Lessons Unlearned

Chapter 1

I moan as I sit up cautiously taking in the unfamiliar room I'm in. The room is spacious; with two full sized beds, two dressers, and a body mirror. A small vanity sits next to the bed I'm in. A small desk is located next to the other bed. The hardwood flooring is covered by a fuzzy black round rug that is neatly placed in the middle of the room. I glance over to the other bed to see a friend I'm familiar with from school, William. He is still unconscious laying peacefully on the bed, a vivid bright red abrasion is around his mouth and nose. Almost looks like it's from a rag being pressed around his mouth and held there. I walk over to the mirror to examine my injuries. I have a deep purple bruise on my left cheek along with a black eye that is swollen shut. I have several small lacerations on my wrists, I'm not sure if it is from being tied up at one point or if it happened while trying to fight back. They aren't bleeding much at this point but looking at the small dried blood patches on the bed sheets they were bleeding at some point. How long have we been here? Who kidnapped us? What is their plan?

Getting up from the bed I'm in, I move quietly to the other bed that William is in. I gently try to wake him up.

"William. William wake up!" I speak quietly while using force behind my voice to get him up. Still wanting to be quiet though until I know where we are.

William stirs and slowly sits up in the bed.

"Annalise what happened?" He reaches up and touches my bruised cheek. He runs a finger up gently to the deep plum mark on my cheek that spreads under my eye but he doesn't touch the tender skin around my eye. He keeps the soft touch to my cheek.

"I'm fine William. It's just a bruise and a black eye. It will heal in a few weeks." I blink my non injured eye slowly as I wince in pain.

"Your one eye is so swollen you can't even open it." William whispers feeling upset.

"I'm fine. The swelling should go down in a day or two." I state while looking around the room.

"Okay Annalise. Where are we?" William stands up from the bed slowly and drops the questions about my eye.

"I don't know." I head over to the door and try to open it but it unfortunately is locked.

"It's locked?" William runs to the door and tries to twist the knob several times.

"It is locked William trying to turn a locked door knob isn't gonna get us anywhere." I explain to him in a gentle tone of voice seeing how he is close to having a breakdown.

I grab William's hand pulling him into a hug.

"We will get through this. I need you to pull yourself together though." I whisper in his ear.

He nods and wipes a tear away from his eye.

I go back and sit on my bed. I notice our school bags and instruments are in the corner of the room. Did we get kidnapped after school?

"Our school bags and instruments are here." I point to the corner of the room.

"What kind of kidnapper would care enough about our school bags, let alone our instruments to take them. Most would have just left them." William questions as he grabs his bag and viola case.

"Maybe it's a teacher that took us. They wanted us to have our homework?" I state but it sounds more like a question. I pick up my backpack and violin case taking them to my bed.

I pull out my physics textbook and begin working on my homework. I need something to keep my mind busy a distraction from this situation. William comes to sit on my bed. He takes my textbook and closes it before setting it aside. He takes my hand and squeezes it. I finally let a tear fall from my eye.