A Town Called Prairie: Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine:

Saving the Family

         My mind was going a thousand miles a minute the next day as I searched the campus for Edward. I didn’t know who to ask, I had no clue who he hung around with or where. I looked everywhere for the dirty blonde boy with the tanned skin and beautiful eyes but couldn’t find him anywhere.

When the bell rang, I didn’t know what to do. I ran to my first class and looked for one of the drama unlimited kids so I could ask them if they had seen him.

“You look tired girl!” a girl in a group closer to the door spoke to one of her friends.

“I know, the coffee shop was like, closed today for like, some stupid reason.” The other girl replied, flipping her hair.”

(Yes even a small school like Hillside has their ‘people’)

“I wonder why,” the first girl wondered.

“There was like, a poster outside about someone named Katherine, but god, all I wanted was some java!” she exclaimed.

A poster? About Katherine? I backed away from the group crowding outside of the classroom, turned and took off running for the gate out of school, turning on my heel and sprinting to the Katherine’s Coffee shop.

~~~~

When I got to the coffee shop, there were cop cars and police people everywhere.

Not good, not good…

News crews were reporting and I paused to listen to one of the newscasters presentations.

“Katherine Goldsmith was last seen locking up this coffee shop around 5 last night. Since then she hasn’t been seen and was reported missing this morning. Anyone with information is urged to call…”

I zoned out. Missing? How? What- I felt the blood run out of my face. Edward’s not here, Katherine’s missing…

Not good, NOT GOOD…

I took off running again, sprinting to my house.

~~~~

I got there out of breath with my heart beating insanely fast. I tossed my backpack on the front porch, I had a lot of running to do.

~~~~

First I went past the wheat fields that my dad farmed and I often drew pictures of. Edward’s house was just past them, so he told me. I dodged behind one of the hedges that surrounded the perimeter around their yard. Peeking over, I noticed there were no cars. A sign?

I went from behind the hedge and dutifully strolled to the front porch. My feet were shaking in my shoes, but I rung the doorbell.

No response.

Again I rang the doorbell.

Nothing.

I looked through the small window in the door but saw blurry outlines of the inside of the house. I went to one of the front windows and peered in.

All that was left were the larger pieces of furniture; the tables and cabinets were empty like someone picked up everything and ran.

Definitely not good…

~~~~

Where would they have gone? And why would they have taken Katherine of all people? Was Isaac behind all this or was it something else? Isaac said he always wanted to come back to Prairie because he wanted to see my mom again, from what Edward said, but if Isaac really had a history of attempted kidnapping, would he have just come back to kidnap my mom? But he hasn’t seen my mom for 20 something years, how would he know what she looked like? Did he just kidnap Katherine because he couldn’t find my mom? That would make no sense whatsoever. Why blow his cover?

Wait; didn’t Edward say something about his family moving back to Utah?

“They said when my siblings and I grow up they want to move back to Alta in Utah.”

Alta? They went back to Alta? That has to be it. But how the heck am I going to get to Alta, Utah? They’re probably long gone by now.

I sat on the cold stone front steps of Edward’s old empty house and sighed with disappointment.  I looked at the raindrops that began to fall on the concrete, watching them slowly take over the dry concrete until a steady downpour was falling all over me and I was soaked again.

At some point in time, I felt some of the raindrops on my face go warm, and I began sobbing.

~~~~

“What happened to you?” my mom asked when I got home. My backpack was perfectly dry from being under the overhang on our front door, but alas, I was soaked once more to the bone.

“I walked home.” I lied, mumbling under my breath as I marched up the stairs to the bathroom to change. In the shower, I thought about today’s events.

It’s all my fault, I didn’t tell the cops about Isaac, and now not only Edward was gone, but Katherine too. Who knows what Isaac is doing to her… I shuddered. I’m probably the only one who knows where they went; It seems no one is looking for them, they’re focused on Katherine. Tomorrow I have to go tell the cops so they can save Katherine and Edward from that psychotic man.

~~~~

“I know where Katherine might be.”

~~~~

For the third day in a row, I came home soaked from the incessant rainfall.

But for once, I wasn’t so depressed.

~~~~

“Katherine Goldsmith, who went missing three days ago, was found yesterday at a house in Alta, Utah with a man and his wife plus three children. The man refused to answer to police and was taken into questioning, while the wife and three children, ranging in age from five to fifteen, were put under protective custody. Ms. Goldsmith was found unharmed in the family’s basement of their old house, tied up and stuck in a closet. She was flown back to her hometown in Prairie, Kansas earlier today.”

I muted the TV and looked to my left. “What do you think?” I asked.

“Pretty decent.” Katherine nodded in response. “I think telling them I was found stuffed in a basement closet was a little over-doing it, but good otherwise.”

“Thank you.” I smiled.