Halfling

Chapter 1

I was thirteen years old when they took me from my father. They said they would take me to a better place, a happier place. And I believed. How very wrong I was...

Our house had only two rooms. A small bare bedroom which had nothing but a small bed in it. In the living room there was an old armchair, a table with one leg and a broken fireplace. My father was there when they came. He had fallen asleep on the armchair with a bottle of some strong alcohol. They had fancy suits and shiny shoes. They were two men. A young boy who was about fourteen and an older man. I was in the small bedroom when the older man came in. I was quite startled because no men had come in here apart from my father. He saw me and smiled slyly. I began to feel as if I should know something about this man which was strange as I had never seen him before. This man was tall and had a thug like face with a big roundish nose. His black hair went down to his shoulders and was tied in a ponytail. He smelt awful. I had to fight down the urge to block my nose and as this man crouched down in front of me I realized that his black was actually brown but was so dirty that it looked black. 'What kind of man wears a fancy suite and never washes?' I remember thinking. 'We're going to take you to a nice place, a happy place' said the stinky man in a surprisingly smooth voice. I was expecting a grunt. The man smiled darkly. I stared at him. 'Why should I trust him?' I thought. I heard footsteps and saw the younger boy come in. He had black hair. Not dirty black but his actual hair color was black. His eyes were dark brown and he was also wearing a suite. Luckily he didn't smell as I'm not sure if I would have been able to breathe if there were two smelly men in the tiny bedroom. The boy barley glanced at me and was looking slightly guilty. The man in front of me was patting his pockets as if he was searching for something. He finally found what he was looking for. It was a small chocolate bar wrapped in thick brown paper. 'What's your name' asked the man. 'I'm Mr Roach.' Mr Roach handed me the chocolate bar and smiled a dark smile again. I was trusting this guy less and less. You get all kind of strange people where I live so I was used to strange and creepy men but Mr Roach was different. There was something that I couldn't figure out about him. I realized that I hadn't answered his question and was about to answer when I noticed the boy mouthing something. He was mouthing lie. As if I was about tell this creepy man my real name. I almost never tell anybody my real name.'My name is Anna' I lied. 'That's a pretty name. Eat the chocolate bar and come outside so we can leave. I'll wait outside for you.' Said Mr Roach. I stared at Mr Roach as he walked outside. Did he honestly expect me to go willingly with him after he acted weird and creepy? 'Anna isn't your real name' I realized that the boy hadn't left. He was looking at me. I didn't say anything. I wasn't going to tell him my real name. 'This is going to sound strange but you have to do as I tell you to!' The boy was talking very fast and quietly. He looked worried. At the time I hadn't realized that he was acting all this. But I now know what he is and what he was doing at the time. I waited to hear what he was about to tell me.'You must pre...' he stopped talking and looked at the door. A second later Mr Roach came in.'Have you eaten the chocolate bar?' He asked. Why does he want me to eat the chocolate bar? The boy was writing very fast in a notebook. 'Eat up, girl. We haven't got all day' Mr Roach said sounding very annoyed. He walked outside and this time the boy went with him. I glanced at the door before opening the notebook that he had left behind. This is what he had written:

Pretend to fall asleep. DON'T EAT THE CHOCOLATE BAR!!! When you 'wake up' you will be in a truck with other kids that will have fallen asleep. Do what they do. Do NOT run away!!! Mr Roach will hunt you down if you do and he can do terrible things if you run away.

I wasn't the scaredy-cat person but this was starting to creep me out. Tucking the notebook in my pocket I lay down on the floor and pretended to fall asleep. I was too gullible. Why had I believed that boy? I heard footsteps and felt how I was lifted up. It was the boy that lifted me up.

He stopped walking when we were outside.'It took her a long time' I heard the voice of Mr Roach say only now he was speaking arrogantly and it sounded very strange. He spoke with a slight hiss. 'Put her in the truck, John.' So John was the boy's name. I was set down on a cold hard metal floor and only when I felt the truck moving did I open my eyes.