TAKEN

pain

Fast forward to tomorrow

Milo

"Hey, OpheliaAaAa, Bella should be comi-" I sing as I walk out of the bathroom. Before I could finish I saw Ophelia lying on the floor with blood trickling down her face and a black eye. I run over to her trying to wake her up when she doesn't my adrenaline kicks in and my mind goes to everything Ophelia's mom taught us about first aid. First I checked her pulse since she wasn't waking up then I assessed how deep the wound on her left cheek was.

Her pulse was steady, the cut on her face was about half an inch deep and three inches long, and her bruised eye was purple, green, yellow, and was about the size of a baseball. I try to stop the bleeding by grabbing a clean towel Bella brought but the cut will need stitches. Who would have done this? Well, there is someone I could think of but I didn't hear any yelling so I don't think it was Jack.

"Who would have done this? well, I could think of a few but this wasn't like the other times." I ask Ophelia's limp body, I hear Bella's footsteps approaching followed by another pair of unfamiliar footsteps. I pick up Ophelia and laid her down on a few blankets and covered her with another so whoever else was coming couldn't see her.

rewind to yesterday

BELLA

"So... How long will we be in here?"

'knock knock'

"I guess not very long Kegan," I say with a smirk, Kegan rolls his eyes and moves toward the door to open it to his surprise it's Mr. Rose. Kegan's voice suddenly changes becoming more firm and obedient he also starts to tense up he only ever acted like that when he was nervous when we were kids.

"Hello sir, is there something wrong?" Kegan asks respectfully.

"Yes, Kegan something is wrong I could have sworn that you were supposed to bring Bella to my office, or am I imaging things ?" Mr. Rose replies in an annoyed tone.

"He was supposed to take me to Mr. Rose? Why didn't he? and why me? Because he cares about you dumb dumb, maybe?" all these thoughts run through my head as I try to stay as quiet as possible.

Kegan grabs the back of his neck with his left hand and says, "yes, boss, it's just...I....haven't found her yet I was on my way to check the shipping containers when I felt seasick so I came in here to look for a bucket because I thought I was going to um, well puke."

"Oh, it's fine, forget about it I'll just find her myself you can't ever do anything right anyway!" Mr.Rose says in an annoyed tone, rolls his eyes, and turns to walk away.

As soon as our boss walks away I push past Kegan before he can say anything else but before I can get fully out the door he grabs my wrist pulling back towards him forcing me to make eye contact when out of nowhere he says, "you make it really hard to have to stay away from you"

"have? why does he have to stay away? it doesn't matter I can't let him close even if wanted to because of what I'm doing for Milo and Ophelia, I can't give him hope then go and do something where I might get killed."

'ber ber ber ber'

"oh, dude with all that's been going on I forgot I have to go see Milo and Ophelia, but it might be too risky with Mr. Rose looking for me I'll go tomorrow." Kegan staring at me studying my face pulls me from my thoughts.

"Kegan I can't, I have some um...personal stuff going on and I don't know how much longer our boss will keep me around for."

"Stop lying Bella I know what you are planning with the hostages I was walking past one night and heard everything, so tell me is it your 'business' or just the fact that you hate me?"

"Kegan it's not that simple!" I whisper shout pushing him back into the supply closet so no one can hear us.

"What's not that simple? The gang life we live isn't simple and people still make it work? I managed to stay hidden from you since the first day you got here we can keep us hidden!"

"FINE KEGAN YOU WANNA KNOW WHY IT'S BECAUSE I MOST LIKELY WON'T LIVE AFTER WE DO THE PLAN AND I'M NOT GOING TO BE THOSE PEOPLE WHO DATE JUST TO LOSE THE OTHER ONE I WON'T DO THAT TO YOU!" I yell with a slow stream of tears running down my face.

"But if I want to be one of those people?" Kegan asks in a soft tone

"No, I can't I have to go," I say gently grabbing his cheek for a second examing his face before leaving him there.

OPHELIA

"Hey Ophelia I'm going to go to the bathroom I might take a while because I would like some alone time before we tell Bella about the plan, Is that okay with you?" Milo asks wearily I think he thinks that something terrible will happen if I'm out of his line of sight.

"Yes, Milo do what you need to do I'll be fine it's not like I can go anywhere," I reply adding a little giggle to the end and a sarcastic tone. Milo rolls his eyes and smiles before heading to the bathroom. I start working on our escape plan when seeing the heavy metal door to our room open to my surprise it's a boy about Bella's age that I have never seen before he has his fist clenched and he looks angry. Most of the people here looked mad so I didn't put two and two together I wasn't ready for what was about to happen.

The boy doesn't say anything he just slowly walks over to me, I try to say hello and who are you but he doesn't respond. I make sure to stay as quiet as possible so Milo didn't get concerned and come and check on me. once the boy finally gets to me he only says one thing. "This is for taking Bella away from me"

I'm so confused I have no clue what he is talking about but before I could say anything the mysterious boy is on top of me punching and kicking I can feel bruises forming and ribs cracking. I don't scream or cry or try to fight back I just sit there and take each punch that's full of his pain. I know that he won't stop till someone stops him or before I'm dead we hear the doorknob on the bathroom door starting to wiggle and that's when he threw the most painful punch for me and him in my face. I can feel all his pain and hurt in that punch I can't help to feel sorry for him I can tell this wasn't ordered this was personal then it all goes dark.