The Fallen

Amirèe

I woke up pooled in moonlight and chained to a bolt in the middle of a concrete floor. Two iron manacles unforgivingly bit into my wrists. My skin was prickling with cold, and a million possibilities were running through my mind, each more terrifying than the last. The silence all around me was the worst part. It was an eerie quiet that you would associate with horror movies, or the calm before a deadly storm. It was all I could do to keep from crying.

I curled into a fetal position, shivering, my sweater wasn't keeping me warm, and my legs were stabbed by the cold of the concrete floor. There was nothing but darkness all around me except for the small amount of moonlight pouring from the skylight, which sat directly above me.
"I'm impressed, most people scream for help the second they wake up. You must be smart to realize that won't help anything." The boy who had kidnapped me walked into the light, he might've been standing in the darkness so I wouldn't see him when I woke up.

"What do you want with me?" I sat up daringly, crossing my legs beneath me, and scooting closer to the bolt so I could relax my wrists. I looked him in the eyes, feeling the same overbearing malice I had earlier, but this time, I couldn't run away. I filled myself with as much fake bravado as I could muster and didn't let my eyes waver from his.

"I don't want anything from you exactly, I need to find a girl." His eyes skimmed over every inch of me, slowly drinking in my shivering body with smoldering eyes. He was like a wild beast, hungry and barely controlled.

"I'm not her, I haven't met you a day in my life."

"She doesn't know I'm looking for her, you see, she doesn't even know who she really is, and it's my job to find her. Though, I can't leave a trail back to me either, so I dispose of the girls who aren't her." He crouched next to me and grabbed my chin between his fingers. "See the girl I need had curly brown hair, she's sixteen, almost seventeen, and goes to your high school. She has a little brother and is apparently very pretty and strong-willed. At least, that's what my boss says."

My whole existence froze over with panic. All the girls who were found dead had curly brown hair and they went to my school. Some of those girls had been in my class, I was friends with at least two or three of them, and I knew their families. They did have brothers, and none of them were ugly. Now, I would be next, or worse, I could be the person he was looking for. What would happen to me if I was? There was no way he would just let me go.

"They have so many girls with that profile."

"None of them had bright purple eyes, all of them were screaming and crying, so they weren't as strong-willed as I'd hoped they'd be, and, he never came to save any of them." He rubbed his thumb across my bottom lip, sickening me to my stomach. "I hope he saves you, I can finally be freed of this bothersome mission."

"That's what this is betting on? Someone saves me, and that's how you know who I am? Then what? Are you just going to let me go free? That's hard to believe since I know your face."

"If you and he are together, then I don't have anything to worry about. Everything will play out in its own time, and I can just sit and watch. I'm pretty lazy, so the break will be appreciated, Amirèe." He caressed my name in a way that made my skin crawl. I couldn't do this, I couldn't pretend to be brave when he was so openly saying that if someone didn't come save me, some random dude, then he would kill me. The look in his eyes told me he's killed before, that he would do it again if need be, that he didn't care what happened to me or anyone else.

There were the sounds of feet scampering around in the darkness, and the boy smiled. "Looks like I finally found you baby girl." He pressed his mouth against my forehead harshly, "Thanks for the break," he grinned and walked away, I couldn't see him anymore.

I pulled at my chains frantically, disgusted at the feeling of his mouth on my skin, which I couldn't seem to get rid of, ignore, or forget. I refused to stay stagnant and began kicking at the bolt as hard as I could. Over and over again, all you could hear was the clang of my hard-bottom-shoes against the metal. Once it loosened, I stood up and tugged at the chains, pulling it out slowly, but surely. I was loose within minutes. Deeming the direction the boy had went in as dangerous, I moved in the direct opposite direction, unable to see in the shadows, but feeling my way through the darkness anyway.

I would make it, I would be free. Eventually I found a door and tried the knob, but it was locked. Desperately, I kicked it repeatedly, but it wasn't budging. I had to do something, so I moved back a good few feet and charged at the door as fast as I could, shoving it open with my shoulder as the momentum gave me strength than I wouldn't have had otherwise.

It gave way with a groan, opening into a dark parking lot, gray and graced with the light from the night sky. I was relieved to be outside but had no idea where I was. There were several warehouses in town, and many of them were inactive. Without any way of knowing where exactly I was, getting home would be a struggle, but I moved on anyway, running with the chain wrapped around my wrists so that I wouldn't trip on it. Adrenaline carried my feet down the pavement, and I almost made it to the road. Almost.

Someone grabbed one of my braids and pulled me back, dragging me back to the warehouse. I screamed, but just as fast as they had grabbed me, I was released. I turned around in astonishment to see Kevin, his back to me, and facing off against at least ten people. There was a man crumpled at his feet, who must've been the person that tried to snatch me.