Otherworldy

Chapter 1: Leash

I didn't think I was home alone. My parents had "forgotten", that is to say that they didn't care, to tell me that they were going out. I was reading a book in the living room when I realised I needed the toilet, so I leapt up from the sofa and went upstairs (in complete darkness because the hallway light was broken) and fumbled around until I found the bathroom. I went in and turned on the light... but it was only a second until it went dark again.

Dear Mum and Dad

I'm writing to you because there's a kidnapper with a knife pointing at my throat. He told me to write this for him because his handwriting could've been analysed or his fingerprints could be dusted or something if he wrote it. This is just a letter to say that I, Sarah Clarice Johnson, have been kidnapped. Wish me good luck in a life of slavery and torture! Bet you'll miss me when the newspaper headlines read 'Terrible parents abandon child to get kidnapped!'

Sarah, your loving daughter

That's the letter I wrote to my parents. Funny thing is, the "slavery and torture" bit was what I used to say. My parents were horrible to me, worse than horrible in fact. They were downright abusive. They got angry at me for little to no reason. Once, my father slapped me with his belt for looking at him strangely. Yeah. That's how bad it was. And when they drank? Oh, lord. I don't exactly know where I'm off to at the moment, but surely it can't be that much worse than the situation I used to be in. And as far as I can tell, the kidnapper isn't actually so bad. He got me out of the sack once I had quietened and all he did to stop me from running away was putting a lead and collar on me (they look quite cute on me, to be honest).

As he lead me to his house, or his 'hideout' as he called it, he asked me about my social life. I told him that I didn't really have any friends, because my parents never let me out of the house. He seemed concerned, so I explained my situation with my parents to him. Trying to lighten the mood, I joked to him that I wished they weren't my real parents, to which he smirked and tried to stifle laughter. I'll write more about it as it comes, I'm writing this diary while walking. Oh, yeah, just before he took me out of the window, he asked if there was anything I wanted to take with me. Being pretty much my only possession that'll be any use, I took this diary. He told me I wouldn't need any clothes, he had everything at the "hideout".