Peculiar ♡ Alma Peregrine

Chapter Eleven - Stolen

I kissed Alma's cheek, pulling her into a hug as I smiled sadly at her heartbroken face - you would almost think I was going on a suicide mission and not to just go get perfume. I was going to the current time so I could get a perfume that I really liked that I saw in a store when I was last there. Nobody wanted to go with me and some of the children were dragging Alma along with them to have a tea party in the back garden, so I was going alone. Not that it was a problem, I was fully capable of taking good care of myself.

"Oh, I'll be gone a few hours max, darling," I said. She held onto me as if trying to keep me there.
"Okay, how about if I'm not back in three hours you can come drag me home?" I asked. She didn't seem any less upset about my leaving, but she seemed slightly comforted at the idea of being able to come get me. She nodded and loosened her arms, allowing me to pick up my bag and twist out of her arms. I walked towards the door, shooting her one quick look and waving before leaving.

I walked the five minute walk to the loop entrance and went through, ignoring the whispers that I heard every time I went in and out of the loop - I wasn't worried because I knew everyone heard them. I made sure the coast was completely clear before stepping out of the cave and walking down the beach like nothing happened. I walked through the streets for a while before I got an uncomfortable feeling in my gut - like that feeling you got when someone was watching you. I brushed it off, convincing myself that it was just in my head.

After a while, I got to the store with the rose perfume that I liked. I quickly purchased the small bottle of fragrance, along with a guava scented body mist, an ocean breeze candle and a new poetry book, and left the store. As soon as I stepped through the doors, that uncomfortable feeling was back. The plastic bag felt heavier than ever in my sweaty hand, so I quickly tied the loops in a knot around my wrist so I wouldn't drop it and lose my things.

I walked down the same way I had before, but faster this time wanting to get away from this feeling of discomfort that was swallowing me whole. It was only minutes of walking before I broke out into a run - that's when I heard pounding footsteps coming from behind me. Rain started bucketing down and wind started blowing against me like it was trying to stop me. The bag tied around my wrist suddenly felt one hundred pounds heavier, it felt like gravity was letting go of me and pulling the bag down to the center of the earth instead.

My feet beat against the ground, but I couldn't move fast enough. Soon enough, someone was behind me, hitting me across the head with something that felt like a metal rod. I wasn't unconscious, but everything had a thick white haze over it. I couldn't see where we were going through my slit eyes, but we didn't go far. He tossed me into the back of a truck and drove for only two minutes before stopping again and yanking me out of the truck so hard that when I hit my head on the metal frame of it, I immediately felt warm blood dripping down my neck.

I was unable to speak, and the most I could see of where we were through my foggy vision was a very regular looking house - then again, it could be anything. He opened a door - a basement opening - and threw me in, sending me tumbling down the short flight of stairs before he followed me in and dragged me across the floor by my wrist. I couldn't move, everything hurt. The blood was still dripping down my neck and now something was probably sprained. He tied me down to something that looked like it belonged in a surgery horror movie and strapped me into the restraints. He used some kind of tie to tie my hands and ankles together, they dug right into my skin. There was a slight pop as they broke through my skin.

I tried to turn into a bug so I could escape, but I guess I was too weak and injured to do that - which didn't make a lot of sense as I'd phased while injured once before with Alma. Thinking of her brought something very alarming to my attention, if I was tied up down here, then how was I supposed to get to the loop? If I didn't get there in a certain amount of time - and that time was quite short with how old I was - I would age forward and die within minutes.