Suddenly,
I heard loud voices, right across the street. I stopped still. Three men jumped
out of the house, and I tried to jump back into the shadows, but it was too
late. They had already seen me.
I
streaked down the street as fast as my track-trained legs would go. After
running for a while, I heard several shouts and looked back to see three white
men gaining on me. Just as I turned to look ahead of me again, I crashed
headfirst into a hard medal streetlight. I crumpled to the ground, and
things swirled. I quickly got to my feet, but swayed, trying to stop the
swirling. I started to run again, but someone grabbed ahold of the hood of my
sweatshirt and pulled me backward. Kicking and screaming, I tried to fight my
way free, but was soon tied with my hands behind my back and my feet swinging
and kicking. Before the dark sack went over my head, I saw that one of the men
had on a dark green sweatshirt that had a brown grizzly bear on it. I
heard a car pull up beside me. I was pushed into what felt like the trunk, and it
slammed shut. The car went forward, yet I was still screaming and kicking. I started
to get dizzy again and my head was pounding. Soon, I must have blacked out,
because I couldn’t feel my legs kicking anymore.
I
woke up to being lifted out of the trunk, lying in someone’s arms. I lashed out
with my tied legs but was only held tighter, and someone else grabbed my legs.
“Let go of me!” I screamed out, “What do you want with me!” “Quiet.” I heard a
voice close to my face. “We’re taking you some place safe.” Safe? What is he
talking about ‘safe’? I heard the creak of a door and felt the air get slightly
colder. I screamed out again. “Help me! Someone! Help!!” then I heard a
door shut.
Another
door opened, and then shut. Then another.
As
we kept walking, and walking, I kept lashing out, trying to break free. Finally
they stopped and opened another door. Walking into an echoing room, I was laid
on something. A mattress? A cot, perhaps? The door shut again, and I could feel
that I was alone. I kicked out with my legs, but touched nothing.
“Help!!!!!!”
I screamed at the top of my lungs. I wriggled and twisted some more, but it was
no use. The ropes were too tight. So I just lay there, listening. I heard other
voices outside of the room, far away. They sounded like kids, or teenagers, but
I couldn’t make out what they were saying, because the bag muffled the sound. I
screamed again, “Somebody!!!!!! Let me out of here!”
The
door opened with a small creak and closed with another. I twisted and shook my
head violently, trying to get the bag off. But it didn’t move.
“Stop
making noises, or they’ll give you some medicine to make to sleepy,” A small
female voice said close to my ear. I jerked my head back and banged my head on
what felt like a solid brick wall. “Ow!” I cried, but felt a small hand press
over the bag onto my mouth. “Shhhh!” the voice whispered again.
“Who
are you?” I asked, once the hand was away. “My name’s June.” The voice
answered, close to my face again. “June? How old are you?” I asked. She didn’t
sound like even a 12-year-old. “Ten.” She answered behind me, and I felt little
finger’s pull at the ropes. “They tied them really hard; you must have been a
bad girl.” What? What did she mean? “June, where am I?” “You’re in the safe
place, where no one can hurt you.” She answered; I felt a tug at my legs, where
the rope was.
Suddenly,
the door opened and I heard footsteps. “June!” a man’s voice rang into the room,
“What are you doing here?!?”
“I….I….”
I could hear June stammer, “I heard her call for help, she sounded scared and
sad, I wanted to help.”
“You
can help her later June, she’s been a bad girl, and she needs to stay alone,” the
man said, quieter, and calmer now.
“Oh,
ok,” June answered the man, and I heard a rustling noise. “I’ll see you later,
girl.” And then, small pattering footsteps faded.
I
heard footsteps coming closer to me, and felt the cot creak as someone sat down
on it. I shook violently from fear and pushed against the wall.
“There’s
nothing to fear, we won’t hurt you.” A deep male voice said beside me, the same
voice that had sent June away.
“Who
are you? Why did you take me?” I asked, trying to control the shaking.
“Ahhhhh……” the voice said, trailing off. “As to whom I am, the children refer
to me as Mr. Howard. And as to why did we take you, well, I didn’t, some other
men made the mistake of taking you. You’re too old to be here.”
“Then.
Then, what are you going to do with me?” I stuttered.
“I
don’t know,” he answered, getting off the cot. “All I do know is, you’d better
not take that sack off. Cause if you do, you’ll never leave here alive.”
I
heard a door close, and I lay there in silence.
The
door opened again, after I had no idea how long, and closed. “Girl?” a voice
asked. June. “June! You came back!” I sighed. I hated to be alone.
“Of
course I did. I have to show you something.” She replied, and I felt the sack
being removed from my head. Once it was off, I saw in front of me a small 10-year-old
girl, with brown hair and brown eyes, staring at me. “What did you want to show
me?” I asked, looking around the brick room. Nothing was in it but the cot
I lay on and a camera at the side of the room. A camera. A video camera.
“June!
Put the sack back on my head! Now!” I demanded.
“But
look!” she said, holding up and jar of some type of golden liquid.
“What’s that?” I asked, trying to hurry her along. “A Jar of Honey!” she
exclaimed, laying it down beside the cot.
“Alright
June, put the sack back on my head, now.” I commanded. “Don’t you want to know
what it’s for?” she asked, pleading. “Yes, after you put it back on my head.” I
answered.
June
picked up the sack and pushed it over my head.
“Thank
you, now, why did you come to show me a jar of honey?”
“Because,”
she said, kind of in a sweet way. “This is what they use to put you to sleep.
So never eat it.”
What?
How could a jar of honey, put me to sleep?
Before
I could ask, the door opened with a bang and June squealed, frightened. “June!
Get out of here now!” an unfamiliar voice ordered.
Suddenly,
all was quiet. “June, what are you doing with that jar?” the man asked,
worried.
“I
was just showing her how pretty it was,” June answered sweetly, not a hint in
her voice that she was lying.
“Give
me the jar, and go play,” The man said, and I heard June leave. But the door
didn’t close.
“What
did June tell you about this jar?” the man said, he sounded closer now.
What
do I do? I asked myself. June and myself would probably be in big trouble if I told
the truth. But I couldn’t lie. Something deep down told me to just be silent
and still. So I lay there, motionless, breathing easy, not saying a word.
“Girl,
you better answer me, what did she tell you about this jar.” He said it as a
statement then. Still, I was silent, feeling probably the way Jesus felt at His
trial with the men at the temple.
I
closed my eyes and relaxed. I wasn’t going to say a thing.
I
felt the bag being ripped off my head but I remained still, never opening my
eyes.
The
door slammed, and I was left alone. And I fell into a deep sleep.
When
I woke up again, my feet were untied and the bag was off my head, but my arms
still ached behind my back. I swung my feet over the cot to one side and sat
there. How was I going to get out of this place?
I
stood up and walked around the room, stretching my legs. They wobbled from time
to time from laying so long, so I took it easy. My bellbottom blue jeans were
smudged with dirt, probably from the entire scuffle. But my Sweatshirt looked
completely fine.
Why
did they take me???? I wondered. Kids had been going missing all over town, and
there was no trace of them. They usually disappeared after school, like I had.
My
legs were aching to run, so it must have close to morning, because I always
went for a warm-up run before school. Mom and Dad are probably worried sick,
but at least they know I’d never run away, I thought. I loved my home, my life,
and my family.
I
sat down on the cot and sighed. Lord, what am I going to do????
The
door opened a few minutes later and in came 2 masked figures. A man and a
woman.
I
shuffled backward, almost tipping over the cot. “Don’t be afraid,” said the
woman. She had on a black ski mask, a black pencil skirt, and long-sleeve, button-down
shirt. “We won’t hurt you.”
“Why
does everyone keep saying that!!!” I screamed at her, bolting to my feet. “I
want out! Out!”
“Now
don’t get excited,” the man said. He was a muscular man, also wearing a ski
mask, with black pants and a black short-sleeved shirt.
“Don’t
get excited?!?!” I screamed. “I’m not excited! I’m furious!!! I don’t care if
you dump me half a mile into the woods, I just want you to let me out!”
“You’ll
be very happy here, don’t worry.” The man said, putting both hands on my
shoulders and pushing me down to the cot.
“Happy?!?!
I’m happy at home! At school!!! With my family!!!” I screamed at both of them.
They looked at each other and the man shook his head, almost sadly. They both
left in a disappointed rush, and I screamed after them, “My parent’s LOVE me!!!
And I love them!” With that, the door shut again.
I
could hear voices outside the room much more clearly with the bag off my head.
And up at the top of the wall, just below the ceiling, I saw two vents where
the light was coming from. One familiar voice was Mr. Howard. “She sounds mad.”
“She
is…….”
“Do
you think we could change her mind?”
“Doubt
it, but we could try.”
“And
if it doesn’t work?”
“We’ll
have to dump her somewhere.”
“Alive?”
“I
don’t know.”
I
sucked in a deep breath. Change my mind……. Alive?...... I don’t know…….
Then
a thought occurred to me. Be silent, be still???? What would they do if I was unresponsive?
Dazed? Shocked? They would probably think I’ve lost my mind. And let me go………….
“I’m
going to talk to her.” I heard Mr. Howard say. I faced the wall and
curled up in a ball. Eye’s wide open. The door creaked loudly and shut.
“Caroline?” How did he know my name?? Still, I didn’t move.
I
felt a hand on my shoulder, and was rolled over. I stared blankly at him. He
had a ski mask on. “Caroline? Talk to me.” He shook me a little from the
shoulders, but I just slouched over. “Freeman! Barb! Get in here!” he yelled at
the door. “Caroline, Honey, answer me!” The two masked figures came in to the
room and stared. “What did you do to her?” Mr. Howard screamed at them.
“Nothing!” they both said at once. I felt the ropes being cut from my
scratched wrists and put in front of me.
“She
playing you Howard.” The woman said, stepping closer. “Don’t trust her.”
“What?
Look at her! She’s not making this up! I even shook her and she didn’t even
blink!” he exclaimed. Grabbing me again, he looked into my eyes. I shriveled
away, tucking into a ball.
“Caroline,
don’t act like this.” The other man said, stretching out his hand. I looked up
in horror. Mom had always said I was good at acting. I’d better live up to what
my mom had said; it might save my life.
I
backed away and fell out of the cot on the other side.
This
was going to be fun.
I
bundled up in a ball, with my knees to my chest, and eyed them all, acting
terrified. “Caroline, we’re not going to hurt you. Come here.” The man said and
walked around the cot to me. I scooted away and ended up backing into Mr.
Howards’ arms. He grabbed me held me in a hugged position. I just sat there,
acting dazed. He pulled me up and sat me back on the cot, putting me in a lying
position. They all left but didn’t close the door all the way, so I could hear
them clearly outside of the room. “What are we going to do?”
“She
looks like she’s in shock.”
“I
don’t know.”
“I
have an idea.” At that moment the door shut and they walked away from the room.
Darn! What was the idea! Sighing, I turned over on the cot and tried to get
some rest. This acting was going to be hard work, and all I could do in between
with a camera capturing all my movements was sleep. So I did.
I
felt a hand on my shoulder and bolted awake, then remembered that I had to be
acting, so I tipped the cot over and landed on the floor. I felt arms grab
mine; someone set the cot up again and set me on it. It was Mr. Howard. “You
have a visitor,” he said, and went to the door. I stared blankly after him, but
fought my inward emotions. In he stepped with a teenager, bag over head, hands
tied behind his back. I could tell it was a boy, because he was wearing a Call
of Duty shirt, and it was short sleeved, showing his muscles. I tried to hold
all of the emotions back, staring blankly at the floor, while my mind was going
thousands of miles a minute. Who was it? The bag was tossed at my feet. I
didn’t look up. I couldn’t. I knew who it was; the Call of Duty shirt had a
scripture on it. Just like my brothers. I just didn’t know which of my older
twin brothers it was. “Caroline!”
Josh.
It was Josh. It took every muscle in my tired body not to jump up and give him
a hug. But I didn’t. I just looked at the floor, with the bag on it. “Why don’t
you have a seat, Josh?” Mr. Howard said, and I could hear Josh being shoved to
the ground. Composure, Composure, Composure. This was their idea. And it wasn’t
going to work.
“I’ll
leave you two alone….” I could hear him smirking. The door shut with a thud. I
didn’t take my eyes off the ground.
“Caroline!”
Josh said, standing up and coming towards me. I looked up blankly, no
expression. He had a black eye. “What have they done to you?” he asked, getting
on his knees to look me right in the eye. My fingers switched and he glanced
down. I stared straight ahead. P-L-A-Y T-H-E G-A-M-E I finger-spelled in
silence without moving anything but my fingers. Josh kept his eyes down but his
head up. He looked up and stared into my eyes. He got up and sat down on the
cot, hands still tied behind his back. Sighing, he looked at me and said, “Mom
and Dad are worried sick about you. Now they’ve got me to worry about.” I
hugged my shoulders and slumped forward, my now loose hair falling around my
face. I felt a nudge at my arm and shrank back. “Could you please loosen these,
Caroline? Please?” Josh asked, pleading. I could tell he was faking it, just a
twin sense of each other. I stood up and walked to the other side of the room. I
sat in a corner, and put my head between my knees. I looked up briefly to see Josh
lying sideways on the cot. He looked at me, and then closed his eyes. This was
going to be a long night or day. Whichever it was.
I
couldn’t go back to sleep, so I just sat there, hugging my knees to my chest.
The
door opened again and a lady with a white mask, like the ones they use in
theater, came in and laid a tray of food in front of me and left. Not giving
Josh any. I looked at the tray, and my stomach rumbled. It was a large plastic
cup with ice water, a cup of red jello, and two pieces of bread with, with,
honey on it. I picked up the glass of water and drank a little, but didn’t
touch the food.
“Caroline,
you have to eat.” Josh said getting up and coming over to the corner. I picked
up the jello and spoon, and scooped up a spoonful, sticking it right in Josh’s
open mouth. After he swallowed, he said, “YOU need to eat that, not me.” I
picked up another spoonful and put it in his open mouth. I took a spoonful and
it was gone. Looking at the bread with honey, I was temped. I loved honey.
But…. No. I picked up the plate with the bread and turned it over on the tray,
resting the plate on top of it. I pushed it with my foot away from me and
hugged myself in a ball again. “Why did you…….” Josh started, but stopped. It
was almost like he understood. He laid back down and I just sat there,
thinking.
How
was I going to get out of here with Josh, too? Plans ran through my mind, but
nothing stuck. I was stuck. Josh was stuck. And it felt like there was no way
out. I must have been thinking for a while, because Mr. Howard came in and took
up the tray. Flipping the plate over, he saw the untouched bread. He looked up
and I fell to the ground with a thud, in a sprawled position on the floor. With
eyes closed.
“Caroline!”
I heard Josh cry out. Then I heard another thud. The tray dropped at my feet
and I felt prick at my arm, but before I could react, my whole body went numb.
Before I blacked out, I heard Mr. Howard say in my ear, “I’m taking you
home, and you’ll never see your brother again.” That’s when I blacked out
completely.
God,
Please help me, was my last thought.
When I woke up, I felt numb all over. I couldn’t even open my eyes, but I could feel myself laying on something hard, and metal.
I forced my eyes opened and gasped. Mom! Dad! I tried to yell, but my mouth wouldn’t move. There they were, looking down on me. But where was I? I couldn’t hear anything, either. Dad moved his mouth, but no sound same out that I could hear. They both looked relieved, but at the same time, worried. I tried to move my hand, but couldn’t feel if it did anything. I closed my eyes, trying to gather strength, but next thing I knew, I woke up again.
I could feel everything now, and looked around. The room was empty, except for my mom, lying asleep in a chair beside me, and my bed, now soft. “Mom?” I croaked, and she jerked awake, instantly by my side, holding my hand. “Caroline! Honey!” she put her other hand on the side of my face. “Who took you? Where’s your brother?” she asked.
“I….. I…..” I stammered, “ I don’t know. In a room.”
“A room?” she squeezed my hand. “Where?”
“I don’t know!” I cried out. “In a safe place!”
“What?” she looked utterly confused.
“I don’t know! They put a bag over my head!”
That’s when I couldn’t take it anymore. I busted out crying. Racking with sobs. A doctor rushed in and by then I was gasping in between sobs. “Calm down Caroline, just calm down.” The doctor said, pushing me back against the bed, “You’re in a safe place.”
Voices and images flashed in my ears and in front of my eyes. You’re in a safe place. “No!!” I screamed, bolting upright. “No! There’s no safe place!” I felt a sharp prick on my arm and my whole body started to go numb really fast. “No….” I whispered. I grabbed at my mom’s hand. “Howard….” I blacked out.
The Doctor was Mr. Howard.
"Her brother’s in really bad shape, he refuses to eat anything sense she left.”
“Have you told him she’s safe?”
“Yes, but he won’t believe any of us, we had to strap him to a table before I left. Howard, that’s how violent he’s getting.”
“We’re going to have to take her back, you were right. She was playing me.”
I couldn’t open my eyes yet, move or speak. But I could hear this time. It was the lady dressed in black—Barb—and Howard.
“When, though?”
“We’re going to have to use a scan to get her away from the room and her parents. Then we’ll have some men come in a take her, leaving me tied up.”
“Good idea. That way, it will be real for the security cameras and throw suspicion off you, after she said your name.”
“Exactly!”
They both left the room and my eyes popped open, but I still couldn’t move or speak.
I couldn’t go back there! But I had to get Josh out, so I had to go back.
A few hours later, I still couldn’t move or speak. “Man!” I thought, trying to move my head with no success, “he must have given me a heavy duty amount!” Just then, Howard came in, along with two other men and a stretcher.
“Well, Caroline, your awake!” He acted surprised, and I was annoyed. To my own surprise, I actually rolled my eyes at him! Then he smiled even more. “We have to take you for a scan to see how that head of yours is doing.” Acting completely normal. If I could have, I probably would have jumped on him. I was that mad.
The two men picked me up and then I was shocked by something, I had just seen Howards face. There was no way he was letting me go now, alive and/or sane.
They strapped me in, wheeling me out of room and down the hall. I fought the medication and made a small noise in my throat. No one heard me. I fought it and made a tiny kick with my leg.
“Don’t get yourself excited Caroline,” Howard said, coming beside me and laying a hand on my strapped down arm, “just relax. It will all be over soon.” I rolled my eyes again. Yeah, right. For him, not me.
We entered the x-ray room and the two men left, leaving me alone with Howard. I whined deep down in my throat, and he looked at me. Actually looking sorry for what was about to happen.
Just then, the door burst open and two men with guns and masks walked in. Howard backed away from them, putting both hands in the air.
“Down!” one ordered him, and he got down on his knees, and they tied him the leg of the x-ray machine. As I watched the scene, I was horrified. I didn’t want to go back, not for the life of me. God, I prayed, please, just keep me awake, and give me strength!
One of the guys pointed a gun at Howard and ordered him, “Make a move, or a sound, and you’ll regret it.”
“Let’s go.” The other said, grabbing the stretcher with me on it and started to wheel me down the hall. It was deserted. They rolled the stretcher into the stairwell at the end of the hall and shut the door. Quickly they worked, unbuckling me and throwing me over one of their shoulders. Surprised, I realized that my clothes were still on, all but my shoes. Odd, I thought, as they hurried down flights of stairs to the parking deck. It was dark on the side of the parking deck we were coming to, and a car door opened and I was shoved into the back seat. The door slammed and both got in, starting the car. Pulling out of the parking deck, we met semi-darkness as the sun was setting.
I still couldn’t move or speak, but I could do one thing.
Read and memorize the name of every street we passed……
They drove for what felt like hours, passing street after street, and turning on to different roads.
Clark Drive………….
Speedwell Ave……………..
Daft Road…………….
I could now move my head a little so I could see different roads that I would have missed otherwise. I felt the road get bumpier and there weren’t any more street signs. My heart started beating faster, racing. I tried moving my mouth, and it opened. But not a sound came out. Trees were overhead now and it got darker and darker inside the car. The car stopped and both of the men got out.
They both had taken off their masks, and I studied their faces in the dim light outside the car.
One was younger than the other… a lot younger. One appeared to be close to my age, maybe a tad bit older, 18 or 19. The other looked to be in his late 40’s. The younger had dirty blonde hair like my mom’s, swept to the side of his face, and brown eyes. The older had dark brown hair and greenish blue eyes, and a hat that said “Racecar Fan” on it.
They opened the door and the younger one picked me up in a cradled position. Starting to walk deeper into the woods, he looked down at me with pity in his eyes, and mouthed the words “I’m sorry.”
We stopped and the older man bent down and opened an underground hatch, stepping out of the way so that I could be carried down the stairs. There were three more doors and sets of stairs on our way down, and with each one’s opening, the one behind us shut. Finally we came to the last door, and the floor and ceiling leveled out into a hallway. There were tons of doors on each side, some wooden, some solid metal. They took me through one of the metal doors and there were two metal tables in the room, with straps on each of them to hold down a person’s neck, waist, wrists, legs, and ankles. One was already occupied… by my brother, Josh.
“Caroline!” he exclaimed, trying to sit up, but he was held down by every single strap on the table.
They laid me on the other table and started to strap me down, but I whined deep down in my throat. The younger one looked up and asked, “Can’t we just strap down her right arm and wrist, and her left leg?? She’s paralyzed.” The older man grunted and waved the boy to do it, then left.
Before he started strapping me down, he looked at both of us and went to the door. Looking out, he looked right, then left, and then rushed over and started to undo my brother’s straps.
“What are you doing??” Josh asked, once he was free from the waist up.
“I was taken, like you, two years ago.” He explained, as he finished unstrapping Josh’s legs. “They thought they had completely brainwashed me. But when I saw you too, I snapped back into reality.” Josh hopped off the table and the boy started to unstrap my legs, which was the only thing the man had done. Josh rustled around in the cabinets and pulled out two surgical knives. The boy picked me up in his arms and said to Josh, “The meds should be wearing off soon, he have her three vials full at the hospital, so that’s good for about six hours.”
I sighed and looked up at him. He smiled. “Don’t worry. When I say soon, I mean soon.” They both headed out the door and up the stairs, Josh first, with the boy and me behind.
“What’s your name?” Josh asked, opening one of the doors.
“Jacob Henson.”
We got to the top and Josh rattled the door knob, which was directly above him. “It’s locked!”
“What?!?!” Jacob exclaimed and sat me down right beneath it and rattled it too. “No!” he said, exasperated. “They never lock this one!!! Never!”
Just then we heard loud voices at the end of the stairs and someone call out in a loud voice,
“Jacob!!!!”
Jacob shivered and looked down, almost terrified. “If they catch me, they’ll do something worse to me than anyone except one person down here. And she died,” he said. Then, since the door was sort of at an angle, Jacob smashed the left side of his body into the door. It didn’t budge.
Soon, thundering footsteps filled the stairwell, and Jacob grabbed one of the knives from Josh. Pushing me against the wall, Josh and Jacob both stood in front of me, knives ready.
Three men and a woman appeared in the large doorway we had last come through and stopped.
“Josh.” Said one man.
“Jacob.” Said another one.
Josh and Jacob didn’t budge.
“Put the knives down boys, we don’t want anyone getting hurt.” Said the woman, and they all stepped closer.
Jacob answered in a calm voice, “Don’t come any closer,” and backed up a step. “Don’t want anyone to get hurt? Sure!” he laughed. “Remember what happened to Amanda?? She did exactly what I did! Tried to get June out!”
“She was an accident, Jacob, you know we didn’t mean to give her that much medication.” One of the men said. But Jacob shook his head at them.
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