My demons (book 1)

Taken

An excruciating pain ran through her body as she regained her consciousness. Struggling to open her eyes, she racked her brain for any explanation as to what had happened to her. 

The last thing she could remember was hearing footsteps and the feel of someone grabbing her from behind. She remembered struggling to free herself for a couple of moments before she felt a stinging pain in her neck, making her body go limp right before she passed out all-together. Shrugging, she took a look around.

She was lying on the stone cold ground of a very gloomy room. There seemed to be no windows and the only bit of light was coming from a dim light in the furthest corner of the room that she guessed was a basement. She could hear two sets of beeping noises, both following the same pattern that was oddly similar to a heartbeat.

She looked around, trying to find the source of the sounds and saw two beds in the shadowed corner of the room. People on the beds were both unconscious and there were all sorts of machines attached to them.

Captivated by the sight of them, she didn't hear the footsteps of her kidnapper approaching her. The recognition of Alina as one of the two bodies was the last thing that ran through her mind before she woke up in the hospital.

"I can't keep blacking out, it's not healthy," was the first thing that ran through her mind as she regained consciousness once again. As she opened her eyes, the lights of the hospital nearly blinded her. She groaned as she felt a piercing pain in her head, abruptly closing her eyes once again. She could feel someone squeezing her hand and the calloused yet gentle hand made her guess it was Caleb. Just as she was about to open her eyes again despite the blinding light, she heard him getting up and immediately felt the loss of contact. She heard some shuffling noting that he must have closed the curtains before retaking his position next to her bed.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," he nearly whispered as he tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear. She opened her eyes, relieved when she was met with a dim room. She let out a sigh, finally able to take a closer look at her best friend.

He looked like he hadn't slept for days. He had deep dark circles under his -usually so sparkly- eyes that just looked empty and tired. His face, a lot paler than usual, was much thinner than she remembered and his blonde hair a lot messier.

His appearance took her aback and the anxiety built up inside of her swiftly. She swallowed thickly before whispering the question she wasn't sure she wanted an answer to. "For how long was I gone?"