Don’t Forget To Take A Breath Before You Fall

“God why can’t they just give her a break?” Joe’s voice was raised above his normal level as he paced up and down the room.

“Joe you know what they are like…” Nick replied, the hate mail still within his hands.

“Yeah, I know Nicholas, but she is my baby sister… I need to protect her.” Sighing, Joe sat upon the spare couch, his head in his hands.

“She is our sister too Joe… we want to protect her as well.” Kevin entered the room, a bowl of vanilla yogurt in his hand.

“I know, I know… it just kills me to see that stupid thing.” All three boys nodded, and before either Nick or Kevin could reply, Joe continued, glumly he said, “I know, it kills you too.”

It felt as if it were hours later that the three brothers sat in their dressing room, the playstation game held all of their attentions.

“You reckon Kat is back yet?” Frankie was flogging Joe’s butt by this point, and his comment threw Joseph off guard.

“Has anyone seen her since before?” He put the controller down and stood up, his hand upon his hips like a real diva.

Kevin, Nick and little Frankie all shook their heads, “No.” They stated in unison.
“She should be on soon… lets go and watch.” Kevin led his younger brothers out of the dressing room, and as the door shut behind him softly, a scream could be heard all throughout the halls of the stadium.

“What the hell was that?” Joe was the first to respond to the heart wrenching sound. It was a girl screaming.

“I have no idea… Nick stay with Frankie!” At with those words, Kevin and Joe sprinted down the halls of the stadium, with only one thing in mind.

As the girl continued to scream, Joe and Kevin felt as if they were closing in, and then she stopped. Joe came to a halt, listening and waiting for the girl to yell again. These halls were like a maze, someone could get lost so easily. There was nothing but the screams of the crowd outside, a scream of excitement and enthusiasm compared to the scream of terror he had just heard.

“Joe…” Kevin whispered, taking a step forward to a on the the adjacent doorways.

The cursive handwriting left little to be desired, and as Joe and Kevin’s brown eyes scanned over the note, both hearts stopped.

She is safer with me then she ever was with you.
Don’t worry – I will take good care of her.

“THAT BASTARD!” Joes hands automatically began to run through his head, “God…”

“Joseph…” Joe and Kevin both turned around to face their parents, “Where’s Katherine?”

“Call nine-one-one mom… we have an emergency.” Kevin whispered, pointing towards the note.

“My baby… my baby girl… no, this can’t be-be happening.” Denise fell into her husbands arms as they watched their mature sons talk to the police officers.

It took less then ten minutes for them to arrive.

“I need to know exactly what happened the last time you spoke to her.” The office asked.

Nicks heart skipped a beat, “Kat received some hate mail – it told her to burn in hell and that she was worthless… she said she needed to think, and so we let her go.” A single tear rolled down his cheek. Joe placed a hand upon his brothers shoulder.

“She just broke up with her boyfriend Damien… ah Damien – God does anyone even know his last name?” Joe had directed the comment at his brothers, both of them shook their heads. “Freaking hell.” He cursed, “Anyway this guy tried to get physical with Kat… she said no… he’s probably your best bet right now.” He ended, his voice in a whisper.

“Thank you boys… we will let you know if anything comes up.” The officer nodded and returned to his colleagues, exchanging notes and information that they had pulled out of the family.

“Have you tried calling her?” Nick spoke up this time, the tears no longer evident.

Kevin pulled out his blackberry, and instantly dialed the number, three rings was all it took before an answer.

“Hello?” It was Kat, she seemed groggy and disoriented.

“Kat… Kat it’s Kevin where are you?” Kevin frantically spoke, putting his sister onto speaker phone and indicating for the officer to join them.

“Kev?” She whispered.

“Yea sweetie… its me… listen we need you to tell us where you are or what you can see?” Kevin spoke again, his voice faulting as he glanced towards his mother who seem like her heart was breaking each time she heard her baby’s voice.

“Ah… I can see a light… Kev please help me…” She whimpered.

“She’s fine here with me boys.” A man, his voice was husky and low, spoke into the phone this time. Everyone stiffened at the sound of him. “She’ll be perfectly safe with me… she doesn’t need you Jonas’s… don’t you?”

No-one was entirely sure what was going on, but as Katherine groaned, Joe’s anger reached boiling point.

“YOU BASTARD! LET HER GO… I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU LAY A FINGER ON HER-” The man cut off a screaming Joe.

“Na-uh Joey boy… back away or else she might not be so lucky…”

“What do you want from us? Money?” Joe reluctantly whispered this time.

“All I want is to be recognized… and Kat of course.”

And then he hung up. The phone went dead, Mrs. Jonas broke down, both Frankie and Nick began to cry. The officers in the stadium began to run around frantically.

Right now, no-one was sure about anything, the one thing that Nick, Joe and Kevin all knew though, was that this guy was going to pay… he was going to pay big time. And that if he were to hurt her at all, even just a finger nail – he was going to suffer ten times worse.