My wrists hurt.
Wait, what? Why would my... I'm in school. No, I'm here. Where is here? Muffled voices echo and the noise is hurting my head. My head... What happened to my head? Oh, I remember! There was a man...
What is going on?
My mind hurts too much to think, I can't think clearly, did I leave my pencil case at school? There's a man waiting outside. Ow, my wrists. I try to open my eyes but it's too bright! Surely the sun is in the same room as me, it's brighter than I can bear.
Ok, but did I leave my pencil case at school? What lesson did I have last?
Science, no, English. Yeah, English, must've been, because I sat at the back. Did I? There's a man waiting outside the school.
My head hurts. Where am I?
I pass out.
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My wrists hurt.
Wait, haven't I felt this before? My head feels so heavy on my shoulders... what happened to me? I'm going back to get my pencil case, but there's a man waiting outside as I leave school. Am I tied up? Did they have to use such scratchy rope?
I can't, think I can't think, I can't think.
"Elisabeth?" Calls a sharp cruel voice that pierces my ears like a knife, I gasp with the pain. The cruel voice receives a mumbled response from somewhere behind me, "She'll still be confused, I'd wait."
Blearily, I try to open my eyes. The world swims before me, I see two men in brown suits in front of me, exactly alike.
Then my eyelids fall, I'm too tired to hold them up. Why am I tired?
My wrists hurt.
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An hour or so passes and my state of confusion fades; I understand now, well, mostly.
The man outside school kidnapped me. I don't know why. Why me? I'm the least important person I know. I'm tied to a short pole sticking out from the floor, the cold concrete floor, and the rope is rubbing my poor sore wrists.
Also, the man in the brown suit knows my name.
"Elisabeth?" Calls the sharp voiced man in a sing song tone, "Elisabeth?"
I swallow hard. I won't show him my fear.
"It's Ellie, actually." My voice comes out garbled and cracked, but at least it didn't desert me.
"Ah! She's awake! How... perfect." Brisk footsteps echo through what looks to be a warehouse, and the man stands in front of me, smiling expectantly.
He has black, slicked back hair, pale skin and he wears a brown suit just like the two men I saw earlier. Oh, I must've seen double. What did they do to my head?
"How's that concussion coming? Tut, you did it to yourself, really. It would've been so much easier if you'd have come willingly, but no. You're just like your mother..."
My...mother? The mother that abandoned me as a baby? The same woman I'd always wished loved me enough to stay?
I rearrange my face to hide my obvious shock, but the man has already seen it; he chuckles.
"Yes child, your mother. Leonie was a fine woman, though a little too secretive for my tastes. That's why you're here." His sharp voice irritates me. Leonie? Was that my mother's name?
"Where are my manners? You may call me 'Doctor' and nothing else. Don't bother introducing yourself to me, I already know everything about you."
I laugh, he made it so easy for me. "Wow, Mr Doctor, I didn't know you were such a big fan!"
His face contorts in rage but he fights to keep it under control. "Very funny." He emphasises the word 'funny' in an attempt to sound threatening, but ends up sounding like a strangled cat. I tell him so.
"Hah. Hah. Hah." HIs fake laugh is shrill and almost as unpleasant to hear as his face is to look at. I think about telling him that, but decide not to aggravate him further. He gestures to his henchmen, who lurk behind me, and they fake laugh too.
"It's hilarious actually, how you actually think you're better than me. Just your mother... The pair of you always underestimate me! I will achieve greatness, just you wait, Elisabeth."
Wow. Why is he so desperate for a 15 year old's approval? It's quite sad. Again, I refrain from remarking on this, though it would be worth it just to see his face go purple.
All the while, I secretly work on turning the rope securing my wrists over and over in my hands, searching for a weakness. If his henchmen have noticed, they stay quiet.
I don't know how much longer I can stall him. The police better be coming to get me.
"Mr Doctor?" I ask sweetly, turning my head on one side.
"It's just 'Doctor'!" He shouts, raising his finger close to my face.
"Well, Mr Doctor, I prefer Ellie. Call me by name and I'll call you by yours."
He doesn't reply but he stares at me coldly.
"Tell me what you know." His eyes bore into my head.
I don't answer.
"Tell me," He emphasises, "What you know!"
I stay quiet. I don't know what he thinks I know, but I have a sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach that he will stop at nothing for this information.
"I'll only ask one more time, Elis- Ellie." Threatens my captor.
"Tell me what you know."
Finally, I speak, "I know that I didn't have any clubs afterschool, and I know that my dad knows that. I know that he worries a lot, so I know he's called the police by now. I know that your 'henchman' looked very shifty outside school, and I know that I wasn't the only one who saw him. I know that you are trying to get the information you want, which for the record I do not know, fast because you have realised that you're running out of time."
Glancing at his henchmen, he looks at me in a different light.
"OK." He says, and walks away.
Wait, what?
"Wait, what? That's it?" I ask confusedly.
"That's it! He calls out. I can't see him anymore, he disappears with all his men behind a big metal door; as he does this, someone slips through.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eZ8pHbjuv
I recognise him immediately - My father.
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