Diligent

Prologue

Dylan's POV:

    I woke up a cement ground, my head spinning. Disoriented, I tried to stand up, but I fell back down, my face hitting the ground. I let out a small, pained cry. What is going on? I looked down and saw that my hands were tied together in a tight rope.

As my vision started to become less blurry, I saw that the room was divided by a glass wall with a door on the right wall. There was also a video camera set up in the corner on the ceiling. On the other side were very complicated computers. I heard something. It sounded like two men whispering.

The last thing I remembered was being at a café with my boyfriend. He had left to use the bathroom and I heard those same whispers from two middle aged men who were staring at me. Thinking nothing of it, I took a sip of my coffee, and suddenly everything went black.

"Hey!" I yelled loudly.

They turned their heads and looked at me. They were the men I saw at the café.

"Well, someone slept in today," the first man smirked. He and the other man walked into my room (or cage, as it seemed) and stared at me amused.

"What do you want with me?!" I yelled as viciously as I could, although I was shaking like a leaf.

They laughed at me and started explaining. Six months ago, they found an article in my ex best friend's blog that was about me. It had said that I have psychic powers, and that every dream I have tells the future. After months of snooping, they traveled to Portland, Maine to kidnap me, and then brought me back to their laboratory in London, England.

"Okay, we've explained," said the second man, "Now, I assume you know what we want, little girl."

I rolled my eyes. "That article was fake! Nobody has the ability to predict the future!"

The first man angrily stepped towards me. "I swear, you are going to tell us what you predict or I'll make sure you don't live to see another..."

Before he could finish his threat, the door opened and a tall, blonde girl walked in, annoyed. She looked to be about two years older than me.

"Carter!" She angrily yelled at the first man, with a heavy British accent. "Mom said to come get you. Why aren't you making dinner?!"

"Hey! That's Stepdad to you!" Carter yelled.

The girl glared at him. "I will never call you that. You being married to my mom doesn't make you my..." She looked up and noticed me sitting on the ground, listening to them. "Who the hell is this?" she asked.

Carter laughed nervously. "Okay, Ally, it's time to let me work now. Shouldn't you be planning to sneak out or something?"

Ally glared at him and stormed off. Right before she closed the door she poked her head in and said, "By the way, Mom has to work late and said that you're watching me." Carter and the other man looked incredibly relieved to have her gone.

Carter turned to his friend. "Eric, you hold her still," he ordered as he ran to find something. Eric walked towards me and grabbed me under my arms.

"Let go of me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I kicked as rapidly as I could but his grip was too strong.

Carter came out with two long, thin cords and a rope. The ends of the cords had a suction cup on them with a needle sticking out of them. The other sides were plugged into a television.

Quickly, he grabbed my feet to stop them from moving and tied my ankles together tightly. "Ow! What are you doing?!" I cried.

"You'll see," Carter said, smiling wickedly. He took both cords and stuck in the needles behind my ears. As soon as they were in, all I could hear was a screeching sound. I grabbed the sides of my head and screamed in agony. Eric dropped me and the men ran out of the cage and into the computer room.

After a few minutes the sound faded away and I hear them yelling in triumph. What did it do to make them so happy? Suddenly, I saw it. The screens all said "What did it do to make them so happy?"

I glared and started reaching up for the cords to pull them out, but Eric said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. When pulled out, the cords release strong shock waves. Powerful enough to burn a brat like you to a crisp." I dropped my hands and sighed exasperatedly.

Carter motioned to Eric. "I have to go. Ally the brat is texting me. Can you take the night shift today?"

Eric shook his head. "My wife will be expecting me to be at home."

Carter rolled his eyes and said, "She can't escape, anyway, so it should be okay. I'll watch the dreams from my phone." He leaned up to the window and tauntingly said, "You're going to be spending a very long time here," and they both walked away.

***

Hours had passed and I hadn't fallen asleep yet. Staying up late on the Internet had trained me for this. I got used to the feeling of the cords and it bothered me much less.

Suddenly I head the door open. Oh great, just what I needed was for Carter or Eric to show up.

"No, it's not them." Instead of hearing one of their raspy voices, i heard a smooth, quiet voice. "They're asleep."

"Ally?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah. Who are you?" She whispered.

"I'm Dylan. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you. Carter has drawn the line. An innocent girl shouldn't be held prisoner. I hate him." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a flash drive. "This has everything he's looking for you to dream." She plugged it into the television and the screen started showing images of Carter, only much more more handsome and wealthy.

"Wow, that's incredible," I whispered.

She ignored what I said and walked in to the glass room with me. She pulled out a knife and cut the ropes. Then she cut the cords and sparks flew off. There was about two feet of cord left attached to my head. "If I had cut it closer to you, you could have been shocked," she explained.

"That's fine how it is," I whispered "Thank you so much."

She whispered, "You're welcome," and directed me to a doorway at the back of the building, with a backpack filled with food. The outside looked like a warehouse, and it was in the middle of nowhere. It was the middle of the night.

"Be careful," she whispered. "Run as fast and far as you can until you get to a city. Then find a police officer."

"I will," I whispered back and hugged her.

I started running as fast as I could. I followed a road that came from the warehouse. I stopped occasionally to take drink. Whenever cars drove by I hid behind the bushes.

Finally, I got to London. I stopped running and just walked fast. I didn't want to look more out of place than I already did.

I was going to listen to Ally about talking to the police, then I started thinking about it. Would they actually believe a girl with cords coming from her head about being kidnapped from another country because she's psychic? They would probably just assume I am out of my mind. I had a different idea. It's risky, but it may be my only successful option. There were only two people I knew in all of England, and I needed to find them.

After looking for it for an hour, I found their apartment building. Surprisingly, the man at the counter gave me their room number and let me go up to their apartment alone.

I hesitated when I got to their door. What if they aren't home? What if they just tell me to leave? I took a deep breath and knocked door. A few seconds later the door started to open. I'm sorry, Dan and Phil.