Kidnapped

Chapter Five

The next morning I ran out of the basement as soon as I woke up. Victor had told me they were kidnapping Audrey on her way to school instead of the way back. I—*cough, cough*—might've accidentally told him she and some friends walk to school.

And no, I wasn't running because I was excited. I just didn't want to be in the basement.

"Hey," Jake said from the couch. That seemed like his favorite spot in the house.

"Hey," I replied, sitting down.

Victor was in a chair next to the couch. "It's 7:30. We need to leave soon," he announced, looking at his watch. "School starts at 8, right?" he asked me.

"Yep," I said.

"So she'll be on her way at 7:45, probably, or almost there. We should leave now, actually."

"Ok," Jake said, heaving himself up from the couch. "We're leaving!" he yelled to Evelyn and Brick, who were in another room that I hadn't seen yet.

"What about Elara?" I asked Jake.

"Oh, she's fine. We just lock her in, so she won't leave, but she probably uses the tv whenever we leave her alone, which she likes," Victor cut in.

I shrugged, standing up and heading to the front door. I wonder how Elara got here in the first place?

Evelyn and Brick appeared in the room, and I walked outside, following Jake to the black car I had seen when I had been kidnapped. It had two back rows—a six-seater. Eight, if people squished into the middle seats.

Brick got in the driver's seat and Victor sat next to him. Evelyn sat in the back row by herself (which she had insisted on for some reason), and Jake and I sat in the middle row.

"Is it really a good idea to do this in broad daylight?" I whispered to Jake.

"Probably not, but Victor decides when we kidnap people. I guess he's hoping everyone else will be in school already, I guess?"

"Hm," I said. "Ok." Seems way too risky to me.

We drove silently for about ten minutes before I spotted three girls walking down the street, in the direction of the school.

It was Audrey and her two best friends, Taylor and Penny.

Brick slowly creeped up behind them and into an alleyway they were about to pass by. Victor put on a black mask, jumped out of the car noiselessly, and sneaked towards the opening of the alleyway, staying hidden in the shadows.

"No way," I heard Audrey laugh. I felt bad for her. She had no idea what was about to happen.

And then, suddenly, it happened. Victor grabbed Audrey right off the street and covered her mouth. Her friends screamed when they realized she wasn't walking with them anymore, looking around wildly.

Audrey looked terrified. Victor pulled her farther into the alleyway and then landed a blow on her head. She slumped into his arms, unconscious.

Victor ran to the car, threw Audrey into the seat next to me, and then hopped into his own seat. Brick had started driving almost before Victor had closed his door.

"Audrey!" I heard Taylor shrieking. "AUDREY!"

I gulped and glanced at Audrey, unconscious in the seat next to me. Is that what my kidnapping had looked like?

"Done," Victor said, slightly out of breath.

I looked at Jake. "That was horrible," I whispered.

***

It was almost 1 pm, and Audrey was still out. That guy was apparently pretty good at knocking people out. He had her tied up in the basement, and I was constantly checking to see if she was awake.

A while later I had just finished beating Jake at chess again when I decided to check on Audrey.

"Be right back," I told Jake, heading down to the basement.

I opened the door and poked my head in.

Audrey stared back at me. "Aubrey?" she asked, even more confused than she had been a minute ago. "Why are you here?"

"Audrey! You're awake!" I ran in and shut the door behind me.

"What are you doing here? Where am I? What the heck happened?!"

I knelt down next to her. "Well, uh, you kinda got kidnapped," I said.

Audrey looked down at the rope on her wrists that I was trying to untie.

"I figured out that much. Why are you helping me?"

"Why wouldn't I help you?"

"Either you were a part of my kidnapping, which that would be weird if you were helping me, or you were also kidnapped, but then why aren't you tied up and why are you even allowed to help me?"

I smiled. "I was kidnapped by accident, if you can believe it. They meant to kidnap you all along but um, kinda made a mistake, as you can see."

"But why are you free? And why didn't they let you go?"

"They aren't super mean like you would imagine. In fact, one of them is really nice."

I realized I was blushing and quickly looked away from Audrey.

She looked at me in a way that let me know she had seen it, but she didn't ask about it.

"Uh, anyway, one of them, the leader, is mean. He said I knew too much. That I would tell the police, and tell your parents what happened."

Audrey was free by now and stood up.

"Oww," she said, rubbing her head. "That guy can punch."

I nodded knowingly. "Come on, wanna watch some TV?"

Audrey looked at me in amazement. "We're kidnapped, and we're not only allowed to roam around freely but to watch TV?"

I laughed. "Not exactly what you'd imagine when you think of being kidnapped, huh?"

She shook her head. "Definitely not."

"This is Jake," I said, sitting down on the couch next to Jake. "And you already know who she is," I told him, grinning.

Audrey looked at me knowingly, then sat down next to me. Jake stared at her, then me.

"It's uncanny," he finally said. "You could be twins."

"I know, right," I said. "It's weird."

"Is there something I can eat?" Audrey whispered to me.

"Sure," I said. "Jake, can we all have a snack?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Elara!"

Elara came in and Audrey's jaw dropped.

"They even have a maid?!" she whispered to me.

"Yes," I laughed.

Audrey watched the movie playing on the TV with Jake and I, soon forgetting that anything was wrong.