Kidnapped

The Attack

The white flicker engulfs my face and body. A hot, fiery tingle speeds down my spine. I arch my back and open my mouth wider, waiting for a scream to escape. Nothing. The hot, fiery feeling spreads everywhere. I jump off my bed, and just as fast I'm pulled backwards, body, spirit, and all, into the dark space. But it's not peaceful. It's not same.

I choke and grab at my throat. The smell, that disgusting earthy and metallic smell, is back. I move to cover my nose, but the smell disappears just as fast as it had appeared. The annoying headache returns in full force and instead of covering my nose, I grab my head and squeeze my eyes shut.

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The invisible string that is attached to me is yanked up, very hard. I gasp in surprise and open my eyes to look around. And there is nothing. There is nothing, but a blur.

I'm awake.

The panic that was restarting stops and I inhale deeply, before letting it go. That was a violent wake-up.

My senses come back in full force: smell, touch, taste, sound, and surprisingly sight. First I smell the earth, but I feel cloth underneath me. I can't taste much of anything, but I do hear the wind travelling through the trees, the calls of the wildlife, and the low voices of people. I can see figures moving past through the blur.

"Good, you're awake," a voice whispers. I jump and find that the tree bark doesn't dig into my skin like before. I am not tied against the tree anymore. There is movement and then a thump next to me. "How are you feeling?"

I can move more easily now. I must be lying down. But I ignore that and try to focus on the voice. It sounded familiar, but it couldn't be Mena with how deep it sounded. It was definitely male. I knew it wasn't Lander because I didn't feel anxious. "Justin?"

A sigh and I was being moved into a sitting position. The blur regresses until I can see. There is a body sitting in front of me. A boy. Justin's grey eyes capture mine and we stare at each other for a long, awkward moment. He raises a hand and waves at me. I wave back.

"Hey, Geneva," Justin says. I look around, noticing that we were not outside like I thought we were. We were inside something, a tent maybe, and the voices I heard were outside of it. I could clearly hear Olivia Olsen's squeaky fake laugh, contradicting Brandon Jennings' loud boom of a voice. It was dark again, from what I can tell, and they had the fire going. The tent that I was being held in had two lanterns that sat next to Justin. I was sitting on what looked like a make-shift bed, with one pillow.

"Hey," I greet back, shifting on the bed. My hands and feet were tied, but I could move better than before.

Justin moves around and then holds out a metal bottle to me. "You must be thirsty. Here," he moves his hand closer, "take a few sips." I don't reach forward to take the bottle, mostly due to the fact that my hands were tied. Instead, I stare at it. The bottle was made out of metal, but there were also carvings on it. What if it was the smell that kept on knocking me out? What if I took a sip and blackout again? "It's not poisoned." He un-screws the bottle, pours the liquid into the cap, and drinks it. "See?"

I wait, staring at him. There are no signs that the liquid could be poisonous. Justin smiles at me and keeps on holding out the bottle. But I don't trust it. "I'm not thirsty, so no thanks."

Justin's smile drops and he puts down the metal bottle. He clears his voice and glances at the floor. "I'm sorry. About everything." He doesn't elaborate and I don't answer, staring at my tied hands.

I'm a prisoner, I tell myself. If he was sorry he would have let me go.

After a few minutes of silence between us, there is a rustle at the opening of the tent and someone walks in. My eyes snap up to meet blue ones. Mena comes in, wearing her out-of-place white dress and holding something. She smiles and sits down next to Justin, facing me. "Nice to see you awake, G. How are you feeling?"