Riddle Middle

Chapter 17: Taken

Zack (3rd person)

Zack was sprawled out on the couch, leaning slightly away from the head part to avoid setting it on fire. He had closed all of the curtains and moved the couch closer to the TV so he could binge-watch properly. He had a coffee table with assorted snacks, so he didn't have to move because of his hunger. About two hours into his session, he started to drift off. He caught himself and checked the time to make sure he hadn't accidentally fallen asleep for a while. Ten, he thought. When did I start watching this? 7? 8? He had completely lost track of time and decided that he better stretch his legs. He discovered that they had fallen asleep, along with his arm. He looked at his table and saw that he had eaten almost everything. My stomach hurts...I probably shouldn't eat anything else... He thought. He yawned and made his way down the hallway and into the kitchen. Zack strained his arm, but he couldn't reach the top cabinet. He climbed onto a stool behind their kitchen island and opened the cabinet. He grabbed his Flamin' Hot Cheetos ® and climbed back off of the stool. He walked back to the living room and flopped onto the couch. The thought of not eating left his mind as he opened the bag. He looked to the window on his left and saw that something was off. Zack got up once again and made his way to the window. It was unlocked and cracked open. I could've sworn this was closed, he thought. He was about to close it when he heard a scratching sound behind him. He walked back over to the couch and looked behind it. Nothing, he thought. He sat back on the couch and reached for his espresso. He wasn't supposed to have coffee, but he thought that it was worth it to stay awake longer. After he drank some of it, he swallowed something hard. He tried to spit it out, but it was too far down his throat. He ignored it and sat back onto the couch. He attempted to reach for the remote but realized that he couldn't move his arm. He couldn't move anything. He couldn't even close his eyes. Suddenly, his vision cut out, and he wasn't aware of anything else that was happening to him. He couldn't feel, see, or think.

Phred (3rd person)

Phred, as usual, had decided to stay awake past midnight, then fallen asleep within five minutes. That was his biggest goal, staying up. He naturally got sleepy around 9, and he could push himself to stay awake until 10. He had gone into his room and decided to 'relax' on his bed for a minute. Rather than relaxing, he fell into a deep sleep. He opened his eyes, but he couldn't see anything. He noticed that he was swaying uncontrollably. He felt that he was in an awkward position, with his limbs all pointing upward. He reached down and brushed the surface of what he was lying on. Rather than the soft sheet on his bed, he felt a scratchy felt. He realized that this felt was surrounding him. He was inside of something. He twisted around until he found himself to be right side up. He tried to stand but found that there wasn't nearly enough room. He stretched the surface around him as much as he could but found that he couldn't move around much. He heard whispering around him, but he didn't know what the voices were saying. "Hello?!" Phred called. The whispering around him turned into laughter. Through the laughter, Phred heard someone say 'watch this'. Phred felt his swaying turn into swinging as the laughter grew louder. The swinging grew more and more intense until he felt more like he was flying. The rhythmic motion was beginning to make Phred dizzy. As the swinging continued, he began to feel nauseous. The thought occurred to Phred that he was being kidnapped. Phred groaned as he tried not to throw up. The swinging soon stopped, and Phred guessed that he had reached wherever he was headed.

Pico (3rd person)

At 10 PM, Pico was busy playing Minecraft. Pico jumped when he heard a shattering noise from right next to him. He turned and looked at the shards of glass spread out on his floor. He looked at the window itself to see a figure ominously standing outside. Pico went over to the window and nervously looked down. His bedroom was on the second floor of his house, and the figure was standing on his driveway. Pico looked around his floor, but he couldn't find what had broken the window. The figure pointed something at Pico, and Pico quickly ducked down. A grappling hook flew through Pico's window, then it retracted and attached to his windowsill. Pico stood and turned to find himself facing a pure black humanoid being with two large, glowing white eyes. Pico yelped in surprise and jumped back from the window. "Pico, right?" it asked in a distorted, raspy voice. Pico was too shaken to reply. "My Job'll be a lot easier if you just come with me," it said. "...Where? Where are you taking me?..." Pico asked. "You have two choices. 1, willfully come with me, or 2, I'll just bring back your carcass," it said. Pico hesitated, as he didn't want to go either way. He figured if he willfully went, he might end up dead anyway. "If you don't choose in five seconds, I'll just go with the second option," it said, pointing a pistol-like gun at Pico. "5...4..." it began counting. "I'll go, just please, don't hurt me!" Pico said. "Good," it said. "Now, just step in here," it said, holding out something that resembled a large trash bag.

Smiley (3rd person)

Smiley read her biological encyclopedia, entertained by its contents. A while back, Smiley had said that one of her goals was to read an entire encyclopedia, page by page. She was on the human instincts section when she heard a banging from the hallway outside of her room. She ignored it and continued reading. The banging continued, and it seemed to be getting closer to her door. Smiley continued to ignore it until it got unignorably loud. Smiley looked down at her encyclopedia for help. Fight or flight, she thought. Definitely flight, she decided. There's nowhere to run, so I guess I'll hide, Smiley thought. There was now a persistent banging on her door, and she rushed over and locked it. She ran to her closet, not thinking to see what was behind her bedroom door. She stood behind the shuttered door of her relatively empty closet and waited. Smiley heard what sounded like wood splitting, so she backed up closer to the back wall. Smiley could feel herself shaking as she heard footsteps near her. They got closer until she could see a black figure outside of her closet door. She backed up against the back wall of her closet and ducked behind a small sorter inside of it. Smiley noticed a something about the size of a baseball that resembled cotton in the corner of her closet. A sudden shouting outside startled Smiley so much that she lost her balance. She caught herself but ended up smashing the cotton with her hand. Smiley couldn't suppress a scream as hundreds of small spiders crawled onto her hand and up her arm. In her terror, Smiley completely forgot about the potential danger that lurked outside of her closet. She tore open the closet door and ran into something. She stumbled backwards and fell into her closet. A large, black humanoid with glowing eyes laughed in a distorted voice. It pulled a large pitchfork from its back and examined it. It then proceeded to stab the pitchfork into Smiley's abdomen. Smiley winced and wailed in pain as the pitchfork drove deeper into her side. Smiley's pain faded as her vision blurred. The humanoid tore the pitchfork out of her and injected her with something through her stab wounds. Smiley was still aware of her emotional state, but she couldn't feel the severe pain anymore. The humanoid lifted Smiley up and carried her out of her room, leaving wide trial of blood in their wake.

Phil (3rd person)

Phil sat on the floor in his room, attempting to solve a Rubix cube. It was 10:05 at night, and Phil had been working on this for a half-hour. Phil eventually gave up, as he was further to finishing it than when he had started. I'll get it one day, he thought. He climbed into his bed and looked up at the ceiling. Phil was tired, but he wasn't sleepy, so he decided to stay up a while longer. What should I do? I can- Phil's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain from his neck. Phil felt around his neck until he found the source. He yanked out whatever it was and looked at it. He realized that it was a dart, which had pricked his neck. There was still some liquid inside. Phil assumed that it was some sort of practical joke, and he threw the dart onto the ground. He saw a tall, lanky figure out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see nothing. He turned away again, and the figure reappeared. He ignored it, but saw it move slightly closer to him. He turned and didn't see anything. Phil felt himself grow extremely tired. Since only some of the liquid was inside of him, he was unable to fall asleep, he just felt like he was exhausted. Phil then became unaware of his ability to control his motion, and he felt himself stand. He walked out into the hallway, down the stairs, and into the living room. He wasn't choosing to do this, and he wasn't aware that he was. He walked into the driveway and down the street. The humanoid from his room approached him and guided him down the street. They walked until in an open field, where the humanoid decided it was safer to put Phil in the sack he was holding. The humanoid walked across the barren field with Phil in a bag over his shoulder. Phil was beginning to become self-aware, but he still wasn't himself.