnappings." Gia rolled her eyes.

"I meant about the girl. Yes being kidnapped sucks, but being dumped is almost worse." Lee face her a quizzical look.

"Look, take it from someone who has been Hey was dumped, okay. When you are held hostage it's awful and it's painful in some cases, but you don't have to deal with a broken heart."

"Uh, Gia. We both know being kidnapped is worse." Lee said. She sighed.

"Fine! I know, I was just trying to make you feel better." Lee nodded.

"I know." Gia and him talked for awhile, and it gave him some comfort. And talking to someone and not being trapped in his own head was a relief. Lately his parents weren't chatty and his friends weren't there. Gia had made him discover something, he still had a bit of the old Lee Flynn left in him.

Elle had been horrified when they showed her the dress. They had said they were collecting money from a casino and they needed eye candy for the young man they were collecting it from so that he would be calmer and easier to handle. She had agreed to put in on thinking it wasn't going to be too bad. She was wrong, she was horribly wrong. It had cut outs in the sides and a low v neck in the front. It was red and very breezy. She fidgeted and twisted. Her side boob was showing a little.

"Why do I have to where this again?" Elle asked Eric, the man who was giving her the advice on how to act sexy for the casino.

"Yes, yes you do."

"Eric you know how I feel about these kinds of things. I hate this stuff!"

"Elle deal with it. Just picture he's Noah, didn't you two date or something?" Hearing his name out loud caught her off guard.

"Uh, yeah. Sort of."

"Yeah, so just pretend that you're dating him." Elle nodded. It caught her off guard sometimes how heartless they could be.

Eric rushed her in her bathroom to do her make up. She'd insisted he leave the door open because of her new claustrophobia.

When Eric finished he took her to the car and they drove to the casino. It wasn't a very long drive Elle had noticed, he'd taken all the short cuts down back alleys like it was common knowledge. Maybe it was, this was Elle's first time in Boston. They pulled up to the valet lane and parked. Richard got out of the passengers seat and opened Elle's backseat door. She stepped out warily. She didn't normally where stuff like this. She fidgeted. Oh god if Noah could see her now he'd kill her on the spot.

"Mam will you be leaving early this evening?" The valet asked.

"Oh, uh um, no no of course not I-I'm here to gamble." Elle blurted out. She saw Eric put his face in his hands behind the valet.

"Uh okay Mam!" The valet said. Elle nodded silently wishing she'd never been born and walked into the casino on Richard's arm.