Chapter 5

After eating our pancakes I forced my friends to take a nap to help them recover from the jet lag. While they napped I went to take some of our leftover pancakes to Rin and Ren. Rin had managed to calm down Ren and Ren showed me a message from Crainer on Ian's computer. I copied down the skype address to be able to message him back later. Living across the ocean, he had no idea what was going on so letting him know might not be a bad idea. Crainer's a nice guy and I think we can trust him. After about an hour of hanging out with them, I headed back home. My friends were all still sleeping so I decided to message Crainer. I went onto my skype and typed in the address and sent a message.

Me: Crainer?

Crainer: Hello? Who is this? And how did you get this?

Me: My name is Mia, I'm a friend of Ian's. Would you mind if I called you?

Crainer: ... Yeah that's fine.

I moved my mouse over the call button and hit the video call. It made the little bubble sound and Crainer's face appeared on screen, he looked very not like himself. He looked tired, sad and slightly unshaven. I was slightly taken aback, guess what Sam said was right, he does seem really worried. He put on a fake smile.

"S-so you're one of Ian's friends?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm his neighbor." I gave him a smile. "I'm actually a big fan, so it's really cool to actually talk to you."

An embarrassed flush spread across his whole face. "Aw gee, thanks so much. I... I really needed that."

"Yeah... I can tell, are you okay?"

He gave a slight shake of his head. "I'm really worried about Ian... I-is he there?"

Now it was my turn to shake my head. "That's one of the reasons I asked to call you Ben." I said using his real name. "I wanted to kind of explain to you what's going on, but I was worried not doing it face to face, you might not believe me."

His expression turned to one more serious. "Try me." So I did. I explained everything that had happened, like how I did to my friends and he sat patiently and listened. I was really surprised, for how crazy he is in videos, he's surprisingly a really good listener. When I had finished his eyes were so wide I could clearly see their color in the iris. I patiently waited for a response as he let it soak in. "So... You're trying to find him?"

I nodded. "We will find him."

"I may live over in Denmark... But if there's anything I can do for you over here to help. I'm willing to help you guys out." He said with a smile.

"Thanks, Crainer. I'll keep you in the loop okay?"

"Sounds good. Hey thank you so much, I really appreciate it."

"Of course. Talk to you later."

"Byyye!"

I hit the end call button and leaned back in my chair.

~~~

The rest of that day consisted of sleeping and movies. We all went to bed early and woke up early, well I did at least. I went out and made some breakfast with my parents, we made some of my mom's amazing french toast. (We like breakfast food don't judge). It was when we started grilling the toast that my friends started to emerge from the bedroom and basically it was similar to yesterday. My parents left for work, we ate and cleaned up and then we went and got dressed.

"Alright guys, as I promised today is the day we're going to meet the rest of the guys." I said.

My friends burst into a fit of squeals.

"Chill guys!" I scolded with a laugh.

I pulled out my phone and texted the guys.

Me: Hey guys, where are we meeting for lunch today?

A: Well where do you guys want to eat? :)

Me: Ehhh, options. I'll ask.

"Hey, where do you guys want to eat?"

"Is there a pizza hut around? Or a Rocky Rococo's?" Sam asked.

"Um, yeah I think so."

Me: How about Rocky's?

A: Sounds good! See you guys around noon. You bringing Rin and Ren?

Me: Yeah, I don't wanna leave them on their own. If that's okay.

A: Totally understandable. :) You're a good friend. We'll see you soon!

I put my phone back in my pocket. "Alright ladies, we're all set to go at noon!" I cried.

A cheer echoed throughout the living room and I flopped down on the couch. I checked my phone for the time and saw that it was 10:30. Well this gave us time to ask Rin and Ren if they wanted to come. I also believe my parents left me the truck so we'll have enough room in the car.

At around 11 we went and gathered up Rin and Ren asking if they wanted to come with. They both agreed and we all went downstairs to the truck. I let Ren sit in front because out of everyone he was the biggest. Rin sat behind me so he had enough leg space. I started the truck and off we went to find Rocky's.

We didn't find Rocky's till around 11:45. Stupid GPS kept getting us lost, but we found it and that's what matters. We went inside and pushed a few tables together to make sure we had enough room. Adam naturally was the first to arrive and honest to god I thought Catt was gonna faint. She stared at him in awe and her face lost near all color. Gretchen was bouncing slightly where she stood, Same was smiling like an idiot and Zoe was bouncing up to him and shaking his hand.

"Hi Mr. Skydoesminecraft! I'm Zoe!"

Adam laughed. "Call me Adam. Nice to meet you."

"Well you met Zoe, so this is Sam, Catt and Gretchen." I said pointing to each of them.

Catt walked over to him and gave him a hug. Surprised at first, Adam just blinked but he laughed and hugged back. "Oh my gosh, you are literally my favorite YouTuber ever." Catt said with a smile.

"Aw thanks so much!"

"Are the others coming?" I asked.

"Yep they'll be along shortly. Lets wait for them and then all order together."

We all sat at the table and the rest of the guys filed in. All we were waiting on now was Jason and he was taking forever so we ordered without him. We sat down and ate and talked and all my friends were doing their very best not to squeal. Gretchen teased Mitch and Jerome with Merome jokes which they gladly laughed along with. Zoe, Sam and Catt were all joking around with Adam, Ty and Quentin. Ren went to the restroom and Rin went to go get another refill on his pink lemonade. I'd finished my pizza and moved onto the breadsticks, when Jason came running in all out of breath.

"Hey dude, you're a little late but it's cool!" Adam said at first playing it off like a joke but as I looked closer at Jason something seemed off. His eyes were wide and he looked as though he had a few drops of sweat on his head, but it wasn't that hot out today. Something was wrong.

"Jason, you okay?" I asked.

He looked up me and took a moment to catch his breath. "I... I saw Ian!"

Everyone froze. Even my friends. Rin and Ren had come back and they were both silent. "A-are you sure?" I stumbled over my words.

Jason gave a quick nod. "H-his clothing was different, and he had a hood up but it was him. I just know it, he's not an easy guy to mistake."

"Where did you see him?!"

"Err, it actually wasn't too far from his place, a couple blocks but he was walking so I have no idea where he was coming from."

"Where was he walking towards?" Catt asked.

Jason put his finger near his bottom lip. "I think he was headed the direction of the apartments."

"Why would he go back there?" Grey asked.

"Cause he lives there dummy." I replied bopping her on the head.

"Ohh yeah!"

"Maybe when Ren teleported you guys back, Ian just ended up somewhere else." Sam suggested.

"No." Ren jumped in. We all looked at him, it was the first time I heard him talk today. "It's not possible, he should've gone back to his sleeping state on his bed like Mia did."

"Jason also mentioned his attire was different." Quentin pointed out. "And he had a hood up, why would he not want anyone to see him? Something's up."

"I agree." I said. "If Ian was lost like we want to think, he would have his hood down looking for help. That's would anyone would do right? So why was he hiding his face? I agree with Quentin. Something is definately up."

"Shouldn't we go back to the apartments? Maybe he's still there." Zoe said standing up.

"I don't know if that's the best decision squeaks..." I told her. I started thinking, why would Slender have him go back to apartments? To do something to me? Rin? Ren? Maybe... Or could it be something else? I'm not sure what he needed that he didn't have. A thought struck me, but it was interrupted by my phone dinging in my pocket. I pulled it out, thinking it was one of my parents making sure we were okay, but what was on screen, brought back my thought and made my blood run called.

Ian:
Help.

My phone almost slipped out of my hand and my stomach twisted into knots. I quickly swiped and punched in my code unlocking it and going to my messages.

"Mia? What's up?" Ty asked.

"I..." It took me a moment to process and not stumble over my words. "H-he texted me! I-Ian did!" I showed them all the text and everyone's eyes widened slightly. Well, except for Ren, he just had his arms crossed, but he didn't look angry.

"Well, we gotta go see what's wrong!" Jerome cried leaping to his feet.

"Wait." Ren spoke again. "It could be a trap."

"We won't know unless we go find out though, maybe escaped Slender and was on the run?" Mitch suggested,

"It's... It's not that easy." Ren avoided eye contact momentarily. "Look, this is Slender we're discussing here, he's not easy to just outwit, I'm telling you it's a trap."

"What if just one person went in and looked? I could." Rin said quietly.

Ren faced his brother astonished. "N-no way, Rin. It's too dangerous."

"What if it isn't a trap, Ren? It's worth the look. You'd do it if it was me who was missing." Ren stopped cold, that really hit home, especially from his brother. "I'm not a scared, little kid anymore. And I'm quick, if something does go wrong I'll be able to run away." Rin gave one of his goofy lopsided grins.

Ren hesitated for a long moment, but finally let out a small sigh. "Alright, but if anything seems wrong you come right back, okay? Don't do something stupid like me." He sounded worried, almost sad. What was he hiding?

Rin smiled and pulled his brother into a hug. "Of course bro, I've always been the careful one."

"So are we all going? Or is someone just gonna drive Rin there?" Ty asked.

"No, I say we all go, or at least be a block away incase something does go wrong and he needs help. I'll drive him though, would a couple of you guys be willing to bring my friends with you?" I ask.

Catt latched onto Sky's arm as though calling shotgun with him, which made Adam laugh. "Yeah of course."

"I'll take Ren with me." Quentin added.

"Alright," I grabbed Rin's wrist gently and pulled him outside over to the car. He jumped in shotgun and everyone followed. Grey went with Mitch and Jerome, Ren went with Quentin, Catt went with Sky and Sam went with Jason. Ty drove on his own. I started up my car and started heading back to the apartments. My stomach was full of knots and butterflies, did Ian really escape and was hiding from Slender? Or was he being played as a pawn, or an even scarier thought. What if it wasn't really Ian?

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A/N: ... I'm sorry... I haven't been sticking to my promise and I feel horrible. I've actually been, unmotivated lately and it has nothing to do with not liking wattpad, I love this site it's saves me. Writing has just been difficult lately as I've started some other stuff with some friends and school. I know that's a lame ass excuse but believe high school can really take over your life, so yeah...

The other stuff I'm doing with friends is actually something we're all super excited for so if you haven't already please check out contest_fun it's a contest channel I made to kinda get a bit deeper into wattpad, get more of an experience out of it besides reading and writing so I'm super stoked :)

Also I'm writing quite a few other things that I sometimes get super deep in and forget I have other stories I need to keep up with. So if I update a bit randomly more often I'm sorry!

But because I haven't updated in awhile I made this chapter pretty long so I hope you enjoyed. And if you did give it a lil love, tell me what you think and what your predictions are! But besides that have a great day my children :3 I'll see you all in the next chapter.

Mo <3