KCH (Kids Clubhouse) Story Submission

Chapter 3

Hannah found herself lying on the ground. She was covered in sweat and felt groggy. She felt pain, but could do nothing about it. Her body was weak and fragile. She wished for anything to get her out of there, even if it was death.

Finally, with much effort, Hannah managed to get onto her knees, hands on the ground. She looked around. She was still in the same room, with her little rocking chair and air freshener.

Hannah tried to crawl towards the chair, but her knees collapsed under her weight. She fell down, hitting his head on the ground. She squinted his eyes, which were now strained to their limits. She couldn't see anything properly anymore. Everything was blurred.

She crawled over to the rocking chair

She used up a massive amount of her strength to get up and sit on the chair.

Hannah had never felt so tired in her life.

She wondered whether or not he had been poisoned. It would have explained how she was so powerless.

Hannah was still trembling. She wanted the rocking chair to stop rocking for once. The shift of weight from his top to his bottom confused her brain, making her more irritated and groggy. Even the cool air coming from the window pained her. She wanted to stay warm, to conserve as much energy as possible.

The door opened, and the man who she saw earlier was there. be looked at Hannah, as though she was a small kid on her first day in school.

"If you promise not to pass out again, I might tell you what is happening." he said.

Hannah looked up. She didn't care whether she would harm her throat or not. She was going to give this man a piece of her mind.

"Look here mister," Hannah croaked.

She cleared his throat and spoke again.

"Look here mister I don't know who you are, why I'm here, and I'm not so sure I care 'bout any of them right now. Just get me out of here. I don't want to be here with a maniac like you."

"Ooooh, a maniac, am I? Says the person who screams for help in her sleep."

It took Hannah some time to realize the man was talking about her, "I talk in my sleep?"

"Course you do. You disturbed all he other people."

'Other people?' Hannah wondered what this man was saying. "What do you mean, other people?"

"As I said, promise you won't pass out? It gets so loud in here, it's deafening."

Hannah made a nod of approval, though it looked as though she was trying to somersault off the chair.

The man grinned at her.

"My name is Russel Travis. You, along with many others, have been kidnapped. Why? I don't know. I've just been given the task making sure you and the others don't escape."

He turned Hannah around to face a small screen.

It showed many people, in rooms similar to the one which Hannah was in. She counted the number of victims.

"Seven people kidnapped, eight, including me..." She mumbled just loud enough for Russel to hear.

"Oh no, you are mistaken. It's just seven." Russel said.

"But... there are seven people on the screen. Counting me, that's eight victims." Hannah protested.

"Yes, there are eight victims. But only seven have been kidnapped."

Hannah looked at Russel sceptically, one eyebrow raised.

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"Oh, sure. The guy who sent me here said that there are only seven kidnapped victims, one of them have been borrowed. That's all he said."

Hannah didn't like the way Russel said 'borrowed'.

"And who, according to you, is this 'borrowed' person?" Hannah emphasized on the word 'borrowed'.

"I have no idea."

Hannah didn't like this 'Russel' guy, even though he seemed like a nice man.

"Since you're the only one awake, why don't you help me?" Russel asked.

"And why would I want to help you?"

"Because I want to get all of you out of here."

Hannah started at him, her eyes wide open.

"Did you just say, get us out of here?"

"Yeah."

Hannah's happiness knew no boundaries. She was finally going to get out. She couldn't express herself to Russel, literally. Her face hurt when she tried to smile.

"Of course. Tell me, what should I do?"

Russel appeared to be thinking. He looked at Hannah for a second. Finally, Russel broke the silence.

"Well, both of us look sort of the same from behind, you have short hair. So, how about you do guard duty for me, while I figure out the next part of the plan. I'll be in the bunker downstairs if you need me."

"And this camera behind me?" Hannah pointed to the camera behind them.

"I disabled that. How do you think I could speak to you for so long without the others coming in on me?"

Hannah still couldn't believe her luck. She was going to go free, and all she had to do was walk. Sure, her knees were on the verge of breaking, but she ignored that.

"Alright. Where should I go?" Hannah asked.

"Anywhere you like, just don't face the cameras, or else we're in trouble."

"And how do I know where the cameras are?"

Russel took out a small piece of paper. He unfolded it to show a map.

"Look here. Wherever there is a dot in red, that's where the cameras are. This blue room is where we are now, ok?"

Hannah looked at the paper. The place they were in was huge. There was no way Hannah could manage to walk through all of that without collapsing once or twice.

Hannah looked up at the screen again. She saw the inmates. One was crying. One was trying to break out. One was screaming. One was sitting down, as though all life had left him.

Hannah felt determined to save these people. At least if not for his own sake, at least for Russel's sake he would save all of them.

"Right then," Hannah said, nodding towards Russel, "Shall we?"