Virtual Attraction [COMPLETE]

30| Kidnapped

That Friday was my birthday.

Every year on October 28th, Brooke, Payton and Khloe had kidnapped me and taken me somewhere. One year it had been a party, the other to teepee Miss Bate' house. She was the judge who'd placed us all in Hovsepian. We were lucky she didn't have a home-security surveillance system.

Even though I hated birthdays, I missed the tradition of it all. I missed wondering where they would take me next, the excitement of having people in my life who cared enough to make my birthday special.Victoria gave me a great big hug when she saw me at school that day, and reminded me that I needed to show up at her house after seven. I'd nodded and headed home on the subway.

Now it was just after five. I plunked down on my bed and tried to begin writing. It had been so long since I'd posted my last chapter on Fable. I tried to get back into my usual rhythm of typing but it felt as though there was a blockage in my mind. It was like trudging through concrete. No matter how much effort I put into it, my fingers wouldn't move. That was the burden of having a mind that corrects every little thing you say or do. Nothing could ever go uncriticized.

I stared out the window at the tree that stood just below our apartment, rustling in the wind. Aside from Central Park and Bryant Park, New York City didn't have much shrubbery and greenery, so I'd grown a special attachment to that tree. The way it stood singularly, like a ray of hope in the midst of a desert.

Shivering, I closed the window and shut my laptop. After racing downstairs, I scoured through the fridge for something edible. All that was left were old pancakes and the same moldy pickles I thought I'd thrown out last week.

"Mom," I called out. "There's no freaking food!" I thought she'd be home tonight because it was my birthday. But judging by her lack of response, she was either fast asleep in her bedroom or out with Mr. Philipps.

I pulled on my jacket, the same one I'd had for three years now. Somehow it still fit me.

I wasn't going to sit at home and be miserable all day. My phone read 5:39. I didn't have to be over at Victoria's house for another hour and a half, but I still wandered out onto the streets.

Outside, I was surprised not to be greeted by the familiar bustle of traffic and pedestrians. It was kind of eerie the way the streets sat empty, quiet, waiting.

I frowned, confused. Where was everyone?

Despite the strangeness of the situation, I continued on down the street, flipping some headphones into my ears. I was interrupted by the loud sound of a car engine and shifted my head discreetly into the street. The van I'd seen parked on the road by the apartment complex was slowly cruising just behind me.

I stopped. The van stopped. I started again and the car started up again.

I turned my head back towards the street in front of me, my heart beating fast. I was being followed. Even though Maspeth, Queens wasn't a great part of New York, I still felt comfortable maneuvering around on my own in the daytime.

But now, judging by the lack of people on the street, walking alone had been a bad decision.

A guy I'd never seen before was driving the van as it pulled up beside me.

"Hey kid," he said. His voice had a slight, typical New Yorker accent. His hair was auburn and his eyes were covered by the smoke that was rising out of the cigarette in between his fingers. "Where you goin'?"

Rather than wasting time speaking, I began to run hoping I could get a headstart. But the van sped up beside me and a woman jumped out of the vehicle, grabbed my arm and pulled me back in the direction of the van. Her face was covered in a ski mask, but I could tell she was a woman by her curvy figure and the hair that stuck out from underneath the dark-colored mask.