After a few hours, Claire looked out the window and realized that it was morning already. She tried very hard to pull on the zip ties tying her to the leg of the bed. Finally, she pulled hard enough to break them, but it made a loud sound. Claire began to freak out and tried to break the boards covering the windows to get out, but they were bolted. So, she began to look through the cracks and realized that she had seen the outside before. As she was looking out through the cracks, the door opened quickly, and two guys jumped her and put a bag over her head. 

“I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me. I didn't do anything to any of you. If  you let me go, I swear I won't tell anyone.”

“You hurt so many people that you don't deserve to be alive,” said Brandon as he brought Claire downstairs.

“How do you know my name? Who are you?”

“Oh, we know more than your name!” exclaimed Brandon.

The door knocked once they got downstairs. Claire began to scream and shout.

“HELP HELP HELP!”

But one of the guys hit her in the head, and she fainted. Jason opened the door and the police were outside. They began to ask what those screams were; Jason just said that he was watching a horror movie. 

“So, officers, what can I do for you?”

“You may have heard about the recent disappearance of Claire Yearwood, so we wanted to ask her classmates some questions,” stated officer Johnson.

“Yes, I have, but I was never close with Claire.”

“Would you mind coming to the station with us and telling us anything you know about her?”

“I’m good, but I can tell you what she did to Brandon.”

Jason proceeded to tell the officers all about Claire and what she did to his friend; after a few minutes, the officers left and continued their search. Everything was going wrong; all the signs pointed to a teen runaway. Since this was something that happened in the Yearwood family. 

“No, please, please, I'm sorry. Don't bring me down here, please!”

“SHUT UP!  I am getting tired of you. Once we get down the stairs, don't move or make any noises; if you do, I won't untie you or take the blindfold off. Understood?” said Brandon, dragging Claire down the stairs.

 “Yes, yes, can I please get some water and food?”

 “No, trust me, you won't need it,” said Brandon laughing.

At this point, Claire realized she would never get out unless she did something about it, so once Brandon left, she checked her surroundings and made a plan. The basement was not as pretty as the room. It was all dirty and empty. All that was in there was a bucket and a bed. She noticed that the door was normal; it didn't have bars or extra locks. Even though she knew it would be locked, she still decided to try and open it, and it opened! Claire didn’t go out because she thought it could be a trap, so she got a piece of wood and placed it on the door so that it would not fully close. She waited a few hours and decided to quietly go out when she heard no more voices coming from upstairs. Claire softly removed the piece of wood and opened the door. Then she tiptoed towards the front door, but she saw someone she never expected to see. 

Once Claire began to head towards the door, she turned her head and saw Brandon in the kitchen. She could not believe her eyes; her best friend was the one who did all of this. Brandon looked over at her and rushed to get her, but she managed to open the door. Stunned, Claire looked outside and realized that it was her neighborhood and that her parents were next door, wondering where their daughter was. Brandon got her, and Claire screamed and screamed as he dragged her back down the stairs and tied her to the pipe in the basement. 

“Brandon, why are you doing this? I have always treated you like my brother!”

“Exactly, Claire, you led me on, being flirty and cuddly all the time. Who does that? You knew that I had a crush on you ever since I laid eyes on you, but you ignored that and made me think you also liked me. Then one day you decide to get with my brother and then one of my best friends! You deserve whatever will happen to you next,” screamed Brandon.

“Brandon, I swear, I never knew you liked me, but it was always clear that you were like my brother.”

“You see, Claire, that is an exact example of how you gaslight and manipulate people. I am not the only one you have done this to, but I am the only one who had the balls to finally end this.” 

“I'm sorry, please. I'll make it up to you.”

“You can never fix what you did to me. Five years, Claire, is how long you have manipulated me. Now it's your turn to go through all of the pain that you have caused me,” said Brandon as he walked up the stairs.

Once Sunday came around, the officers began to give up, but they realized that they missed the one person who truly knew Claire, Brandon. So officer Johnson arrived at his house and began to question him.

Officer Johnson knocked on the door, and Brandon had already answered.

“Hello officer, what can I do for you?” Brandon said as he let the officer into his house.

“I was hoping you could help with the investigation of your friend Claire?”

Brandon answered the question that the officer asked calmly and cooperatively, but once Claire's mom arrived it was like a switch in his demeanor. 

“Brandon, it's so good to see you. I hope you are doing okay after Claire's disappearance. I know she didn't run away, but I was hoping you would help us find her,” stated Claire's mom as she began to cry.

“I can’t help you; there's no point to this.Why should we continue to look for her if there is no evidence?You're just wasting your time, knowing Claire—she probably ran off after her fight with you,” said Brandon to Claire's mom.

After this statement, officer Johnson comforted Claire's mom and walked out with her, but soon after, he went back into the house and saw Brandon on the phone, laughing.

“Why would you say something like that? What is wrong with you, boy?”

“Claire was never my friend; she just pretended to be one to get to my brother.Why should I care for her?”

Shaking his head, the officer walked out and began to see Brandon as their possible suspect since he was their only chance at finding Claire. 

Officer Johnson arrived at the station and got his men to look over all of the evidence gathered from interrogations. They began to find evidence that pointed to the one person that they never considered could be the kidnapper. The statements given by his friend and by himself showed clear evidence that Brandon had the motive to take Claire. 

After Brandon’s encounter with officer Johnson, he decided to leave, but it would look suspicious if he did it out of nowhere. So he got some money from the bank and tied some things up around town. As he was driving home, he saw a cop car and two officers on his porch. He drove slowly and stopped two streets before his house so that they could not see him. He saw Jason open the door and began to worry.

“Hello officers, good afternoon. What can I do for you?”

“Good afternoon. We are here to talk to Brandon about Calire’s disappearance. Is he home? ” said officer Johnson, looking past Jason into the house.

“Sorry officers, but you just missed him.”

“Could we please come in to look around and wait for Brandon to get back?”

“No, this is not my house; I can't just let you in, sorry, but I can give you guys a call once he gets back.”

“Alright, but make sure you call this is urgent,” said officer Johnson as he was about to walk away.

“Wait, is Brandon a possible suspect?”

“We can’t disclose that information; it's confidential, but if you call us, then you won't be considered an accessory to kidnapping.”

In panic, Jason shut the door and began to pack his things to flee. Brandon saw the officers get into their cars, and he decided to drive slowly to his house. He got in and saw Jason panicking as he was packing his things. Brandon calmed him down and told him that he had the perfect plan to run away. 

“What are we going to do? They know it's you, Brandon!”

“Don't worry, I have a plan.”

“What are we going to do with Claire?”

“I'll handle it. We won't have to worry about her ever again.”

They began to pack up their things and decided to leave at midnight. Jason never called the officers, which drew more attention to both of them. The police decided to get a warrant to enter Brandon's house, but since they didn't have hard evidence, they couldn't get one till the next day. This gave them plenty of time to leave. As midnight was coming, Brandon got Claire out of the basement and knocked her out. He then put her in the trunk and drove off with Jason. The next day, the officers knocked on the door, but no one answered, so they kicked the door open and saw the empty house. They looked everywhere, but there was no trace of Claire; in fact, there was no trace of anybody. It was like none of them ever existed.