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Chapter 5

Several minutes later, Nick stood up and walked over to grab his cell phone. He looked at it, then back at the bracelet he was still holding in his hand.
He quickly dialled the number and brought the phone up to his ear.

“Hey bro. Miss me already?” The voice on the other end replied after a few rings.
“Jay, hi. Did you get home yet?”
“Yup, just walked through the door. Man, I can’t wait to take a hot bath!”
Nick listened to AJ, feeling guilty for having to call him. “Umm… listen. Do you think you could come over?”
AJ laughed briefly. Then there was silence for a few seconds. “What?”
“I’m serious Alex. I need you over here as soon as you can.”
“Alex, huh? You never Alex me.”
“That’s because I’m deadly serious.”
There was silence again on the other end.“What’s going on, Nick? Did something happen. You sound weird…”
“I’ll tell you if you can just please get over here.”
“Has this got something to do with Ali again?”
“AJ… just. Please? I need your help.”
AJ sighed. “Alright. Give me thirty minutes.”
“Thanks man.”
“You owe me dude.”
Nick nodded to himself. “I know, Jay. See you.”
“Yea, bye.”

“And you’re telling me that this is the bracelet?” AJ was holding up the bracelet, looking at Nick pacing back and forth in front of him.
“For the hundred time AJ, yes. She made it for me, and I wore it for five years. I’m telling you Jay… it’s the same bracelet.”
“Alright, alright…” He raised his hands. “I was just asking…”
Nick sighed. “I know. I’m just freaking out right now. What do I do?”
“You have to report it.”
Nick ran his fingers though his hair and took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I guess. But what if they close the case again Jay? Or what if they don’t even bother to reopen it?”
“You’ll never know unless you try Nick. I mean, you can’t deal with this on your own anyway. You’ll need help. I mean, maybe they can find fingerprints on the envelope or something. You know… anything that might lead you to her.”
“Could you come with me?”
“Well, I’m here, so I might just tag along… It’s not like I don’t long for that bath tub or anything.” He laughed sarcastically.
Nick cast him a ‘not funny’ look.
“Sorry…” AJ got up from the chair he was sitting in and walked over to Nick who was still pacing back and forth.
“So… Russia, huh?” He said, standing next to Nick.
“Yea. Do you think she’s there?”
AJ shrugged. “I don’t know, man. She might be. Or she might’ve at least been there. I mean… she could be anywhere. But Nick… don’t get your hopes up. This bracelet doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s still alive.”
Nick stopped pacing and looked at AJ. “We’ve talked about this before Jay. I know she is.”
AJ sighed. “Ok… come on; let’s drive down to the station to see what they have to say.”

~*~

She was alone again. He had stayed particularly long that night. Once again, he stayed in the dark corner, careful not to reveal himself to her. She had tried talking to him again, but he had interrupted her and continued to speak to her in the foreign language. She was guessing that it was European, or maybe Asian. Sometimes, she thought she knew, other times, she had no idea.

She thought of what had happened three weeks earlier.
Once a week, she guessed, she was blindfolded, taken outside and led to a room where she could shower. It had been like that from the moment she had arrived. She cherished those few minutes where she was left to herself in a different surrounding then where she normally spent her time.

Three weeks ago, she had taken off the blindfold once she entered the room where the shower was placed, and found an envelope tossed away in a corner. She had picked it up and hidden it in the pocket of the torn jeans she was wearing, spending the entire night thinking about what to do with it.

Two days later, she had scribbled down Nick’s name and address with a piece of a burned match, praying that the blacking would stick to the envelope. She had forced the bracelet that she was wearing off her wrist and gently placed it inside the envelope.

The week after, when he came to take her out again, she had brought the letter with her and left it in the room where she showered, praying that someone would find it and be kind enough to post it for her. When she returned the week after, the letter was gone.