The Next Generation: The Peak of Defeat

Easily On My Top 10 Worst Nights: Eva's POV

[Just a fair warning there's a little bit of cussing at the beginning, but for good reason.]

My night was shitty. My dreams were shitty. My everything at this point was shitty. There was no way it could get more shitty. Unless you counted what happened when I woke up. That was the shittiest thing that could ever happen.

I was just lying there having my normal nightmare, you know, when I heard a loud scream, which understandably terrified me into waking up. Have you ever been having a horrible nightmare to begin with and then heard someone just shrieking their head off? No, you probably haven't. But suppose you did you'd probably be a little bit alarmed? Perhaps you'd even jump out of bed? That's exactly what I did-or attempted to do. Only when I went to jump up, I was stopped by a rope that was holding me to the ground. I tried to yell out in pain as gravity slammed me back to earth but there was a piece of tape over my mouth. How wonderful. Nothing like tape in the morning, am I right? But that wasn't the shittiest part.

No, the shittiest part was the fact that I WAS KIDNAPPED IN SOME PLACE I DIDN'T KNOW THAT COULD BE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. I scrambled into a sitting up position and looked around trying to gain some sort of clue to where I was. It smelled old and musty like a basement would. My basement theory was farther supported by the cold, faintly damp concrete floors and walls. The only light came from flickering yellow light bulbs that hung down from the ceiling. There was a rickety set of metal stairs that led up to a sort of balcony where a bunch of wooden crates were scattered. Well that's really unhelpful, I thought bitterly.

Suddenly I remembered the scream that woke me up. Worrying, I looked around to the four around me taking inventory of my friends. Sarah wasn't there. That freaked me out a bit, but before I could question it farther I saw Corin was staring at me, from across the room. He also had tape over his mouth and what looked like the beginnings of a black eye. His remaining eye was wide and trying to tell me something. I gave him a look because like hell I could read his expressions.

I then turned my gaze to Rob and Bleu. Robin was breathing heavily and cradling her hands to her chest, tears rolling down her face. Bleu strained towards her against his rope looking murderous, which was probably one of the scariest things I had ever seen. Bleu's mood rarely wavered from bright sunshiny happiness and seeing him furious was a first. I figured the scream must have come from Rob. I tried to ask her what happened but once again the tape stopped me. I realized that I was missing someone and searched the room.

Jace was curled up on the floor and he looked horrible, more bruised and bloody than I had ever seen him. He had taken a really brutal beating, and probably for the same reason we had tape over our mouths. Why can't any of us keep our mouths shut for once? I could barely even keep my eyes on him and I wasn't sure if he was conscious. I was only sure that he was alive because he would sometimes let out small noises of pain.

I heard some clanking of feet coming down the stairs. I turned to glare coolly but I noticed the fact that there was someone standing in front of me. It looked like the guy whose name I couldn't remember, but mostly like Henry, almost like he had double image. I decided to ignore it for now. Why is Henry here I thought, shouldn't he be at Buckingham palace eating bonbons and annoying everyone without pants on? I couldn't say this out loud of course because of the duct tape on my mouth, and not the decorative kind that was easy to get off. Gods, I hated that duct tape. I tried loosening the knots around my hands, but the more I struggled against them, the tighter they got so I just left them alone. Henry turned around probably hearing me trying to get out.

"There's no use doing that, silly goose. I had one of the boys tie a knot that'll cut off your hands if you struggle enough," Henry said, walking toward me. He squatted down and looked at me good-naturedly. Believe it or not but it had already occurred to me that Henry was an asshole and also a really bad guy.