Robbed of Freedom

Chapter 9

Paige's POV

I still blamed myself for Kim's disappearance. It had been two weeks since their house was robbed and Kim was kidnapped. I hadn't gone back to school.  My condition only worsened.  I went from at home sick to in the hospital sick. Anytime I thought about her I would throw up.  It was just too painful.

My parents and the doctors were worried.  When I wasn't sleeping I was watching the news, waiting for them to say anything about Kimberly. They were still looking for her but the news about it had died down. We still had no clue who had taken her. We did find out that there had been a string of robberies most likely connected to this one.

Everyone was worried. The police became concerned that Kimberly had died. Her parents were distraught.  I don't think they've gotten a wink of sleep since she's been missing. They just walk around worrying as if it will make her suddenly appear. Honestly,  it makes me angry. Why can't she just appear? Why did she have to stay home? Why hasn't she tried to escape? Why isn't she here?

If she were here I promise I would've been better by now. It was all her fault. Why couldn't she just wait till the next day to talk to me? Why couldn't she have gotten away? Or called the police earlier? Why?!? I just don't understand.  I don't understand why anyone would do this. She was an amazing person. Why would anyone want to take her away from her family? I wanted to kill the men who took her. I wanted to hold a gun to their head and kill them. I hated them with more hate than I could express.

When I wasn't crying or throwing up, tears would stream down my face. We had stuck together like glue for 13 years. I couldn't imagine life without her. If I found out she died I think I might kill myself.

Kim's POV

The song played all day and all night. Ryan and Neel would bring me food every now and then. They would turn off the music when they got there, then while I ate they would turn it back on and leave. Often times I would throw up after being fed. The song and the lights kept me from sleeping,  and keeping my food in. I couldn't go far for the bathroom, so there soon became a designated pile. The throw up was somewhat contained in an area, but there was some on the cushion I slept on and all over me. The basement was usually freezing cold, I was always shivering. In other words life was miserable. But when has it not been since I met these guys.

Ryan and Neel came down after about a week of music, no sleep, throwing up, and constant shivering. They brought with them a giant chest. It was one of those big round top chests you see in pirate movies and it had a large padlock in the front of it. They sit it down and opened the lid. I slide to the corner scared of what might be in it.

Ryan came over to me and unhooked the collar, then he yanked the rope attached to my stomach for me to follow him. I tripped twice in the two feet it took to get there. You could see bones sticking out of my flesh. My stomach was sunken as was my face. They pushed me into the chest, positioning myself so I was lying on the bottom with my feet against my chest. They wrapped the rope around my legs tightly do that I couldn't move them without yanking on my stomach. Then they turned the music back on. Neel came back and slammed the lid down. I heard a click, and I was filled with dread.

I had never been afraid of closed spaces but this was different. Most closed in spaces you know you can get out of, but in such a circumstance as this, where you know that there is no possible way out, anyone with a sane mind would be scared. I started punching at the walls of the chest trying to break out, but nothing worked.

Ryan's POV

Neel locked the chest and stood back up. After a couple seconds we heard thumping against the chest. She didn't like it. GOOD. It wasn't meant to be fun. What she had coming after this was going to be even less fun for her. We started laughing. We sat on the ground watching as it would shift a few centimeters from the thumping. Eventually it died down and we started to he crying. By that point we had gotten annoyed with the song we had put on, so we went upstairs.

We had been keeping an eye on the news to make sure no one saw us, or got any leads on us. So far, so good. Kimberly's friend was in the hospital sick. We had discussed whether or not we should tell Kimberley or not. Eventually we decided against it. We were having so much fun with her anyways, why would we make her spirit worse. She was already low on hope. She had almost stopped struggling. We had hoped by tomorrow she might have some more fight in her but we doubted it. We're thinking about giving her another week to rest,  this time without music and lights. Maybe even let her go to an actual bathroom. She could clean up around the house. We could let her get stronger then we can break her back down again. I suggested this idea to Neel and he got really excited. "Alright,  but you'll have to let me go first when the time comes to it."

We shook on it. We decided Kimberly would spend the rest of the night in the box. Meanwhile we cleaned out a small closet and put her cushion in it. We screwed in a hook,  that would be to far up for her to reach,  and we put in some dog food and water bowls. She wasn't going to get off that easy. I mean we even put a blanket in there. We made the light switch easy to reach, and made the room soundproof.

Then we went around to each room and stuck a hook from the center of the ceiling. Then we decided we had prepared enough, and went to bed.

Kim's POV

I was awake all night. Eventually what seemed like days later, I heard the padlock snap open. The box was open and I stood staring up at Ryan and Neel. Ryan lifted me out of the box and led me upstairs by the rope.

They took me, to my surprise, to the bathroom. They sat me down on the toilet and watched as I did my business. When I was finished they even let me wash my hands. Then they took my pants off and put me in the bathtub and took my rope over the shower curtains and tied it to a hook, impossibly out of reach. "You have five minutes." Ryan said as he and Neel walked out the door, closing it behind them.

At this point I didn't even think about escaping. I could barely stand. So I turned on the water and started to wash myself.

I had just finished rinsing the conditioner out of my hair when they barged in. "Times up."

I didn't argue. I was happy enough to be clean. The undid the rope and led my to a floor to ceiling bookcase. Ryan tied my rope to a door handle and moved over by Neel at the bookcase. Together they pulled it out,  revealing a door behind it. The unlocked the door and turned on the light.

Neel grabbed my rope and led me inside. "This is your new home. You will eat, drink, and sleep here. When you're not doing any of those things you will be cleaning or preparing meals. We will let you use the bathroom twice a day once at the beginning once at the end. If you're good we will let you take a shower at the end of the week." Ryan said as Neel tied my rope to a hook in the ceiling. "Today you can rest for a while,  and we will come get you when it is time for you to work."

Then they left. Locking the door on their way out. I latest down and started rummaging around to see if there was anything around. I found a crumpled up price of paper and a chewed on pencil with no eraser,  along with some chewed gum, a paperclip, and some lint. I slide the paper and pencil under my cushion for later. I left the gum and lint where it was. That left the paperclip. I couldn't think of anything to do with it so I just put it with the paper. I drank some of the water and ate a little bit of the meat that was there. Then I turned out the light to sleep. Without the cold,  music and lights, sleeping was so much easier, and I found myself drifting off after a couple minutes.