I reach the door in a cold sweat.

After I’d found Seo-yun’s bloody beanie in the field I’d immediately contacted the local police department. If it had been at any other time, I would have been required to wait the specified amount of time before I could report Seo-yun as a missing person, but due to the recent kidnappings they acted immediately.

Every available squad car in the vicinity has been on the lookout, due to the timeframe and the location of her disappearance the police have assumed that it is the same suspect they have been chasing these past months.

That they haven’t even caught him makes my blood boil, if anything has happened to Seo-yun…

After I’d contacted the police I’d let Cassidy know what had happened. She immediately let me know that she’d make sure word got out and that I should just focus on finding her. Then she’d asked if I knew the password to Seo-yun’s laptop and email. At first I was too shocked to speak, until she explained that I could use the Find My Phone feature from her laptop and it would give us the location of her phone. I was surprised that I didn’t think of that, but I didn’t need to use her email or laptop to find her. Cassidy had reminded me of something else.

Last month I’d installed a new location app on her phone. It would send me the location of her phone after I’d sent a specific code to her number.

And that was how I’d found this place.

After I’d pulled up in the driveway I’d ran up the walkway to the front door. At first I’d thought no one was home due to all the lights been off, but I decided to knock anyway. The house was an ordinary single storey building with huge front facing bay windows.

I knew this house.

I was about to pick up a stone to use to enter through the window, when suddenly the door was opened.

“Nam-jin! What are you doing here at this time of the night?” The door was answered by a frail old lady. I knew her. Her house was right across from our block of flats.

“Mrs James. Have you seen my sister?” I ask, looking over her head into the empty lounge.

“Seo-yun? What, why do you think she’s here?” Mrs James says, as she moves out of the way and gestures for me to come inside.

I enter, my nerves making me jittery. I look around the house not expecting to find anything and not seeing anything. I try not to let my disappointment get me down. If her phone was somewhere here she might have passed by, maybe she had come by in the morning. That might explain why she hadn’t answered her phone. If she had forgotten her phone here, then where was she?

I followed Mrs James to the kitchen, trying to think where she could be. That blood on her beanie had terrified me, but maybe it wasn’t what I was thinking. Maybe I had just overreacted by going to the police. Maybe she was fine.

I didn’t want to even think about the other possibility.

She’s strong, I keep telling myself. She won’t let anything happen to her.

I’m standing at the kitchen table, thinking of just leaving when suddenly I hear an odd sound.

“What was that?” I ask Mrs James. She doesn’t look surprised as she waves my question away. She turns on her radio, and some old country music comes on. I don’t know the singer, but the song sounds familiar.

“Just my tenant. He always watches horror movies at night.” She says, as she puts water into her kettle. “Nam-jin, I’ll make us some tea.”

“No, ma’am. It’s okay. Just let me know where Seo-yun left her phone this morning, and I’ll leave you.”

“This morning? But honey, I haven’t seen her since Friday. Are you sure she left it here?” Mrs James asks, as she pulls out a chair at the table and sits down.

She hasn’t been here? I look around, confused. I know that this is the current location of her phone, but if she hasn’t been here then how is it here?

I am about to ask Mrs James if she’s sure about that, when there is another loud crash. I jump, bumping my knee on the table. I look at Mrs James, who looks just as surprised as me.

“What is that boy doing down there?” She asks. I shrug not sure how to answer. I turn in the direction of her gaze and see another door on the opposite side of the room to the back door. I am about to ask her where that door leads, when suddenly the door is shaken violently. I stand up, wondering if the guy renting from her has seen Seo-yun.

Probably not, but I need to at least ask. I wait, facing the door as suddenly it’s opened and someone stumbles out.

Huh?!?

I stare, frozen, at my sister not sure if I’m seeing correct. It takes less then a second for me to actually see what’s happening.

She stumbles forward, crashing to her knees. Awkwardly, because of the chair tied to her back. It’s then that I notice the blood on her face and the cuts at her wrists from the ropes slicing into her skin.

I fall to the floor next to her, my heart beating triple time in my chest. My hands hover over her injuries not sure where to start. I finally place my hands on either side of her face, tilting it up to face me.

I suck in a deep breath as I see the deep cut above her eye, the blood has dripped down her face painting it red. I feel another cut at the back of her head, and it’s only when I notice how she holds her left shoulder as if it causes her pain that I’m able to get over my shock. I use a kitchen knife to cut through the ropes and suck in a deep breath as I see just how deep they cut into her skin. She takes hold of them and starts rubbing them, trying to get feeling back into them.

She drops a key onto my lap, and I stare up at her.

Her eyes meet mine, and even though I feel the tears running down my face, hers are completely dry. She stares at me waiting for me to ask if she’s alright, waiting for me to fuss over her injuries. Normally I would’ve, but today not for the first time it dawns on me that she doesn’t need me to. So when I stand up, instead of a question about her wellbeing something else leaves my mouth.

“Where is that bastard? You had your turn, now it’s mine.”

Her eyes widen, and then she releases a sudden burst of laughter as she shakes her head. She smiles at me relieved and I know I said the right thing.

Good, she doesn’t need to deal with my weakness at a time like this.

“He’s downstairs. In the basement.” She says, “I don’t think he’ll be getting up soon.” She laughs, and I pretend not to notice the way her voice catches as if she’s just holding back from bawling her eyes out. It takes all of my self control to turn away and not drop down to my knees next to her again and force her to tell me what happened. I can ask her in a few minutes, right now there was something I needed to do before the authorities showed up.

I unlock the door, looking down a tiny flight of stairs towards a second door. I barely register Mrs James calling the police, before I’m going down those stairs.

Maybe I didn’t let my sister see all my fear, but I also didn’t let her see the extent of my anger.

I won’t spare him the same courtesy.