Taken

Chapter 1: Captured

North Carolina, U.S.

"Ayo, Clara." My friend Leighton called from the couch across the living room, raising a red solo cup in the air. "Relax and come have some fun with us before the game."

"Chill, dude." My other friend Kristy replied as she lit a decent-sized joint that she was holding between her middle and index fingers and took a hit.

"Yeah, she'll join in on the fun if she wants to." My third friend Ashton answered with a grin. "Though she doesn't know what she's missing."

That last sentence was meant to encourage me to join in in their shenanigans. I wasn't a big fan of parties. They were loud, there were often too many people crammed together in a small space, and it usually reeked of alcohol, weed, and occasionally vomit.

"Clara, it's your senior year of high school." Kristy laughed after she exhaled a plume of smoke. "Live it up a little."

"Join us! Join us! Join us!" Leighton chanted enthusiastically.

"Eh, alright." I replied with a shrug and a grin as I walked over. "Might as well."

"I'll scoot over so you'll have some room to sit." Ashton remarked as he created a space between himself and Kristy. "Do you want a drink or anything?"

"Thanks, but I don't drink." I replied. "I don't really like the taste of alcohol."

It was a legitimate excuse. I didn't like the way it felt going down my throat or the thought of blacking out drunk and waking up the next morning with a splitting headache and covered in vomit.

"That's alright. You can have the rest of this joint, if you want." Kristy chimed in as she stared off into space with squinty, bloodshot eyes and absent-mindedly passed me the joint. "Weed is a little more chill than alcohol and I'm already decently high. This stuff is good."

Eh, why not. I hesitated slightly before I took the joint from between my friend's fingers and took a hit. The smoke was hot and harsh, causing me to immediately gag and cough out all of the smoke.

"You gotta inhale deeply when you hit the joint. Breathe the smoke deep into your lungssssss."

I left the joint between my lips and reached back to tie my short, dirty blonde hair back in a messy bun with one of the fabric hair ties that I always wore around my wrist in case of 'emergencies'. I took another hit and inhaled deeply as I did so. My lungs were screaming at me to exhale, but I forced myself to hold the smoke, only exhaling when I felt my heart rate start to speed up. Once I had breathed out the smoke, I noticed that the voices of my friends around me had become more muffled and distant-sounding. I sat in silence and stared at the slowly burning joint in my hand for a couple of seconds before I took another hit; this one was bigger than the last. I held it for about five seconds and slowly leaned back into the couch as I exhaled.

"Lar? You good?" Ashton asked me as he leaned over to me slightly.

His voice sounded incredibly far away even though I knew that he was right next to me in reality.

"My entire body feels like it fell asleep and my ears feel like they're filled with cotton or soda." I giggled with the joint still in hand. "And everything's so... so... intense. Like... damn."

"Feeling good there, Clara?" Leighton laughed as he took a sip from his cup.

"Yeeeeee."

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I ended up finishing the rest of the joint and dropped the used filter into the cup of water that had suddenly appeared on the coffee table in front of me.

"Damn, you finished that whole thing by yourself?" A male voice said.

I had forgotten the names of everyone around me and I had to remind myself to breathe as I looked at my surroundings through blurry eyes. I could've sworn someone said something to me.

"What?" I replied.

"I said, 'Damn, you finished that whole thing by yourself?" A male voice answered with a sigh.

"Jesus, Lar." A different male voice addressed me with a laugh. "You're fried. Like, really fried."

"Heh, I don't know why I didn't start smoking sooner." I replied with a wide grin. "I feel niiiiiiiiiiice."

"Welcome to the club!" A familiar feminine voice laughed as the voice's owner leaned back and closed her eyes with a contented-sounding sigh. "Dude, lean back and close your eyes. It's magical."

I mirrored her actions and was plunged into a world of bliss. Everyone's voices were just background noise to me at this point and I could literally feel the music that was playing. I didn't know the name of the song or exactly who the artist was, but I did know that with every bass note, I could feel my bones rattle and my heartbeat in my ears. Would I smoke again? Probably, but only in a social setting and only if someone offered it to me. As lazy as it sounded, I didn't want to have to go through all of the trouble and risk to find a reliable dealer.

~~~

After a little while, I opened my eyes and slowly sat up and looked around. The house was now totally quiet (aside from a few snores) and empty; well, other than myself and a few of my classmates who had passed out drunk on some of the chairs or on the floor. Kristy and Leighton were gone, but Ashton was still here, asleep on his side of the couch with his head resting on the dark leather couch's armrest.

Still mentally hazy, I fished around for my phone in the pocket of the light jacket that I had opted to wear (despite it being Spring) in order to check the time and read any new messages that I might've gotten. I had five unread messages from my mom and eleven missed calls from her as well, along with an unopened message from Leighton and Kristy. I paid them no mind and checked the time. The numbers on the top of my phone screen read 1:54am. Crap, mom said to be home by 11:30pm. I stood up with a sigh and carefully picked my way around sleeping bodies and empty cups, cans, and bottles to the front door.

I didn't realize how stale the air inside that house was until I stepped outside into crisp, early morning air. I grinned to myself, tucked my phone back into my pocket, and started to walk. Thankfully, I only lived three blocks away from this house, so I didn't have to drive myself or rely on someone to drive me to and from the party. I knew that when I got home, my mother was going to give me an ear full about staying up past my curfew and blah blah blah and I was going to pretend to listen to everything that she was saying.

Once I reached the second block, an uneasiness crept over me, making my skin tingle and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I stopped and turned around to look behind me, but no one was there. That's odd. I thought. I could've sworn- Before I could turn back around and resume walking, a heavy weight slammed into me and caused me to land roughly in the grass of somebody's front lawn. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but a gloved hand was slapped over my mouth. Instinct kicked in and I began lashing out with my limbs at my attacker, hoping to land a decent kick or punch. When that didn't work, I bit down hard on the hand that had covered my mouth. My teeth successfully connected with the intended target and the owner of the hand let out a muffled string of cusses as the hand was removed from my mouth.

Before I could get back on my feet, let alone scream, more weight was applied to my body as two more figures emerged from the darkness. A different gloved hand was slapped over my mouth while my arms and legs were restrained. Once I was rendered completely helpless, one more figure emerged holding a syringe filled with a sickly yellow glowing liquid. The syringe's needle shone dangerously in the sparse moonlight and before I knew it, I felt a quick prick in the side of my neck and the next time I saw the syringe, it was totally empty.

I was breathing heavily through my nose as I fought whatever it was that I had been injected with. Eventually, my struggling slowly became less and less as a warm, heavy feeling spread over my limbs and my head started to pound. I was picked up and quickly placed on the floor in the very back of a van. I managed to flinch as the door slammed shut behind me, completely dashing any hope that I may have had of escaping.

As the vehicle's engine roared to life, total and complete blackness consumed my vision.