"And Seraphina... I think she wanted to warn Lia, but... she gave herself away... she tried to run... it didn't work... Seraphina's driver was knocked out too... so much blood..."
In the blink of an eye, two classmates he saw every day had been abducted in broad daylight, right before his eyes, by a gang of thugs who had appeared out of nowhere.
Only he had escaped.
Only John Elliott.
He had hidden himself to follow them out of his own petty, spiteful motives, and somehow evaded those people.
Or perhaps...
Those people had already noticed him. They simply hadn't cared, certain that a teenage boy couldn't spoil their plans.
And that was exactly what had happened.
"I told my parents... they didn't believe me... they said I was trying to trick them into giving me money..."
"I didn't dare call the police... I was afraid they had people inside the Police Station..."
"I didn't know who to turn to... who would believe me..."
However arrogant he acted in everyday life, John was still a teenage boy. He might have been conceited and obnoxious, but when faced with trouble he couldn't handle, his first instinct was still to ask his parents for help.
John clutched his phone, his eyes wide, recalling the call he had just made to his parents-
[What are you up to now?! How could you even invent a lie like that?!]
[Those complaints from school have already humiliated us. How much longer are you going to keep this up?!]
[You would tell such an outrageous lie just to scam us out of a little pocket money!]
[What on earth goes on in that head of yours?! We're busy. We don't have time to play along with your act!]
[You don't deserve to be a member of