Adopt a Yognaught

Chapter 7

{Candie's POV}

My head hurt. That much I could tell. And I couldn't move. My body was sore, and I felt my hands and legs were tied, and I found that my mouth was gagged.

I opened my eyes, and tried to survey my surroundings. It was nearly pitch dark, because the windows were covered and it seemed like night. I saw that the room I was in was empty, except for a pink-covered bed, with only a door on the opposite wall.

Thinking door, I instantly thought 'mahogany', but pushed it away. They probably were so mad at me that they weren't looking for me. It was what I deserved. I was mad, and still mad, but I probably shouldn't have run.

My eye caught something floating out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to look.

There was a poster on the wall. Actually, the walls were covered with posters, all of a missing girl or boy. Mostly girls. There were also newspapers that had headlines saying, 'Kids Everywhere Disappearing!' or, 'Fourteen Year Old Girl and Twin Brother Taken!'. The newspapers were from other towns outside of Bristol. That means that the man was taking kids from other towns, too.

I struggled with the binds on my hands, which were pulled behind my back. I was on the floor, and tried to scream but it was muffled from the gag.

I guess my struggling made some noise, because the next thing I knew, there was the man standing in the doorway.

"I guess my little girl has awoken." He said, in a cheerful tone. He had a tray in his hand, and turned on the light as he walked into the room.

I coward away and got as close as I could to the wall. He only sat in front of me, pushing the tray near me. It had toast and a cup of orange juice on it. What the heck was going on?

"Eat." He urged. Then he laughed. "Oh yeah, the bindings. Promise you won't fight?" I didn't know how to respond, so I just nodded. He took off my gag and untied my hands.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked, my voice shaking into a whisper. "Who are you?"

"I'm not going to do anything to you, sweetheart." Ew. "And I'm your new daddy." What?!

"E-Excuse me?" I asked.

The man laughed. "I'm going to be your new daddy. So be a good girl and eat up."

I cautiously took the toast and bit into it. It was okay, if you count a burnt piece of toast to be okay. I coughed, set the piece of toast down and grabbed my cup of orange juice. I took a sip, but almost spit that back out, too. It was absolutely disgusting!

"Is it good?" The man asked.

I coughed again. "Could you not get food that's expired?"

The man scowled. He stood up, and before I knew it, he smacked me across the face. I fell down, and felt my cheek swell up.

"DON'T TALK TO YOUR FATHER THAT WAY YOUNG LADY!" He yelled. Then he stomped out the door and slammed it behind him. I heard the *click* of a lock.

What the heck just happened?

***

{Simon's POV}

We were standing outside where we found the duffle bag waiting for the police to show up. I frantically looked up and down the street, hoping and praying that Candie would be walking towards us.

It took twenty minutes for the police to show up, and by that time, there were cars parked up and down the street. The emptiness it held a half hour earlier, was gone.

An officer came over and asked us what happened. We explained the fight, we explained the searching, we explained finding the duffle bag and calling them.

"Why do you think the girl reacted so badly, that she ran away?" The officer asked. He held a notebook in his hand.

Everyone fell silent. A pang of guilt hit me as I remembered what Candie told me the night before. How everyone who adopted her always brought her back. The officer noticed, I guess.

"Do you know something, sir?" He asked.

"Ah," I said, rocking on my feet. "She told me last night that she was adopted many times. And that they always brought her back to the orphanage." My friends looked at me with surprise. The officer nodded.

"And you wanted to bring her back to the orphanage, like the many others who adopted her. Why?" He asked.

"Well, our jobs only consist of one thing; video games. We thought that maybe it wasn't very healthy for Candie to have video games around her growing up." Lewis explained. He sounded like a better father than I was.

The officer jotted down things on his notepad, then looked up after a minute. "As you know, the towns around us have had trouble with kidnapping recently. The kidnapper is still not caught, and I suspect he took your daughter. We will try our hardest to find her." Then he walked off.

"Wait!" I said. He turned around. "What are we supposed to do?"

The officer looked at me in pity. "Wait. And hope that we'll find your daughter." Then he continued on his way.

"We're just supposed to wait?! That kidnapper has been loose for ages, we're just supposed to hope that they find Candie?! That's not good enough!" I said.

"Simon, calm down! There's nothing else we can do!" Duncan said.

"We have to do something!" I argue.

"Let's just go home and get some rest." Lewis suggests. "I think we need it."

I glare at him, but don't say anything. I'm angry; beyond angry. Some man has stolen my daughter (never thought I'd say that!) and I can't do a d*mn thing about it!

We pile into Lewis' car, with me holding the duffle bag. I see the posters, but now I know the story behind them. I could only imagine Candie's sweet face joining them, and that brought a tear into my eye.

I was dropped off at my house, and left Candie's duffle bag in her room. It seemed more empty without her, even though it has only been a week since she came to live with me.

I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I was too worried about Candie to sleep.

About an hour of just laying in bed, I got up and walked to the living room. I turned on the TV, and surfed through the channels.

A detective show caught my eye. It was talking about investigating and finding clues, and I absent-mindedly leaned towards it. Then it hit me.

We can do something. We can do our own investigating, and find her.

Although, that little voice in my head told me it wasn't going to be that easy.