And the latest chapter is.....

Chapter 2 - So I Hold My Breath Until My Heart Explodes...


Dan had gone into the stage crew office and was doing a preliminary search for supplies to conduct the search that was soon to be underway. He grabbed a duffel bag from the corner and began to stuff it with rolls of duct tape. "Cant ever have too much duct tape on hand" he said to himself. Angela and Allan were still making out in the hall (this was their way of preparing for an epic search for their friend, actually, this was their preparation for pretty much everything). When Dan went back out into the hall, fully stocked with duct tape and various other necessities, two more people were there waiting for him.
"We heard there was some kind of party going on?" a red-headed girl named Ann hopefully looked at Dan.
"Well, a SEARCH party..."
"Sounds good to me" said Ann’s boyfriend, known to most as Jeff. "Do you have adequate amounts of duct tape?" he inquired.
"I do" replied Dan.
"Most excellent” said Ann "we shall go off and have a search party then... what exactly are we searching for?"
Dan proceeded to explain the situation to Jeff and Ann. They then (including Allan and Angela who had finally stopped making out) decided to kick off their search in the auditorium and move on to the various other parts of the school.


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Meanwhile, Kati had rushed off to find Niki at the other end of the hallway. Unbeknownst to Kati, Kevin was trailing her stealthily and was planning to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Hey Niki…" whispered Kati.
Niki looke up from her textbook to face Kati with a puzzled and slightly annoyed look on her face. "Ya.. what do you want? I'm trying to study."
"It's important Niki..." Kati said, her eyes shifting nervously. "Ash is.. missing."
"What?" exclaimed Niki, suddenly attentive.
"Ya, she hasn't been here for 3 days and I was thinking... well.." Kati hesitated, wondering if she should continue. "..well.. I don’t want to jump to conclusions or anything, but.."
Niki interrupted "Kati. This is serious. Ash never just disappears. She would have called one of us, or talked to us online or something."
Kati's eyes shifted around again. She felt as if she was being watched.. or spied on.. in a Russian manner. "I think we should meet to talk about this later. Someplace safe." she said cautiously. Now Niki too glanced around the seemingly empty hall, feeling the eyes in the back of her head, the ears listening to her words.
"Ya. Come over to the apartment after class, we can talk there."
"Right." Replied Kati. She nodded then walked off down the hall. Niki too went on about her business, turning her attention back to her textbook, though she could not quite shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Kevin, for the record, was still there in the shadows near Niki, though he was no longer paying any attention to her. He was thinking about what they had said, and planning his next spying venture at the apartment. He had been to Niki's apartment before and thought it best to get there before them, so as to not be noticed. It was obvious that he was not just dealing with ordinary people here. These girls could sense his presence, meaning that they too had some kind of Russian-ness. He would have to be very careful. Veeery careful. With that thought in mind, he snuck off towards the doors and headed for Niki's apartment.


Soon enough, school ended and Kati headed over to Niki’s apartment. She waited outside the door for a little bit until Niki showed up and pulled out her key.
“Sorry about that” she said, opening the door “I got stuck at school.”
“No problem” said Kati, glancing behind her as Niki stepped into her apartment “You weren’t followed were you?”
“Nope. And I checked too. We’re completely alone. Now Kati, what were you trying to tell me earlier?”
Kati stepped into the room and shut the door quietly behind her. She gave the room a once over glance, then began to speak. She gave a rather long winded speech about how worried she was about Ash, and about how she was worried that the forces of evil were at work again.
“The forces of evil? But Kati, I thought we defeated the forces of evil?”
Kati went on to explain all about the forces of evil, seeing as she knew the inner workings from her time in the BPS squad. She explained how evil never really gets defeated, you can stop it for a while, maybe slow it down, but every time you think you’ve defeated it, it slowly creeps up on you again. She went on and on about all the possible things that could have happened to Ash which are too numerous to mention in this story. Kati’s speech was rather long, but essentially implied that she and Niki should do something about Ash’s missing-ness.
Kati then left the apartment and Niki went off into her bedroom for a nap.

Dramatic music drifted into the room as Kevin stepped out of the shadows…


**************

"You know..." began Dan "..this search thing would go a lo faster if you people would actually search. We could do the normal search party type stuff, you know.. like spilt up and cover different rooms so it takes less time and we cover more ground and all that? Right now this is kind of just me.. walking around with couples entow."
"What are you talking about Dan?" asked Angela "this is a very effective way to search if you ask me. Allan and Angela went back to making out after the brief pause in which angela spoke. Ann and Jeff too were making out, and not really looking very hard for Ash. Actually, they werent looking at all. Neither were Allan or Anegla. And Dan was spending all his time and energy being mad at the couples. There actually was no one who was REALLY looking for Ash, and therefore... (I the author, henceforth decree that there will be absolutely, under no circumstances, any making out, or mentioning of making out in this story. at all. nadda. sorry guys.)
"Aw... stupid author." mumbled Allan. So now everyone had stopped doing the unmentionable deed, and the searching for Ash could finally truly get under way. They proceeded to search all around the school but alas, Ash was nowhere to be found.
"Well I think it's safe to say that she is no where in the school, we've looked everywhere." said Jeff.
"I agree.. I think the next place we should check is her house" said Dan rather thoughtfully. He was still the only one who was really focusing on the task at hand, everyone else was still upset from the author's decree.
"Tis an excellent idea Dan." Ann replied "but i think Jeff and I should go check out the last place that anyone saw her. Where was that?"
"The last time anyone saw her... had to be at the Trek thing last weekend. She was over there to watch hockey then she and Kati started laughing maniacally. They were acting kind of weird. Especially Kati." Dan was growing suspicious of his Trek friend. She always was a little odd. Maybe even... a little evil? "Ok, that's a good idea. But if you run into Kati.. be careful. and stay together... though i cant imagine you guys would ever really wander off from each other..." Dan rolled his eyes and Ann and Jeff gazed at each other happily, since thats all they could really do now. "The Trek thing was at Kati's, so you're going to have to be extremely careful ok? The minute you see her I want you to get out of there."
"Alright Dan, dont worry about us!" and with that Jeff and Ann walked off to find their way to Kati's house.
"Hey Dan.." said Allan "is it really a good idea to spilt up like this? I mean.. we went from being a happy large safe group to being a small easily attackable squads. And like.. Kevin is off on his own...and Ash is missing, which means something bad is going on."
"Oh dont worry about Kevin sweetie.. he has russian powers.. he'll be fine. And Ann is a hockey player. And Jeff is.. Jeff. They'll be fine." giggles Angela.
"Ya but.." Allan looked around nervously " .. what about us three?"
Dan and Angela both burst out laughing and handed Allan some bamboo. "Silly panda... what could possibly happen to us?"