Miss Taken

Chapter 4-Details

Chapter 4

I woke the next morning to the sound of faint voices from outside my small prison. It took me a moment to fully wake up and comprehend what they were saying, but even then it didn't make much sense.

"-not right, Bow. They can't just do that to people!"

"Look, I don't like it anymore than you but this is what we have to do. You know what happens if we interfere," Bow said.

There was a pause before Karter spoke again. "I still don't like it."

"He's not asking you to like it, he's asking you to do it. If we can just get this over with, everything can go back to normal."

Karter sighed. "Fine."

"Good. Now come on."

The door opened with the screech of rusted metal and Bow and Karter entered. Karter grinned at me in a forced way. "Morning... gorgeous."

I could come up with a lot of responses to that, but I went with, "What're you on?"

Karter laughed in a tight, fake way. "You are so funny."

"Karter, please tell me this is not your attempt at flirting," I said. He shrugged, falling down on my bed.

"Bow, I welcome you to hit him," I told him. Bow chuckled.

"I don't think you're the one giving the orders around here, sweetheart. I'll leave you two alone."

"No!" I exclaimed, jumping up from the bed. "Bow, please! He's crazy! He's going to chop me up into tiny pieces and store me in a Pringles can for the rest of eternity!"

Bow rolled his eyes. "I think you'll live."

"People don't live after being stored in a Pringles can for eternity, Bow!" I shouted after him, but he had already closed the door.

I sighed, turning around. "Alright Karter, you can quit the act. What do you want?"

Karter shook his head in an innocent way. "I have no idea what you mean. I'm just spending time with you."

"While your effort is ever so romantic, I'm not quite willing to further our relationship until you unkidnap me."

Karter sighed, throwing up his hands in surrender. "I give up. You are absolutely the most impossible person I've ever met."

"And you are the worst flirt I've ever met," I responded.

"Oh for heaven's sake, I wasn't flirting with you!" Karter said.

I raised an eyebrow.

Karter sighed in exasperation. "Boss made me flirt with you, okay? Just forget about it. It was never going to work anyway."

He stood up to leave but I grabbed his arm. Dang, muscles. "Wait, why did your boss want you to flirt with me?"

"He just wanted information out of you, okay? He thought you would only give it to someone you trust."

"Karter," I said quietly to enhance the drama.

"What?" he asked, more suspicious of me this time.

"You are by far the most hopeless flirt I have ever encountered."

Karter threw his head back in frustration. "I wasn't flirting with you!"

"Whatever you say," I said, falling back onto my pathetic bed. "Make me a sandwich while you're out."

"If anyone's making a sandwich it will be you," Karter retorted.

"Great, let me out of this room and I will make you a dozen sandwiches," I said.

"You're not going anywhere. You could have just played along with my flirting thing and Boss might have let you go."

"Let me go?" I asked. "I don't want to leave!"

"You've been kidnapped, Lauryn. Why would you not want to leave?" Karter pointed out.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked. "I have been trying to come up with a good excuse to miss school ever since my parents told me that they were leaving on a cruise. This is a good excuse."

Karter looked at me and shook his head in disbelief. "You would rather be kidnapped than go to school?"

I shrugged. "I'd rather be eaten by a pod of bloodthirsty, fire-breathing sharks that can fly than return to that prison."

"You realize that you are literally imprisoned right now?" Karter asked, but I had already started on another ramble.

"Is that the right word? A pod of sharks? Maybe for a group of bloodthirsty fire-breathing sharks. I don't know, maybe it's a pack of sharks. Or possibly just a group. Or a school. That's what fish are called, aren't they? A school of fish? Fishes? The English language is so weird. Like their, they're, and there. I mean, they all sound the same. They just look different. But you can't see a word as a person says it so how would you know? That would be really cool if you could, though. Like that big purple worm in Alice and Wonderland that-"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Karter shouted, rubbing his head. "You'll give me a seizure. You'll give everyone a seizure."

"You're too young to have a seizure, Karter-bear. Maybe just an anxiety attack," I said.

"I don't have anxiety," Karter snapped.

"I do," I said brightly.

"Of all people, I promise you do not have anxiety," Karter said.

"How would you know? You can't see inside my head. That would be really weird, though. You would just see a lot of bone. My dad always said I was very thick-headed. I never understood how that was an insult though. Doesn't it just mean you have a very thick skull so when my ninja murderer finally comes for me his machete won't kill me? Seems like a pretty good life plan for me. Someone doesn't want me to die. Some people do though, and those people are scary. They give you candy that might taste good, but if you're allergic to soy then you're in trouble. I don't think I'm allergic to anything. I wouldn't want to be allergic to anything at all, especially soy. Soy is probably-"

"Argh!" Karter yelled, holding his head. "For Pete's sake, girl, soy? Where did soy even come from?"

"Soybean," I said matter-of-factly. "It's an abbreviation."

"No it's not," he said. "It's just a term for it."

"That's what I just said."

"No, you-" Karter started.

"Don't be my fifth grade English teacher, Karter. You know I'm right."

Karter rolled his eyes. "This is ridiculous. I'm out of here."

"Karter!" I called as he opened the door.

He sighed. "Yes?"

"Wanna go on a date with me?" I asked slyly.

"In your dreams," Karter scoffed, walking back out the door.

"I actually don't have dreams," I said. "I'm an emotionless cyborg with no hopes and dreams in mind. Therefore, I am not physically able to-"

Karter closed the door before I could finish. I sighed and looked down sadly, feeling rather alone. There was only so much alone time a person could take.

"...dream," I finished.

A/N: Sooooo I'm an terrible, horrible, no good, very bad human being and I should be stoned. I am so sorry! :( I know it has been a very long time, much longer than I usually take. It wasn't a very exciting or long chapter either and I'm really sorry. I've been really busy around the holidays but that also makes it a terrible excuse since I'm off of school and I have tons of free time. I promise the next chapter will be more exciting. This chapter simply had to be put in, though. It's mostly a filler chapter and I'm sorry for that but it also shows some of Lauryn's emotions. This book has been kind of slow moving so far and that is obviously entirely my fault. Even though I don't have a lot of readers I feel like I have a commitment to them and so far I've pretty much failed at that. Again, really sorry guys. I'll try to get another chapter out soon, and as always, thanks for reading! :)