Kidnapped (Scomiche)

Twenty

One week later

"I'd like to call Kirstin Maldonado to the stands." She nods and walks over, taking a seat in the designated spot. "Kirstie, can I call you that?"

"Yes."

"How long were you held hostage?"

"Seventy-six days."

"And how many times a week were you put to work?"

"Four."

"Beaten?"

"Three."

"Used for sex?"

"Rarely. They like guys. They only did it occasionally to me just to be dicks." Love her humor.

"How would you say this affected you, physically and emotionally?"

"It made me almost 20 pounds skinnier. They didn't feed us very often. It has made me very...anxious. I feel like everywhere I go, someone is going to take me away. I hope that feelings leaves, but I don't think it will."

"How did they find you?"

"I found them. I heard two guys talking about people named Scott and Mitch. They said that they were tough to deal with and that they had already tried escaping or something. So I followed them back to see if I could find Mitch. They caught me."

"What was your relation to Mitch before hand?"

"Best friend."

"And that remains?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Kirstie. You may take a seat." She nods and walks back over to Scott and I.

"Scott Hoying! To the stands please." He takes his spot.

"How long were you held hostage?"

"Ninety-four days."

"How many times were you-"

"Used for labor- seven. Beaten- seven. Used for sex- about two. Good?"

"Why was yours much more rough than Kirstie's?"

"They hated me."

"Why is that?"

"Because I didn't want to be there and I let them know it. That was the reason at first, now they hate me because I fell in love and they didn't like it." He is talking about me. Holy shit.

"You fell in love?"

"Yes."

"With one of them? The ones that hurt you?"

"No. With Mitch. I don't know why that affected them. They put me in something that resembled a prison cell, and then beat me. If you can't notice the large amount of bruises on my face and body."

"Do you have any more injuries?" He shows where he got stitches.

"I was at the hospital over night sometime last week. They stitched this up." The man nods.

"Back to falling in love." We were just getting to a new subject.... "Did you try to help him and that got you even more in trouble?"

"Yes."

"Would you care to share any stories?"

"Short or long?"

"Just the brief version. You can go into further detail later."

"The first night I came. I overheard Kyle talking about how Tyler was about to rape him so I made a big scene to try to stop it. It worked. I wasn't in love with him then, I didn't even know who I was saving. It didn't take long for me to fall in love, though. The next time, Kyle tried taking Mitch and I pulled him back. This resulted in me being punched and him taking Mitch anyway, but I tried. Another time, Kyle said Mitch was his and I completely freaked out and tried fighting him but it didn't work because other guys held me back. When Kyle showed him the news report of his family, I tried being there for him, though he didn't really want me too." I couldn't listen to this. What he did for me and I didn't even realize it until now. I wipe away a tear. "Ive threatened Tyler numerous amounts of times about him. When he made sexual jokes about him, I lost my mind. When I acted on it, I would get hurt. I don't think I ever got the hint that I shouldn't try to fight back. Just loving this boy got me in trouble." He laughs. "I practically got beaten for breathing. That was long, sorry."