Taken ((N.H.))

Chapter 1

"Cece! You're going to miss the bus if you continue moving at the pace of a snail in a snowstorm!" My mom hollers from downstairs in the kitchen.

"I don't think snails could move in a snowstorm! And I'm almost done! Just give me like... 7 and a half more seconds!" I hollered back. I hear her laugh and began counting. I finished packing my textbooks in my messenger bag and tumbled down the stairs just has my mom reached 5 Mississippi's. "Haha! New record!" I shouted in victory.

My mom chuckled and tossed my lunch to me. "Now grab something to eat and shoo. I have to work late tonight, so I won't be home for dinner. We have Mac&Cheese you can make or ravioli you can heat up." She says pacing around the kitchen, looking for her keys.

"Ok. And your keys are on the key rack." I called as I shut the front door. I heard her shout 'thank you' and walked out to the garage. I bit into the apple I grabbed as I began my walk down the street to my bus stop. I'm not exactly one to make friends. My studies are more important than keeping a social status. I would rather make it into college and gain a great career than go out and party it up all the time.

Most people see me as the nerdy girl or just don't see me at all. No one has a reason to be my friend. I'm even slightly avoided by the main nerds, which is really sad. I'm that unrecognized and that low on the social status board.

Oh well. I could care less. I pop my earbuds in and turn it to shuffle. "Diary Of Jane" by Breaking Benjamin comes on and I feel at ease. Music is my escape from the real world. I sing a little bit, but I'm not that good. I can't sing the high notes of certain songs and I can't quite hit the low notes either. I'm in between. I say I'm ok, but not as good as I've seen other people do.

The bus pulls up and everyone at the stop climbs in, pushing and shoving their way in to get away from the cold fall, almost winter air. It's October, close to Halloween. That's my least favorite holiday because I'm a scardy cat and a wimp. The littlest things can scare the shit out of me. I stay locked inside my room while my mom attends to the trick-or-treaters. I just go on some social media stuff.

All my accounts have fake names so no one will ever know the real me. The stuff about me is true though, just not the names and pictures.

I know it's wrong, but I just don't want people seeing the real me. I'm boring, pale grey eyes, long brown hair that goes down to about the bottom of my ribs, and just nothing extraordinary.

I'm ripped from my thoughts as I feel something hit the back of my head. I mutter an 'ow' under my breath as I pull both earbuds out. I turn around to see a couple of jocks laughing quietly. I look at my lap and see a small wall ball. Really guy? What are you, 8? I roll my eyes and toss the ball back at one of their faces. When I see it nails him in the eye, my eyes widen as I place a hand over my mouth to keep in the laughter.

That's not what I intended. I quickly turn around as he starts to glare at me. I'm gonna get it so bad today. I do get beat up every once in awhile, but it's not that bad.

The bus jolts to a stop and I quickly stand and exit the bus. I speed walk into the building so I can escape the jocks before they have time to beat me up and possibly shove me into a locker. These people are too cliché, I swear. Do they care? Nope!

I rush to my locker and quickly put in my combination and yank it open. These lockers are as old as the dinosaurs. They're rusted and get jammed all the time. It bothers the living hell out of me, but hey, want are you gonna do?

I grab my Geometry textbook, agenda, pencil, eraser, and drawing book. I'm better at drawing than I am singing. I just draw plain stuff like roses and scenery. Nothing special. I turn around and walk the opposite direction towards my Geometry class. I sit in the front by the teachers desk. Some people think its because I'm such a teacher pet, that they always keep me close to their desks. It's actually kinda sad 'cause I'm not.

I'm the first one to the classroom, great. My seat is close to the window, so I get a nice view of the school yard when I feel like zoning out during the lessons. My grades are high enough to allow me to zone out. So that's exactly what I do. As the class begins to fill with hormonal teenagers, I look out on the horizon, watching the clouds drift by and slowly change shape.

He wasn't looking at the building, just off into the distance. I wonder what he was thinking and more importantly, doing out there. It was almost freezing and the guy wasn't even wearing a jacket. Geez, my body would shatter into a million pieces from freezing if I stood out there. Maybe that's a little too exaggerated, but it always feels that way.

He slowly begins to walk away from the school, but not before finally glancing at it. This classroom to be a whole lot more specific. I doubt he saw me since the window is on the second floor. But whatever he was doing, it kinda creeped me out. I kept my mouth shut and eyes on the white board during our lesson today, eventually getting bored since I already knew the lesson, I began to draw. I drew another rose to add to my collection.

I sighed and glanced at the clock. Only about 10 more seconds before the bell went off. I heard people trying to silently pack up near the back, as did I. But I only had to close my journal and gather my stuff. The bell finally rung and everyone stood up at once. I shut my drawing book and grabbed all my belongings and exited the classroom.

****

The day dragged on until it was finally the end of the day. I went to my locker and loaded up my messenger bag with my books and quickly left, so that way I wasn't late for the bus. But of course, me being the most unluckiest person to ever exist, the bus just pulled out of the parking lot, already heading down the road. I sighed in defeat and began walking.

My house was about three and a half miles away from the school, but honestly, the distance felt so much longer than it should be. I was about half way to my house, when it felt like someone or something was watching me. Chills ran up and down my spine as I turned my head to look behind me. There was a white van that pulled up to the curb, not too far from where I'm standing.

My breath hitches and I turn my head back around and walk a little faster. That didn't really help much since, who ever that is, as a car and can catch up to me easily. Panic was quickly building inside me, the van was getting closer. I was fed up so I reached into my pocket and dialed 911.

"911, what's your emergency?" A lady asked.

"Someone's following me. I'm scared." I replied. I still refused to look behind me.

"Ok, is he in a car or walking? And where are you?" She asked, getting more concerned.

"He's in a white van and I'm on 28th street off of Dallas road. Please send help." I said freaking out as I heard the tires screech to a stop, a door slamming shut not too long after.

"We're sending help right away. Just keep walking away from the person."

"Ok, thank you. Please hurry." And with that, I hang up and shove my phone back in my pocket. I continue to walk faster way from the person. Bu I guess I didn't walk fast enough. The person comes up behind me, wraps an arm around my waist and places a cloth over my mouth.

My screams are muffled. I breathe in through my nose, only to make me feel sleepy. This was one of those knock out cloths. My eyelids began to get heavy as my body went limp.

The person dragged me backwards towards the van. He sat me down on the ground while he opened the door. Once it was open, he picked me back up and tossed me inside. He slammed it closed and ran over to the drivers side. Just as we started heading down the road, I was out cold.