Royal Pain//Max Mills

Chapter XVIII

I opened my eyes slowly. The room was dark but I could still make out the empty box I was slumped in. My butt ached from sitting on the hard, stone floor, resting against a wall. One of four. I looked around me as I massaged my shoulder. There was nothing in the room except a relatively big TV in the corner, facing me.

I rolled over on my knees and stood up. My head was pounding and my skin was cold and bare. I looked down and noticed that they hadn't given me any clothes, I was still only in my boxers, slowly freezing to death.

The TV flickered to life with a blue screen. I turned my attention to it. The picture flickered and on came Maya Roberts. She sat down at the TV on the other side and smiled into the camera, straight at me.

"Hello again Max. That was quite a fall you had, you've been unconscious about two days." She smiled like that was normal.

My hand drew up to my head where it was throbbing and felt a rough plaster.

"You've missed out on some action but no worries. I recorded it all and plan on letting you see it right after this. I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to say anything to your friends before you see them?" She asked.

I was confused and kept my mouth shut.

"There's a microphone fixated to the TV, I can hear you." She confirmed.

I looked back at her and my legs immediately walked over to the screen. I crouched down and opened my mouth. "Where are they?"

She smiled sickeningly. "Here."

" What have you done with them? "

"You'll soon see. You wanna ask them what I did to them?" She giggled.

I looked up at the screen again as she clicked a few buttons on the desk off screen in front of her. The image of Maya distorted and changed to a live video of Rana.

Her hair was a tangled mess, her eyes dead, crying automatically, her lip quivering, she was dressed in torn clothes and was huddled in a corner, shivering.

"Rana!" I yelled.

She looked around and then at the TV. My image must have come up because she broke into a sob and covered her mouth, shaking her head. She rocked forward, sobbing.

"M...mu....ma..."

That was all she seemed to be saying. She was in such shock, she couldn't speak. "Rana, what's wrong?" I asked, putting my hand on my side of the screen, tears prickling in my eyes.

She shook her head and started knocking her head against the wall gently as if she were crazy.

"Rana! Stop it! I'll get you out of here!" I yelled.

She opened her mouth. "H- h....ha.....hu...har..." She muttered quietly.

My brain put it together and i smiled at her. "Yes Rana! Harvey! I'll take you to Harvey!"

She stopped and looked up at me. Her eyes locked into mine. "Harvey?" She asked.

" Yes, Harvey. "

A tear fell down her cheek. "I love Harvey."

I nodded as an identical tear fell down my face. "So do I Rana, so do i."

Then the screen distorted again, the image blurred and up came a new one of Caroline. My jaw dropped open as I saw her strapped down to a metal table. She was being held down tightly as she screamed and cried out, whacking the back of her head down on the metal harshly. Her body was jerking harshly as she shrieked and banged her head harder each time.