When I was seven, I was kidnapped and held for ransom by a terrorist organization.
I was rescued, swiftly. But it didn't make the next times any easier. I guess that happened when your mother was the president of an entire country in the midst of civil war; you get kidnapped often. I should be used to it. I was beginning to get used to it.
But I wasn't used to this.
Before, I used to only be abducted in public places--malls, Mc Donalds, and the like. And it had only ever been me that they took. Out of all the places on Earth, I never expected to be taken hostage in Imavory, the "Safest Place on Earth". I never expected to be taken hostage along with the entire student body. But then, here we were, me and my classmates, being forced to kneel with red dots peppering our shirts.
How did this happen?
Imavory was the most prestigious school. Ever. Yet very few knew it existed. Which, in hindsight, was both ingenious, and a major flaw. Because it was kept so under the radar, no communication--electronic or otherwise--was permitted. No one except the faculty, and the students. Cut off from the world. For nine months.
It was the first week of school when the takeover began. Courteous, of them to wait a week for the freshman to become acquainted and the upperclassmen to settle back in before beginning the chaos. It had been quick, the kind of startling efficiency that made your head hurt. That morning, we woke up, and ate breakfast in the main hall. For dinner, we were being fed pre packaged sandwiches in isolation, under arrest in our own dorms.
I don't think it really hit us until we went to sleep that first night. I don't think we realized it until we went to sleep with the little red light in the corner of our room.
Our lives were in danger. And at any moment, on a whim, our captor could press a button or flip a switch and the choker around our necks would explode.
I don't think anyone slept the first night our school became a prison.
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When we woke up, the morning after the takeover, no one knew what to do. I sure know I didn't know what to do, either. But then a voice came over the loudspeaker. It broke the silence that seemed to hang over the school since the first gun shot. A feminine voice spoke, the professionally polite voice that narrated all of the school's announcements. As soon as the five toned sound echoed through the halls, my head snapped up.
"As of last night, Imavory has come under new management. However, quality education still remains our top priority. Please proceed to your Homeroom class." The speaker clicked off.
I didn't realize I was holding my breath until my lungs started to burn. I took a deep, shaky breath. New management? What did that mean? Was this a fucking joke? I had been kidnapped a many, many times, but this was a first. And what did education have to do with anything? You kidnap people for money. Or revenge. A terrifying thought crossed my mind. Or revenge.
I heard a whirr, and the magnetic locks released, and the door to my dorm slid open. Or revenge. I wondered if this was a trap. If whoever had taken over Imavory wasn't in it for money, but to settle a score. To get even. Massacre. Was this a trap? Was I going to walk out of my room and into the hallway, and get turned into swiss cheese?
Find out next week on America's Favorite Romcom: Two Gays and a Hostile Takeover!
