Taken

Road Trip

I sighed heavily. We've only been on the road for about an hour, but it felt like it had been an entire day. My green eyes flickered to Dimitri, who's brown eyes were focused intently on the road. It had been obvious he was tired. The lines under his eyes made it clear. Apperantly he wasn't use to escaping a suspicious foster home, stealing files, and stealing a car from the woman who had cared for him for only God knows how long.

I twirled a strand of brunette hair around my index finger, as another soft sigh escaped my lips, indicating that I was both tired, and bored.

Cj was in the back of the car, fast asleep. The ginger girl fell asleep almost instantly upon us getting into the car.

I noticed the stiff male, glance over to me. In a soft voice he asked, "Open up Raylin's file. You did get it, right?"

My green eyes narrowed at him. "Course I did." I snapped back slightly, in a lower voice than usual.

"Then open it up, smart one." He muttered, taking a left turn.

While we were driving, we'd mainly just been driving around aimlessly, just trying to get away.

Raylin. We need to find Raylin. She's your responsibility, River. Don't let anything happen to her. That voice that you would call your conscious is very annoying at times.

Within another minute, my delicate fingers traced over an enclosed yellow file. In bold letters, the words Raylin Ruby Evans, were written. I wasn't to shaken by this. It was normal for foster parents to have a file on their foster children. At least I think so. I'm kind of new to this thing.

I flipped open the file. Papers were stapled together, and attached to many of them were photos of her. Except. The next part is what threw me off. It's not like they had school photos, or any recent ones. No, they had photos of my little sister when she was around five. Taking a closer look at the photos, I noticed one was when Raylin was just five. I was pushing her on the swing set in the park that was a block away from our home. As I flipped through the pages, it got stranger. The photos got more private. One photo in particular was in black and white, showing the scene of...of my sister sleeping. Raylin looks to be around the age of ten. I knew well from the angle that this photo was taken from the window at the foot of her bed.

My green eyes frantically read through the papers. March 27, Raylin slept peacefully that night. I remember watching her and her sister play around the backyard. Of course, they didn't see me. They never did. I'm never caught. I talked to their mother today. I told her to pay up the money, or her secret was out. I know something that no one else did. She'd be thrown in jail, she'd be put on death row, she'd get killed by the men. Yes. The men in black suits. If she doesn't pay up soon..well, things won't go over to well. Signed, Keelor Dave.

"What the fuck?!"

Just then, the car came to a halting stop on the side of the road. Dimitri looked over at me. "What?"

"No, no. Don't stop driving, just.. they've been watching us. My family. There's notes everyday for the past few years dating back to when Raylin was five.." my voice trailed off slightly. I heard CJ stir slightly in the back of the seat, and she leaned forward slightly to look over my shoulder.

"What's going on now?" CJ asked in a sleepy tone.

"Keelor. Do any of you know a man with the first name of Keelor?" My voice seemed a bit frantic.

Cj and Dimitri exchanged confused looks. Finally, Dimitri piped up. "Ughm..yeah."

"Who is he?" I asked a bit concerned.

"Well," Dimitri shrugged softly, taking the car back onto the road as his brown eyes stared infront of him, glancing occasionally at the rear view mirror. "He's a tall guy, but beefed out but not by much."

My eyes rolled as I kept looking through Raylins file. I muttered softly, "I don't care what he looks like, I'm not trying to date him. Who is he. What does he do. Use your brain Dimitri."

"I am," Dimitri glanced back at me, before sighing. "He's just some guy who walks around in a black suit. He followed CJ around for a bit when she first got here, they did it to me too, and I imagine they tried to follow you around, but I can't see you being to content with that."

I gave a slight nod. He was right. I hated suspicious things, I hated not knowing what was going on, and-

"Oh, I mean. I know where he lives." Cj said playfully.

"Seriously..?" I muttered, a bit annoyed now. "And you're just now telling us this. Where does he live?"

"Well, he took me to his house once while they were decided where to place me. It was just before they put me in the foster home with you guys. He lives in a small town about an hour or two away from here." Cj smiled, obviously excited to be of some use for once.

Cj gave us some directions, and just like that we began the car ride over there. I just couldn't get it out of my mind. The notes. They were all about something my mother did.

My small and frail fingers than brushed over my own file. It had my name on it, River Mackenzie Jade Evans. I was scared to open it. What weird and disturbing notes would I find on it? What pictures of myself would I see?

Questions flooded into my mind, and I was eager to meet the man who stalked my family for years on end. I'm just glad Cj knew where he was. Awnser. I needed an awnser. What had my mom done that was so bad? Why wouldn't she tell me about it? As I opened the file, a few words caught my eye. It was, "birth mother" and "deceased father, Victor Smith." Yes, I did want awnsers. Yes, I did want all of my worries to fade away, but I don't think that I was ready. Was I?

I shook my head and quickly closed the file. Right now, our main focus was on Raylin. On her safety, and getting her home. I didn't have time to go through my files. I shoved the yellow file under the passenger seat, and started small talk with Dimitri and Cj. I'll read over it later, when Raylin is safe, and when we are both at home. She was our main focus right now.