-6- My Life Went Down The Toilet So A Vampire Took Me -6- Kidnapped

Life I found settled into a schedule. Everything seemed to be going fine with me at school. I had good friends and was doing well in classes (even English). At home things continued to be a mess.

Nick was almost never home. He became that child that needed to live at other peoples houses because he didn’t feel that his home was satisfactory. Mikey never forgot the loss of Bop-Bop. Jordan and I bought him masses of stuffed animals to make up for the lost friend, but none would suffice. Jordan’s life at work became difficult and tedious. He was working long hours for little pay. His boss would call him out on graveyard shifts or at other unwanted times, leaving me to care for Mikey many nights.

Although I saw Zack around school and even found I had a few classes with him, we didn’t talk again. But I always felt his eyes on me. It was creepy, the way he looked at me as if he knew something I didn’t.

“He’s looking at you again,” Avery hissed.

We were currently in Chemistry, one of the classes I had with Avery and Zack. I glanced over just in time to see his brown eyes rip themselves away from looking at Avery and me to look at the board.

“No, I think he’s looking at you. I bet you he has this deep love for you. He wants you oh so bad, Avery. Every night he stares at your picture, watching, wondering, waiting!”

Avery snorted. “Oh, yeah, that’s it. Cause I look oh so hot today.” I surveyed her looks. She wore her glasses and had not put any makeup on. Her eyes had red rims around them. Her hair was in a messy bun, looking neither brushed nor washed.

“Wow, Avery, no offense but, you look like crap.”

Avery sighed. “I know. My Dad called last night and that just sparked this whole thing. I was up half the night thinking about it and then when I finally did fall asleep, I missed my alarm and didn’t have time to shower or anything.”

I knew Avery’s parents were divorced and she didn’t know where her Dad was but I never pushed the subject. It seemed to be touchy for my friend and the red-rimmed eyes just proved my suspicions.

“If you need to talk or anyth-”

“Avery, Maddy. Is there something you need to share with the class?”

We looked up to Mr. Smith, who now had his eyes trained directly on the two of us. Suddenly my heart rose into my throat and I couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. I knew it was because I was going against the rules, against the grain. I couldn’t be in trouble. Luckily Avery talked.

“No, Mr. Smith. Sorry for interrupting you class.”

Mr. Smith huffed and then went back to teaching. Avery gave me a look that said Are you ok?

I shrugged. I’d tell her soon enough.

I walked through the park near our home. The sun was just setting in the sky. Jordan had gotten off of work a bit early so he said he’d take care of Mikey tonight. Nick was gone again, this time at his friend Mark’s. That left me to do what I wanted. I decided I hadn’t walked in the park for a while, given myself a chance to stretch my legs.

Everything was peaceful. The leaves on the trees radiated against the fall sun, shimmering different colors. I could see some people, lovers and such, sitting on picnic blankets, watching the beautiful sunset.

I sat on a bench on the edge of the sidewalk. Directly behind it were bushes. I closed my eyes and let my head drop back, soaking up the last of the autumn sun.

I was startled when an arm wrapped itself around my torso from behind and heaved me over the back of the bench. My mouth opened to let out a scream but before a sound could pass my lips a sweaty palm was clamped over it. My spine scraped the back of the bench painfully, bruising it. I landed in a heap behind the bench on the leaves and dirt, obscured by the bushes.

I found the palm was no longer covering my mouth. “What that he-”

The hand was slapped back on and my body was quickly tugged and my back was pressed against my kidnapper. Suddenly, stories of girls kidnapped and raped in parks flashed through my mind as fear grasped my stomach in its iron hold. I could feel tears slipping out of my eyes and I desperately tried to form words under the incriminating hand.

“Shhh,” my kidnapper said. “Don’t talk Maddy.” I was suddenly aware that my kidnapper was in fact a man and I recognized his voice from somewhere. “If I let go of your mouth, will you promise not to talk?” he whispered. I nodded into the hand, desperate to place the voice. It dropped from my face and I immediately whipped my head around to catch a glimpse of my captor. I was surprised to meet the familiar light brown hair and brown eyes of Zack.

“Zack?” I said out loud, confused.

“Shhh,” he hissed through his teeth, his eyes not trained on me. I turned my head to see what he was looking at and once again fear grabbed my stomach. Zack was currently watching a man walking along the path of the woods. Not just any man. The man who had taken my wallet, knocked me out and then put my wallet back. I could faintly see a bandage wrapped around his hand.

I watched the stranger with wary eyes, not sure of what was happening or what to think. The man seemed intent on something, his eyes narrowed, his face scrunched as if he smelled something bad.

He drew closer to the bench Zack and I hid behind. When he was just passing it he suddenly stopped. His face softened and I could swear I saw the hint of a smile on his lips. His head whipped and looked at the bench. It seemed almost as if he was looking right threw it, as if he could see Zack and I. I heard him sigh.

“I know you’re behind there. Why don’t you just come out and we can make this nice and easy.”

I was afraid to leave my spot now behind the bench, suddenly aware of what this man had done to me a few weeks ago. I grasped Zack’s arm in fear. The problem was, Zack was lifting himself up to stand, lifting me up with him.

I gripped onto Zack’s arm even tighter, my eyes widening in fear. I was distantly aware that Zack had glanced at me and looked at me in confusion and, dare I say it, disgust even. My response to the look was to hide myself a little bit behind his body. I feared the strange man.

“What do you want?” Zack had decided to ignore me and was now addressing the man. I park, I noticed, had emptied in the few minutes my eyes were closed. We were now the only three standing in view.

The man smirked. “I do not wish much,” he answered to Zack’s inquiry. “Just the girl.”

The girl? He wanted me? But why? What did I have to do with any of this?

Zack laughed out loud. “I’ll die before I give you the girl.”

The man’s smirk grew into a smile, baring white teeth. There were two teeth that made my heart once again jump to my throat. They were his canines but they didn’t seem to be teeth. They were more like fangs.

“I think that can be arranged.”

I was abruptly pushed to the ground, my palms becoming scraped in the process, my wrist twisting uncomfortably. When I looked up I could see the two males wrestling and Zack was obviously losing. Out of nowhere the stranger yelled a pained cry. He staggered back and I could make out the hilt of what looked to be some sort of dagger in his arm. He did not wait to rip it out, wincing in the process. The stranger proceeded to pounce on Zack, dagger raised. It was shoved into Zack’s side while Zack’s body was shoved into a nearby streetlamp. I heard a sickening crack and then Zack crumpled to the ground.

Ignoring the pain in my wrist and palms, I jumped up, desperate to see if Zack was ok. I scrambled over to his body, blood seeping out of his side and his head.

“Zack?!” I yelled. I hadn’t realized I had been crying. My hands desperately fumbled over his body, anxious to find a way to help him, to heal him. I didn’t notice the blood soaking into my clothes or that my hands were stained with it. An arm wrapped itself around my torso, lifting me up and away from Zack. I couldn’t stop my limbs from flailing, the necessity to be by Zack’s side apparent. “Let go!” I screamed, desperate to get away.

My captor paid me no mind. My mind felt befuddled, as if there was a thick cloud in it. Somehow I ended up in the passenger seat of a car, my hands tightly bound in front of me with rough rope. I barely noticed. All I could think about was Zack’s crumpled body, face white and the blood, all the blood. I felt slightly nauseas.

“Shut up!” the stranger yelled.

I never realized I had been screaming and crying until I stopped. I took shaky breathes trying to figure out what to do. I looked out the window of the car. Nothing looked familiar and the darkness wasn’t helping. How long had we been driving? A minute? 10 minutes? An hour? I couldn’t tell.

The car turned onto an obscure dirt road hidden by trees. I felt as if we were on the dirt road forever before coming to a large wrought iron gate. The ironwork looked old compared to the mansion it was protecting. The entrance creaked open to allow the car to pass through before slamming shut behind us. I suddenly realized the multitude of my situation. I had been kidnapped, taken against my will.

The car pulled into a garage and stopped.

“Let’s go,” he mumbled.

“Take me home.” I didn’t look at him. I looked at my hands bound on my lap. My hurt wrist had turned purple with bruising and the too tight bonds.

“Excuse me?” he hissed.

I looked him in the eye this time. It took me a second to remember the words I was going to utter. His eyes were electric blue, sharp and scary. “Take me home,” I said again, this time more pronounced and louder.

He got out of the car. My eyes warily watched him march around the front of the vehicle to my side. He opened the door. “Get out,” he demanded. I made no move to follow his orders. He unexpectedly grabbed my upper arm and yanked me out of the car, hurting my wrist further.

“Ow!” I complained but he made no mind to me. Instead he dragged me up some stairs and through a door. If it had been some other place and some other time, a different situation perhaps, I would have admired the inside of his house. The perfectly papered walls, the plush carpet, and the delicate light fixtures that were too casual to be chandeliers yet too beautiful to be ordinary.

I was trying to pay attention to the way we were going while trying to also not trip over my own to feet. This man’s pace was quick and sure. He dragged me through countless hallways, up many staircases. By the time we stopped in front of a door, I was both out of breath and hopelessly lost. I would never be able to find my way out.

He opened the door and pushed me inside harshly. I surveyed the room he had pushed me into. It seemed ordinary enough. It was midsized, about the same size as the room at my old house. The room was white with wood furnishings. On the floor was a brown rug. There was a twin sized bed, a nightstand and a dresser.

On the other side of the room there was a bookcase stocked with books and a TV sitting on top of a stand.

I turned around and faced my hijacker. I looked at him with wary eyes. He stared right back at me, his gaze intense. We stared for a few minutes before I broke away. I noticed him smirk.

“What do you want with me?” I asked, my eyes brimming with tears. I looked up again at him but this time not in defiance but fear. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“You really don’t know do you?” he asked. I shook my head. He chuckled. “Madison. Do you believe in vampires?”

I shook my head.

Then he grinned.

And I knew I was wrong.

Because the sharp canine teeth were in fact fangs. I realized he possessed fangs of a vampire.

What was I in?