Taken From Reality

Chapter 1

Prologue

I listened as Malachi's car pulled into the drive and did a quick glance over of the house to make sure everything was clean and orderly. The girls were being quite and there was not a trace of living to be seen. Making him mad was one of the worst things you could do. It was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. I have been with Malachi for about seven years now, and he has made it a rule that not only do I call him dad, but that I treat him as one. I must listen to every demand, I must follow every rule, it is how I survive. I talk not of anything that happens within the house to anyone besides him, and I never speak of the few memories I have of my life before him. I no longer am allowed to know that life. I am now, and forever will be, Malachi's son.

My name was Tyler Hale before he took me, and I was only ten years old at the time. A young, energetic, boy with a loving mother, and a whole future ahead of him. I had a good life, and did pretty decently in school. My friends were amazing and the sports I participated in always made me so happy. It's still not clear exactly why he took me or even chose me at all, but I do know that what he really wanted was a son. I am 17 years old now and I go by the name Ryan; the life I live and the man I live with whom I call dad is anything but ordinary.

Chapter 1: Anika's POV

I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes as her hand ran up my back. I felt a tingling sensation rush over my body as the fabric clenched tightly to my skin. Finally as it reached the top I could breathe, and I felt a sense of relief as the task was complete. My skin tight dressed was zipped, and my mom had managed to work her magic like always. I felt like a goddess in this dress, the perfect dress, the dress that was made for me to wear to this homecoming dance.

"I still don't understand why you insisted on buying a smaller size than normal Anika, you are lucky I was able to get it zipped at all!" She said in a harsh tone as she rubbed her red hands together, caressing a small bump that had raised on her skin where it caught in the zipper.

"Because Mom. It just didn't look right in the bigger size, and now it hugs in all the right places!" I said as I did a giddy laugh and a turn in front of my mirror, admiring the red strapless mini dress with one single silver diagonal stripe running down the side. I couldn't help but be in love with it, it was the perfect dress for my senior Homecoming. It was everything I had ever dreamed of, this night while in this dress was sure to be anything short of amazing.

"Whatever you say." She exhaled deeply "you do look beautiful though, but unfortunately I have to get back to the office, there is a big case we are working on and I really cannot afford to lose any more time."

I let out a deep sigh as I listened to her talk, of course she would have to leave, and her work always came before me. No one ever told her to join the FBI, or at least I didn't anyways. I wouldn't let this ruin my night though, not a chance in hell that would happen.

I sucked back my anger and gave a forced half smile as she inched towards my bedroom door, "that's fine." I said, "I don't need anything else, Joe should be here anytime, and I'll have my cellphone on me... have a good night mom."

I lead her downstairs where she kissed my cheek, grabbed her brief case and then hurried out the door, leaving me alone waiting until my date arrived. Joe had always been a kind guy, but never someone I would romantically interest myself with, I only agreed to going to the dance with him because he was the first to ask, and so I agreed, that way when the other boys had asked I had a straight get away, and an excuse to say no. Besides, going with the captain of the football team, or the most popular guy in the school was just too clichè, regardless of my status amongst my peers.

It wasn't until another 20 minutes had passed that he arrived and at that point I was in no mood for talking. I was frustrated with my mother, frustrated with waiting on Joe, and unfortunately sweating profusely under the dress. I just wanted to get to the dance, and finally know the answer I had been anticipating for weeks now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We got to the dance, luckily with just a short amount of small talk between the two of us on the ride there. Joe commented on basically everything he could see, from my hair, to my dress, even on the amount of make-up I had on. I was rather flattered and to be honest he really was not all that bad of a date, he actually bought me a matching corsage and everything. When we pulled into the parking lot I noticed all my friends waiting patiently by the doors for me, so Joe and I quickly hurried over. Once I said my hellos to everyone they all proceeded to complement me, but at that point I really just wanted to go inside and dance, that way I could pass the time and then finally know. I was really beginning to feel like everyone was just getting in my way at this point. I mean I'll never have an opportunity like this again, this is going to be the best night of my life and nothing is going to get in the way of that.

It took a good 10 minutes of rushed hellos from my fellow classmates and a slew of half-assed compliments to finally make my way into the room that held my destiny, if I were to be crowned homecoming queen, my senior year would be complete, but not only that, my mom would have something besides herself to be proud of.

While waiting for the big announcement I tried to just enjoy my time. Joe and I took the silly posed photograph you're supposed to get at dances, and I even allowed myself to break free of all my anticipation for a slight moment in the form of dancing with my closest friends. At one point this odd girl who always tries to be my friend attempted to jump in and dance with my girls and I, but I honestly just couldn't let her. I was so close to being crowned the most popular girl in the school, nothing or nobody was more important than that, so with a few choice words I scurried the girl along.

The principle then walked up to the stage and did a very exaggerated throat clear and began to go into a long speech about the importance of school, friends and other random things until the shouting for him to just read the answer became too much. I pushed myself forward in front of my group and gestured to them to be quite so that I could hear. All I needed was for him to say my name, it was as simple as that and the anticipation was killing me.

"Okay, okay that's enough!" My principle shouted. "If you all would just quite down I will read the results."

I gave piercing dagger eyes to all those around me and eventually the crowd became silent.

"This year's homecoming Queen is the one and only... Anika Sterling!"

The kids around me all cheered and patted my shoulders as I walked up to receive my crown, as I felt like I was going to fall to my knees. I gulped back my nerves and gracefully made my way up onto the stage as I accepted my crown. Without even making a speech or saying my thanks, even without waiting for the King to be announced, I ran out through the side doors to call my mom to tell her my amazing news.

"Mom! Mom! Guess what!" I shouted into the phone the second that she answered.

"What, Anika? You know I'm at work." She said back in a flat tone just as my heart dropped to my stomach. I went to say something harsh to hurt her like she always seems to do to me, maybe without even trying, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I started turning around just as I could hear my mom on the phone repeating my name in an attempt to regain my attention when suddenly there was an impact to my face that stung like the bite from a hundred bees and with that impact my phone dropped to the ground along with myself.