Taken

Chapter eight

Pain. Everything hurts. My head is fuzzy. My thoughts are slow.

Where am I?

I forced my eyes open, but immediately shut them as bright white light blinds me.

The sun? It must be morning, but sunlight that bright means I'm late for school.

I feel vaguely panicked now, though the emotion seems buried under several layers of cotton.

I need to get up and get ready for school.

I open my eyes and force them to stay open despite the blinding light. It makes my head throb.

Slowly my eyes adjust. The room around me comes into focus. There's a lot of white.

It takes me a moment to process what I'm seeing.

This isn't my room.

I try to sit up to get a better view, but find that I can move. I try to lift my neck to get a better view, but that doesn't work either.

A couple of the cottony layers muffling my panic fall away.

Why can't I move?

I strain my eyes to see my feet. They look odd, like they're wrapped in stiff glittery fabric...they're in casts.

As I realize this I become aware of the fabricky feeling all over me. The cast covers my whole body, only my face is free.

What happened?

I strain to remember. A blurry image of bright lights, tall buildings, and a crowd comes to mind, but something about the crowd is different...forceful.

The answer hits me like a meteor.

I was kidnapped by aliens. I was trying to escape. Now I'm completely immobilized in a full body cast.

I start to sweat, a lot, it makes my cast damp and itchy. My heart rate speeds up. I'm surprised my heart doesn't leap out of my chest. It feels like there's a pile of bricks on my chest.

It's getting harder and harder to breathe.

I start to pant.

My vision blurs.

Something's beeping.

A few seconds later there're voices all around me. Something is pressed hard over my face.

I take deep breaths. It's getting easier to breath. My vision comes back.

The man from before is glaring down at me.