Jack looked around. It was already 4:37. What was happening? Vanessa would never stand him up like this. She was over a half hour late already.

He was standing idly outside Très Bien, the fanciest and most expensive restaurant in Baltimore and probably Maryland as well. He'd finally gotten the courage to ask her out, and now she didn't show up? Fantastic.

Jack decided to just go home. It was best for everyone if he didn't keep chasing people that were just gonna go and do this.

Tugging at the hem of his dress shirt (or that's what it was by his standards since it was the only thing he owned that didn't look like he'd been wearing it since he was five), he climbed into his car and sighed. Couldn't he have some luck with women for once in his life?

The old, slightly rusted dark blue Honda Accord that he'd gotten from his parents stalled for a few seconds after he stuck the key in. Jack sighed again and began to drive. After arriving home, he found something tucked under his doormat, the white edge only slightly visible, peeking out from underneath the brown straw mat.

"The hell is this?" he muttered. He picked it up, expecting it to be a stray piece of litter or something that had blown under after the mailman had been too lazy to put it properly into the mailbox.

Instead, it was an envelope. On the front was a neatly typed name: "Jack".

Not "Joyce". Not "Bassam".

"Jack."

He opened the door first and stepped inside, locking the door and turning the blinds down before he opened the letter.

Dearest Jack,

Was I not good enough for you? Was breaking my heart fun? I suppose it was, since you got over your "guilt" so quickly. So, I've decided to take this stupid girl you've used as my "replacement". I expect you (alone) at the top of the apartment building on Thames and South Broadway by midnight or your precious Vanessa will come rushing back down to you rather quickly. Call the police and you'll surely see a shooting star tonight.

Sincerely, abandoned and angry.

Jack re-read the letter, and read it again. And again. He smacked himself in the face to see if he was dreaming, but ended up only hurting his cheek. He considered calling the police despite what the letter had warned, then realized the obvious: someone who was insane enough to kidnap someone and send a ransom note about it over whatever the hell this was, was obviously also insane enough to push said person off of a building and effectively kill them.

This wasn't a ransom note though, realized Jack. The sender wasn't ASKING for anything, per se, other than his presence. No, this was something else entirely.

He couldn't call the police, he had to deal with this person on his own. But that called into question: who sent the note?

He checked the front of the envelope again. It was blank and smooth, containing no clues or even text other than the word "Jack". The letter, too, was smooth and neatly typed with no indication as to the sender.

Jack sighed in frustration and thought of what the sender wanted. It sounded like they were a little butthurt in his opinion. Like he would say that to them though.

That, though, posed yet another question in itself, what were they so angry about? It sounded like he had broken up with them or something and then they'd gotten angry and kidnapped Vanessa, who was obviously unrelated to the problem.

He'd broken up with a lot of people, though, the most recent being Alex Gaskarth. Deciding he was slightly bi-curious, he'd given it a shot. It hadn't worked out, though, and it had nothing to do with the fact that Alex was a man. He'd gotten clingy within the first month or so, and, as Jack swore up and down, he'd shown signs of obsession. So he'd broken up with him, and the relationship hadn't ended on the best of terms.

It was Alex who'd sent the note, Jack was sure of it. Who else? He had a tendency to stay away from the mentally insane. Apparently, though, something had clouded his judgment slightly when he'd agreed to go out with Alex. He'd had desperate measures for a lot of things that just weren't that big a deal, and he'd been overly jealous at the tiniest things.

But kidnapping? That was just insane.

~

Alone. He was completely alone. It was terrifying. What could he do against a maniac who probably had a weapon, and also his girlfriend as a hostage?

The answer was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

She could die. Right now, Vanessa could die because of his powerlessness. It was a terrifying, frustrating, despairing thought because it was so true.

The elevator stopped and Jack got out. He stepped onto the creaky metal staircase that led to the rooftop. The door was unlocked. He walked outside, barely managing to keep his balance against the roaring wind.

As expected, Alex Gaskarth was standing near the edge of the roof, smiling unnaturally- so cheerful, it bordered on psychotic. He held the leg of a chair in his hand. Jack followed the leg of the chair upwards to discover that indeed, Vanessa was bound to the cold metal. She looked uncomfortable to say the least.

"Vanessa!"

Jack's voice faded before it could reach the two faraway silhouettes, carried somewhere unreachable by the wind. He walked over, holding his hands up in surrender so he wouldn't be taken as a threat.

Alex's smile turned malicious. "Hello, Jack. I see you got my letter."