The sky grew dark. I heard Henry come home at some point and talk with Mom about something but had too little energy to do anything about it.

My side was hurting but I didn't feel like getting up to take my painkillers. It was better to stay on the bed and be quiet.

I wanted to simply pass out and let time go by and wake up with the world different but I couldn't sleep with the way my chest and stomach felt.

There was a knock on the door, making me freeze in place.

“Taylor?” Mom asked softly. “I'm gonna open the door, okay?”

I let her come in without fleeing.

She approached quietly, the floorboards creaking under her feet as she did so.

“I know it's hard,” she said. She slowly sank onto the edge of my bed.

“Did they find her?” I asked 

She hesitated then said, “no,” quite simply.

I gripped the blanket harder.

“Can I get you to eat something?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“Okay,” she said. “Get some rest, okay? I know it's hard and not knowing is the worst part but she'll probably turn up.”

“She wouldn't run away,” I said. 

Mom was quiet. “We can hope.”

She stood and went back to the door. “I'll bring you some food but you don't have to eat if you're not up to it, alright, Taylor?”

I stayed quiet until she gave up and left. How could I be thinking about myself in a time like this? Mia needed help, but the only options I could think of would get her killed.

My phone buzzed and I looked at it. A message from Vic. I ignored it and went back to my tight cocoon. Even if I tried everything I possibly could, someone was going to die. That was just going to be my reality forever and I couldn't remember the point of trying at all.

I sat up slowly, looking outside. It had been such an alien world when I was in the directors control, and now that I knew it, I realized it was never the outside world that was alien. It was me. I wouldn't ever belong here. There was too much blood on my hands, too many scars on my body. 

Too much trauma in my mind.

A shadow outside put me on high alert, moving just outside the window. I froze in place watching but it was Henry crawling over to tap on the window, staring at my blank gaze.

I snapped out of it after a few seconds and began freeing myself from the blankets. I un wedged the plank from the window and pushed up the lower pane.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

I stayed silent. I didn't know what I would even say. I was sorry? It was my fault?

I settled back on the bed, though I didn't wrap myself up in the blankets.

“It's not your fault,” he said. “If you were thinking that.”

“But it is,” I sighed.

“How so?” he asked.

There was discomfort in the darkness of my room. The outside breeze had a chill to it that was helping my brain clear up a bit, but the murkiness wouldn't go away quite that easily.

“She was there when I got into that fight with Hermes,” I explained.

Henry sat down outside my window, carefully balancing himself at an awkward angle on the roof. “Hermes is the guy that stabbed you?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Did he see Mia?” he asked.

“I'm not sure, to be honest. He definitely saw I was with someone but I don't know if he saw her face.”

“Are there ways to track people without knowing their face?”

“Yes. You can follow based on the clothing they've been wearing, or everybody has a pretty unique demeanor and gait if you have time to observe them.”

“So it is possible they took her,” he concluded. “But I'm still not convinced it's likely.”

I shook my head. “What are the chances that it would be someone else?”

“Not… impossible.”

I sighed.

“Taylor,” he started. “I know you might not be ready but if you go to the police, they can help. They're trained to deal with hostage situations.”

I shook my head. “They don't know how we operate. Mia is worthless to them except as leverage. As soon as they get what they want, they will kill her.”

“But that is what their training is for,” Henry said.

“Maybe,” I admitted, but I was still doubtful. Even if the police could get her out, what would happen then? I would either be jailed or killed. Probably both, and then what? I'd be dead? Mom and Dad and Henry would have to regrieve my loss and wonder if by some miracle I would show up again. It wasn't ideal. But having Mia die was equally bad and I couldn't let that happen. I had to do something, but every option I thought of wasn’t good. The best was probably going to be just giving in to their demands and hoping to hell Mia could get out of there safely before they put the gun to my head.