Prologue
Saturday, 10:10 pm
My eyes flashed open as I came back into consciousness. My head felt as if someone had hit me with a baseball bat twenty times over. And my body felt as if I had been hit by a truck. I felt weighed down and slow; I couldn't move any of my limbs. I could feel the circulation being cut off in my arms, and then I noticed that they were tied to the chair I was sitting on. I could feel the stinging sensation of a deep cut on my forehead and the sticky, wet blood slowly dripping down the side of my cheek. Although my eyelids were heavy and all I wanted was to close them and drift back into unconsciousness, I blinked my eyes open rapidly. I frantically looked around at my surroundings. The room was pitch-black and the air was cool and damp which made me shiver. But what I noticed first, was the smell; I scrunched my nose. The smell was foul as if there was something in the room that had been rotting for days, maybe even weeks. I lifted my head up and I felt another breath against my face. I turned my head to the side in disgust, and a rough hand gently trailed across my cheek.
“What do you want with us?!” a voice next to me demanded. The voice echoed throughout the room, implying that I was in some sort of cave-like room. I squinted so I could see whom the voice belonged to, but it was too dark to see anything. The man just chuckled deeply which sent chills that prickled my bones. I heard footsteps on the cement floor. The man’s boots clumped and dragged against the pavement in an unrhymed manner and sounded as if he where limping. Clump. Drag. Clump. Drag. Clump. Drag. He disappeared for a moment and came back with a candle in his hand that he held up to his face. I turned my face away from him and he just chuckled darkly. He went around the cave-like room lighting more candles. Soon enough, the room was dimly lit; enough for me to see.
“Untie us!” the same voice demanded. The voice belonged to a girl who was sitting next to me. I turned my head and squinted my eyes as I tried to get a better look at her. The lamp that was lit near her made a glow on her long, dark hair. Her eyes burned with fury, but sparkled with a tint of fear. She clenched her fists; whether it was out of pure anger and frustration, or out of uneasiness, I didn’t know. She put all her effort into trying to untie herself. She looked familiar, but for some reason, I couldn’t remember.
“Stop struggling. It’s useless,” the man replied simply with a questionable grin.
“Why don’t you just untie us and fight like a man!” she sneered. He narrowed his eyes at her. His eyes glared into hers for a few moments, and then he turned to me. He looked me in the eyes and I shivered. His eyes were like nothing I had seen before. His right eye was a rusty brown, but the other was a faded grey; not a natural grey. Gory scars ran across his left eye. His glare seemed to seep right into my soul which made me very uneasy. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. It was like I was trapped under a spell. A small squeak turned my attention away from his face as I turned to see what the source of the noise was. A petite girl with light hair and bright eyes was sobbing; trembling in fear. He stomped over to her and lifted her chin with his dirty, rough hands. He looked in her eyes and she began to tremble more. He looked at her with mock-symathy as he ran his hand across her cheek. She tried to veer her face away from him, but he rose his hand and swiped her cheek with his long nails. She let out a loud scream of disress and pain.
"Don't touch her!" another voice ordered. The girl's voice was shaky, as if she tried to be brave, but there was a part of her that was full of fear and pain. The man growled at her and just "hmf'd" and walked out of the cave. Clump. Drag. Clump. Drag. Clump. Drag, until he was finally gone.
"Where am I?" I managed to croak. My voice was hoarse, and my throat was dry and soar.
"I wish I knew Cassie," a girl from the cave replied. I scrunched my eyebrows together.
"How do you know my name?" I asked. I paused to think and my head began to throb. "That is my name, right?" Her facial expression seemed hurt, as if I had just told her that she only had two more days to live or her dog just died.
"You don't remember me?" the girl choked. I tried to think, honestly I did, but nothing came to me. I shook my head in response.
"I'm Sydney," she told me. Her eyes were filling up with tears by now. She pointed to the light haired girl who was sobbing and trembling. "And that's Tessa, you know her!" She pointed to the other girl in the room. "And that's Carla. You knew each other since you were born!" Her voice sounded more and more concerned each time I shook my head, telling her I couldn't remember. Carla looked at me with her chocolate brown eyes.
"Come on Cass, you know us," Carla told me softly. I shook my head.
"Okay, tell me. What were we doing before we got here-wherever here is," I said.
"Well, we were just playing in the creek and-" Carla started. My head began to throb as so many memories, all of a sudden, flashed back to me. The creek, Grey Eye, Timmy, Gwen; it was all coming back to me. I narrowed my eyes at the thought of Gwen. Hatred and pain, both coming to mind, then it hit me.
"Where's Gwen?!" I demanded, "Where is she?!"
