⊱Mission for love//Enorace⊰

Abduction-CHAPTER 4

☾HORACE POV☽

My eyes open slowly and adjust to the brightness; a glowing ball of light hangs directly above my head.

I squint. A looming silhouette grows and blocks out the gleam.
"Are you awake?" The figure asks. I squint again and see it's a man, about 6'2 and middle aged with long black hair. His eyes are hidden behind the pitch-black glass of a pair of goggles, but I can tell he is scanning me. I shift uncomfortably; I don't recognize this man.

Looking around, I don't recognize the room either. I fell asleep in a dark forest with my friends around me, and woke up in a blank room covered in shiny bits of silver metal and empty hospital beds.

"What's going on? Where am I? Who are you? Where are my friends?" I try to shout, but it comes out as a stammering whisper.
"Slow down and speak up." The man says in a deep, gravely and accented voice. The accent is unfamiliar; a blend of different articulations that were unrecognizable.

"What's happening?" I ask, tightening my fists into balls after noticing my wrists are restrained by tough leather straps.

He keeps a straight face while speaking, "We found you sleeping in our woods, so we took you in. We had to make sure you're peculiar."
Something about him makes me suspicious. I don't believe he's telling the entire truth.
I feel the need to know more. "Who's we?" I ask.
"Me and my partners. We do experiments in this lab together." He walks over to a nearby table and shows off a group of flasks with odd liquids inside to prove it.

"What happened to my friends?"
"Don't you think you've asked enough questions? Can't I have a turn?" He asks, almost teasingly like this is all some kind of silly joke and not an abduction.
"What happened to my friends?" I ask with more urgency. His response had given me the idea that something bad had happened to them.
He sighs. "They're here as well, in different rooms. Now I'm going to ask a few things..."
"Wait. Why am I here?" I cut him off.
His slams his fist against the silver table next to me, sending rattling noises from its unsteady surface through the room. I immediately shut my mouth and attempt to sink into the bed I'm on; try to shrink away from the intimidating man.
He looks to me with a slightly awkward smile. "Sorry, I let my anger get the best of me. Now, I'm gonna ask you a few questions about you and your friends.." he says. "..and don't you dare try to interrupt me again."
I nod sullenly. I don't think I have much of a choice; I can't fight back, and I'm not smart enough to trick him. I can't get out until my friends come rescue me.

Please come save me.
I beg silently as the tall man sits on a stool by my bed.

"So..what's your name?" He starts off.
"Horace.." I whisper.
"Okay Horace. And what're your friends's names?"
"I'm not gonna tell you!"
"You will if you want to get out of here."
"The blonde girl is Emma, the girl with short brown hair is Bronwyn, and the other is Noor. The tall boy is Jacob and the short one is Enoch." I say reluctantly. He takes in all this information and writes it down on a tiny clipboard, but his pen stops moving once he realizes what he's writing. His mouth goes slack as his head rises from the notes and meets my gaze.
"Like..the Noor. One of the seven? And the Jacob? Jacob Portman?" He says, voice cracking and on the verge of screaming.
"Yes."
"Oh sh.." He gets cut off by another man slamming the room's door open.
"We have to let these kids go! They're-"
"They're ms peregrines ward. Yes, I know." The man next to me responds calmly.
"What are we going to do? Boss is gonna kill us!"
"Let's ask him."
"No way. Never."
"We have to."
The man in the doorway pouts and opens his mouth to argue, but gives up before any sound comes out. "Fine." He says. "Leave the kid here, we'll come back later."
"Alright." And with that, the man with goggles gets up from the stool and walks out with the other. The door shuts loudly behind them and I am left alone, stuck to this bed. I would be completely useless in this moment, if my peculiarity wasn't revolved around sleeping. I rest my eyes and block out the world around me. Soon, I fall into deep slumber.

------

"Why is he asleep again?"
"His peculiarity is prophetic dreams. He's probably trying to see something."
"Wake him up! We can't do this while he lays down."
A large and tough set of hands rest on my shoulders and shake me awake.
"Get up!" A man shouts.
My eyes flutter open. I'm in a different room now, with faded blue curtains covered in stains and a small window that little bits of light shine through. There's nothing else in the room except a small bedside table, that holds a few sparkly tools and a needle attached to a blue tube.
"What did your boss say?" I ask. My voice is dry and raspy from the lack of water I've had the past however-long I've been here.
"We're gonna let your friends go." The man from earlier says, wearing a different pair of goggles. Instead of black, these ones are pink and studded with diamonds. I can see his eyes clearly, but the glass is tinted and make his irises appear red.
"Wha-what about me?" My voice stammers.
"We've gotta keep at least one of you. We're planning an experiment."
"You're doing it on me?!" I cry out. "Will I die?!"
"Kinda. You'll be alive, just as a vegetable that doesn't think or move." He says unsympathetically. "I don't like doing experiments on kids, but my boss isn't giving me the chance to find someone else. Will it make you feel better if I tell you what the experiment's for?"

I wish it would. I wish. But the only thing that could ever make me feel better after being told I'm never going to fully be alive again, is my friends. Specifically Enoch. I close my eyes and try to picture him. Soft brown hair and dark eyes that sparkle with every smile. I've never seen him smile many times, but that's fine. I like his frown, too. Our relationship was only getting started, and now I'll never have a chance to go further with him. I feel my face start to burn and a single salty, cool tear slide down my cheek.

"Can I see them again?" I beg. "My friends?"
"I'm sorry, I can't do that."
"Please! At least one of them, just to say goodbye?"
"No, sorry. I can pass on the message." He insists coldly.

The second person, a bit shorter than the first one, puts on a pair of light blue gloves while the first man adjusts my bed so that I am sitting up.
"Are we starting now?" The second one asks.
"We have no time to lose. Grab the needle." The man grabs a needle and injects it into my arm; I throw my head back and grit my teeth at the sudden sharp pinch.
"This is for the pain." He explains. "Just in case. This probably won't hurt at all, so don't be afraid."
That's not possible. I think while more tears brim my eyes.
"I don't even know what's going on!" I shout desperately.
"Right. We're extracting your soul. We've found a way to make unlimited amounts of ambrosia from one peculiar's soul."
I'm not even being vegetabled for something important. Just to make peculiar drugs. Of course my death is pathetic, that's what I was made for.
The tears that outlined my eyes streak my face as I uncontrollably sob.
"Stop being a crybaby." The second man spits. "Let's get this over with."
The first one looks at me kindly. "Ignore him. Your reaction is reasonable." He turns to the other one. "Let's not have something mean be the last words he hears."
The last words he hears. I cry even more. The first man faces me again. "I bet you think I look pretty silly with these pink glasses, huh?"
My face stays blank and my mouth shut as he grins and waits for an answer.
"We'll.. that's what I wore them for. I thought something funny would make you feel a bit better, but I guess not." He shrugs and sighs.

"Sorry again, kid."
I squeeze my eyes shut and block out the world. I don't want to see or think about what's happening to me, or what will become of me. As they slowly extract my soul, I become weak and feel more and more empty; like something is missing. I become so weak that my body can't even shake from the fear I feel.

My body tells me I need to sleep. I breathe in deeply and soothe myself so that I am not as tense, then I slowly drift off into sleep.