Last Seen in San Diego.

For some reason, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was being watched. I guess after the whole situation I’ve come accustomed to slight paranoia. For the whole month I've been here, I managed to get used to the feeling. It still scared me, it just wasn't a new feeling. I couldn't sleep, I tried and tried but I just couldn’t. I feel as if I'm being watched. The goosebumps arise and I shake them off, but I can't shake the feeling off. My first assumption was someone in the room. Maybe they were looking to see if another one of us were awake, but the next morning when I would ask I would just receive the same answers. No. The only person I haven’t asked was Vic, but I highly doubt it was him anyways. Why would he want to stare at me in the middle of the night? He hates me. It’s been a month and we’ve not once shared eye contact. It’s been a month and nothing has gotten better. I’ve gone a week without eating, I just couldn’t bring myself to eat the food he places there for us. I’m not starving myself, I’m just too focused on something else other than eating. That’s another thing...who is he? He doesn’t show his face, he doesn’t speak to us! nothing makes sense. I’m being held captive with no reason why. Lately I’ve been to myself, crawled up in a little corner. It wasn’t because of them, my isolation had nothing to do with them and I really hope they believed me when I told them that. I managed to convince Oli to hand me two sheets of paper from his little notebook, which was followed by him asking me why I needed them. I told him I wanted to draw, just to get things out of my mind. He nodded and handed me the paper anyways. I went back to my corner, feeling the eyes on me once again..but I ignored it. When I would be able to sleep, I kept seeing these numbers on a white plate. They flashed in my mind when I dozed off into my own world as well. I scribbled the words on the paper, large enough to take up the whole paper.

8210424

I looked over the scribbled numbers on the paper, trying to remember where I’ve seen them from.

“What do those numbers mean?” His accent snaps me out of my trance. I looked up from the paper, meeting his eyes.

“I’m not sure honestly.” I shrugged. “I keep seeing them in my dreams and sometimes when I drift off but I can’t remember where.” I tell him, sighing in frustration.

“Hey don’t beat yourself up about it. When did you first start seeing these numbers?” He asked. Naturally, I would’ve expected him to think I was a bit looney for this. But he didn’t, he seemed genuinely interested in this.

“Uh I would say about the third week.” I answered him. Images of the first dream slowly playing in the back of my mind. “At first I thought it was nothing, but if it was nothing I wouldn’t continue dreaming about it right?” I asked, more to myself than to him. It was a rhetorical question I assumed, but Oli seemed to have an answer to it.

“Well maybe it does mean something. Maybe it has some sort of significance to you but you just can't remember what it is.” He told me, shrugging his shoulders lightly. You would think that once you found the answer it would just leave your mind right? Nope. Oli’s suggestion makes a lot of sense and he’s probably right but why can’t I just drop the images of the strange numbers?

“You’re probably right. Maybe it’s something to do with h-home.” My voice was barely able to let that last word slip. I’m homesick, of course I am.

“Hey don’t worry, we’re going to get out of here soon. Don’t you worry about it.” He said weakly, giving me a small smile. I wanted to stop talking about family and home, so I decided to change the subject on him.

“What’s in that little book you always have?” I asked him.

“Oh this? some lyrics, some little notes. Nothing serious.” He says quietly.

“You write? That’s cool. Can I read some?” He nods sheepishly, handing me the little book. I flip through each page, reading the bits of lyrics he has sprawled out on each page.

‘I know I bend and I break all my promises. But now it's time for the truth, I keep my head in the clouds and I hope that I can't just be invisible to you.’

‘That little kiss you stole, it held my heart and soul and like a deer in the headlights, I meet my fate. Don't try to fight the storm, you'll tumble overboard, tides will bring me back to you.’

‘Can you hear the silence? Can you see the dark? Can you fix the broken? Can you feel... can you feel my heart? Can you help the hopeless? Well, I'm begging on my knees, Can you save my bastard soul? Will you wait for me?’

‘Don't go, I can't do this on my own. Don't go, I can't do this on my own. Save me from the ones that haunt me in the night. I can't live with myself, so stay with me tonight. Don't go. Don't go.’

“Oli these are really good.” I tell him, continuing to flip through the pages. As I was reading, a little note at the bottom that called for my attention.

‘I wrote this for you after you left. I’m so sorry, I overreacted. You know you mean the world to me, please come home. I love you.'

“Oli? who’s this for?” I ask him quietly. Snapping him out of his daze.

“Oh that, that was for my boyfriend back home. We had a fight the day I was taken.” He said sadly.

“Boyfriend? I didn’t know you were gay.” I told him. I would’ve never suspected that.

“You never asked. Come to think of it, I think you are the only one who knows.” He chuckled.

“You didn’t tell them?”

“They never asked.” He says causing both of us to laugh. “How would I look, walking into a room with strangers and yelling ‘Hey I’m gay!’” He states, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis.

“You have a point.” I say, calming my laughter down. “So what did you guys fight about?” I asked him. He shifted in spot.

“Oh um, well I felt as if I was losing him.” He muttered.

“What do you mean?”

“Okay. Say if you were in a relationship but your boyfriends best friend confessed his feelings for your boyfriend one night while intoxicated. Whether you’ve experienced this or not, I’m sure you know that drinking makes an honest person out of people. right?” I nod before letting him continue to ramble on. “Okay so if he did that, would you still want your boyfriend hanging out with him?” He asks me. I took it into consideration, putting myself into Oli’s shoes. Would I want that? I mean I wouldn’t want to stop him from seeing his best friend.

“Did uh-”

“Josh.”

“Did Josh, tell him his boundaries?”

“No, that’s the thing! He saw it as a joke. He didn’t think that it was serious. But then the bastard continue to try and make a move on him. That day Josh came home and told me that he was kissed. I was furious! I started yelling at him about how it would’ve never happened if he would’ve put a stop to it. I regret all of it. It’s like now I pushed him into his arms, I’m never going to have that chance with him. If I knew my last words would’ve been what they were, I would’ve never said them.” He croaked out. I could tell he was getting really emotional about this.

“What did you tell him?” I ask, staring into his watery brown eyes.

“I told him that he should go be with him, since it’s obvious that’s who he wants. I regretted it so much, which is why I wrote that note to him. I wrote Don’t Go for him. I was going to go give it to him along with the note but I never got the chance.” He sniffles.

“I’m sorry Oli. I promise you, that you will get him back.” I tried comforting him. He just nods and looks at me, a sly smirk on his face. “What?” I ask.

“What about you? Anyone you had your eyes on? I know you just moved here so you couldn’t have had a boyfriend just yet.” He says. I roll my eyes at him. I just shrug, my eyes trailing all over the room. Stopping at the boy in the corner. “Ah Vic.” He whispered in my ear.

“What? No!” I say, trying to hide the obvious redness on my cheeks.

“I knew it!” He yelled, causing all eyes to be on us.

“Knew what?” Jack asked. I looked at Oli, my eyes silently begging him to quickly make something up.

“Oh um..that Kellin isn’t a virgin.” He says, causing me to punch his arm.

“You dick.” I snapped in fake anger. I heard a whistle from the couple, some giggles from the girls and a loud ‘yeah’ from Mike. I laughed at their childishness. Everyone else turned back to their conversations, as well as Oli and I. “I hate you! I am a virgin!” I whispered, just in case anyone else would listen.

“Well they don’t need to know that.” I scoffed at him. “Anyways, don’t try to change the subject. You have the hots for Fuentes, spill.” He nudges me.

“I don’t have the hots for him, Oliver. Do I find him attractive? yes. But that doesn’t mean I like him.” I explained to him. How could I like someone who hates me and who attacked me? I can’t lie though, of course he still interested me. I want to know what’s up with him. There’s more to him than he his letting off and I want to be the one to find out.

“Attraction is only step 1.” He joked. God I hate him so much.

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” I pushed him away. We continued to sit in our little corner, laughing about stupid stuff and finding more stuff that we had in common. I couldn’t help but get that feeling of being watched again. It was like this time, I could feel the eyes burning into my skin. I lifted my head up, my eyes meeting with Vic’s. As soon as his met mine, they left. I shrugged it off, although I really wanted to ask him why he was staring at me. The last time I stared at him, I got punched in the face. He’s a confusing one. Oli and I stopped our conversation when we heard the familiar loud bang. Our first meal of the day. I guess he decided to change his ways because instead of water, we got juice. Instead of sandwiches, we got what I assumed to be chicken.

“He continues to confuse me.” I mutter to Oli once we took our spots.

“How?” He asks.

“He’s feeding us, not torturing us. He’s nice, not sick. What’s the deal?” I say, taking a bite out of the chicken.

“Maybe he’s always wanted children and this is the closest way to have them. I don’t know.” He says. It just doesn’t make sense. If he wanted children, wouldn’t he at least want to interact with us or see us? “Those numbers you drew, do they have anything to do with him?” He asks.

“Um, not that I can remember.” I tell him. Although now that I think of it, it may have been. “I think so, but half of the time I was with him I was unconscious.” I say.

“It’ll hit you eventually.” He says, ending our conversation. We ate the rest of our food in silence. Vic continued to look at me, only to look away when I looked up at him. Oli caught our little game once and continued to bother me about it. He was so immature at times, but he always made me smile. In a situation like this, a smile is just what I need.

The rest of the day passed by quickly, our small corner was left empty when we joined the others in the center. Our second meal came around and it was back to sandwiches and water. I couldn’t complain though, it was better than anything. We all just talked about various things, from music to movies. It was now night time, I assumed and everyone was either asleep or almost asleep. After a few more hours, the only ones who remained awake were Oli, Vic and I. The atmosphere was tense, seeing as Vic was still drawing quietly while Oli and I were still having a conversation.

“Why don’t you go talk to him?” Oli whispered so Vic didn’t hear him.

“Because he hates me.” I whispered back.

“Well why don't you make him like you.” He suggested. I doubt that would work, although his option to go and talk to him was sounding kind of pleasing to me. I didn’t want to take my chances and get attacked again.

“Go make a new friend while I go to sleep.” He yawns. I just shrug, allowing him to fall asleep on my lap. I couldn’t help but want to go talk to Vic. I tried to fight against it but my mind was telling me to go. I got that same feeling again, but when I looked up this time, Vic didn’t look away. I gave him a small smile to which he completely ignored, going back to his paper. I frowned. I wanted to know why he’s such a dick, and I’m going to. I slowly slid Oli’s head off of my lap, I was very careful not to wake him up. As soon as I was free, I quietly walked over to Vic. I took a chair and moved it to the table so I could sit with him.

“H-Hi.” I stuttered, fear rushing through my body.

“You can relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” Oh how ironic. “Why are you here?” He asked quietly. He didn’t seem mad, he was actually calm.

“You looked like you needed company.” I tell him, a little more confident this time.

“Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.” He mutters.

“Well I’m not leaving until I know why you hate me.” I tell him. His head shoots up, the fear slowly returning.

“I don’t hate you Kellin, I dislike that you came in here giving everyone false hope.” He sighed.

“I didn’t. Look Vic, you and I are on the same page here. We both know we’re never going to get out of here.” I tell him.

“How can you and the others be so happy when you’re never going to see your families again? You’re never going to be able to see the world or do anything in life.” He was slowly giving into me. He was slowly breaking down his tough interior around me, but it may be just for this night.

“That’s the reason why Vic. We may never be able to do all of that but isn’t that a good enough reason to enjoy a few laughs with the friends we made here?” I reason with him.

“I don’t know.” He mutters more to himself than to me. I didn’t know what to say so I tried changing the topic.

“What’s on the paper?” I ask him. He looks down at it before sliding it over to me.

“What? nothing you need to see.” He snaps. I respect his wishes, nodding my head and remaining silent. I didn't know what else to say to him, but then the numbers flowed through my head once again.

“Vic?” I asked after moments of silence.

“What?” His tough appearance was back on. I guess he realized that it was stupid of him to let it down, even if it was just for a couple of minutes.

“Have you ever seen these numbers?” I ask him, taking out the folded piece of paper from my pocket. I opened it up and slid it over to him. His brown eyes scanned the paper before looking back at me. His eyes were like chocolate orbs, they were beautiful.

“They look familiar, I’m not sure though.” He tells me, snapping me out of my trance. I felt the heat come to my cheeks as I muttered out a quick ‘okay’. I didn’t want to continue this awkward moment so I excused myself from the table, returning my spot next to Oli. Vic’s eyes met mine once again before turning away. Fatigue was slowly taking over me. I shut my eyes, letting the thoughts of going home on my mind.