The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 37: Colleen

***Minutes before Baylor's encounter with Leila***

In only the last 12 hours, my life had gone horribly wrong. And it wasn't like my hamster died, or my boyfriend broke up with me. No, this was much, much worse than that.

First, I was kidnapped from my own home. I didn't know where I was taken. I didn't know if Baylor or James was still alive. I woke up in a cage, hanging from the ceiling, the floor only a few feet away — close enough to be excited to escape, far enough for it to be hopeless.

I grasped the bars, pulling my self off of the metal cage. For every inch I moved, I felt dizzy, sick, and sore.

"They must have drugged me," I decided.

I sighed, annoyed. Really, they had to kidnap me? So what if I survived in a coffin? Just ask me questions and I'll tell you what happened. There was no reason for this.

"HELLO?" I called out. "IS ANYONE THERE?"

No answer.

I cursed under my breath. If someone was running around this place, they weren't friendly. It probably wasn't the best idea to just blurt out that I was awake. Now, they could come hurt me more.

Well, wasn't this great.

I looked around the room that I was being kept in. It wasn't a normal hospital setting, with the white walls, white floors, and white ceiling and bright lights. No, this room looked like the 1800s threw up and this was the product. Felt couches and chairs scattered the floor, a huge elegant rug on the hardwood floor. The only lighting was the one chandelier that hung on the ceiling, a few lamps sitting on the only tables in there, and the puny daylight that crept its way passed the opaque curtains. It seemed to be early morning, so maybe no one was awake yet.

Thank you, God.

I suddenly heard footsteps coming towards the door and my heart raced. The sounded like women's heels tapping the floor and it me feel a little better. I mean, at least it wasn't a huge burly man coming to beat the life out of me.

Once the doorknob began to turn, I acted like I was asleep again. The woman approached the cage and gave it a little shake. It took all my energy — which wasn't much at the moment — to not lash out at her.

A deep voice suddenly spoke up. "Boss, I did hear her say something, I swear."

I didn't want them to make them think I was faking my slumber, so I pretended to be talking in my sleep. "No, cow!" I shouted. "No, no! Don't eat my carrots! Is anyone going to help me protect my carrots?"

Sounded crazy enough.

I could hear the woman laugh at me. "Jonathan, she was only sleep talking," she said, annoyed. "Geez. You woke me up for nothing."

"S-sorry, Boss..." he stammered.

"Well, at least she's still asleep. Makes my job easier. Just take down the cage, we have to show her off to a very special guest," she said.

I thought I had heard her voice before. It wasn't until she spoke again that I could pinpoint her voice, so I waited patiently for her to talk again. Thankfully, the deep voiced man spoke to her. Maybe she would answer back.

"Who's our guest?" he asked. "Oh, lemme guess, lemme guess...is it Lebron James?"

The woman took a deep breath, obviously trying not to let her anger out on this guy. "Just take her down. And no, it's her wuss boyfriend."

I finally knew who the voice belonged to. It was Leila Lockhart.

And she had Baylor too.

She was going to show him what they did to me.

And I had to pretend I was still asleep through it all...