Soulful Spark

4. Brain Freeze

A/N: Right hand side...There is a picture of Valon and his theme song. Enjoy! 

Song: Me Against the World

Band/Group: Simple Plan

✹ Bяaiη Fяєєzє ✹

When I came to, there was only silence. My head whipped back and forth, studying my surroundings. I was in a room with a four poster bed. Rays of light filtered through a window pane, nearly blinding me. As I attempted to stagger to my feet, I realized that I was chained to a bedpost. After struggling for a few minutes, there were raw marks encircling my wrist. The door suddenly swung open.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.”

A lean, lanky man entered, followed closely by two heavyset men. The entire situation was peculiar.  None of them were wearing masks. No duct tape to prevent screaming, no blindfold whatsoever. Because of those obvious facts, I went into full panic mode. Identifying them would be a piece of cake and surely they weren’t that dumb to freely show their faces. Were they going to kill me or were they confident that I wouldn’t be able to escape? Either way, it was a lose-lose situation for me.

The leader kneeled next to me and I shrunk back. He whistled as if he was impressed. “Would you look at that...This kid actually injured himself.”

The two other men—presumably bodyguards—spoke in low voices. “Should we bring this one to the house?”

“No. I doubt he’s going to conform. We need to soften him up.”

In response, I growled and the man by me merely chuckled. He patted my cheek. “Come on, Valon. Everything will be so much easier if you cooperate.”

I barely noticed he used my name; that wasn’t important, yet it let me know this abduction was premeditated. The man fished a key from his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. Apoplectic with anger, I lashed out and felt my fist connect with the side of his jaw. He swore and rubbed his face, also backhanding me. I fell and lay sprawling on the floor. To not give my captors any satisfaction, I gritted my teeth instead of crying out.

His partners dragged me to my feet and I was handcuffed again. The only window of opportunity was gone; I had missed my chance. However, there was no way I was going to let them use me for any evil scheme. I would not go quietly, much less listen to what they said. They jabbed me in the back, pushing me roughly out the door and into what appeared to be a living room.

Then I was led outside and my spirits sank even further. The normal “house” was actually a log cabin. How had I not noticed the irregular walls? Anyway, it didn’t matter; I was trapped even though we were in the open. Towering trees spanned out in every direction and unidentifiable plants clumped together, blocking any sign of a trail.

No wonder they didn’t bother to gag me. I could escape, but would probably end up lost. Clearly, the men knew the area better than I did. I thrashed around and yelled until my lungs were about to burst. All I heard were echoes bouncing back and forth. Abruptly, the men made mocking, raucous noises.

My tense shoulders dipped as I heaved a sigh. “I’ll play along with your game.” The words reluctantly came out of my mouth and the leader wrapped an arm around me, squeezing slightly. “Attaboy.”

My temper flared and I barely kept it under control.

“If I’m used in any way, I’ll pulverize you,” I hissed, my voice laced with animosity.

“That’s some big vocabulary coming from a tyke like you. Empty promises will get you nowhere, “ he said.

I kept my mouth shut for the duration of our traveling. For some reason, they wanted—needed—me alive.

A cool blast of air woke me up from my stupor. My numb lips moved as my teeth began chattering. I forced myself not to nod off or I might never see the light of day again. It would truly put a damper on my self-esteem if I had a lousy death, all because I was stuck in a freezer.

I was being punished for badmouthing a group of guards. Pretty soon, they were going to run out of ideas. Isolation didn’t work one bit, so why would being put in a freezer stop me? My only entertainment was annoying them and I wasn’t going to give that up.

The freezer door opened and a head cautiously poked in.

“Have you learned your lesson yet, Valon?”

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t. It was quite a pleasant experience; I was just chilling out.” I laughed harshly at my own joke.

“Very well. Let’s go, shall we? The boss wants to invite you to dinner.”