About ten minutes later, Joe made a very sharp turn and I could barely see the tips of extremely ginormous houses. But as we drove further, I could see more and more. We weren't in a neighborhood anymore. It was a flatter road, or at least felt so. It was nothing but clear skies out the window. One of those days that lied and tried to tell you that it was nice out, when in reality it was 20 degrees. Finally, Joe stopped the car. But he rolled his window down and spoke softly but clearly "Hey, man. We got a good one." There was a moment of silence. Finally a scratchy radio voice said "Send her up." The window went back up as the car lurched foward. I shifted, feeling terror cling onto me. The car came to a sudden unexpected hault, and Ivan almost eagerly hopped out and blindfolded me. He then took me off of the shackles. As we walked on what felt like icy cement, I felt a hand on my lower back begin to move lower. I tried to shake the hand away, which was presumably Ivan's, but it did no good. As I uncomfortably walked along, I heard Joe say "watch your steps." We came upon what felt like smooth hard metal stairs, and I stepped up. One, two, three, four, five. I had a blast of warm air in my face as what I assumed was the front door to this building was opened for me. A much larger hand was placed on my neck as Ivan's was removed from my pants. "Take good care of that one." I heard Ivan say to the owner of the big hand. Nothing. I got led to a small room. I didn't realize it was an elevator until I heard the doors shut. The hand tightened on my neck as I situated myself. "Don't get any ideas, Frisky." A deep bellowing voice said with nearly zero emotion. The elevator made a happy "ding" noise and I felt motion stop. The doors slid back open and the man shoved me out the door. We walked for quite a while on what felt like carpet to my cold bare feet. Finally, I was turned into a doorway and pushed. I stood alone with no hands and no touch for the first time in hours. That image was soon destroyed when my blindfold war ripped off of my head, unintentionally pulling out hairs with it. "Well." A voice said. I whipped around to see a man in a chair behind a desk. There was a darker skinned man next to me holding my blindfold. My eyes darted back to the man in the chair. "Stephanie, is it?" I did nothing. "So, do you know why you're here with us on this lovely day?" The man was paler. He had dark blackish hair and blue eyes. He wore an expensive suit and a nice tie. His desk was completely empty except for a single file in the dead center. "No." I replied, not wanting to speak. He chuckled and placed his finger tips together. "Well darling." He said smiling the Devils smile. "This is your home now." I felt my eyes widen as my heart exploded into an arithmia equivalent to a hummingbirds. He seemed to have noticed. "Oh, don't like that do we?" He said, sarcastically raising his black eyebrows. "where are my parents." I demanded through gritted teeth. " oh don't be so worrisome. They're..." He paused, seeming to hunt for the right word. "...dead?" I finished.
He stared at me.
"Not exactly."
My heart dropped as I let out an angry breath through flared nostrils.
"Don't worry, sweetheart." He said, opening a drawer from his modern looking desk. He pulled out a syringe and gently flicked the yellowish liquid inside. "Do you know how much you weigh, Stephanie?" I didn't answer. He looked up from his concentration on the syringe. "Well?" He said as if he expected me to tell him everything. I stared at him, discusted at how he treated me like I hadn't been raped in the back of that van. I shook my head at him, dumbfounded. "Who the fuck do you think I AM?" I said. He sat there and bit his lip, seeming to make a decision about something. He nodded his head ever so slightly to a large black man on my left. The man walked over to a chair with shackles on the arms while the other quietly shut the door. I was forced into sitting, while they both worked to shackle my wrists in. I didn't bother to fight it. My forearms were turned toward the ceiling and my shins strapped to the legs of the sturdy oak chair. "Before I do this, I think you should at least know my name." Said the man from the desk, walking over with the suspicious syringe. "My name is Gale. And this won't hurt me at all." He said sticking the pointed needle into the vein of my left arm. It stung at first but died down quickly after he removed the shot. I felt all of my muscles loosen as my eyes became droopy. I raised my eyebrows hoping to keep my eyes open. "Don't fall asleep. Don't fall asleep." I whispered to myself. Within seconds I was unconscious.
