Walking through the streets, two o'clock in the early hours of the morning, temperature ten below, adding to the cold presence I already felt. I was almost home, silence filled the streets. That is, until a piercing shriek echoed throughout my head, ringing in my ears. I looked around determined to find the source of the desperately astounding scream, then, eyes forward, I saw them. Three hugely built men bundling a small young girl into a plain black van, license plate removed.
The urge overcame me, I yelled at them, at the girl, to let her know I was coming and without a second thought, I began running, full speed up the street, faltering only as I removed my heels. I threw them at the van, denting and leaving a scratch on the sliding door, just above the handle. I'd hoped it would divert their attention elsewhere, so the girl had, even for that split second of time, a chance of escape.
All the hope I once impulsively felt, shattered in a instant as only one of them turned without hesitation to face me, no warning, no chance of a second thought, he ran at me, and before I knew it, his sweaty, wet palms gripped around my waist. His clammy, rancid breath wheezing down the crease of my neck, the draft of air, finally hitting me that he'd brought with him, containing his putrid stench, cold and unnerving.
Suddenly I was weightless, no feeling apart from that of pure fear in my mind but then I thought back to the previous seconds, remembering that poor girls screech for help, the anxiety she must have felt, and yet here I am thinking about no one but myself. I had never been so selfish but now, I knew this was inescapable but then at this point, I also knew...
nothing. My mind went black as I could here the men laughing with one another, laughing like it was funny.
I woke up to see the young girl with me, side by side, being tossed around in the back of what I can only assume to be the black van, which was just as plain on the inside as it was on the outside. The girl sat there, still, frozen in place with fear. Arms tied behind her back, a filthy looking cloth blocking her mouth. She had tears rolling down her gorgeous face; she couldn't have been more than 15, her beautiful eyes, bright blue, pleading me for help, her petrified face, begging me to make it all stop, to get us out of this.
Without warning, the van came to a halt, sending me flying backwards, smashing my head on the back doors, as they swung open my head fell, loitering upside down, staring up at the men who had abducted me. They grabbed me by my hair, dragging me out of the van, making me fall to the ground with a thud. Although they had a tight grip on my hair, they clearly underestimated my weight as I hit the floor my head followed close by.
The agony as the cold concrete collided with my head was unbearable, I could feel the icy trail of blood falling from the gaping injury on the right side of my head as I let out a whimper. They picked me up from under my arms, I felt myself lay all my weight on them, hoping, even praying they would just leave me, sprawled out in the street, but I couldn't leave the girl. I didn't know her name and yet somehow I still felt a strong connection with her.
Everything around me was new, new surroundings, new sounds, new scents. The damp, musty smell of coppery blood, overwhelming my nostrils, I felt as though I was going to be sick. I heard the pure weight of steel doors being dragged across the gravel, I could hear the waves, violently crashing against the pier. The only obvious place we could be would be Paradise End, the beach local to my house, but then again who knows how long I'd been blacked out. Too busy trying to concentrate on where I was, I was totally unaware that they had taken the young girl away. I began whining and squirming, that is until those horrendously sweaty hands closed around my wrists again, yanking me to my feet, pushing me towards what appeared to be an empty warehouse.
I didn't realise how wrong I could have been. The closer I got the more that began to become clearer. I wasn't the only girl to be abducted, there must have been, a minimum of another 30 girls. They all looked just as petrified as the girl they had brought in with me. Each one all tied up in different ways, some tied to chairs, others tied to hooks on the wall. The conditions were horrifying, the foul stench of urine overpowering all else.
They all looked... no, they all were terrified and I can understand why. Three men had somehow abducted and held hostage 30 girls and had gotten away with it, with nobody even investigating the girls disappearances. God knows how long some of them had been here, by the looks of them days at least. One girl clearly hadn't showered in weeks. She had dust or mud smeared up one side of her face where she'd been leant up against a wall for such a long period of time that it had obviously imprinted on her face. Another tied up in the corner, was just curled up as though she was two again, crying, begging for help, even though we all knew it wasn't coming. Every single girl looked just as afraid as the next and yet, my feelings were nothing like that. I was more curious as to why these men had done this, and I was determined to find out.
I was too busy taking in my surroundings to notice that I had stopped walking, I was pushed to the ground with force, my knees buckling below me.
My arms still tied up were unable to stop me from continuing my descent as my face made contact with the floor, overwhelming pain as tears welled in my eyes, my nose cracking with an almighty snap. The pain was horrendous, my eyes teared up and my vision blurred.
Once my eyes had cleared it was too late to struggle any longer, my arms were tied, above my head to a metal loop attached to the wall. They ached, and the rope was far too tight, my hands were turning white, the blood wasn't circulating to them. I don't even know if it was the fact that they were tied or the fact that they were frozen. The temperature ridiculously low, must have been minus at least. My feet were feeling the full throttle of it, toes curling to keep the warmth. I wanted too curl up completely, but for obvious reasons I couldn't, my clothes were ripped and torn, dripping with blood and water, adding to the coldness I already felt.
The stench, everything, the saltiness of the sea, day old urine, sweatiness, even the blood stunk, the whole warehouse wreaked and there was nothing I could do.
Suddenly I got a whiff of something nasty, nausea took over and I threw up everywhere, whether it was the fact that the alcohol was beginning to disagree with me, or it was purely the smell, either way it didn't matter, I had vomit rolling down my chin, all over my dress, everywhere, and I couldn't do anything, not even wipe it from my mouth, because the so called men who did this to me wouldn't allow it.
Men? I wouldn't give them the honour of being called men. They've had to sink to levels below anything to kidnap and hold hostage girls of an age where they can't cope without the bank of mum and dad, let alone the big wide world alone. Pathetic really, to think they are amazing for committing such a crime.
All at once, it was forgotten, as a bang, loud enough to shake the foundations of the warehouse shook throughout all of our bodies. The three men were now four, as they waltzed through the steel doors, faces full of pride and proudness, all obviously under strict instructions not to talk because one of them, scrawnier than the rest, short and less stocky, went to open their mouth, but no sound came out. Instead he suddenly keeled over, his face changed, distorted now, all the girls confused as one another, exchanging glances to see what was wrong with him. Seconds passed and he fell to the floor, silently, and yet we all knew he was experiencing excruciating pain. Finally, once he had hit the concrete, he lay there, motionless, no life left in him. Dead. We all managed to pull our eyes away from the corpse that lay before us, to look up at the three remaining men, and then everything became clear, it made sense. As the quiet rang throughout, the drops of blood falling from the knife echoed around, the only thing we were all concentrating on. The other two men looked far more afraid than every single girl in here, not daring to take a breath in case of breathing wrong, they clearly didn't want to lose their life, knowing that one step out of line would be the step out of life. They clearly didn't want to be here, but the main man would have something to say about that.
He took a step forward, giving the other men, a rather strange look, but it obviously meant some sort of sign to them as they split, one going either side of the room, checking each and every piece of rope, they couldn't risk anyone getting loose. It would all be hell to pay. All it would take would be one girl to get out and run to the police, tell them everything and ruin their master scheme, then lead them to the holding place, and the men would be finished.
It was all far to imaginary, we knew that they were too clever to leave anything to chance. They had thought this plan through inch by inch, second by second. Obviously everybody was clear as the three of them wiped the whole warehouse in minutes, double checking every knot and tie, in pure silence. Not a single noise was made the whole time. When they got to me, the yellowness of his teeth, the stench of his dry breath, all made me nauseous again, holding back the vomit, judging by the look, of pure disgust, that he gave me he must have noticed I was covered in it already. He moved on, continuing in pure silence. Their footsteps bouncing off of every wall, echoing all around added to the eeriness of the huge room, making every girl flinch even more.
They regrouped next to the door, scanning the room in unison. I had no idea what they were doing. They'd checked every single rope, girl and unusual noise so I don't know what they were looking for. Then it hit me. All eyes locked onto one particular girl, the one they'd brought in with me. They all closed in around her and she began sobbing, filling the silence as all the girls sighed with relief as it wasn't them. The main guy had still had hold of the bloody knife, he brought it out again, slicing through the rope with ease, hauling her up by her hair, tears still streaming down her face, her pleading babbles being clearly ignored. As they left, chattering was all we could hear, their chattering and laughing again, they clearly still thought this was funny, and trust me, it wasn't. It had to be the most terrifying thing I had ever experienced.
I leant over to the girl next to me, parted my lips as to though say something, drew my breath and then realised there was nothing I wanted to, or could say. I knew I had to say something, anything to break the terrifying silence that echoed through the room, the girls eyes said more than they could ever think. I got my act together and once more leant towards the girl next to me, opened my mouth, took in a breath and began to speak. She looked at me bewildered as though she hadn't a clue what I was talking about, like I was speaking a foreign language, when all I'd done was ask her where they were taking that other girl, she appeared to scared to give me an answer.
Suddenly the girl opposite, quick as lightening got to a standing position, roughly a metre away from my face, hers still covered by her greasy,long black hair. She was leant forward, appearing to defy gravity when she suddenly bellowed in pain and dropped to her knees, the source of agony immediately apparent. She, unlike the others was tied using metal chains, and it had obviously rubbed on her wrist, the skin mangled and discoloured causing apparent discomfort as it was being rubbed away by the friction of the rough surface, blood drying into the chain, velvet red.
After a few seconds, she regained her mentality, but still did not speak a word, it took her around 5 minutes to find the right words to say to break the news to me. Once she had told me what truly happened in this godforsaken place, I wished she had never opened her mouth to reveal the disturbing secrets of the warehouse. The crying and whimpering began to die down, until nothing could be heard any longer but the distant crashing of the waves outside, of the safe, unnerving beach.
The silence began to drag. I began to run out of things to think of, my mind began to wander into the abyss of nothingness and suddenly everything came flooding back, my situation, my emotions, everything. I couldn't quite understand my surroundings, none of it made any sense. I heard a distant banging, echoing round in my ears, I looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from but I couldn't see, it was black, and yet somehow, everything was bright at the same time. It was then and only then that I realised I wasn't actually awake, I must have fell to sleep after the darkness had taken over last night. My eyes opened to the most disturbing sight, the men, from the other night, looming over the girl who was locked up opposite me, she was surprisingly quiet to say she had screamed at just the thought of the men last night, then as the men dispersed it was quite clear she had a gag in her mouth, a mouldy old dirty sock was what it looked like, but I couldn't be sure. They lifted her up one holding her legs the other, her arms, she looked incredibly uncomfortable as she was hauled out towards the exit, it was then I realised the doors weren't the only source of light, there was a window. Fair enough it had bars vertically along the full length, but one appeared loose. Not very, but enough to be pulled off completely. This was my chance, they must not have realised, either that or they thought none of us would dare to attempt it, however, I was not living like this any more, slowly but surely I began to plan my escape.
My wrists were bleeding from the rope, rubbing against my already dead skin, the smell no longer lingered in my nostrils. Maybe it was because I had just become that accustomed with the smell that I no longer noticed it. The stone wall acted as a knife, sharp and serrated, carving its way through the rope, fraying it fibre by fibre. Eventually I was nearly there, so close, when I heard a clumsy clatter outside, where the men had last left us. I looked to the window sharply to realise I'd been at it a while, it was dark and no doubt that noise would be the men, coming back to check everybody’s still where they're supposed to be. This would be it, I’d be the next they trawled out to god knows where to have the unspeakable done to them. I panicked and without realising began to cry, pure terror took over my body, I began violently shaking, tears rolling down my face, echoing through the warehouse walls as they hit the ground.
Everybody turned to looked at me. Some turned their whole bodies, and others only managed they're heads, almost as if they'd forgotten how to move. After a second we all listened to hear any potential sound of the men coming back and eventually it subsided and my heart rate returned to normal.
As the final piece of rope broke free I felt the cold air stab through my slashed wrists, almost mouldy with the coppery blood and dead skin melting away from my hands with the rope. Girls gasped and gaped at me as I tried to stand up and walk away, my legs, giving way below me. As I reached out for a chair to regain my balance, I failed. I tumbled back over, into a wet patch, I looked up to see a very embarrassed face so I can only assume it was urine, I shivered. After a minute or two, I began to slowly make my way towards the window. I was so close I could feel the breeze coming in. When I saw shadows moving around outside, frozen with fear I dropped to the ground, knowing this was it, they were definitely going to catch me this time. I panicked and once again began to cry, sniffling silent tears.
I sat in an upright position, sat on my hands hoping that they would be too busy to check me. I was wrong. The man went from girl to girl, alone for once. He reached me and told me to lean forward. I didn't know what to do. I reached for the closest thing, which happened to be a chair, and hit him over the head. He fell to the ground groaning in agony. I stood bolt upright, and was ready to run, when a hand wrapped around my ankle and yanked me down, just in time for a shadow to pass the window and miss me. He looked me straight in the eye, and just like that was up and walking out of the warehouse. He knew, he must have known I wasn't tied up if he kept me out of sight, but why? I didn't quite understand.
After the clatter of doors shut, I was waiting to hear the lock, but it never came, I waited, ten, twenty seconds. Still nothing so trying to be as quiet as a mouse, I crept through the putrid area, minding not to stand on anything or anyone. Everyone stared at me in astonishment. Whether it was the fact that I dared try to escape or just the fact I had actually manage to do it, I still don't know, but all I knew was all these girls needed help and I was going to be the one to get it to them.
Finally I reached the door. It had glass panels in, like the ones you find in a bathroom, distorted and unclear, but I tried my hardest to spot any movement outside despite the darkness. I saw nothing, so put all my strength into lifting the door instead of dragging it, but it was far too hard, so instead, I saw that one of the panels was loose, so I pushed and pulled until it broke free in my hands. Attempting not to drop it, I stepped through the gap, and replaced the glass, hoping nobody would notice. As I was trying so desperately to keep quiet, I began to hear voices approaching, I panicked and bolted, dropping the panel and it shattered, shards of glass lay everywhere, slicing my hand on the way down, blood droplets hitting the floor. I spun on my heels and ran, ran until I couldn't breathe and my mind was going restless with what they would do to me when they caught me. Why was I thinking like this, if I carried on running they wouldn't catch me.
I was out, and away from the men, in hiding until I knew it was safe. I needed to retrieve the girl, the one they had brought in with me. It seemed selfish, to leave all the others in the warehouse but have to go back for that one girl, I had no idea where she would be, or if she was even still alive. Well seeing as all three men were back at the warehouse I decided now was the perfect time to go looking for her, I sneaked around the corners ensuring the coast was clear, I saw the sea, but it looked nothing like Paradise End, so there it was, I was actually clueless as to my whereabouts.
I was too focused on the smell of fresh air and the saltiness of the sea to overhear what sounded like whimpering or crying, like a lip quivering, I stayed silent, not breathing for a moment until I had identified to source of the sound and which direction it was coming from. I turned sharply to see, just beside the warehouse, about 50 metres away was a shed, probably twice the size of a normal garden shed. Slowly but surely I began creeping my way towards it, watching my footing with every step I took.
When I reached the door, there was a gap in one of the windows, I peered in, and there she was. The Girl. I had to get her, I'd got this far if I didn't get her out, I was going to be caught anyway so I might as well try. She saw me, and shot me a worried glance and a very firm shake of the head, I assumed that meant she wasn't alone inside. I saw the shadow approaching her, her eyes full of misery and dread, I couldn't stand by and let anything else happen to her, she was a teenager for goodness sake. I studied the inside of the shed precisely, a glimmer of metal glinted at me, a hammer, that would do perfectly to take out a man double, possibly triple my size, one problem, it was on the back wall of the shed. There was no way I would reach it without being spotted now, my best shot was to open to door into the man, and hope that would delay him long enough for me to reach the hammer.
My master plan was set, now I just needed to put it into action, and quickly, before the remaining men returned. I waited until the shadow fell and blocked out the light, and slammed the door open, knocking the man off balance. It wasn't enough, he regained it quick enough and swung for me, I ducked and his hand smashed through the wall, and it was stuck, that gave me the time I so desperately needed, I ran round the girl, whose face was just full of pure terror, and retrieved the hammer. He looked at me shocked but also scared at the same time, he yanked his hand free and nursed it close to his chest, clearly thinking it would make me retreat, but I'd had enough of being underestimated, I'd had enough of being laughed at, I'd had enough of being the victim, it was time I followed through with threats and did the right thing for a change. When he realised I wasn't putting the weapon down, he growled deep in his throat and ran at me, I stopped him dead in his tracks with one sharp unexpected blow to the head.
He lay there, pulse still beating strongly, he'd just been knocked out, I rushed over to the girl and broke the chains free with the keys hanging on the back of the door. I had to support most of her weight as her legs constantly began to give way, getting worse with every step she took.
Eventually we got near a road, you could see the lights, the reality, civilisation. When suddenly we heard shouting behind us, I turned to see the men chasing after us, including the one I had taken out, he'd obviously alerted them of our escape stunt, if I wanted to save us both we needed to split up, I threw the girl into a large dumpster bin and instructed her to go nowhere until I returned for her. I, on the other hand began shouting, getting the men's attention, which luckily this time I got, I ran on into a street, where cars veered off road to miss me, and looked around for somewhere to run.
I had to stop, I could go on no longer, my heart pounding in my chest telling me it could take no more, my knee began to buckle and I knew I had to find somewhere to hide, anywhere if I even still stood a chance of escape, which honestly, it felt as if I didn't. I heard rustling and saw a fox race past me, into a nearby ditch, I heard splashes and assumed it had water in, but I didn't care, id rather be a little bit more dirty and be able to shower at least. Without second thought I leapt into the brook, ankle deep in the water, I lay pressed against the riverbank which had undercut and put my head under the layover. Holding my breath as I heard the footsteps approach, I could hear his breathing, his shadow began to lean over the river bank to ensure I wasn't there, and I almost screamed, but as he got too close, a water vole appeared from nowhere and spooked not only the man but me also as I let out a whimper, but the splashing of his legs covered my cry and the men retreated, clearly thinking that I wasn't there.
This was my worst nightmare, I had no idea where I was, and the street lights were cutting out one by one, I began to feel drowsy but stayed awake long enough to exit the brook and walk to a nearby park and sleep below a low hanging tree out of sight, I had no energy to go any further, I had to stop or I’d never even make it to the police or the city, or wherever it was I was headed.
I woke up dazed and to feel water dripping down my nose, I opened my eyes just slightly and drew back in fear with eyes staring back and me and without thinking screamed, there was a huge dog sniffing my face, drooling over me. I stood upright as its owner came to investigate, once he saw me he just stopped dead, bent down and called his dog back, put it back on its lead and walked away. That was not the kind of help I had initially hoped for. I stood there, momentarily unaware of the events of the previous night, confused and shocked, I sunk back to the floor as tears began to roll down my face, through my water filled eyes, in my blurry vision I could make out a figure approaching once again, it was the man, only this time he wasn't accompanied by his dog, in his hand he had a bottle of water and a blanket, he looked at me with pleading eyes and handed me the contents of his hands. I looked at him, face of gratitude, he told me his name, Luke, and his dog friend, Poppy, he led me back to his car as I spilt my heart out to him, telling him everything the men had done, how I'd escaped and what I needed to do.
As we got closer to the car park I began to make out 3 different cars, a red mini, and blue people carrier, and black van. I could see Poppy excitedly bounding around in the back of the blue car, but as we got closer he began leading me away from the people carrier and towards the black van, it took me a few seconds to recognise the car, but it was there, distinctly, the scratch I had made, just above the handle on the sliding door when I'd thrown my heels at it 2 days earlier, I panicked but tried not to let it show. As we got closer I could make out two of the other men who had abducted me, one of them was the man from the shed. I let him get me almost to the van when I spun out of the blanket, tripped him and smashed his head against the door as another man tried to get out, it locked his leg in the door and you heard both men grunt in pain. That left one who was still after me, but he still hadn't got out the van, I risked a look back, to see he was putting on a pair of gloves as a guess? Eventually after around 10 seconds I was still speeding across the car park, he got out, got his bearings and spotted me, without any warning at all he began running and I had never seen anyone run so fast, he was easily going to catch me if I stayed in the open, I needed to do what I was good at. Weaving. I needed to head into the bushes where he would struggle and fall behind.
I reached the hedgerow well before my follower, its a good job too because even I struggled to manoeuvre through the dense bush, tripping and flailing about just about keeping my balance. I could hear his footsteps closing in behind me, almost sense his breath in my neck, I tripped, falling straight on my face, understandably I panicked thinking he would have me, but instead he just stopped, panting, gasping for air trying to regain his breath. I stayed silent, he began slowly creeping round, nearly standing on me, I couldn't stay down, I waited till he had past me and I shot up going back the way we came, I would have been fine if it weren't for the cliché twig snapping, giving my whereabouts away, he spun on his heels, and saw me instantly, turning and racing after me.
The chase easily lasted half an hour, I couldn't stop running or I would be a goner, I eventually lost him as I ran through the river, well swam through it. He ran me to the very edge, murmured something clearly thinking I wouldn't jump, and honestly, I didn't. He reached out for me but I leant back, falling into the river during the process, seeing as I was already filthy I figured I may as well swim to the other side of the river just to be sure. He didn't follow, clearly not planning on jumping in after me, instead he skulked out muttering under his breath.
I lay there, tanning in the sun with my head rested on a rock, jumping and twitching at every noise, frightened it could be my worst nightmare. I closed my eyes temporarily willing myself not to fall to sleep again but I couldn't help it, I woke up to the sound of an owl hooting, a fox drinking from the river and a mouse scuttling across the gravel, why was nature so perfect but life wasn't?
I awoke late next morning, my eyes fluttered open, then slammed shut as the bright sun gleamed down into them. Slowly but surely I got my surroundings together in my head, I rose to my feet and walked over to the river, took a drink and winced at the foul flavourings, of mud and salt.
I escaped further and further into the world of unknown , the sun shining, birds tweeting, the serene atmosphere surrounding me from within. I could smell the damp and dirt scent coming from the trees, upturned as beauty is destroyed by humanity, axes swung with such force, the crash as the life falls to the ground. Every tree bush and blade of grass, gone in a instant, reminding me not all is perfect, the impossibility of perfection breaking my heart over and over.
Reality shifted into mind, the past weeks, last night. I remembered everything, from seeing the girl in the street, from leaving her in the dumpster. The girl! I needed to go back and get her. I stood up slowly, gaining my balance, took the first few steps, and after that I went into a full on sprint. I returned to the alleyway, silent listening for any sign of whimpers or cries. None were heard. My heart pounded as I wasn't sure whether she was even still here, but as I went checking each dumpster, my hope faded, until I reached the last one. Empty. But it wasn't empty, it had a cardigan inside, the one the small girl had been wearing, I retrieved it and read the label 'Evie Grace Johnson'. So now I knew her name, I needed to find her family, but how?
I couldn't go to the police yet, they would call me crazy, surely the men would have moved operations by now, if not they were stupid. Johnson, where did I know that name? My next door neighbour were called Johnson, but surely they couldn't be related to Evie? It was worth a try. I stumbled around for hours, trying to find any civilisation, finally after 3 hours I saw headlights in the distance. My heartbeat raced, pounding out through my chest, I waved the car over. The window rolled down to reveal an elderly woman, aged 60 or so, with a rather worried look on her face, I knew exactly why her face was so worried once I had gotten in the car, my hair was greasy, make-up smudged down my face. She kindly drove me home, it took me 20 minutes to get home and yet I still didn't know where I'd been.
The sight of my front door, my garden, my cat in my window, pining to be let out. I thanked the lady, offered her a drink and some money, both of which she refused. I rushed to my door, flung it open, and tripped over all my mail. In an instant I reacted, stopping my face from once again smashing against the floor, just in time.
My heart pounding with adrenaline, everything running through my mind. How long had I been gone? So much mail for such a short amount of time. Perhaps people had posted me notes asking me where I was? I slowly rose to my feet, careful of my balance as I did so. As is stood there, looking down, my letters began turning red as the blood soaked into them. Slowly spreading itself to cover the writing held within. Confused as to where the blood had come from, I bent over to pick them up. It was only then that the pain struck me, impulsively I grabbed my stomach as it writhed with pain. I removed my hands temporarily to reveal the source. Quite clearly there was a handle sticking out of my stomach, applying pressure I realised I must have fell on the knife, penetration my skin and burying itself within me. Unsure of what to do I began to panic, and searched around for my phone, I reached out toward my land-line to notice a letter taped to my desk.
I picked it up and began to read it, the first few words read, 'don’t worry Kara, you'll be okay'. That was as far as I got just as I began to feel weak, faint and afraid. As my body began to fail me once again, I had one last attempt to avoid my descent, which failed.
I didn't try and stop myself again, instead this time I braced myself for the next amount of pain I was about to endure. As I collapsed to the ground, unable to move I began to panic, my eyes went heavy, then slowly began to close much like they had that night in the warehouse.
Fear and anxiety swept over me, the last things I felt until I awoke.
In disbelief I opened my eyes to see swarms of people surrounding me, various unrecognisable faces, numerous needles and tubes, the sound of beeping echoing in my head. After a few moments I flickered my eyelashes to reveal my boyfriend Liam, staring at me with his beautiful green eyes, his lips shaping words I couldn't hear. He obviously alerted the doctors that I was awake as in an instant he was no longer in sight, pushed away and removed from the room as the doctors pulled me about. After all the necessary medicines had been administered, the doctors dispersed and Liam came back into focus. He was the only thing I could see, the only thing I wanted to see, my heart melted as he came closer, as tears fell from his eyes, a broken smile upon his face.
Once again his lips parted, but no sound came out, instead he leant closer, placed his lips upon mine, and gave me such a passionate kiss, all my troubles faded. He had that effect upon me, when I was with him nothing could ever happen, he always saw the bright side of things, always looking to the future, never the past. He broke away, only to gasp for air and he reached for my hand, and held it tight, I began to remember how much I had missed him.
Neither of us said a word until our eyes met once again, his emerald eyes twinkling with such light making me feel funny inside, almost like butterflies in my tummy.
Impulsively I blurted out that I loved him, and the look on his face made my heart melt, his tears turned to happy tears and his smile was repaired and for the first time in our one year relationship he admitted he loved me too.
He stayed at the hospital for hours on end, 5, 6 hours at a time, his voice keeping my heart beating.
My eyes fluttered open around 4am, upon the realisation Liam wasn't there I began to wonder, how had I got here in the first place? I hadn't reached the phone, and my door was closed, so nobody could have seen me. Nobody else had a key to the house so I honestly couldn't been here.
I drifted back sleep, only to be awoken a few hours later by a weight being placed on my bed. My eyesight still fuzzy from the sleep made the figure blurred. As my vision focused itself, I began to recognise her, the little girl from the warehouse. The one I had left in the bin. Evie. She looked, normal now. Make up, hair straightened, nice clothes. Her eyes staring back into mine, not like they did pleadingly, begging. No, this time they were smiling, smiling at me. She must have got out, got away. Relief overcame me as I realised she was back to safety and society. Happiness was all I felt. A few days later i was released and allowed home.
She stayed for a few hours, informing me of her ordeal, what she had been doing the night she was kidnapped, how she got away, but it struck me as odd. Only 2 days ago she was being held captive by men triple her age, how had she come back to reality so easily? I would be constantly watching my back, always flooded by paranoia, and yet a 15 year old girl appeared to be coping brilliantly.
I let it slip and continued to chat to her, questioning her on how it felt to be free, and I informed her of my further ordeals that I experienced. She seemed mesmerised, almost like i was telling a story. After hours of talking she left, leaving me in the hospital, alone. I began to drift to sleep, only to be awoken by a shadow appearing at the end of my bed. My heart skipped a beat, thankfully it was the doctor. The words that came out his mouth all blurred into one messy mumble.
My eyes focused, my brain began to make sense of his words. 'You took quite a hit to the head on the way down, luckily there is no lasting damage.' I began to think about the past events, the note, the knife, none of it made sense.
Within a week i was allowed home, Liam fetched me from the hospital and took me back to his for a few days, they went in such a blur. I returned to work a few weeks after it all. I was so nervous to be out in the world again, being asked questions by friends that i didnt have the answers too. That scared me.
Author Notes: This is only part of the story, thought I'd post this first and see what people make of it so far.
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