Joshua Thompson woke up to an unbelievable loud series of noises. He was unsure what it was but he quickly put on his Arlington High School hoodie over his grey tank top that matched his black gym shorts rather well. He tried to maneuver around his messy room; “I really have to clean” he thought to himself, he was right; Josh’s room comprised of a 40 inch television hung up on the sliding doors of his closet, a queen sized bed up against the wall below two large windows looking out at the two roads where nothing but asphalt, a large forest and few cars were seen, a dark brown dresser next to a large desk of the same color, the room wasn’t as messy as he thought it was, just a few clothes and other objects laying around. He picked up a baseball bat from his closet, he was predominately good at baseball and many other sports, he stumbled upon a mirror and got a quick glance at him while running to the door, Josh had short dark hair that was a little messy from sleeping, he was a pretty built guy as well at 6’4” and 190 pounds, he had hazel brown eyes and tan white skin. As he ran to the living room, the noises stopped and the sound of a car engine coming to life was created, it sounded rusty and old, more like a truck or a van. He ran out to the rather large living room of his home to see a shock; his living room was destroyed and he saw a gray rusted old van drive off but it was too far for him to get the license plate. The living room was destroyed, the massive glass chandelier crashed onto the medium sized coffee table; the result, the chandelier’s many glass light bulbs were shattered and the coffee table split in half. The flat screen 60`-inch television was knocked off of its black TV stand and shattered against the wood flooring, the worst of all, however, laid right in front of him. His mother and father’s lifeless bodies were on the ground in front of him, “No…” Josh said as he dropped the Louisville Slugger baseball bat to the floor, he got onto his knees and examined their bodies. Both of them were killed, but he couldn’t tell how, their bodies were beaten and bruised all over; “whoever did this was not alone” he thought. No, no, God no,” Josh said holding his parents and sobbing, “Bailey” he thought and called out his name, “Bailey!” He shouted, but there was no answer, he ran around the home looking for his little brother, but he was nowhere to be found. Josh went to the home phone and called 911,
“911 what’s your emergency?” The dispatcher asked
“My name is Joshua Thompson, my parents have been killed and my brother has been kidnapped,” Josh said in an angered, saddened tone; he wanted vengeance.
“Okay, what’s your address young man?”
“5621 Lukeware Road.”
“Alright we will have officers there in a moment”
“Okay, thank you” He said and hung up. The full moon shone on the vast fields and roads and a mountain around Josh’s home, he lived in the country. Josh wiped away the rest of the tears as he looked at the flashing colors of red, white, and blue of the police cars approaching his home, “You took my brother and killed my parents; you will wish you never did this” Josh said looking out at the road where the van was once on; the van where his little innocent brother was taken in.

Lauren Westerfield was watching television when she switched to the news and saw what had happened with Josh and his family. Lauren had been a friend of Josh’s for a few years; they met during their freshman year of high school in science class. She always had something toward him, but she didn’t know if it was a strong friendship or something bigger, but now they are seniors. Lauren is 18 years old who also attends Arlington High School with Josh; she had rather long blonde hair that matched her jade green eyes. She was fairly short, only around 5”8’ but she didn’t mind that. She ran to her room to get her phone and call Josh to see if he was okay. “I hope I still have his number, we haven’t talked in a while,” she thought scrolling through the contacts. Eventually she stumbled across it, and decided to call him.
“Hello?” Chris said rather confused, it’s been longer than she thought.
“Hey Josh, its Lauren, Lauren Westerfield from school.” She said nervously.
“Lauren, hey how are you? It’s been a while” He said sluggishly, he was right though, Josh and Lauren drifted from one another after time.
“I’ve been alright, I’m really sorry about what happened,” she said.
“Thanks, I’m coping with it but it isn’t easy I wish all of this never happened.”
“I know what you mean, what’re you doing?” She asked
“I’m going down to the police station; they want to ask me a few questions so I’m going to be there for a few hours, why?” he asked
“Well, would you want to talk after that?” She asked, immediately after, she covered her mouth shocked that she actually asked him to hang out.
“Yeah, I would like that” he said back.
“Okay then, I will see you later” she said with excitement, then hung up. She decided to get ready for her time with Josh.
The afternoon sun stroke the police cruiser that was driving Joshua Thompson home after a few questions with the police. They said they would try their hardest to find the killer and save his brother. He and Lauren decided to go to her house for a little bit to deal with everything.

“So, where exactly are you going to stay?” Lauren asked

“Here, with us.” Lauren’s mother said, both Lauren and Josh looked up shocked,

“What?” They both said simultaneously
“Yeah, why not, we have a spare room, with a bed and everything, it’s the summer so you guys don’t have to worry about school and I know you guys won’t do anythingˆ” Lauren’s mom said with certainty.

“Okay, sounds great then.” Lauren said trying to hide the excitement.

“Awesome, thank you so much” Josh said with great gratitude, this was great; Josh realized that he too was developing something for Lauren. Josh walked into the guest bedroom which was big and classy; like the whole house; there was a queen size bed facing a 60 inch TV, there was a bed post on the left side of the bed and nothing on the right side, the TV had a light brown TV stand that matched the wood flooring that was in the room like the living room. It had a small little walk in closet right next to the television, it was nice and welcoming, and that’s what Josh needed.

“Nice” Josh said

“So you like it?” Lauren said walking into the room, “sorry for sneaking up on you”

“It’s fine, what exactly do your parents do for a living?” Josh asked

“My mother sells real estate and my father is a Neurosurgeon.” Lauren explained

“Makes sense, this is quite a lovely home” Josh said

“Thank you. So how have you been doing with everything that has happened?” Lauren asked

“I still can’t believe they’re gone, my parents and my brother, I never thought something like this would happen but unfortunately it did,” He said looking down at the floor “but being with you has helped me” He said, Lauren couldn’t help but smile wide

“Come with me, I want to show you something” Lauren said, she started for the stairs and Josh followed, they walked through the hallway went down the stairs through the kitchen and outside onto the deck.

“Wow” Josh said, wow was right, Lauren’s deck looked out upon her massive backyard where her father was cutting the grass with his Deere riding lawn mower, a neighborhood of many huge houses like her own, a valley to the right and what looked like a small city to the left and beyond the neighborhood a massive mountain; Josh had a thing for mountain views. The setting Sun’s rays were stroking the Earth with a fiery mixture of red and orange, wow was definitely right.

“This is beautiful” Josh aid with wide eyes

“Yeah it really is, I always come up here when I’m down and it always makes me feel better,” Lauren said “I thought it would be good to have you see this” she said looking at him with a smile.

“Thanks a lot,” he said looking down at her “I wonder if we could go back to my house and get some of my stuff.”

“Let’s do it, I doubt my parents will care, but I’ll ask just in case” Lauren said

“Okay, cool, but it’s kind of going to suck going there and seeing everything, I hope Bailey’s okay.” Josh said looking down at the deck

“Look at me,” Lauren said and Josh did “He will be found, and he will be just fine” she said stroking his arm.

“Thanks a lot” Josh said and they left the dock and headed for the living room. When they got to the room, Lauren’s parents were watching Ironman 2,

“Hey I have a question, could Josh and I go to his house to get some of his things?

“Sure” Both the parents said, they really liked the move

“Okay, thanks, we will be back soon,” Lauren said, “and dad is it cool if I drive your car?” she asked with a grin

“You can, Josh would like a little excitement” Lauren’s dad said, Josh got a weird feeling hearing Lauren’s father say that.

“Okay, thanks we will be back soon.” Lauren said and they walked out of the door.

“So what is it that we are driving? You and your father really made some commotion about-“ Josh turned around from closing the door staring at a 2013 Ford Mustang, “it” Josh said with wide eyes; it was all white with two blue racing stripes through the middle, “Neurosurgeon” Josh said and walked to the car, Lauren laughed, they both went inside and drove off. The Sun’s last rays stroked the car as Josh and Lauren drove, Josh didn’t live too far from Lauren, only about 15 minutes, but the car ride felt longer. They talked a lot about many different things, like dating, school, the incident, Bailey and more, but most of it was about dating; they both realized that they had feelings for one another. They eventually got to Josh’s home, everything looked the same; even the living room looked the same but without his parents, like the way it looked earlier that morning. They went to Josh’s room and he forgot about how messy it was, he felt so embarrassed.

“Sorry my room’s a mess, I was going to clean it but I fell for procrastination, again.” Josh said looking into his drawer.

“Its fine, it has been weeks since I’ve cleaned my room, what exactly are you getting anyway?” Lauren asked looking around the room.

“Hygienic things, clothes, and my laptop probably,” Josh said picking up a Mac laptop and putting it into a black Adidas book bag. He picked up a picture of him and Bailey at the Grand Canyon, “and this” Josh said in a quiet saddened tone.

“What is it?” Lauren said walking over to him looking at the picture, she got much closer than she needed to, but Josh liked that, “Oh, where you guys at the Grand Canyon?” She asked, Josh and Bailey were sitting next to each other on a massive boulder looking out into the distance, Josh was wearing tan Khaki jeans with a Black North Face jacket and a white Nike hat, and Bailey was wearing dark blue jeans with a Abercrombie hoodie with a black Nike hat that was way too big for him, Bailey had a skinny 7 year old body with short dirty blonde hair, he had bright blue eyes that were widened at the site of mother nature’s creation.

“Yeah we went there last year in the fall, we had a blast” Josh said, and then he stuffed the picture into the backpack with his other things. The only thing Josh could think of was Bailey, but all Lauren could think about was Josh. She knew that her and Josh never really had a “thing” for one another but, she could tell that he had something for her and being in his room with him with no light but the light of the setting Sun on them was kind of nice, but not nice enough.
“Josh,” Lauren said in a soft warm tone that Josh couldn’t resist, she was now facing him, and he was sitting on top of his desk holding the book bag looking deep into her eyes, he felt like he could fall asleep in them and have all these problems go away, “all of this will be fine” she said in that tone, she put one of her hands on Josh’s face getting closer, “I promise.” Josh jumped down from the desk, leaving his bag on it, “I know, because I get hope when I’m with you” he said putting his hands on her face and her putting hers on his masculine chest, they leaned closer and closer to one another until their lips met. Lauren’s heart pounded of joy, and Josh’s only thought was Lauren, how beautiful and amazing and caring she was, he slid his hands down to her hips and she put hers to his face and they kissed some more. Josh’s body heat felt so great to Lauren, not physically, but more mentally, she realized that this was a crush on Josh all along and she wanted this moment to come and feeling that heat, feeling that romance was amazing to her.

Josh pulled back and looked at her and said, “If only I did this-“but was a caught at the sight of something flapping in the trees of the forest outside of Josh’s window.

“What is it?” Lauren said looking at him, Josh went closer and looked out the window and noticed it was a necklace

“Come outside with me” Josh said in a hurried tone; “I might be onto something” Josh running outside to the tree, “my God” he said taking the necklace out of the tree branches, “it’s my brother’s necklace” Josh said turning to Lauren, it was a sharks tooth necklace tied to white string that bailey got at Myrtle Beach a year ago

“We have to go in there,” Josh said
“What? That’s crazy Josh we could get killed we don’t know what this guy has or if he is armed or anything, for all we know Bailey could be dead.” Lauren said, not even noticing what he said about Bailey

“My brother, that I love very much is in there, and you’re right maybe he is dead, but I won’t accept that, I have to get him and I’m going in there with or without you, I have to make sure he’s okay” Josh said and ran into the woods looking for his little brother, Lauren didn’t follow after, but he didn’t care, he was just focused on saving his brother. He tried to look for anything that stood out in the woods but he couldn’t find anything, until he stumbled upon something. As he was walking he saw depressions on the ground that resembled boots, instinctively he followed them. Josh walked and walked and walked until he heard a yell a high-pitched yell, “Bailey!!” Josh shouted, “Where are you!!” Josh yelled. The yell got louder and louder and the person was screaming Josh’s name, he was so relieved. He could see two people.

“Josh,” Lauren shouted literally diving onto him, they both tumbled and fell on the ground, “I have to show you something!” The both got up and Josh followed Lauren as they ran through the woods, he didn’t see nothing at first but then he noticed something that made him lose most of his hope, bloody handprints on trees that went to a certain direction.

“My God” Josh said

“Look Josh these handprints are too big to be the hands of a 7 year old, maybe Bailey’s okay”

“This is too obvious, why would the kidnapper just leave handprints on these trees like this? Don’t you think he’d clean them?” Josh explained

“I don’t know, but I think we should follow them” Lauren said, Josh just wanted his brother back.

“Okay, let’s go” Josh said and they both started running in the direction of the handprints. Time passed and nothing happened and eventually the handprints faded and disappeared

“No, they’re gone, but nothing’s here! Those handprints had to be-” Josh said, but stopped to a rustle in the woods not too far from him and Lauren

”What?” Lauren said

“Shh,” Josh said putting his index finger to his lips, “do you hear that?”

“What is that” Lauren whispered, but right as she asked a grey cat walked out of the bushes rubbing up against Josh’s leg.

“I wonder what that’s doing here” Lauren said. Josh kneeled down looking at the cat until he noticed something, a tiny hint of a red liquid stained on the cat’s fur coat; blood.

“The house is in that direction, we have to go there” Josh said pointing in the direction the cat was walking from and headed that direction at full speed, Lauren quickly followed him. They ran and ran and ran and didn’t stop, Josh new in his heart that this was the right way, he noticed something in the distance but couldn’t tell what it was, but when they got closer he realized it was a home. Obviously abandoned, the home had peeling white siding with black shutters, a few boarded windows on all sides of it, one light brown door in the front and back, it was small, but it was creepy, “I’m here Bailey” Josh thought approaching the house.

“What’re we going to do?” Lauren whispered to Josh, he turned from his safe position on the side of the house to look at the door; nothing.

“I don’t know but we have-“ Josh said but stopped, the door creaked open and someone walked down the small little staircase that lead from the door to the ground, Josh slowly turned to look and saw a man. He looked like he was in his early forties; he had long black hair, a full out thick black beard, a little skinny frame but some muscle, gray-black jeans and cowboy boots that matched his grey long sleeve button up shirt.
“You know you’re lucky I haven’t even killed you yet, boy” the man said, his voice was scratchy and old “like I did to your parents.”
“No!” Another voice shouted, it was one of a sad, innocent child, he delivered a blow to some part of the man’s body but Josh couldn’t tell.
“Owww,” the man yelped “you little runt!” The man yelled slapping the young boy in the face.
“Enough!” Josh said, showing himself
“Who are you?” The man said, Bailey ran around the man to Josh before he could grab him.
“I’m the little boy’s brother, and the son of the innocent parents you slayed l last night you dirty monkey!”
“He’s not getting away that easily!” The man said starting for Josh, but before he could reach him, a fire was shot and the man fell, behind him there was police officer.

“My name is Dan Stant, your girlfriend called 911 saying you came in here to save your brother, that was pretty stupid,” the cop said walking up the dead body, “but at the same time it was brave, I’ve never seen someone love someone else that much.” The officer said examining the body. They all walked back to Josh’s home, where Lauren’s parents waited, they were so relieved they both were okay. As Bailey was being examined, Josh looked out at the woods reflecting on everything, Lauren came up to him.

“Hey” she said

“Hey, I’m sorry for-“but before he could finish she kissed him, long and sweet like the first time.

“I already know, and I forgive you” she said with a long smile and kissed him some more. Bailey ran up to Josh and gave him a massive hug while he was kissing Lauren, they both embraced one another, and laughed, and smiled.
“I’m so glad I found you” Josh said to his little brother, but he was crying and couldn’t get a word out.
“Well it looks like you are staying with us for a while,” Lauren’s mom said to Josh, “if that sounds fine”
“That sounds great,” Josh said to her with a smile, “thank you.” They split together in separate cars and drove to another place, a place Josh could call home.