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Just like that, Cyd was gone.

It hit me fast and hard; I knew he was gone for good. I quickly entered a state of numbness. In this state I lost who I was completely. My mind became an empty space and my body became a puppet. I lost my friends, my family, my home, and now Cyd. What more did I have to live for? Yet here I was, living.

I couldn't feel happiness, sadness, or anything in between. Everything that has happened lately has been constantly stacking itself on my back and I've been trying to hold it up. The moment the gunshot went off, that stack took me over and my personality was stuck underneath.

I unclenched my hands from their mantis-like position and looked up at the window once more. The tears in my eyes were almost dried and I had none left to shed. My heart was shattered into a million pieces and I just didn't care about anything anymore. Cyd was gone; I had nothing.

I could hear Ralph's quiet chuckles that he kept under his breath. It seemed like he was trying to keep quiet, but I knew he still wanted me to hear. I closed my eyes for a bit longer than a blink and then looked down at the floor once more. I wanted to just scream at him, tell him that he could do whatever the hell he wanted to with me now. I had nothing left to live for.

"Come on you crybaby. Get up already."

I did. I looked up at his eyes and focused deeply. I stared into them and saw nothing but cruelty. I didn't care. I lifted myself up from the ground and walked closer to him. I stood completely still and just like a puppet, I stared. "Good boy."

My eyes still did not leave his. His expression grew a little more troubled as he wondered why I was so lifeless. Although it seems pretty obvious, I think he wanted to see sadness. When I had none left to show, it was as if his ecstasy was meaningless. He got off on my misery; without it, he had no drug.

"What are you looking at? Get away from me," he demanded. I complied with his request and took a step back. I directed my sight away from him finally and focused once again on the window. My mind still was not processing much, so I looked back down on the ground. Silence filled the area for a few minutes as I stood completely still. Ralph watched me closely and I couldn't really tell if he was nervous or confused. All I could see was his pupils watching me do nothing.

"I don't know exactly what you're doing, but I've still got plans I've got to fill. Get in the back seat mutt, we've got to hurry." I stood up and complied.

I lifted my foot and stepped into the back space in the van. As I entered, I took one last look at the front door, solely because my instincts had told me to. When I did, I saw the door begin to open. In my mind I though "Oh god, here comes Frank", but I was wrong. My eyes widened.

As I looked at the man that exited, my heart stopped. All the emotions flooded back into my body. My mind raced, my blood pressure increased, and every muscle in my body felt a small constrict. He was there, standing right in front of me. He was alive.

Ralph, who was still looking at me, gave me another one of his sick smiles. I pushed myself out of the seat and through the door, right past him. As I made my way towards the perfect German shepherd, I felt an instance of purity. An instant that reassured me that everything might somehow be better soon. Here, with Cyd.

That moment was quickly yanked away as Ralph gripped onto my tail and pulled me back into his arms. Everything happened insanely fast, but before I knew it I was being held still with one hand around my waist and a knife to my throat. I had no idea where Ralph pulled the knife from, but I could feel it pressing against my neck. It was sharp and it meant business.

I looked up at Cyd who was just as happy to see me as I was to him. Even though I was being threatened, he still paused for a moment just to examine me fully, just to figure out if I was real or simply his mind showing him what he wanted to see. He washed away his wonder and reached quickly for his back, pulling out a black and silver gun from his belt. He held it firmly and with extreme precision, aimed directly for Ralph.

"I don't know how the hell you're still alive," Ralph began from behind me, "but I suggest you put the gun down unless you want Nate to get hurt."

"Cyd, shoot him!" I yelled out. The knife pressed closer into my skin.

"Shut up! Don't think that I won't do it." I stared at Cyd, Cyd stared at Ralph, and Ralph stared at me. We were all watching and waiting to see if anyone would make a move. Ralph was ready to kill me, I knew that, but I didn't care. I wanted to keep Cyd safe, and if that meant sacrificing myself, then I was willing.

"Don't you dare put that gun down Cyd. Protect yourself!" I screamed out from the silence.

"Ralph, why the hell are you doing this?" Cyd asked, failing to reply to my question.

"Put the gun down or he dies right here, right now." Ralph commented back, failing to reply to Cyd's question.

"I'm not doing anything until I get some answers." Ralph pulled the knife into my neck and I could feel it break my skin. I began to bleed a little, which was exactly what Ralph wanted. He wanted Cyd to be able to see the blood, but not actually hurt me. Think of it as a warning.

"You get your fucking hands off of him," Cyd yelled out.

"You put the gun down, and I'll give him to you."

"Cyd don't trust him, he's lying!" But Cyd did trust him. He didn't have much more of a choice. Sure he could shoot the gun, but within that split second he did, Ralph could've easily put enough pressure into a slice to kill me. Cyd didn't want to take that risk. As much as he knew that Ralph could be lying, he didn't have any other option. His finger lifted off the trigger and he slowly set the gun down to the ground. Once it touched the floor, he lifted his body back up to full height and stared directly at Ralph. "Cyd," I whispered under my breath.

"Now kick it over to me," Ralph demanded. Cyd looked down to the ground, and did as he asked. The side of his foot hit the weapon and it slid straight to Ralph. Ralph quickly bent down and grabbed it and then looked back at Cyd. I could hear him chuckle very quietly in my ear and he released some pressure on my neck. As I anticipated, he did not let me go.

"We had a deal Ralph, let Nate go," Cyd called out as if he was one of those action heroes on a kid's movie.

"Did you actually think I would let him go? You see, since you're still alive, I still need Nate as a bargaining chip. There's something I want from you, Cyd. Something I've been wanting for a long time. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get it too. So listen to me carefully. I'm going to take Nate and a few of my buddies to this special spot I have mapped out. When I get there, I'll give you a call on your house phone and tell you what I need you to do. If you follow me, I will kill him. If you don't do what I ask, I will kill him. If you call the cops, I will kill him. Do you follow?"

Silence. There was nothing in the entire neighborhood except for silence. Even the ocean waves that crashed so loudly were smothered by the tension in the air. Cyd stared at the ground. He hasn't given up on me yet and I saw in his eyes that he wasn't about to.

Suddenly, out of the cold calm air, gunshots began to fire. I quickly ducked down to the ground and looked at Cyd. He wasn't hit. Ralph began to pull me back and he quickly threw my body into the back of his van, slamming the door tightly. Three gunshots. That's all I heard was three gunshots followed by a series of clicking sounds. Whoever was shooting quickly ran out of ammo.

The front door slammed and the van began to move. There was no window for me to see the driver, but I assumed it was Ralph. After all three gunshots sounded, I got a very good look at Cyd. He definitely was not hit and because I felt no pain on my body, I figured I wasn't either. If Ralph had fired those bullets, he was close enough to hit at least one of three, but we weren't hit. That had to have meant that someone other than Ralph had fired them, but whom?

I shifted myself towards the front of the van. I pressed my ear closely to the top of the wall, trying to see if I could hear something, anything that would give me a hint at what just happened. I didn't hear anything besides the clinging and clashing of metal. Disappointed, I sat back down on the ground and looked into the dark even though I could not see anything. I began to think.

I was in a bad situation, and I could admit it, but Cyd was alive. Just that fact alone made me want to jump and pounce and cheer with joy. I smiled a bit to myself and began to imagine Cyd's face in the darkness surrounding. He was alive; I'd make it through this.

After a half an hour or so, the car came to a stop. A few seconds passed and the front door slid open again. Ralph stood there in the light, bleeding from two different places in his left arm. He looked like hell.

"Here, take these," Ralph said quietly; you could easily tell in his voice that he was losing energy fast. He pulled out a small scrap of paper and a cell phone and slid them across the van floor and to my side. I picked up the phone and looked at the screen. It read: "Cyd's Home".

"Read the paper to him. Read that and nothing else you hear me? If you say anything else, and I mean anything else at all, I will torture him. I will torture him and make you watch. And when he is an inch away from death, I will start to torture you. He will have to sit there and watch you die slowly. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

I looked down at the phone and pressed the call button. As it began ringing, I unfolded the paper and looked down at the words. The handwriting was so familiar, almost too familiar. Cyd answered on the 3rd ring.

"Hello?" he answered; he was obviously crying.

"Cyd, listen to this message carefully and follow it exactly."

"Nate? Nate are you okay? I swear if that son of a bitch hurts you I will make him suffer. Nate, please tell me you're okay." I began to speak again; I could literally hear his heart break.

"I'm at the old abandoned dock that you used to take Ben to. I'm being held here by Ralph and a few of his men. Be here by 10:30 tonight unless you never want to see me again. Bring no one. Do not call the police and do not tell anyone else." I continued to read the paper. "Ralph says he needs you to bring something. He needs you to bring the note that Ben gave you." The paper ended.

I couldn't help but wonder who Ben was. Cyd had never mentioned the guy before, had he? If he did, I couldn't have been important because I would've remembered somebody important. The breathing noises that Cyd made indicated that he knew exactly what Ralph was talking about. I guess there was just another secret that I didn't know-another lie, another obstacle in my way. Was there ever an end to this insanity?

"Nate, listen to me," Cyd began, "I will be there like he says. When I get there, I need you to listen to everything I say. Listen to my words exactly. Listen very, very carefully. Say 'goodbye' if you understand Nate."

Cyd was planning something.

"Goodbye." I hung up the phone and looked up at Ralph again. His arm was still bleeding and his face looked as if he hadn't slept in years. The wounds were taking a toll on his health and his energy. We both knew it.

"I want you to be there when we talk tonight Nate. You're going to see what kind of a guy Cyd really is. I will not hesitate to kill you both if you retaliate. Understand? If this goes exactly as I have it planned, only one of you will die tonight. Don't be stupid."

He grabbed the handle of the van and slammed the door shut. The darkness took over every bit of light and I was left alone inside of the vehicle. Waiting, just to see what was going to happen. Waiting, just to figure out the true reason we're all stuck in this mess. Waiting, just to see if Cyd and I could find our way out of this.

But all of the waiting was about to come to an end.