I woke up suddenly in my bed. A tall shadowy figure was leaning over me, a hand pressed tight against my mouth, preventing me from screaming. Through the tiny bit of light in the room, I could see his just his silhouette. He loomed over me, his face was in shadows, though I could see the vague form of curly hair. He was strong I could tell that from how he held me down, though he did that somewhat gently, like a kidnapper with concern for his victim.
My sleepy brain tried to process all that had just happened within the three seconds of me waking up. I had absolutely no idea what the heck was going on.
I must be dreaming, I thought. My mind logically processed that the odds of being kidnapped, attacked, or robbed were minuscule. I was in denial of an event within give seconds of it happening. All I knew was that this man was most likely dangerous and trying to kidnap me.
My eyes widened in fear. This man is actually kidnapping me! WHAT DO I DO? I thought frantically. I was overwhelmed with fear and confusion, but through it all I felt a slight wave of anger.
Don't just be a helpless little girl. Who does he think he is, anyway, trying to kidnap me? He can probably beat me easily, but I'm not going down without a fight. I don't see a gun, maybe I can surprise him and get away.
"Okay, don't freak out." The guy standing over me said.
I freaked out. What was I supposed to do? A random psychopath is in my room at night, telling me not to freak out. My foot lashed out from under the blankets, catching him in the stomach. It wasn't a strong kick, but it was enough to make him take his hand off my mouth.
"No, its okay, I can explain, I promise." I didn't let him explain. I punched him in the gut. Then kicked him right between the legs. The guy fell over, moaning.
I have always kinda wanted to do that! Funny that it takes me getting kidnapped to get the chance.
I threw open the door and raced downstairs. Fear coursed through my body, and an adrenaline rush consumed me. I jumped the last four steps, racing towards the kitchen.
This can't be happening. What even is happening! I thought.
Grabbing the landline phone, but fumbling in my nervousness. I dialed 9-1. But before I could dial the last 1, the man grabbed me from behind.
"Sorry about this, Rowan." He said in a vaguely familiar voice, pushing a rag against my mouth and nose. I scratched at his arms and face, trying to free myself, but he was too strong. I screamed but the rag muffled any noise I made. As the world started to grow black around the edges, I fell limply into the mans arms, losing control of my body. Every bone in my body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
As I slowly slipped into blackness, I had one last thought, How did he know my name?
* * *
I dreamed that I was flying. I soared through the sky, spreading my wings dipping low over a grassy field, then soaring back up into the sky. The sunlight beamed down bright on me as I burst through a puffy white cloud, coming out covered in soft raindrops. I stopped in midair falling down to earth. I swooped back up at the last second, inches away from the ground.
Flying made me feel free, and I lived off the amazing feeling. Being in a pool or an open field gave me a little of this feeling, being in a deep open lake came even closer. But nothing could compare to the amazing, unadulterated feeling of the freeness of flying.
Then I suddenly felt like I was being drawn out of my amazing dream. Suddenly I couldn't fly. I fell to the ground, screaming in terror. But mere seconds before I smashed onto the ground, I woke up.
* * *
I slowly opened my eyes, looking at a starch white ceiling, with bright glaring lights. I had a horrible headache, and my head felt like it weighed a million pounds. I slowly looked around. I was on a small cot. It had a flat pillow, and thin blue blankets. The room had light grey walls and a steel door with a small window. The room was small and it was empty except for the cot I was lying on.
Where am I? What happened? Then I suddenly remembered all the events of last night. Was it last night? Is it morning or still night? I sat up suddenly. That was a mistake. My head felt like a machine gun was being repeatedly fired into my brain. I sat still and the pain quieted down to a dull throbbing.
I swung my feet onto the ground. The grey carpet felt slightly itchy against my bare feet. Looking down, I realized I was still in my light blue t-shirt and matching plaid pajama pants. I reached up and felt my dark blond hair. It was a mess, fizzy and knotted from the events of the previous night, and just from sleeping on it. I slowly stood up, leaning against the light grey wall to steady myself. Standing up helped clear my head and my headache lessened.
I have to get out of here, I thought. Walking slowly to the door, I pulled on the steel handle. The door was locked from the outside. So I'm trapped. Guess they succeeded in kidnapping me. What am I going to do now? Are they just going to hold me for ransom, or worse? My grandma doesn't even have a phone at her house! What if my parents don't find out I'm missing? What if nobody comes for me? What if they leave a ransom note at my house, and kill me when they don't get a response? No, I have to think positive, I'm never going to get out of here thinking that way.
Maybe I can pretend to be asleep and surprise them again when they come in. I thought, pacing the small grey room. I scanned the room again and saw a small security camera in the top corner of the room. So they probably know I'm awake, they'll be here any minute!
Glancing around the room, I quickly formulated a plan. I tossed the blue bed sheet over the camera. Good, now they won't know what I'm doing. I crouched down next to the door, ready to surprise anyone who came in.
Sure enough, after five minutes, the door slid open soundlessly. I was just about to jump on the guy coming through the door when I realized, it was Jason!
"Jason!" I exclaimed, "what are you doing here? Where am I? What's happening?"
"Listen, I can explain all that happened, but it's a lot, maybe you should sit down."
"Okay, but you better have a really good explanation." I sat down on the bed, my mind in too much shock to process what was happening. My only explanation was that this could be a crazy dream, but it was way to realistic for that. In dreams you weren't supposed to feel pain, but my head apparently didn't know that. Looking up at him, with his blond curly hair, I remembered my attackers curly hair. My eye widened as i slowly pieced together that he was my attacker, he was the right height and their voices were the same.
"It was you!" I blurted out in shock.
"Yeah, sorry about that, but it told you, I have really good reasons. Now I'm going to go before you give me anymore bruises. Sorry about knocking you out." Jason said in a rush, quickly exiting the room.
I groaned leaning back on the bed. Jason, who's practically my big brother, actually kidnapped me! As I lay on the bed, trying to make sense of all that happened to me,the door opened again. This time it was Noelle!
"Noelle! What are you doing here? What am I doing here? What the heck is happening? Is everyone I care about trying to kidnap me?"
"Okay, all this is new to me too. My brother just brought me in two days ago. But they sent me in because they thought you would probably listen to me."
"Wait, two days? How long have I been out?"
"Yeah, about that, Jason put two much chloroform on the rag. If you didn't go peacefully, it was supposed to knock you out for a few hours. He didn't account for how small you are."
"I'm not that small."
"Rowan, you're barely five feet tall. But back to the matter at hand,this is where they take people like us, who need training, we learn to help people. Everybody who's like us has to go here. It's where my brother has been going all this time. Here we learn so that we help people, not harm them."
"Wait, what do you mean 'people like us'? You're making no sense."
"Oh yeah, I probably should have said this earlier. You, me, Jason, my brother, and all the people here, we're superheroes."
