Chapter 15

December 8, 2012

Kurt didn't need to be told twice. He stood up, a bit too quickly, and his head started to spin. He shook it to get rid of the feeling and followed his dad, who was already putting on a jacket.

"Hurry up, dad," Kurt urged the man.

"Kiddo, I need you to calm down," he said and put his shoes on. "Come on."

The boy ran out of the house and to his car when Burt's voice stopped him. "What do you think you are doing? You are not driving."

Kurt turned around to face his dad. "But dad, we need to split up. That way we will cover more places."

"First of all, you are too emotional to drive. Secondly, I have no idea what the boy looks like or where to look for him. Not to mention that if I do find him, he won't trust me and will probably just run away from me. So get in the car and tell me where to drive."

Kurt hesitated for a moment but he knew his dad was right so there was no point in arguing. He hopped into the front seat and waited for Burt to get in.

"Where is that boy?"

"His name is Blaine, dad," Kurt reminded him. "And... I don't know where he is."

The boy was close to hysteria but his dad didn't let emotions get the best of him. "Okay, let's start with the town centre and we will go from there, okay?"

"Yeah, okay..." the boy whispered and kept taking deep breaths to calm down.

If someone had told him a couple of weeks ago that he would be in a car with his dad looking everywhere for a slave so he wouldn't be killed, Kurt would have suggested that person to go get their head tested. Now, it was his reality. What made it worse, it was all his fault since his jacket was the catalyst of the whole mess. Puck was right.

"Puck!" Kurt cried out and slid down in the seat to be able to take out his phone out of his pocket.

"Geez, you scared me here," Burt shook his head, but his eyes were still on the road, looking for anything suspicious.

The boy went to his contacts where he had saved Puck's number earlier and hit 'call'. "I know someone who may know where Blaine lives. Come on, Puckerman, answer the phone..."

It took a long time and Kurt almost gave up when he heard the cracking noise and the phone was answered. "What do you want, princess?"

"I need you to tell me where Blaine lives," Kurt went straight to the point.

Puck laughed. "I didn't tell you earlier so why do you think I'll tell you now?"

"Because someone is going to hurt him. My dad and I are looking for him and if we don't find him... Come one, Noah, you are his friend."

"I won't fall for that," the boy said and Kurt could hear music in the background. "Sorry, I have a party to attend."

"Kurt, give me the phone," Burt said and Kurt handed it to his dad. "Hi, it's Noah, right?.. I'm Kurt's dad. We are in my car driving around the town looking for Blaine. We want to help him and it would save us some trouble if you helped us out here... Look, I get it, you don't know me and if I were you, I wouldn't trust myself either but sometimes in life you have to take some risks and it's time for you to do so... What we are going to do is find him and offer him a place in our house. If he doesn't want to come with us, then we will respect his decision... I know what the law says but I won't let some narrow-minded jerks kill an innocent boy... Fine, do that."

Burt hung up on the phone and gave it back to Kurt. "He will text you the address where we are picking him up."

"How... how did you manage to convince him?" Kurt looked at his dad with disbelief and respect.

"Apparently, he is 'willing to help another delinquent especially when there is a possibility that Blaine may be hurt' or something between the lines."

The phone beeped and Kurt looked at the message that Puck had sent him. "I'll put the address in the navigation system."

He did that and less than ten minutes later they stopped in front of a poorly lit house. Puck was waiting for them there and got into a car in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, princess, papa Hummel," he greeted them. "Now, tell me what's going on."

"Tell us where to go first," Kurt demanded.

"I'll give directions. Go straight until the end of the street and turn right," Puck instructed. "Now, spit it out."

"Rachel's dads talked to someone about getting rid of Blaine," Kurt explained. "The way she spoke about it, it seems that they want to kill him. I don't know if it's true or if it's true then when they are going to do it but all I know is that I won't risk it."

"Blaine didn't come," Puck whispered to himself.

"What?" Kurt wasn't sure what the other boy had just said.

"Blaine was supposed to meet me today but he didn't come," Puck said more loudly. "You fucking calmed me down! You said everything was fine and he was avoiding me!"

"I didn't know what was going on then!" Kurt shouted back. "I was trying to be reasonable. And we don't know anything yet, he may be safe and sound."

"He is never safe and sound! Especially since you came into his life," Puck yelled.

"Well, I'm not the one who knew where to find him but didn't go to check on him so don't go putting all the blame on me! I know where I'm to be blamed but not everything is my fault!"

Burt, who was growing angrier and angrier with each second, had enough of it. "Shut it! Both of you! If we want to find that boy and help him, we need to work as a team and right now you are doing the opposite of that. So if you don't have anything useful to say, shut up. I don't want to hear you blaming each other."

Both boys shut up, still fuming and their chests rising from the heavy breathing. "Now to the left," Puck mumbled after a few moments.

They drove for a few more minutes in silence, except for Puck giving directions, until Kurt spoke up. "For what it's worth, I won't be hanging out with Rachel or Mercedes anymore. I can't believe I ever did."

"It doesn't change anything," Puck muttered. "To the left here."

"I know," Kurt sighed.

After a long pause Puck shook his head with a smile. "You may not be a lost cause after all... So, what opened your eyes?"

"I always saw them for what they were, I just chose to ignore it until one guy told me I was a hypocrite..."

"You are welcome," the mohawked boy smirked.

"Wait, this guy is the friend you were talking about?" Burt caught up with the conversation.

"A friend? Aww, I'm touched, princess," Puck joked.

"I just didn't know what else to call you," Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Why are you calling my son a 'princess'?" Burt asked, his voice rising a little bit.

"Don't mind him, dad," Kurt stepped in, "he is just crazy."

"Back in my day teenagers were easier to understand... Now you are just too weird for me."

"Don't worry, papa Hummel, as long as you don't understand me you can consider yourself a sane person. To the right."

They were getting closer to some road sign and Burt slowed down to take a better look at it. "Are we, by any chance, going to the abandoned sewing factory?" he asked and took up a normal speed.

"Yeah, you know where it is?" Puck asked.

"Yes, my mother used to work there," Burt said and started driving more confidently now that he knew where exactly they were going. "Not too far from here."

He was right and ten more minutes later they were parking the car next to a big factory that looked like it was from some horror film.

"Perfect place," Puck explained when they were getting out of the car. "Too far from the town for kids to come and play and too boring for teenagers to come and explore. Usually they go to that creepy house on the other side of the town that's said to be haunted."

"It's a big building, isn't it cold inside?" Burt asked and they walked closer to the factory, a big flashlight in his hand.

"The first floor is because of the wind going through the big window holes but on the second floor the windows are very small and most of them still have glass so it's not as bad."

"Alright, do you know where the entrance is?" Burt asked once Puck finished his explanation.

"Right through the front door," the boy said and led the way. When they were all inside, he gestured towards the staircase. "Blaine? It's me, Puck. I brought Kurt here and his dad. We just want to talk to you, okay? Blaine? We are coming upstairs."

Kurt frowned, trying his best to hear anything. "Why isn't he answering? Blaine?"

"Let's go upstairs," Burt rushed them, walking first as he was holding the light.

Puck and Kurt added a bit of light with their phones and they started to go up, no sound of Blaine yet. "Through this door," Puck gestured to a closed door. "He always sleeps in there."

Burt opened the door and Kurt peeked over his shoulder to find a small room empty. "He's not in there," he told Puck, who was behind them.

"What?" the boy startled and looked for himself. "Shit, he should be here..."

"Don't panic," Burt said. "Let's look around other rooms, okay? Maybe he found a warmer place or something."

"Should we split up?" Kurt asked, seeing that his phone light was strong enough.

"No splitting up," Burt said sternly. "This building is not safe, especially at night and I don't want any of you wandering around, okay? Puck, he knows your voice best, shout a bit more."

"Will do, papa Hummel," Puck nodded and walked down the corridor. "Blaine? Blaine, it's Puck. If you can hear me, say something."

They waited for a few seconds, their ears tensed, trying to hear any kind of noise.

Burt ran his hand over his forehead. "Okay, Kurt, look what's behind that door, Puck, look in there," he said and went to the doorframe that held no door.

Kurt opened the door and looked inside to find yet another empty room. "Nothing in here."

"He isn't here either," Puck shouted from the other room.

"Boys, I think I found him," Burt's voice came with an echo.

The boys ran through the doorway to find themselves in a big room where the sewing machines must have been held. Kurt lit his way to his dad, who was standing in the middle of the room. He could have been mistaken because of the poor light but he could have sworn there was blood on the floor. When they got close enough Kurt saw his dad kneeling next to an almost naked boy, whose body was covered only by a pair of boxer-briefs. While Burt checked the boy's pulse, Kurt stared at the small figure clutching a headless teddy bear to his chest.