A New Hope

Part 8: Taken

I was walking around the small Georgia town, breathing in the cool night air. I heard a rustle in the bushes behind me, and turned around. Nothing was there. I continued walking, and someone grabbed me from behind. I tried to struggle free, but my attacker pressed a cloth over my nose and mouth, and everything went dark. When I woke up, I was tied to a chair in a dimly lit room. "I see you're awake." a woman's voice said from the shadows. The speaker stepped into the small pool of light around my chair. I immediately recognized her: she was the woman who I'd seen dragging Hope into a van when I was thirteen. "You're Hope's mother." I growled. "I am." the woman said. "And you're the tiny, pathetic girl who she loves like a sister." "What do you want with me?" I asked. "Oh, it's not what I want with you, it's what I want with her." Hope's mother said, sneering at me. "I want to hurt my daughter, and you're the best way to do it." she took a small, curved knife from her pocket. "Let's get started, shall we?"

Hope's P.O.V.

I paced around my hotel room. Thalia still hadn't gotten back from the walk she took last night, which worried me. My phone rang, and I saw that it was a FaceTime request from my mother. I accepted warily, and the first thing I saw was Thalia tied to a chair, slumped unconscious. Her face and body were covered in cuts and bruises. "What did you do to her?" I yelled. "Isn't it obvious?" my mother said, smirking. "If you want to find her, all you need to do is come home." and with that, she hung up. I ran out of my room. "Whoa, Hope." Carli said. She was with Abby, Tobin, Alex, and Pinoe in the hallway. "Where are you going?" "Police station." I said. "No time to explain. It's about Thalia." Abby grabbed my arm. "We're going with you." she said.