Gone

24

 It was then New Year's Eve. Bryson had come back to the house the day after Christmas and since the yelling match with Lukas, neither of us girls had seen him. I remember wondering to myself if Lukas had ejected himself out of this kidnapping scheme altogether, but I eventually heard Kevin call out Lukas's name one day. The entire vibe of the house started to feel very different. The energy felt as though, we were close to the ending of something.

My New Year's Eve morning began with oatmeal from Kevin and Bryson. While the four of us ate our breakfast, I observed Kelsey drawing something in her notebook passionately, Chloe writing down small sections of words grouped together, and Taylor writing nonstop on a page in the middle of her notebook. I grabbed my notebook and decided to jot down what I could remember happening while being held, hostage. I wrote down each of the sick and deranged human being's names and described what each of them did to us. I made sure to specifically write down that Bryson made our forceful stay here easier than it could have. Thinking about it at the time and now, I knew that my friends and I were a few of the lucky ones. Not many children and/or people who get abducted have someone like Bryson to calm down the abusers and make things easier and for that I am grateful. My thoughts were then interrupted by Lukas's voice from the front of the house.

"Bry, could you run out and get some booze for tonight? I'll give you some money," Lukas asked, oddly politely. I guess Bryson agreed because I heard a couple of mumbles after that question and the side door opened and closed.

"I wish I could get a drink..." Kelsey whispered to herself out loud while continuing to draw.

"I think all of us need one," I stated. After my comment, the room was left in silence. Hours probably passed, the room's door was shut so I'm not sure if it was dark or not outside, but I remember taking a nap. I had woken up to Kevin sauntering in with chicken soup from a can.

"Ugh! Lukas, their room smells like corpses and actual shit!" Kevin gagged, setting two of the bowls down in front of Kelsey and Chloe. For the first time in a couple of days, Lukas finally showed his face in our room.

"Fuck, alright, make them shower after they eat, and have them use Bryson's bathroom, but keep an eye on them." To my surprise, Lukas appeared like the same dingy mid-twenty-year-old man. Same 70's style glasses with the thin gold frame, and a lit cigarette in his right hand, between his middle finger and index finger. Uncomfortably, Lukas and I locked eyes and the feeling of awkward discomfort emanated throughout my surroundings. Once Lukas broke the stare, the feeling dissipated. He slowly took his medium-sounding footsteps to another area of the house while Kevin headed back to the kitchen for the last two bowls. I have to admit, living here against the will of not only my own, but my friends, I had come to the realization that I have memorized whose footsteps were whose.

After we ate, Kevin unsettlingly made Kelsey and Chloe shower together to save water. As Taylor and I waited our turn, we barely spoke. I soon found myself picking at the cracked skin on my fingers when Chloe and Kelsey came back in oversized T-shirts and sweatpants.

"Where did you guys get those?" I whispered jealously.

"Kevin said we stunk too much so one of the guys got us other clothes," Chloe explained. I couldn't wait to feel clean and soft skin once again. Taylor and I were then taken into the bathroom with Kevin waiting for just inches behind the door. I never had the courage to confess to either of the girls, but I honestly would have felt safer with Lukas behind that door, than Kevin or even Bryson.

After the shower, and with towels wrapped around Taylor and I's bodies, Kevin cracked open the door and handed us two sweatpants and two t-shirts. We headed back into the room, and about thirty minutes to an hour later, Chloe had fallen asleep. So, as the three of us let her rest, Kelsey continued on one of her drawings, and Taylor had begun writing words into sections like Chloe had done earlier in the day, we overheard Lukas in the kitchen.

"Ah, sometime, in January, this will all be over," Lukas stated joyously, with a sigh.

"You mean you're letting them go?" Kevin asked him, with a little bit of fear in his shaken voice.

"Hell no. I mean they're torturing will be over. We will kill each of them as the others watch or something. I'm just trying to think of where to do it though," the words that came out of Lukas's mouth forced my heart to drop more than it had ever.

Kevin then responded to Lukas; "Well, we could take them to one of those creepy forests down in Indiana?"

"I'm not taking a risk like that Kev." After Lukas spoke, there was a sound of silence, even Kelsey and Taylor were quiet, even though I knew they heard every word that was said because they were not drawing or writing. They were frozen.

"You think Bryson would go along with it?" Kevin queried.

"We've gotten him this far, didn't we?" Lukas told him. Suddenly, I heard the sound of the door opening, and bottles clinking, obviously, Bryson was back.

After a while, with no speaking in our room, and with loud drunk talk along with music coming from the living room or wherever else, Kelsey Taylor and I ended up falling asleep. How I knew this day, in particular, was New Year's Eve was due to the fact that within the music, I heard a couple of guys including Lukas count down from the number ten, then scream obnoxiously.

I don't know how long I slept after that, but I had a nightmare. When I awoke, the room was pitch black, but something was telling me to leave the room. It was the strongest urge I had felt, and even though my friends would be disappointed in me, I left the room anyway. As I creaked open the door, I heard the subtle sound of soft rock music and no other voices. Although I heard a groan come from Kelsey, there were no other voices. I cracked open the door wide enough to allow my slim malnourished body through. The hallway lights were blinding, so I flipped the switch off immediately. I quietly made my way to the kitchen, to see the time was a couple of minutes after 4.am., but for some reason, I was still being urged to go into the living room.

As I entered the entryway, the dim lighting allowed me to see not only Bryson, Kevin, and Lukas, but two other guys, and two girls I had never seen before all laid out around the living room and hallway. I heard a phone chime as I stood in the room, and saw a cellphone near Kevin light up. Just as I was about to go look at who texted him, I heard a voice behind me.

"Kassidy, what are you doing?" Kelsey groaned quietly, rubbing her eyes.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Are you trying to get out again?" She asked me in a whisper.

"For some fucked up reason, I don't want to leave," I confessed. From my words, Kelsey's face transformed into a very concerning expression. I had no idea what I was starting to feel, I just knew that being confined in those four walls for days on end, I began to see me grow a strong connection with Lukas Morgan Richards.