*Gasp!* Have I actually managed to get around to posting this story! Probably not. I'm probably gonna ditch this after a couple more sentences, then come back to it later. Lets see how long, eh?

Okay, right now, it is 1:04 am on august 21st. So if it's been posted any day even close to this, its a freaking miracle!

Now, this is a companion peice to "Still Suffering." I guess you don't have to read it for it to make sense, but it may help. Or not, since I have no idea how this story is going to go.

Basically, its how the three years of Ryan's kidnap went for his little brother Steven. What exactly happened to drive him and his parents so far apart? Why does he believe so fiercly that his older brother will come back? If you want to know, then this is the place to find our!

Keep in mind that at the begining of the story, Steven is only nine years old.

Chapter 1

I was only gone for a minute, I promise. Me, Ryan, and his friend Joey had been playing outside together, tossing a frisbee back and forth. I was so happy, cause I was playing with the big kids! That was so cool, and I was having so much fun.

But then I tripped and fell down. It had stung pretty bad, but I didn't want to cry around my older brother and his friend, and look a baby. So I barely whined about it at all, just brushed away the dirt because mom always said that was bad. She's not my real mommy, but I don't remember my real mommy, so I call Terry mom. Ryan calls her Terry, but she doesn't mind. Not at all.

I was kinda angry at myself for ruining the fun I had been having with my brother. He was getting bigger and bigger, and I was scared he wouldn't want to play with me anymore soon. So I had to play with him as much as I could, before he got too old.

His friend Joey told me we should hurry and clean out the scratches on my knees, or else they would get infected. He helped me too my feet and took me into the house. I followed him in, looking back at Ryan once as the door shut behind me. He was watching us too. I smiled at him, but he was turning away then, and I don't think he saw me.

I was only gone for a minute, I promise.

Joey took me into the bathroom and lifted me up and put me on the counter. He picked up a small tube that I recognized as the stuff mom always put on me when I got cut or something. He squirted some on his finger, and then rubbed it gently on one of my knees. It gave me an odd tingly feeling, but didn't hurt at all. I was too old to cry anyway.

"So, you having fun with us?" Joey asked, and I nodded happily.

"I love playing with Ryan!" I told him, and he smiled at me.

"You look up to your older brother alot, don't you?"

I nodded again.

"Ryan's so cool! He never cry's when he gets hurt, and he's smart, and he's handsome, and he looks after everyone in the family!"

Joey smiled again, and he seemed a little sad. Ryan always told me Joey wanted a brother too, so he must have been sad since me and Ryan had each other. I patted his arm and grinned at him.

He looked up at me and smiled again, and this time he didn't seem so sad, so I guess I did good.

Only a minute.

Suddenly, something thudded against the living room window. Me and Joey looked at each other, then waited for some one to say something to let us know what had happened. But all we heard was my dad's voice.

"Don't throw things at the window!"

Joey laughed. "Guess Ryan wants us to hurry up."

He started rubbing the creamy stuff on my other knee, which I began to bounce quickly, because I wanted to get up and go back outside and play with Ryan. I hope he didn't get angry at me. But I didn't think he would, because Ryan was nice.

Joey told me to stop bouncing my leg, so I did. But I still wanted to go back outside. I wanted to be with Ryan, my big brother. I wanted to play with him some more, before he changed and grew. Before he went away.

It was only a minute!

So much can happen in a minute, I guess.

Cause when me and Joey went back into the front yard, it was empty. Me and Joey thought he was just playing a joke, so we looked around the yard, calling his name and expecting him to jump out and shout, "Boo!"

"Ryan!" I said, looking inside the dog house. We didn't actually have a dog, it had already been in the yard when we moved in when I was even smaller. But we were too lazy to get rid of it, so it stayed there. But that was okay, because sometimes me and Ryan would squeeze in, and put a blanket over the roof so it was over the opening and people knew not to come in.

But Ryan didn't answer, and Joey looked like he was getting worried. But when he saw me looking at him, he smiled.

"He probably went inside when we were in the bathroom." he said, and I nodded. We went back inside the house.

"Did Ryan come in?" Joey asked mom and dad, who were sitting at the table. I thought they would say yes, he went to his room, and then he would come out, and we could go back outside. But dad shook his head calmly, and mom said, "Nope, he's still outside."

Me and Joey looked at each other. That was when we began to see that something was wrong. Mom and dad noticed our looks.

"What's wrong?" Dad asked.

"He's not outside." I told them, and I could hear how scared I was already sounding. What had happened to Ryan? What if he was scared right now, hurt, or in danger? We had to save him!

But mom and dad didn't look as scared.

"He's probably just hiding."

Joey shook his head.

"No. We looked. He's not in the yard."

They looked at each other then, and were silent for a second. Finally dad sighed and got up.

"I'm telling you, he's hiding." But I think I could hear some worry in his voice. Terry watched him go, looked kinda scared too.

He went back into the front yard, and me and Joey followed.

"Ryan!" he shouted, looking around the yard, even though Joey and I had just done that. Still, we looked again, like maybe we had missed him the first time. But we hadn't. When dad realized he wasn't in the yard, he went over to the front gate. It was open. He looked around, up and down the street.

"Ryan!" he shouted, and me and Joey did the same. But there was no answer. I knew then that I wasn't the only scared anymore. Where had Ryan gone? I had only been gone for a minute! Only a minute, where could he have gone in a minute. Not far.

"Daddy." I said worridly, and he looked at me.

"Stay here." he told me and Joey. Then he ran back into the house. Joey pulled out his cell phone and called Ryan's. We waited. Then we heard it ringing from inside the house. He didn't have it with him.

"Joey, where did he go?" I asked, and Joey put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. I think he had known right from the start what had happened. I didn't know until a police car pulled up ten minutes later and dad and mom came out.

Dad went up to the man and woman getting out. Mom was close behind him, her arm on his shoulder like she needed him to guide her through what was happening. Her other hand was on her big belly, holding the baby that was inside tightly.

"My son," my dad said, and Joey gulped and squeezed my shoulder tighter. I looked up at him, and he looked me very scared and worried. It made me even more scared. Something had happened to Ryan. Someone had done something to my big brother!

Would he be okay?

Of course, cause he was so strong.

"I think he's been kidnapped." my dad finished, and I gasped.

Someone had taken Ryan? But...but...I had only been gone for a minute. Just one minute! Ryan must be so sad. Mad too. Mad that I had left him for even a second, and let him get taken. It had to be my fault. If I hadn't fallen down, we wouldn't have gone inside. If I hadn't even asked him to stay outside with me after our family picnic, he wouldn't have been outside in the first place.

I should have been the one taken, not Ryan.

I had only been gone a minute.

Ryan.

I was only gone for a minute, I promise.

Okay, so it's 2:14 am on August 21st! I did good! Praise the lord and every one who helped me get through it! I think it's actually pretty good, and I enjoyed writing from Steven's point of view. Maybe I should do one from Joey's!

...

Okay, that would be taking this alittle too far, don't you think?

Anyway, review and let me know what you think!