Nick couldn't pick his mood up at all that day. It felt like something inside him was missing, like there had been a hole missing in his heart. But why? Macy was just as home sick, why would it feel this bad? He found himself often glancing at the door way of the classroom, he subconsciously waiting for that pretty athlete to stumble into the room with some energetic excuse. She never showed up.

Stella's day had been off. She could hardly concentrate on anything and she caught herself staring out the window day dreaming. She didn't like the grey clouds that blanketed the sky, threatening to rain at any given moment. She didn't like that Macy wasn't at school and that she had no idea where she was.

"Ms. Malone." Her Biology teacher hit her desk with a ruler, and she nearly fell out of her seat.

"Sorry." She replied quickly, and timidly.

He gave her a funny look, "Ms. Malone, you don't look so well."

She played with her earring, then looked away, "I don't feel well."

"Very well, go to the office to call your parents."

Stella didn't reply as she got up, and she felt the eyes of everyone in her class follow her until she was in the hallway; where there was more breathable, non-compact air. She leaned back on a locker and took a deep breath; closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She knew she needed to calm herself down, she thought the best first step to that would be to figure out why she was feeling so out of wack.

"Stella."

Her eyes snapped open and she looked over and seen Nick standing there, dark spots under his eyes; though they had been there this morning, they really announced his state of mind now.

"Nick." Stella frowned, then brushed some of his brown curls out of his face as he too leaned on a locker to her right.

He shook his head, unable to believe himself, "Stella, why do I feel like this?"

She was silent for a moment, and it pained her to see her friends hurting so much. She knew him and his brothers often dealt with long distant relationships while on tour and everything, but there was something more to this. It had only been four days since he last saw Macy, he usually went way longer before getting to this stage of heart ache

Then she realized something, "You feel it too?"

He looked up quickly, "Depends on what you're feeling."

There was a beat of silence before they both spoke at the same time, "Like something's wrong."

They stared in amazement at each other, believing more in their own thoughts. If they both felt this way, that might mean something really might be wrong. Stella and Nick both pulled out their cell phones, Nick immediately calling Macy's cell phone and Stella was calling her house. Every time a ring was added to the wait, it tore Stella down even more. She ran her hand threw her hair, and Nick began pacing.

Suddenly, the landline for Macy's house went dead. She looked at her cell phone in confusion, and read "call lost". She looked up at Nick, who looked like he was ready to chuck his phone at the wall, "It doesn't work. But I'm trying again." He redialed her number. Stella did the same, only this time there was no ring. They both received the operator telling them the line wasn't in service anymore.

"Nick what do we do?" Stella gasped, looking around desperately.

"Call the police?" He offered in a panic.

She shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing, "We don't even know if anything is wrong yet." Then he started toward the doors, " I'm going to her house." She said determined, her eyes telling Nick nothing he said was going to make her stay.

"You're just leaving school?"

She shrugged, as he started after her, "I guess. I don't like this gut feeling I'm getting."

Nick slowed his pace down and looked back down the empty hall way he was leaving. He never just ditched school without calling his parents and telling the school. His record was clean, he looked back at Stella who was jogging toward the student parking lot. He sighed heavily, mentally preparing himself for the angry parents. The thought of making sure Macy was okay defiantly outweighed the grounding he would be getting.

Stella hurried into her car and Nick caught up and jumped into the passenger seat. They were both quiet as they pulled out of the parking lot, Stella's expression of worry, and Nick's of a forced calmness.

"She's probably sick." Stella broke the silence, "And broke her phone, or just forgot to pay." She threw what she wished the thought out there to try and help calm her tense friend.

"Yeah." He replied bluntly. Stella looked at him with her soft brown eyes, her red stained lips pressing together; worried for him.

They both knew what they were doing was wrong. They both ditched school because they thought something happen to Macy, though they had no evidence of anything being wrong. The drive was silent as they arrived in front of Macy's house. Everything looked normal. The two friends looked at each other. Nick just couldn't wait until he made it in there, and find Macy sick in bed and more than happy Stella and Nick were there to check on her. He wanted to see that smile on her face, that brightness in her eyes.

Soundlessly they both got out and walked to the door in silence. Stella knocked, and they waited for as long as their patients would allow them; once again their negative feelings coming to play. Stella walked off the porch and looked in the front window of the house.

"Well her parents are defiantly not home." Stella sighed, then walked over to the rock tilts, counted four from the steps and lifted it out. There was an imprint of a key, but no key. She frowned, "They even took their spare key."

"Why would they take their spare?" Nick questioned, his mind now assume Macy was with her parents.

She shrugged, "Not sure." Then she knelt on the steps and struck her hand into a small hole on the bottom step, and dug around, eventually pulling out a key.

Nick gave her a questionable look. She brushed the dirt off of her jeans, "Last summer, when Macy's parents left me and her to watch the house, we lost the main key and then we couldn't remember where the spare key was so when we did find the main key we made a copy and hide it in our own spot. Only her and I know about it. You don't."

"Gotcha." Nick replied, happy that Stella was unlocking the door. They let themselves in.

"Hello?" Stella called out; receiving no reply.

They slowly made their way into the kitchen, it was only Nick's second time being in the Misa house. It was nice and spacious, but there was a certain vibe about it now; like something hung in the air. There was something he didn't like about being here now.

"Mrs. Misa? Mr. Misa?" Stella called again, received yet no reply, "Macy?" She called up the stairs, to where Nick was assuming, was Macy's room. The house was eerily quiet, the blond turned to Nick then motioned up the stairs, "Come on." Her voice was so soft it sounded like she didn't want to break the silence, or more of that she was afraid too.

A few random stairs groaned under their feet as they climbed without speaking a word. The house had a really homey look, the most welcoming, kind home Nick had ever seen. It amazed him. Then they came to a stop outside of a pure white door, it reminded the musician of the innocence of Macy. Stella gave a nervous glance back to Nick, then rapped gently on the door.

"Macy?" Stella called, decided not to wait for a reply, "It's Stella and Nick." She announced, then felt the biting cold breeze blow from under the door. Macy hated being cold, though Christmas was her favorite holiday. "We're coming in."

Slowly she pushed the door open, and it revealed a perfectly empty room. A few dresser drawers had been rummaged threw, and the window was wide open; other then that everything seemed normal. Stella and Nick's hearts sank immediately. Nick saw one of the sweaters her left her borrow hanging by the hood on a bed post, and it made him slightly happy.

Stella stepped forward and heard glass crunching and immediately stepped back. She looked down and there was a picture frame face down. Slowly she picked it out, and flipped it over. It was a picture of Kevin, Joe, Stella, Nick and beside Nick was where Macy was supposed to be, except she was ripped out of the picture.

"What?" Stella breathed, her eyebrows pulling together.

Nick didn't want to look at the picture anymore so he continued walking further into the room. Something inside of him going numb and cold; then he saw something in the middle of her bed. He picked it up, and discovered it was a letter.

To Whomever It may concern,

I had ran away. DO NOT come after me. I don't need any of you. Nor do I want any of you in my life. I'm perfectly fine on my own. It'll be like I never existed if you just stay away from me. For good. Good bye.

Macy Misa

He felt sick to his stomach, and he fell to the ground.

"Nick!" Stella exclaimed and ran over to her fallen friend, now sitting against the wall with his head in her hands, she got on her knees. "Nick what's wrong?"

"She's gone Stella." He muttered, "She's gone."

"Nick, what are you talking about?" Stella demanded, now feeling scared.

He slowly looked up, his brown eyes boring into hers with tears resting in the corner of his. With a shaking hand he handed her the note. She read it, and she had to read it at least four times before her mind was actually able to comprehend the message.

"Oh my god…" She muttered, falling backwards onto her butt. "H-how could she do this?"

Nick shook his head, and looked back down, A few water droplets hit the hardwood flood beneath him. What was her supposed to do when love was what wanted her back, and love was what wanted to obey her demands for him to stay behind?

She shook her head, tears streaming down her face, "No. No. This isn't true. It can't be."

"Stella." Nick called, his voice a bit raspy, "She doesn't need us anymore." The words he spoke didn't taste right. They didn't feel right.

"Nick." She snapped, her voice distorted from crying, "How could she do this though? How could Macy find it in herself to just leave? What good reason did she have?"

He remained quiet. He had no answer. Why hadn't the bad feeling gone away? Nick could still feel that gut wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach. He ignored it and pulled out his cell phone. Stella began crying, "You can't call the police Nick."

"And why can't I?" He pressed those three numbers and hit send; as if the button was Stella's trigger she jumped over to him and grabbed the phone and hung it up. "Stella! Are you out of your mind?!"

She sniffled, "Nick, she asked us not to follow her!"

He gave her a bizarre look, "So you're just going to let her go?"

Stella fell backwards, shaking her head and beginning to cry again. She wanted to listen to Macy as if she were with them, a subconscious way to hang onto the memory of Macy. Nick looked at Stella sympathetically, then held his arms out to her, she really needed a shoulder to cry on and Joe wasn't around. Timidly she scooted closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder, and cried. His arms wrapped around her kindly, so she could feel secure.

"Stella.." He said softly, "I'm calling the police now." He told her, and waited for her to object; which she never did.

But just as he was about too dial the phone, there was a crash on the floor below them. Stella lifted her head up in confusion, then turned to head to look at Nick. He gave her a confused look back.

"Do you think it's her family?" Stella whispered.

Something told Nick it wasn't, "Not in less someone in her family weights about two hundred pounds." He referred to the heaviness of the footsteps. There was a scrapping noises, someone was moving something.

"There's more than one." Stella whispered, scared.

Very slowly they both got to their feet and listened to the deep muffled voices, until one came very clear. "I'm going to check upstairs. There's still stuff is Ms. Misa's room" Then some footsteps started to sound on the stairs.

Nick looked at Stella, both of them frantic.

"What do we do?" Nick mouthed, looking back to the door.

Stella bit her lip and looked around, "Hide." She whispered back.

"Where?"

She continued too look around, her heart beginning to pound, "Here." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward the closet, and then something hit the ground. Nick stopped and turned to look and see the cell phone Joe had leant him, slide under the bed.

"My phone!" He exclaimed.

"Nick! There's no time!"

And they were just able to close the closet doors as Macy's bedroom door knob began to turn, and click open. Stella covered her mouth, and her eyes were like saucers. A tall man dressed in all black, with sunglasses walked into the room. He looked around, and then started making his way toward the closet.

"Steve." Another man walked into the room, making the two teenager jump. "We already moved all of the girls clothes." He was a shorter man, same sunglasses, but he had an ear piece. "It's the furniture we need. Now instead of slacking off how about you come help us with the couch downstairs."