Missing

Chapter 2

Arisa stood frozen. The man walked towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Did you miss me?” He asked while staring into her eyes. Arisa was confused. ‘What? What do I do?’ She looked around and saw a plate on the bench next to her. She slowly raised her arm and found the plate with her fingers. Her fingers tighten around the edge of the plate and she slammed it into the man's head. Panicking, she ran upstairs and locked her self in the room. She could hear the man crying in pain downstairs, shouting and cursing. ‘I need to hide!’ She frantically looked for somewhere to hide and came up with the best idea she was capable of. Hiding in the roof. The roof had a compartment which could be opened, she would hide in there. She opened the compartment just when she heard the man running upstairs. ‘Quick!’ Arisa opened the compartment and lifted herself up, using all of her strength. She closed the compartment door just as the man kicked down her bedroom door. She stopped breathing, fearing that he may hear her. “Where are you, Lara?” He shouted. “Stop playing games!”

Arisa hugged her knees. ‘Please don’t find me! Please!' Arisa thought as silent tears started to roll down her face. “Lara! Why are you hiding?” The man kept on shouting, aware that the next house was to far away for anyone to hear him. Frightened, Arisa tried to find out where he was by listening to his movements when suddenly, the room fell silent. Arisa, stilled stiff and frozen, relaxed a little. ‘Did he leave? Is he still there?’ She thought while simultaneously trying to calm herself down. She was just starting to calm down when the compartment door slammed open and she saw the mans face, filled with rage. He grabbed her ankle and dragged her down. Arisa landed on the floor on her back, she struggled to breathe but he still had her ankle. ‘Run!’ She thought as he starred down at her. She started clawing at the carpet, hoping that he will loosen his grip but he didn’t. The hand around her ankle tightened and she screamed in pain. “We’re going home Lara” said the man as he bent down beside her, still retaining his grip. “My name isn’t Lara! It’s Arisa!” She cried as he touched her cheek with his freezing cold hand. His hand moved to her mouth as he traced her lips with his finger. She opened her mouth and bit down as hard as she could. It wasn’t enough.

The man was furious. He tightened his grip and dragged her down the stairs, her head continually hitting the hard, uncomfortable surface. The door was already opened and outside was a car, lying in wait. The man dragged her outside into the rain and opened the side of the van. He threw her in and her head smashed against a wooden crate. The man closed the door and started driving. Arisa would have fought but she felt dizzy, unstable. Her vision started to blur and suddenly her eye’s closed, she fell onto the vans floor unconscious.

The unfamiliar room was hot, muggy even. Arisa’s eyes opened but they were still blurry. She started to sit up only to keel over and vomit on the wooden floor under her. Once she recovered she slowly stood up and tried to get to her feet. She started to walk only to stop as she saw where she was. Arisa was standing in a bedroom. The bedroom was large with 9 beds lined up along the wall. 3 of the beds were made but the other 6 were messy and dirty, like they hadn’t been washed in weeks. The floorboards made a cracking noise that echoed throughout the otherwise silent room. Arisa stopped moving before quickly spinning on the spot searching for the cause of the noise. In the corner of the room 6 girls were crouched together. ‘Are these the girls that were taken?’ Arisa thought as she started to walk towards them. The girls starred at her before one of them stood up. The girl was thin, like she hadn’t eaten in at least a week. “Welcome to your new home.” The girl said in a sarcastic tone. “What’s your name?” The girl asked Arisa but, still suspicious, Arisa didn’t reply. “My name’s Amanda, you can call me Mandy." She said while smiling at Arisa. Arisa stared at Amanda with wary eyes and slowly opened her mouth to speak, considering if Amanda could be trusted. Quietly, Arisa replied. “I’m Arisa, where am I?” She asked quizzically. Amanda looked back at the other girls and gave them a reassuring smile that adviced the girls that Arisa wasn’t going to hurt them. The girls stood up and walked to their separate beds.  

Gradually the other 5 girls started to speak. “Hey, my name’s Georgia. Nice to meet you, Arisa.” The girl on the furthest bed said. Georgia was smaller then the other girls. All the girls looked alike. 'Guess this guy has a type.' Arisa thought as she quickly looked at all the girls faces. Suddenly, she remembered what the man said. "Whose Lara?" Arisa asked loudly. Quickly noticing that her voice was to loud, she looked down before slowly looking back up to see if they payed any attention to her. All the girls were staring at her. Feeling self conscious she asked again. "Do you know who Lara is?" Amanda walked towards her and starred at her. "How do you know that namer?" She asked. Arisa froze and began to feel cold even though the room was so hot. 'Did I say something wrong?' she thought. "Um... When that man took me he kept on calling me Lara." Arisa stated as she waited for an answer. Amanda contemplated how to answer before speaking. "She's the reason we're all here."

"The man who took us thinks we're her." Amanda said slowly. Arisa starred at Amanda with a shocked expression. "What? So he's like replacing her or something? That's why we're here?" She said in a clam yet fast voice. Amanda nodded and walked towards one of the made beds. She pointed towards the bed. "This one is yours." She said before walking to her own bed. Arisa shuffled towards her bed and sat on the corner. She noticed the hard mattress was covered in dirt while the blanket that was placed on top of it was clean and stain free.  She bounced slightly to try and get comfortable but was unsuccessful. "Hee hee, uncomfortable right?" The girl in the bed next to her giggled. "Don't worry you get used to it." The girl smiled. Arisa looked at the girl who was the only one wearing clean clothes. "Oh, how rude of me! I'm Matilda but everyone calls me Tilly." Arisa's eyes widened as she heard the familiar name. 'Matilda...Mati. I'm so sorry Mati; I wasn't careful enough. She's probably crying right now!' Arisa thought as she lowered her gaze to her feet. Matilda looked at Arisa quizzically, wanting to ask why she suddenly seemed so sad; when Arisa's gaze lowered, she decided to wait until later.

Amanda stood up and sat down next to Arisa. When Arisa looked up at her Amanda completed the introductions. " When I say your name raise your hand, okay?" Amanda said enthusiastically. Everyone nodded silently before Amanda continued. "Raise your hand Yuuki!" A girl in the corner raised her hand before speaking. "Hello, my name is Yuuki. It's nice to meet you, Arisa." Yuuki said quietly without looking at Arisa's face. Amanda whispered in Arisa's ear "Don't worry, she's just shy!" she giggled. Arisa only got to glance at Yuuki when Amanda introduced the next girl. The next girl was named Tia, a pale girl who had her hair tied in a high ponytail. "It's nice to meet-cha Arisa!" Tia smiled. Arisa knew the last girl before Amanda even mentioned her. Arisa looked at her and contemplated what words she should use. The girl looked back at her with a vacant expression. "Your Maria, right?" Arisa asked. Maria's eye suddenly lightened like she had been brought back from her dream world. "You know me?" She asked almost immediately. "You've been on the news, everyone's looking for you." Arisa replied. All the girls looked at her simultaneously.

Georgia jumped onto Arisa's bed and grabbed her shoulders. "What about us, are they looking for us?" Georgia shouted into Arisa's face. Arisa didn't know how to reply, she was shocked at Georgia's sudden change of attitude. Arisa looked down and her eye's turned glassy. Georgia let go of her shoulders and relaxed, still waiting for an answer. Arisa sighed and spoke with her head still lowered. "Their still looking, but... their not looking for you." She said quietly. "What do you mean?" She asked. Arisa tried to raise her head but she was afraid that she would start to cry if she saw how the girl's were about to react. Her voice shook as she told them the news that they never wanted to hear. "Their looking for your bodies."

The room fell silent as Arisa's words were heard. She looked up just enough to see that Matilda was crying silently while the others were struggling to process the words. Arisa started to speak when she heard a smash upstairs. The girls stood up and huddled together. Arisa looked at Amanda when she heard footsteps. The footsteps were so close that they echoed throughout the room. Amanda's eyes met Arisa's and she started to speak. "He's coming."