Abandoned

3

They had come up with a plan.
Taylor would enter first with the paramedics following behind him whilst the forensic specialists would follow further behind, collecting samples of anything found and photographing everything.
The rest of the officers would wait outside and secure the area.

Taylor approached the door and pushed it. It opened with ease which worried them all.
"Come on." He urged the paramedics to follow him.

He searched each room, there was no evidence of anyone living here. No sign of a child. And no sign of a murder.
Whilst walking through the kitchen, the sound in the floorboards changed.
"Wait." He whispered to the paramedics.

Taylor walked back over the area he just covered and heard the same change.
"There's got to be something under here."

Moving around the small kitchen he notices a litter tray.
Strange he thought to himself.
He moved the unused litter tray and low and behold, it was a passage.

Cautiously he unlocked the door and slowly opened it.
He almost slammed it shut at the stench that escaped.
He pulled on his face mask and opened the passage door wider.

Taylor could just about make out the top of some steps that lead downwards but it was too dark to see any further.

"Does anyone have a torch?" He whispered.
One of the paramedics passes him a torch whilst the other three also turned on their torches and pointed them down the passage.

Slowly they began to descend the steps.

They knew.
Just from seeing the stairway they knew.
This is where she was kept.

The wooden blood soaked stairs had deep cracks and scratches, most likely from her trying to escape.
The walls were also cracked and had numerous holes amongst the rotten stains.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs the saw a heartbreaking sight.

Children's toys scattered amongst heaps of human waste, a baby's crib torn apart and flipped over, old food and wrappers squashed amongst the mess.

"Oh God." Taylor exclaimed. This was by far the worst that he had ever seen.

As they turned a corner Taylor slipped before quickly regaining his balance.
Blood.
He had slipped on a puddle of blood.

He shivered but remained calm and kept looking for any evidence of the girl.

After a while of wondering around and finding more awful things they found a small barred room, similar to a cage.
A human sized cage.

Taylor held his breath as he shined his torch towards it.

There she was.
Sienna Devoe.

They had to try and get the cage unlocked so they could release her and get her the help needed. After such an amount of trauma no one could predict the mental impact.

Sienna was asleep. She was curled up at the back of the room wearing only a loose ripped shirt. Her skin was covered in dirt and her hair was a matted blonde mess.

From this distance they could not see any injuries in detail but the paramedics decided to prepare everything. Just in case.

Outside the three other officers were waiting for any sort of response from Taylor.

Tages radio buzzed just then and they held their breaths.
"We've found her."
Those three simple words caused such joy in the officers as they all released huge amounts of air from their lungs.

"Is she alive?"
It was canden who asked.

"We don't know, she's locked in a cage. Call a psychologist and a social worker. Get the best and get them here ASAP."

The group agree with what was asked of them and began to send out calls immediately. Not sharing the girls identity just yet.

Inside the house Taylor had just been able to pick the lock without making much noise but when he tried to open the door, it squeaked.
Sienna was awoken by the noise.

As she opened her eyes she hissed at them. The light was hurting her.

Taylor and the paramedics stepped back and spoke calming words towards Sienna however she didn't know what any of those words meant. They didn't use the bad words so she couldn't predict what was going to happen next. She didn't like it one bit.

"Sienna look, water. Do you want it?" Taylor asked her whilst poking and open bottle of water through a gap between the bars.

To Sienna all she saw was a hand coming towards her holding something and she began to panic. She screamed and crawled towards them before she grabbed into Taylor's hand. She sunk her teeth into his flesh and did not let go.

Taylor tried his best not to retaliate but couldn't help it when blood started to drip from his hand.

Sienna had let go and Taylor was quick to snatch his hand back through the bars. The paramedics washed out his wound and wrapped it up.
Now they were extra careful.

Sienna retreated to the back of the cage and crouched. The had not seen her walk yet, maybe she couldn't.
The girl did not like these new people and wanted them to leave her alone.

One of the paramedics pulled out a protein bar, wishing they had been more prepared. He didn't make the same mistake as Taylor and slid the bar in towards the girl instead.

Sienna got scared if the sudden movement but once it stopped she was interested.
She picked it up and bit it.

The men spoke to her telling her to open the wrapper but were catching on to her lack of comprehension.
Sienna became frustrated with the item the people had given her and threw it back at them.

Taylor picked it up, still shaken from what just happened.
Sienna did not like this. They were taking it away. It was hers.
She ran on all fours towards the door whilst screeching before grabbing onto the metal and shaking it.

"Okay, okay here." Taylor says as he opens the wrapper and slides the bar into the cage.
Sienna picked up the bar a bit it again. She was shocked when a piece went into her mouth and became possessive over the bar.
Slowly she began to back away from the men and growled at them to stay away.

This was a problem they never expected.