Stolen

Vincent went out to the back and around to his shed. He slammed the door shut and locked it. Leaning against the door, he took a few deep breaths. To kiss her had felt wonderful. To hold her had felt even more wonderful.

But it couldn’t happen again. If Kevin found out they had kissed just once, Vincent hated to think what he would say or do.

He sighed and looked around. The shed held mostly his lawn care equipment, including his dad’s busted walking lawnmower. Deciding that fixing it was better than waiting around for Kevin to get home, he flipped the switch for the lights and heaved the lawnmower onto his metal work table.

Vincent’s father, Bryce, died two years ago from a brain hemorrhage shortly after divorcing from his mother. Vincent had always been closer with his father than his mother and he was heartbroken. Aside from Kevin, his father was the only one to know about his true feelings for Carmen and had been his financial backer in doing his own private research. In his will, he told Vincent to ‘not give up on his quest’. Even in death his father was keeping his secret.

So, Vincent did as he said. Out of the $500,000 he was given from life insurance and what his dad had put away for him, he used about a quarter of it buying supplies and manpower. He hired a few guys to help him fan out through the forest around their town, hoping to find maybe a cabin or some kind of clue. Nothing came up. Everyone was frustrated and, even though he offered to pay, his help left.

Without help, he had to go back to searching from his house. That was the most infuriating thing he ever had to do. Now, though, he didn’t have to and could go back to working full time. The inheritance, though not even depleted by half, was paying for the house and he didn’t want that anymore. He wanted to put it into savings and not touch it unless another emergency happened.

Like this ominous attack on their town Carmen mentioned.

Vincent worked until the light was bright in the shed, signaling sundown. Kevin should be home so he wiped his oily hands on a rag and left, relocking the shed. As he had hoped, Kevin was in the kitchen, rooting around in the fridge to make dinner.

“Hey,” Kevin said. “I was looking for you.”

“Just out in the back fixing the mower,” Vincent said with a shrug, washing his hands.

“I figured you’d be on the computer with Carmen.”

Vincent frowned. “She’s on the computer?”

“Yeah. She said you let her.”

Vincent panicked and walked quickly to his room. Sure enough, Carmen was on his computer. But she wasn’t looking through his personal files. Instead, she was in Microsoft Word, typing with two fingers.

“Hi,” he whispered and she nodded in response. “Um, what’re you doing?”

“Gaby called. She wants me to type everything up but I’m awful at typing.”

“I can do it,” he offered.

“No thanks.”

She didn’t say anything else and he shifted on his feet. He wanted to apologize for running away and to tell her why. Instead, he shrugged awkwardly and walked back out into the house.

“Where’s Tara?” he asked Kevin who was making spaghetti.

“In bed. She’s feeling a little sick.”

“You’re getting closer to that time.”

“I know,” Kevin groaned. “God, I’m nervous.”

Vincent chuckled. “Ah, you’ll be fine. You both will be.”

“Yeah, but what about Carmen?” he asked. “Will she be fine?”

“I’m sure she will. She’s a strong woman, as we’ve all seen.”

Kevin put the spoon down. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Vincent looked at him, trying not to show his panic. Did Kevin know what happened earlier? Was he going to hit him?

“What do you mean?” Vincent asked, doing his best to keep his voice even.

“I mean that I don’t want to leave her here alone with you.”

Vincent groaned. “Come on, Kevin. We talked about this. You need to stop it.”

“How do I know you won’t pounce on her the minute I’m gone?”

He clamped his mouth shut as Vincent’s expression became stony. Vincent stood up slowly.

“I thought you knew me better than that,” Vincent said.

“I know you were a player in high school and-.”

“We’re not in high school anymore, damn it!” Vincent yelled, pounding his fist on the table. “I would never take advantage of anyone, much less her! I’m sick of you breathing down my neck whenever you’re home! You’re constantly hovering and it’s suffocating!”

“She’s vulnerable!” he shouted back, recovering from the shock of Vincent yelling at him. “And she’s going to you! I’m her brother! She should be coming to me!”

“We talked about that, too! That’s not how it’s working out! You have to let her heal how she wants to. That includes being with who she wants to!”

“So you admit that you want my sister,” Kevin challenged.

“I’m saying that you can’t control her,” he snapped back. “And-.”

They both stopped, though, when they heard a door slam. Frowning, Vincent looked down the hallway. His door was shut again and he had a sudden sense of foreboding. He knocked hesitantly.

“Carmen?” he said but she didn’t answer. “Carmen, are you all right?”

When she still didn’t reply, he tried to turn the knob. It was locked and he reached up above the molding where the spare key was. He unlocked it and his stomach churned. She was shoving some of his clothes into a bag.

“What are you doing?”

“Shut up, Davenport, and get out of my way,” she said harshly, trying to step around him.

He stood his ground, though. “Where are you going?”

“Get out of my way,” she repeated, glaring at him.

“No. I don’t think you should be going out there by yourself. There are press on the lawn and-.”

“I said get out of my way!” she screamed.

Suddenly, he felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He flew back all the way down the hall and landed painfully on his back on top of the table. It broke under his weight and he hit the floor amongst splintered wood and the dishes for that night’s dinner. He was struck dumb by what just happened and couldn’t react in time to stop her from running to the front door.

Kevin tried to stop her but, when he got close, he stumbled back suddenly as if he had hit a wall. She threw the door open and glared at both of them before disappearing into the mass of reporters. They tried to follow her but she ran down the street, her skills as a track runner making it impossible for people to keep up.

“Fuck,” Vincent grunted, standing up painfully. “What the hell was that?”

“Where did she go?” Kevin demanded and he was starting to panic. “Vincent, where did she go? Did she say? Oh fuck! This ruins everything! Shit. We have to find her. Call Gaby or-.”

“She probably went to your parents’ place,” he interrupted, still rubbing his back. Damn that had hurt. “At least, that’s what I would do if I were in her position.”

“Great,” Kevin spat. “This is all your fault.”

“My fault?” he repeated. “You’re the one who gave her all those damn rules! You’re the one who was keeping her from healing the way she needed to!”

“Don’t you blame this on me!”

“Would you both shut the hell up!?” Tara screamed from the hallway. They looked at her. “You’re both so caught up in how you feel that you’ve completely disregarded her!”

“I’ve only been thinking about how she’d feel!” Kevin argued.

“No, you haven’t,” she snapped and jabbed his chest with her finger. “You’ve only been thinking about how relieved you are she’s home. You won’t let her do anything without constant supervision. And you are locking away your feelings because you don’t want Kevin to deck you,” she said, now turning on Vincent. “I know you like her. I know you want her. But you just said it yourself: Kevin kept her from the healing she needs and that’s you!”

“I’m her brother!” Kevin said defiantly.

There were tears in his eyes and Vincent felt his anger ebb and be replaced with pity.

“Yes, you are,” Tara said in a soft voice. She rubbed his arm soothingly. “But you weren’t here when she came back. Vincent was. To her, he’s the safe place. And all you’ve done since she came back is try to control her every move.”

Neither of them knew what to say. Vincent stared at the floor, wondering if going to her parents’ was probably the best thing for her. That way she wouldn’t have the drama of her brother and his best friend.

“We need to get her back,” Tara said as if she could read his mind. “If she stays with your parents, they’ll twist everything. We all know it.”

“But how?” Vincent asked.

“I have an idea but it’s going to be hard for everyone,” she answered.