UNEDITED: Our Forbidden Love

16: Starley

"Stay here," Alex says, and I nod in response. I'd been close enough to one of those circles yesterday and they made my stomach feel weird. I watch him run across the carpark, bleached blonde hair almost flapping in the breeze as he runs. I was still holding the container of cookies and as I looked at it, I smiled. Alex had gotten up early, just to bake these for me.
"Hey hottie," says Peter, sliding along the car to stand next to me. I look at him, kind of disgusted.
"Don't call me that," I say, the power and assertiveness in my voice contradicting the anxious and worried butterflies in my stomach.
"Oh, sweetie," he says, his voice dripping with fake kindness and sweetness and places a hand on my arm.
"Don't call me that either, Peter," I say, shoving his hand off of my arm.
"Ooh, I'm so scared, there's a five foot one, scrawny girl telling me to back off, because she's so loyal to her boyfriend," he says, adjusting his position to stand in-front of me with his hands either side of me, leaning on Alex's car.
"Get away from me!" I scream, slipping under one of his arms and turning around so I'm facing Peter and the car, slowly moving backwards, closer towards Alex.
"Alex! Help me!" My screams are suddenly muffled by someone's hands over my mouth. I try to kick them. It's the only thing I can do until Alex gets here. He'll save me I know he will. I did what he asked, I called out to him for help. Then Peter grabs my feet and together the two guys take me to a white van covered in scratches and marks, obviously been in car accidents before.
A third guy opens the van and the two holding me throw me inside. My head slams against the metal floor of the van making my head throb. Peter ties my hands together. The ropes are pulled tight, digging into my delicate pale skin.
"Ouch, Peter, you're hurting me!" I scream, my mind flashing with the memory of me saying the same thing to Alex. Alex. He should be here by now, he should've heard me. I did what he asked, I called out.

I send my magic to my head to reduce the throbbing and the blurry vision. I try to help my wrists that are suffering against the ropes, but as soon as I can get enough magic there to heal it, the ropes dig in again, and my work is lost. Peter is sitting in the back of the van with me. The other two guys are driving and in the passenger seat. I recognise them as the guy outside the café and the one from yesterday morning's circle. Xavier and Brayden.
"Peter, why are you doing this to me?" I ask, the van speeding through the city, sliding me across the floor with every turn we make. Peter is calming sitting in a seat, a belt across his chest and legs keeping him still. Suddenly the van stops and I slide forward hitting my head, again, this time on the back of Brayden's and Xavier's seats. Peter quickly gets out with a piece of paper, pins it onto the door and gets back in. The van speeds off again. Peter hears my question again, as I repeat it but just chooses to ignore it; obviously thinking this is all completely humane and rational. We stop abruptly, again, I slide forward and without my hands to use as support, my head takes the impact for a third time and I send a little bit more of magic to fix it. When you heal, you use your energy, so I have to be careful with how much healing magic I use, just in case he hurts me really badly and I need my magic, to prevent death or at least a near-death experience. Peter orders me out of the van, though it's hard without any hands and arms available. I walk behind Peter, though not by choice. Brayden and Xavier, each hold one of my arms and force me forward. We walk across wooden planks and slowly he planks turn into soft sand underneath the soles of my shoes. I look around for the yellow tower I would recognise from anywhere. I find it and it looks a lot bigger than it did when I was out in the ocean. The blue twenty nine looks a lot bigger than I expected. I smile at the tower, it was the first connection I made to Alex. It was how I knew I was going to find him. Alex. He should be here. I called for help. He should be here to protect me and get me back. He can be dangerous towards these three young men, just not towards me. Maybe he took my 'don't be dangerous thing' as don't be that way towards anyone? Maybe he didn't actually care about me and love me the way I thought he did? The way that I love and care about him.

The guys lead me across the sand a bit more and also slightly to the left where there's some grass trying to grow on the sandy dunes. Peter orders me to sit down on the sandy grass, which I do, to avoid sustaining any further injuries or pain. Brayden unties my wrists under Peter's instruction, which I'm glad of, the ropes are tough and fibrous and are rubbing against my wrists. I send a bit of my magic to my wrists to heal the rope burn that's accumulated there. I feel my energy draining. My eye lids become heavy and breathing takes a lot of effort. The only way to recharge my energy is to sleep. I curl up on the grass at the top of the beach in-front of three people who could easily hurt me and take advantage of me, with no sign of Alex in sight. No Alex coming to save me...