Taken

Kidnapper's POV

I woke up to the sound of the front door slamming. I bolted up, the blanket that had just recently held all my body heat in flew off. I automatically felt the chill of the room. I quickly looked at the bed. Just as I had feared, the girl had vanished. She was going to be in so much trouble. And me, I was going to be in even more trouble.

The room had gone cold. I guess the fire must've died about an half hour or so ago. Just a little bit of color was visible from the fire. A few embers illuminated in orange had survived. I got up off of the ground and burst out the door.

I ran down the hallway, past the kitchen and into the living room. The floor was littered with beer bottles and an empty bucket of KFC wings sat on the couch. The tv was blaring and paid programming was on. I saw a knife on the floor and I knew something bad had occurred. I ran out the door as fast as I could.

I stopped on the front porch and saw Huck. I ran down the steps and down to where he was. He was leaning down to pick the girl up. I ran to look at her to make sure she was ok. As he picked her up, I saw that her body was limp.

I panicked because I had somehow grown to like this girl. But that didn't matter, she was just a part of my mission. A piece of the puzzle. I looked at her face and it was flushed white, very pale. She had a lump on her head and there was a bit of dried blood by it.

I yanked her out of Huck's arms and held her bridal style. I screamed at him "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? YOU LITTLE BASTARD. YOU KNOW SHE NEEDS TO REMAIN SAFE IF THE PLAN IS GOING TO WORK OUT!!!" Huck slapped me across the face and I felt the burn almost instantly.

He yelled back at me "I DIDNT DO ANYTHING TO HER. I FOLLOWED HER OUTSIDE TO MAKE SURE SHE DIDNT GET AWAY. SHE TRIPPED ON HER ROPES AND KNOCKED HER HEAD ON THAT ROCK RIGHT THERE!!"

I looked behind him to see a rock smudged with a little bit of blood. I gave him a nasty look and took the girl inside. I passed the kitchen and made my way down the hall. I gently placed her down on the bed and put her head on the pillow.

I ran down to the kitchen an opened the medicine cabinet. I grabbed some bandages and pain killer medication. Then I opened up a drawer and grabbed a Ziploc bag out of the box. I opened the freezer and grabbed a handful of ice. I placed it in the Ziploc as if to make a makeshift ice pack.

I wrapped the Ziploc in a towel so it wouldn't be so cold. I grabbed the medicine, bandages, and my DIY ice pack and travelled to my room. I walked into my room and closed the door behind me. I locked it to make sure no further harm would come to the girl or me.

I cut the ropes off from around her ankles and wrists. Then I tried to wake her up by nudging her then shaking her. She didn't come to and I knew if she remained unconscious, more damage would happen. I thought of another way to make her come to. One idea striked me,  I hated to do it but it was the last idea I had.

I drew my hand back and I slapped her hard across the face. I felt my hand connect with her face and then my dread grew. I felt so guilty but after I slapped her, I saw her stir a bit. Her hazel eyes fluttered open. I let out a sigh of relief.

She bolted up out of the bed. Sitting up she quickly threw her hand up to touch her tender head. She started to let out a scream when her hand made contact with the lump on her head. I quickly covered her mouth to muffle her scream.

She bit down on my hand and I felt the stinging pain instantly. I tried to calmly tell her "If you're quiet I will take my hand away. I'm just trying to help you." She got quiet and I slowly took my hand away. Our eyes never left each other. It was like we were having a staring contest but I was trying to read her through her eyes.

She was so hard to read. I knew after meeting her eyes that she wasn't going to scream again....or at least I hoped. She let her eyes wander from me to look down at her wrists. I took the opportunity to start wrapping the bandage around her head.

She winced as I must've wrapped it a little too tight. I loosened the bandage a bit and kept wrapping. I wondered why she was staring at her wrists. I looked down at them and saw burns. It must've been from the ropes. Dang she bruised easily. I felt a small pang of guilt.

She whispered "Why are you doing this to me?" She sniffled and I saw a tear escape her eye and run down her cheek. I responded "I can't tell you why I do what I do. Too many consequences. And why would I tell you anyways?"

She sucked in a tear and said "I don't know, but don't I deserve an explanation?" I finished wrapping her head with the bandage. I guess all that boy scout training from so long ago seemed to help after all. I handed her my makeshift ice pack and some Tylenol and said "Drop it now and there will be no consequences, but if you bring it up again I will not let you off so easy. Just take the pill and your head should feel a bit better by morning. "

She didn't respond after that. She got quiet and slowly scooted into the corner of my bed. I saw her take the pill and place it in her mouth. She swallowed and then whimpered and started crying even more. I reached out to comfort her but she slapped my hand away. I said "I'm sorry to do this, but I have tie your hands back up so you won't escape again."

I reached out for her wrists and she quickly drew them back against her chest. I said "It's better if you just go along with it. The punishment will be terrible for both you and I if you don't." She looked at me with puppy eyes. She said "It can't get much worse for me can it?" She sniffles and then continued, saying "And for you, there's not much that can happen to you. Why would you get hurt?"

I got quiet and looked off into the barren fireplace. I walked over to it and grabbed two logs off of the pile. I put them into the fireplace. I tore up a magazine and stuffed it in between the logs. I lit a match and threw it onto the pile. The logs lit up in flame and heat immediately came rushing out of the fireplace.

I sat down on the floor and just watched the fire. The girl called out to me saying "well are you going to answer me?" I responded "my boss has quite the temper and he lashes out sometimes. There's also two other men that you need to look out for. But that's all I feel like talking about for now."

She got quiet and I heard her sniffle one last time. I turned around to look at her and she was holding her wrists up. It took me a minute to process, but then I realized that she was surrendering. She was going to let me tie her wrists together. I guess she had taken pity on me.

I grabbed the rope and loosely tied her wrists together. I decided it best if I didn't tie her ankles together. I trusted her enough to leave her mobile and I didn't want her to get hurt again. I told her to go back to sleep so she could rest. I let out a yawn and she turned to look at me. She asked me "what is your name?"

I realized that there was no reason not to tell her. She couldn't use it against me. I said "I'll tell you my name if you tell me your name first." Without hesitation she said "Emma, my name is Emma." I said "that's a nice name. My name is Joel."

I stuck my hand out for her to shake, but then I realized her hands were tied up. Stupid of me to forget. I had just tied them a few minutes ago. I let out a sigh and told her to go to sleep once again. I laid back down by the door with my blanket. I saw her lay back down and move the quilt. She let out a gasp when her head touched the pillow.

I decided I would stay up to watch her and make sure she fell asleep safely. I watched her for five minutes or so. She was stirring and I could tell she was awake. I saw her look over at me a few times. I ignored it and fake slept each time.

Then I would open my eyes after a minute and there she was, staring back at the ceiling. I kind of felt guilty for everything that had happened. I've never felt bad about anything else I've done and trust me, I've done much worse. As I ponder these things I felt my eyelids grow heavy and I was out.