5| Where’s Angel?

It was 12 a.m., midnight, and Angel hadn’t returned. Jake had been dialing her phone number for a while now, and she had not been picking up his call. He was really worried as he paced up and down in the living room, waiting for her to return home or at least pick up his call. 

"Honey, what’s wrong?" Emily asked, concerned, as she descended the staircase.

He blew out a sharp breath. He had been hiding the fact that Angel wasn’t home from her because he didn’t want her to worry. But the cat had to be let out of the bag. They needed to look for her.

"Jake," Emily called when she didn’t get a response from him.

"Uhm… Angel." He scratched his temple. "She hasn’t returned home."

"What?!" She exclaimed as she flicked her gaze at the wall clock. "It’s past 12 a.m. already. And where did she go? I thought she was in bed sleeping." 

"She asked me if she could go to Chloe’s, and I agreed to it." Jake told her. 

"Did she tell you she wanted to sleep over?" She quickly asked.

 "You know, I would never agree to that." Jake said as he raked his fingers through his hair. 

"Have you tried calling her?" She asked.

He sighed. "Severally."

Emily jumped full steam on the worry train, and her palms got sweaty as a lot of possible scenarios started running through her mind.

"Car keys." She muttered and rushed to get them from where they were being kept. "I am going to look for her at Chloe’s house." She announced this as she trudged to the door. 

"I would go with you." Jake said as he trailed behind her. 

When they got to Chloe’s house, they introduced themselves as Angel’s parents, and the domestic workers allowed them to gain entrance into the house.

Chloe’s house was much bigger and more luxurious than their small house. But they didn’t seem to be interested in the beautiful sight of the house; all they needed was their daughter.

The maid that ushered them inside the house went upstairs to call Chloe, and when she learned that Angel’s parents were downstairs, she rushed down, wondering what they were looking for.

"Where is Angel?" Jake quickly asked when he saw Chloe descending the staircase without Angel by her side. 

"Angel?" Chloe asked, confused.

 "Yes, she told me she was coming here; she said you girls have an assignment to do together." Jake said. 

She lied to her parents, Chloe thought, and she scratched her temple.

"Uhm... Angel... yes... assignment... together." She was talking gibberish in an attempt to cover for Angel. 

"Please don’t lie to us." Jake said firmly.

"Where is Angel?" Chloe could see the worries in his eyes, and she knew that it was better to cut all the crap and tell them the truth. Where on earth could Angel have gone? She thought.  

"We were at a party together and—" 

"A party?!" Jake and Emily exclaimed in unison, cutting Chloe off.

 "Yes, we were playing cup pong, and all of a sudden, she left without notifying me. So, I thought she was tired of the party and went home; that was why I didn’t bother looking for her." Chloe explained. 

"Do you have any idea where she might have gone to? Or who she might have gone with?" Emily quickly asked, her voice filled with worries.

 "No." Chloe said, shaking her head innocently. "I really don’t know where she went."

Jake raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Oh, no." 

Where could she have gone? He thought. He should have never allowed her to leave home. If anything happened to her, he was going to blame himself. 

"Please take us to where the party was held." Emily quickly said.

Chloe sought permission from her parents to take Jake and Emily there, and when the permission was granted, she took them to James house, where the party was held. 

The place that was crowded with teenagers just a few hours ago was as quiet as a desert, and bottles of beer were littered everywhere. 

Chloe noticed the irritated look on Emily and Jake’s faces, so she quickly cleared the air.

"Angel and I didn’t drink." She told them. 

Emily and Jake didn’t really care about that at the moment; all they wanted was to see their daughter. They searched every nook and cranny of the house, but Angel was nowhere to be found. They found James laying down on the kitchen floor, drunk.

"James." Chloe called, but there was no response from him.

Jake forcefully sat him up and held him by the shoulders. "Do you know where Angel is?"

"An angel is flying up to the sky." He slurred. 

They made several attempts to ask him questions, but it proved futile as he kept saying gibberish.

"My baby." Emily cried as she began to tremble. 

"We’ll find her. I believe so." Jake said as he patted her shoulder. He was also scared as hell, afraid of losing his daughter. But he had to conceal his fear just to be strong for Emily.

"Where could she be?" Emily cried. "We need to report to the police." 

Chloe’s phone suddenly started ringing, and they flicked their gazes at her.

"Is it Angel?" Jake asked, and Chloe shook her head.

Damon was the person who was calling. She hesitated to pick because of the situation at hand and also because she was angry at him for leaving the party without notifying her. But after giving it a second thought, she decided to pick up the phone, hoping he might know where Angel was since they disappeared from the party at the same time.

"Chloe, do you know where Angel’s house is?" Was the first thing Damon said when she picked up the call. 

"Angel?" Chloe asked. "Do you know where she is?" 

At the mention of Angel’s name, Jake and Emily became alert, and they inched closer to Chloe.