heartless ; 𝐭. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤 , 𝟏

02 - hopeless and alone

august 1572

SHE WAS NEARLY asleep when they stopped moving. Her shock had worn off, leaving the unmistakable sensation—or lack thereof—of numbness that wrapped its way around her body, squeezing the fight out of her, incapacitating her. She'd tried to fight the sleep that was dragging her eyelids closed, trying to remind her brain and body that she had no right to fall asleep while she was, in fact, being abducted by men that she didn't know. But alas, her twelve-year-old brain refused to stay awake.

When the horse stopped moving, she was jolted to an upright sitting position compared to her moderately more comfortable position leaning forward on the horse's neck and wrapping her arms around him so as to stay atop him. The horserider behind her slid down to the ground and pulled off his mask that had previously kept his face in obscurity. Jacqueline peered through the darkness and tried to decipher his features in the moonlight, but she was unsuccessful.

"Qui êtes-vous?" Who are you? She asked timidly, though she knew it was hopeless to think she might get an answer. He and his...friends looked like they would rather do anything than sit and chat with a group of young boys and girls like herself.

But he surprised her as he led his horse to a nearby tree and secured his reins around the trunk. "Jacques Dubois," he spoke roughly, his voice crackling through the smooth silence that surrounded the small group of abductors and the abducted.

One of the others let out a gasp and hissed, "Qu'est-ce que tu fais?"

Yes, I would like to know what he's doing, too, Jacqueline mused inwardly. Her abductor merely shrugged. "It's not like she'll remember this by the time the sun rises, anyway," he reasoned, letting maniacal laughter take over his body.

The twelve-year-old girl sitting on the horse felt the urge to rip the reins from their place on the tree and get the merde out of there, but she could hear her father's voice in her head, telling her to pick her fights. She knew she wouldn't get far from here, and even if she managed to be fast enough, she was completely lost. She had no idea where she was.

For now, it was safest to comply with the abductor's requests.

But it did make her pause when he mentioned not remembering things. Just what the devil had she been dragged into?

She felt a hand on her wrist, yanking her down and off the horse. She let out a small sound of protest, suddenly feeling like it was all real. Without the strong horse beneath her, she had no means of escape. Looking around, Jacqueline could see that her feeling of panic was shared among the other six kids that were taken with her. The uncertainty of what was bound to happen to them was utterly maddening as they were led into the darkness, away from the horses and further into the woods.

"Où allons-nous?" Where are we going? She asked quietly, knowing that if she didn't stop asking questions, if she didn't stop letting words fall from her lips, she wasn't sure if she would ever open her mouth again.

Her kidnapper—Monsieur Dubois—just squeezed her wrist tighter and yanked her along faster. "No questions," he said gruffly, dragging her hard enough to make her trip over her own feet and fall to the ground. Refusing to help her up, he waited as she scrambled to her stand and kept along at a rapid pace.

Jacqueline saw her mother's face flash in her mind, a strong pang of guilt and shame gutting her. Je regrette, Maman, she spoke inwardly to the memory of her mother. I'm so sorry. I should have fought harder, and now I'm being abducted by strangers who praise a German name.

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She was tired. It was obvious now, the way she dragged her feet as they kept walking through the woods, up and around roots that stuck out of the ground like undead ghosts grabbing at their feet. She knew not to ask for a break, but they had been walking for hours now. She could tell; the sun had risen and its rays were just beginning to peek through the thick canopy of trees above them.

Longing for a ray of sunshine to fall upon her kidnapper's face so she could catch a glimpse of what kind of evil rested in the man beside her, Jacqueline stretched her neck upward, blinking. Before she could raise her eyes above his waist, however, the twelve-year-old's vision was cut off as an itchy cloth—probably wool—was dragged over her eyes and tied tightly at the back of her head. A few strands of hair were caught in the knots and tugged painfully from her scalp. Wincing, Jacqueline felt a tear fall from her eyes and absorb into the woolen blindfold. Oh, mon Dieu, aidez moi! She prayed for help from her God.

Considering she was still in the grasp of these strange men and the minimal hope she had left was dwindling, Jacqueline began to feel the odd sense of betrayal by her savior in Heaven. No one is coming for me, she realized with a sharp twist of her gut. I am alone, even with these people around me. I am alone.

Her captors led her and the others forward, turning and twisting through the forest once more until they stopped in front of something that cast a shadow over her, the warmth of the sun absent from this recess in the wood. One of the kids let out a whine, starting to cry. "Take me home," the young boy wailed and received a slap in return. His words cut short, but he whimpered some more, fear taking over his body.

Jacqueline heard the sounds of a struggle between the boy and his holder, a scream rising from his lungs, just about to reach its apex when his kidnapper cursed and then—the scream was interrupted with deadly silence.

She felt her knees give out as she realized what she'd just witnessed. A rumbling in her gut prepared her to keel over and empty her stomach, but she wasn't even allowed the pleasure of falling to the ground; she was picked up like a feather and tossed over Dubois's shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to clear her mind. She didn't have to see the murder for her mind to imagine it. It was all she could see as someone grunted, "What a shame. I thought the boss would like him."

Someone knocked on the barrier in front of them, a metal clang sounding in the otherwise silent forest. They waited for a few seconds, nothing happening besides the shifting of gears as an unknown person on the inside unlocked what was no doubt a hidden door in the forest.

"Ah, bonjour, Madame," Dubois spoke, his words rumbling through Jacqueline's body as she was brought forward into a dark cavern behind the door. Despite the blindfold over her eyes, the threads were woven loosely so as to reveal what kind of light she was surrounded by. A bobbing orange haze ahead of her looked like a torch, probably carried by the woman who'd let them in.

Jacqueline stayed silent as they traipsed through the dark corridors, the metal door banging shut behind them and enveloping them in darkness save for the lone torch that seemed to float around them. She hung there over his shoulder, unsure if she would ever speak again, after what she'd just bore witness to. The poor boy had said less than she had, and look what he got in return. She had no idea what was happening to her, or what was in her future. Right now, the only thing she knew was that she could not end up like that boy.

She would survive, no matter what horrors she had to see. She would live long enough to escape from this place, wherever she was. Jacqueline Kingston would not say hopeless and alone forever.

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hello everyone! sorry this is so late, i didn't have any motivation on friday to write, and on saturday i babysat for like the entire day(made bank, tho), so i had no time. now, i know i usually fall off my posting schedules, but i'm hoping i can stay on track with this one! see you on tuesday for the next chapter!

published on: february 10, 2019