Chapter 1: MISSING

CINDY'S POV

After using the bathroom, I ran back into the hallway but couldn't find Aria. I couldn't see her where she was supposed to be sitting so I immediately began to search around, hoping she didn't go far. I also used her picture on my phone to ask people if they had seen her but no one knows where she has gone. 

I ran to the security room to check for the CCTV, but then I don't understand why I couldn't find Aria anywhere on the cameras. Confused, I stepped out and dialed Larry's number. I could have called her family but they're far away and calling them might escalate things so I called Larry instead. The call connected and my tears began falling hard as soon as I heard Larry's voice. 

Hello, Cindy? He called. 

Larry, I think Aria is in trouble, I said to him. 

He asked me what happened and I narrated how we came for a party at the HD hotel and she was a little drunk. We were already on our way leaving but I asked her to wait for me while I used the bathroom and now she's gone, I don't know where else to look for her.

Wait for me, I'm coming now, he said before hanging up.

Some minutes later I saw Larry running into the hotel, panting and sweating. 

Where's the security room? he asked me. 

It's this way, I answered as I led him towards the security room. And just like before, we navigated through the cameras but there was no sign of Aria coming out of the party ground. 

The cameras have been hacked, Larry said. 

How? I asked him, surprised. 

All your footage after leaving Aria in the hallway are intact but the footage of you two coming out of the party ground, and Aria's footage after that were all deleted which means Aria is the target, he explained. 

So what do we do now? I asked him

We need to find her as soon as possible, he said

ARIA'S POV

I stretched myself as I woke up but then my body felt so awful. I opened my eyes only to find myself in an unfamiliar environment. I sat up immediately and the blanket covering me slipped off my body revealing my nakedness. I was shocked, terrified and aggrieved as realization dawned on me about what had happened. I looked around but found no one except the pieces of my clothes on the floor and a new cloth on the bed beside me. I tried to remember something but the last thing I could remember was looking for Cindy and then bumping into someone….. 

I came down from the bed dragging myself while enduring the pain on my lower region as I put on the new clothes. Before leaving the room I checked through the window and found out that I'm still at the HD hotel. 

Luckily for me, there weren't many people around and soon I was able to find my way home. On getting to my apartment someone flew out of it and pounced on me. Leaving the already terrified me shaken to the core. On realizing it was my friend Cindy, I began to recover. She looked more terrible than me with dark circles and red puffy eyes which indicates that she has been crying for a long time. 

After finding out about what happened to me she began with her endless apologies but I know it wasn't her fault. I have always been an optimistic person, so even though I don't know who took advantage of me, I'm still not going to let it pull me down.

LARRY'S POV

Aria and I had been close friends from university. Although I'm her senior, we share a very good relationship that so many people envy. The only problem is that our feelings aren't mutual. After realizing that she could be in trouble, I immediately pulled up my troops in search of her but who would have thought that this search won't be ending until the next morning when Cindy called to tell me that Aria has come home. When I got to her apartment, she had just gotten out of the shower. 

She looked fine but I'm sure that something was wrong. She said she couldn't remember anything else aside from waking up in the hotel room. I took the address of the hotel room and left after making sure that everything was ok. I understand that the two girls were hiding something from me but I just can't let it slide so after leaving I checked the CCTV cameras of the hotel again and yet again there was nothing. I even hired an expert to recover the deleted footage but he couldn't. I know Aria wasn't lying, it's just that the mastermind is really something else and I don't even want to think about what could have happened in that hotel room

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