CHAPTER ten

Jerry pulls out his phone and tries to call Kayla one more time. After letting it ring over and over again, however, he hears the short beep and then Kayla's voicemail kicks in. He sighs and hangs up the phone.

"Where are you Kayla?" Jerry wonders out loud as he climbs into his car. Soon he is speeding down the streets, heading towards the highway when his phone begins to ring. "Hello?" He says as he flips open his phone, silently hoping that it is Kayla calling him back.

"Sir Sara and some others are at the hospital. But we have another problem, Julie is missing. She wasn't in the room when I got here," a male voice says.

Jerry can hear the whining of an elevator in the background.

"Find Julie and make sure the others don't leave the hospital Thomas. I'll see you soon," Jerry yells into the phone right before hanging up. He begins speeding up the highway.

Nothing is going to stop me from finishing what should have already been done. He thinks as he tries to call Kayla one more time.

~

Kayla looks down at her phone as it begins to ring once more. Kendra looks over at her curiously as Kayla just stares down at her phone. She puts her cell phone on mute and closes it, sending the caller to her voicemail.

"What's wrong, Kayla?"

Kendra looks down at Kayla's phone curiously.

Kayla looks over at Kendra and sighs.

"It's Jerry, he's been trying to call me all morning. I think that he has finally found out that I took Julie," Kayla lets a few tears roll down her cheeks. "He is going to kill me for betraying him." She says as she begins crying softly.

"You're going to be safe here, Kayla," Kendra tries to comfort her, placing a hand on Kayla's shoulder and smiling warmly at her. "You have nothing to fear here, you are safe."

Just as Kayla reaches up and wipes the tears from her eyes, Julie walks into the living room.

"Mom!" Julie cries out as she runs across the living room and hugs Kendra. She then looks over at Kayla and smiles as a few tears of happiness run down her cheeks and fall to the floor. "Thank you for saving me and bringing me here." Julie wraps her arms around Kayla, hugging her tightly. "Where is Sara at?" She asks them, looking back and forth between them worriedly.

"I guess they all went to the hospital to go get you. When I woke up everyone else was already gone," Kendra tells her daughter. "Then, about twenty minutes later, Kayla showed up here with you."

"If only I had gotten here sooner then they wouldn't have left and you would already be reunited with your sister by now."

Kayla looks down at the floor as she hopes Sara and the rest of them are okay.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Kayla. You have already done so much for our family. Sara and the others will be home soon hopefully."

Kendra tries to cheer Kayla up, but Kayla just looks up at her and sighs.

"But what about Jerry? He is still out there looking for you all. He's not alone, there are others working for him, helping him look for you as well." She sighs again, looking back at Kendra with sorrowful eyes. "Though I don't know exactly how many others he has helping him."

" Kayla stop being so hard on yourself. Everything is going to be fine. We know that you had made a mistake when you told him where I was at. But then you rescued me before he could come for me." Julie smiles at Kayla and wraps her arms around her. "I probably wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for you." Kayla gives her a faint smile and hugs her gently. "Thank you Kayla for saving me."

"You're welcome I just couldn't let him harm you," tears of happiness roll down her cheeks and she hugs Julie. She jumps when she hears the house phone ring, fearing that it might be Jerry trying to call. "What if it's him calling Kendra, what if he's figured out what I've done." Kayla tries to speak, her voice trembling. Kendra picks up the phone and looks at it with worry. "Is it him?"

Kayla's arms tighten protectively around Julie.

Kendra smiles as she checks the caller Id.

"You can relax, it's from Madison general hospital." Kayla lets out a small sigh of relief as Kendra pushes the talk button. "Hello?"

"Kendra it's Jeffery, we ran into a little bit of a dead end here, but we are all okay. I'll explain everything to you later. I fear that Jerry may already have Julie by now. We are getting ready to leave now. We will just have to figure everything out when we get back." Jeffery explains to her, sounding a little out of breath as he speaks.

"Wait a minute, I think there is something you should know..."

Kendra starts to speak but the line goes dead suddenly. She hangs up the phone and sighs.

"What's wrong?" Julie looks at her mom with worry.

"That was Jeffery, he said that they were in trouble, but he said they are all okay. They are on their way back here now," Kendra sighs again. "The line went dead before I could tell him Julie was here. I really hope they are all okay."

"I'm sure they are all fine," Kayla tries to reassure Kendra. "Don't worry, hopefully they will be back soon."

Kendra doesn't say anything, she just pulls Julie into a hug and stares down at the floor.

"Mom, they will be alright I'm sure of it," Julie tells her mom. She sits there silently wondering if they were really okay.

I'm sure I'd know if something happened to Sara, wouldn't I? She wonders, trying not to let her worry be shown.

"I hope so," Kendra finally says, sighing as she hugs Julie once more.

She sits there in silence, hoping the phone would ring again, but it doesn't. She begins to worry about them as she hits the redial button, but it doesn't ring. It just keeps repeating this service is temporarily unavailable over and over again.

I hope everyone really is okay. She thinks as she stares down at the floor.

~

"Hello...Kendra..." Jeffery yells into the phone. He doesn't get an answer so he hangs up the phone and looks towards the others. "The phone lines must be down somewhere."

Sara looks worried as she stares up at her uncle.

"Is my mom alright?" Sara asks, her voice full of worry.

"Yeah, she's fine. The line went dead from this end," Jeffery tries to ease Sara's worry. "Come on, let's just go back home and then we can figure out what to do next."

They begin to leave when the elevator doors open at the end of the hall. As they look towards the elevator, they see the elderly nurse who escorted Sara and Lexi up to the fifth floor step out, clutching her stomach.

"We have to go help her!" Chris cries out as the nurse falls to the ground.

He begins to run towards her but stops when another figure steps out of the elevator. The doors slam shut suddenly and the elevator goes back up as the guy begins to walk towards them.

"It's already too late for you to save her," the guy says calmly as he smiles at them. "Don't worry, though, I won't hurt any of you."

He pulls out a bloodied knife and lets it drop noisily to the floor.

Chris looks at the guy nervously as he stops several feet away from him. "Who are you?"

"Chris, I'm a little surprised that you don't recognize me. After all we were in the same sixth period," Chris looks at him confused and he laughs loudly. "You really don't remember me, do you? My name is Thomas."

The sudden sound of gears grinding and popping causes them to look at the elevator as it begins to come back down.

"What do you want with us?" Jeffery asks as the girls begin backing up towards the main entrance doors.

Chris takes a few steps back and pauses, continuing to stare at Thomas.

"Not all of you exactly, I'm just here for Sara and Lexi. I was offered a good deal of money to capture them," Thomas explains as he smiles at them.

The elevator stops two floors above them and shuts off.

"So that's why you're doing this, for the money?"

Lexi stares hatefully at Thomas, her back pressing against the door now.

"Yes Lexi, it seems money has a funny way of making you do something," Tomas says, grinning at Lexi.

"Thomas, you don't have to do this!" Lexi cries out as the fear inside her begins to take over. "Do you even know why he wants us?" She looks at him both fearful and curious.

"No, I never did ask him why he wanted you or Sara and truthfully I really don't care," the elevator moans and begins to move on down, but stops again. "What's wrong with this elevator?" He asks himself as he turns to watch the elevator as it begins going back up.

Thomas pushes the button several times, trying to make it come back down.

Lexi pushes on the door handle, relieved to find that the doors are still unlocked. "Quick the door isn't locked, lets get out of here ."

She shoves the door open and all five of them rush out into the deserted parking lot. As they run across the parking lot, they the door open and slam shut again, forcing them to run faster.

"No, get back here!"

As they run around the corner of the hospital Sara catches a glimpse of Thomas running after them. By the time they reach their cars, Thomas has almost caught up to them. They hurry into their cars and begin to back up. Thomas smacks the back of Jeffery's car as drive off.

"Now that was a close one," Chris grins slightly as they speed down the road after Jeffery. "Who was that guy anyway?" He wonders as he tries to keep up with Jeffery.

"That was Thomas, from school. I don't know his last name though I do remember having third and fifth period with him." Terri turn and looks though the back glass. "I don't know how he knew we were there, but I don't think he's following us."

"That's good but there's something else bothering me though. Michael was at the hospital waiting on us," Sara tells them.

Terri turns her head slightly and stares at Sara confused.

"Where? I didn't see him?" she looks up at Sara, trying not to seem cheerful. What was he doing there? She wonders as she turns to stare out the window, trying to hide her emotions from Sara.

"Me and Lexi seen him when we were coming back from Julie's room," Sara reaches her hand out and touches Terri's arm. "Is something wrong?"

Terri looks at Sara shocked, but she doesn't say anything else as they drive down the highway. Soon they are back at Sara's uncles house. They walk quietly into the house, exhausted from the long drive home.

"Mom, we're home," Sara calls out cheerfully as she walks into the living room first.

"Welcome home, there is something I have to tell you," Kendra smiles as Sara walks over to her. "But first, there are two people here for you all to meet." She grins widely at everyone.

"Mom, what's going on?" Sara stares up at her mom curiously. "Mom what's wrong? Why does it look like you've been crying. Are you alright?"

"Whose car is that in the driveway?" Jeffery wonders as he walks into the living room and stands behind Sara.

Kendra starts to say something but the door behind her opens suddenly interrupting her.

"Sara!" Julie cries out as she runs across the living room. She wraps her arms around her sister, hugging her tightly. "I thought that was you I heard. I'm so glad you made it back safe." Tears of joy begin to run down both of their cheeks. "I want you all to meet the girl that rescued me and brought me here."

Julie smiles Kayla walks into the living room slowly. Terri steps into the living room, laughing and joking around with Lexi and Chris until she sees Kayla. As soon as Terri's eyes focus on Kayla she gasps loudly with surprise.

"Kayla!" Terri cries out in surprise as she stares at Kayla with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?" Her voice shakes a little as she begins to tear up. "How is this even possible?"