I watched them take her. Who was “they”? I had no clue, but they took my baby.

I had just gotten outside when I saw a big figure – most likely a man – drag her by her hair and shove her in a car. I would’ve stopped him but he might’ve had a gun and I would’ve lost Kay forever. I was also kind of a punk. Watching the scene left me frozen. That was my girlfriend, and he put his hands on her.

I quickly fished my keys out of my pocket as soon as the car drove off and got in my car.

“Mike, wait up!” I didn’t bother to see who was calling out to me; it wasn’t important. I started the car and put it in reverse, ready to back out of my spot and catch that son of a bitch. The slamming of the other doors of my car took me out of my head.

“What the hell?” I said both annoyed and confused.

“We’re not letting you go alone,” Tony said from next to me. I looked in the back seat to see Gabi, Violet, and Jaime sitting there.

“Guys,” I started. I didn’t want them to join me; this was my fight.

“I know what you’re thinking Michael, and it’s not gonna fly,” Gabi said sternly.

“There’s no way-”

“No,” she said, cutting me off, “she’s my sister, Vi’s cousin. She’s our family and I know you love her but we’ve loved her for longer so I dare you to try to get us out of this car.” I sighed. She was right; Kay meant more to her and Vi than she did to me (although I’d fight that to the death).

“Fine,” I said in defeat, “but know that this little chat made me lose them.”

“Don’t worry about it bro,” Jaime said, “Vic and the rest are already on their trail.” I looked at him questioningly.

Jaime explained that before the car even sped away, Brandon and Ariel had gotten in theirs and prepared to follow the guy. They left seconds after he did and were currently following him. The rest of the guys had followed suit shortly after, leaving the five of us to bring up the rear.

“Shit,” I said as I gripped the steering wheel. I quickly left the spot and sped off in the direction Jaime said Brandon and the others had gone. My mind was racing the entire time.

Is she okay?

Are they hurting her?

What do they want with her?

Why would they take her?

I didn’t have an answer for any of those questions.

“Mike, slow down!” Tony exclaimed. I focused on the scene in front of me; I had run a red light. Two in fact. Cars were honking loudly. It was a wonder that I didn’t hear them.

“Sorry,” I said softly as I eased up on the gas.

“We’re gonna get her back,” was all Tone said. Jaime put a hand on my shoulder from behind me. Gabi was on her phone the whole time with Violet looking over her shoulder.

“What’s going on?” I asked the girls eagerly as I pulled up to a stop sign. I looked back at then through the rearview mirror.

“Vic texted,” Gabi said. She passed her phone to Tony.

“He sent his location,” Tone spoke. After a couple taps on the screen he plugged the phone into the car charger. Soon Siri’s voice was going through the car, giving me directions to my brother.

“You mean, he’s there?” I asked in a shaky voice. Gabi reached over to me and rubbed my shoulder.

“Let’s go get your woman.” I nodded at Tony and sped off.

***

The ride seemed to take forever. Throughout the drive I was thinking of ways to save Kay. Really the only plan I had was to tackle the guy and break a few of his bones. Honestly, I wanted to do a lot more. I wanted to kill the fucker, but jail time wouldn’t work out too well. If I was provoked though, I’d go for it, no regrets.

I pulled over on the side of the road near some trees where three other cars were parked. The whole gang was there, waiting for us to arrive. I got out of my car and walked over to Vic’s confused as to why everyone was chilling by the side of the road.

“What’s going on?” I asked. Vic stepped out of his car and looked at me with a serious expression. I knew that look. That look meant trouble. “Don’t tell me.”

“It’s not bad,” he assured. “They took her to a house a little bit from here.”

“Well shit, let’s go get her.” He grabbed my wrist as I was trying to head back to my car.

“Dude, we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, Texas. There isn’t another house for miles and these roads are usually pretty empty. How’s it gonna look if they see another pair of headlights, let alone four?” I thought about it. It probably wouldn’t end well.

“Then what the fuck do we do?”

“We wait, we watch. We sit here quietly with our lights off and think of a plan.” I scowled. I hated that he was being so rational, like his friend and his little brother’s girlfriend wasn’t in a dark room begging for her life.

I huffed but walked back to my car, slamming the door as I entered. Everyone gave me sympathetic looks which I ignored. I was way more focused on Kaylee. I needed her to be okay; I needed to see her again. These last few weeks had been hell with all the distance so I said a silent prayer that I would fix things between us if God brought her back to me in one piece. Tony must’ve picked up on my mood because he put a hand on my shoulder.

“She’ll be okay,” he said. “She’s a fighter.” I nodded. Kay was a fighter; a stubborn, hard-headed, feisty little fighter. I hoped that my fighter would be returned to me so we could take on the world together.

***



I was scared. Scratch that, terrified. It was dark. These maniacs tied me up in the backseat of a dark car. I hadn’t been able to see anything since I was last in the parking lot. The only time I saw any light was when we passed streetlights on the highway. That didn’t last for long though. All too quickly we were on a back road with no lights whatsoever.

The two people in the car didn’t speak the entire way to God knows where. I was able to make out that my kidnappers were male and female but that was about it. It was too dark to notice any of their features.

We slowed to a stop about forty-five minutes after my kidnapping. The girl – who was riding shotgun – got out of the car and quickly walked to my side of the backseat. She opened the door quickly and dragged me out. Her partner cleared his throat from the driver’s side which caused her to go to his window. She returned to me and swiftly tied something around my head. I was blindfolded. Didn’t really matter, I couldn’t see two feet in front of me anyway.

A hand met my lower back and I was led into what I presumed was a house; it was quieter and the texture of the ground changed. I was led down a hallway and forced into a chair. A pair of hands untied my hands only to tie them behind the seat. After they got my legs secured I heard the person step away from me.

I was too scared to say a word even though I wanted to know why I was taken in the first place. What did they want with me? I hadn’t done anything to anyone; I just wanted to spend some time with my friends and boyfriend.

Mike…

He must be worried sick. I was certain someone inside heard my scream since I only screamed to let them know I was in trouble. Vic’s apartment was close to the site where I was taken and I knew they kept the windows open so I made sure to scream as loud as I could to get their attention. Hopefully it worked. How would I know though? I hadn’t been able to see any source of human life since I was dragged into the car.

I heard a pair of heavy footsteps approach me. They stopped in front of me and a pair of hands took the blindfold off my face. I squeezed my eyes shut before opening them tentatively, not wanting them to burn from the light of the room. Actually, the room was pretty dim. When I opened my eyes I was greeted with a brown haze. The room was dim and felt damp, like I was in a basement. The walls and floor were pure wood, rotting wood at that. Because of the lack of light, the brown of the room caused a hazy blur. My eyes adjusted as much as they could and settled on the two people in front of me.

They were both wearing masks. The guy had on this creepy rabbit one that covered his entire face; the girl had a similar one on but it didn’t cover her mouth. They both stood above me, about six inches away. Neither of them spoke, or even moved. They just stared down at me as I tried to wrap my head around the fact that I was being held against my will.

“What do you want with me?” I asked once I finally got my head into what was going on. The man just chuckled.

“Well, it’s not really what we want with you; it’s more of a group effort,” his muffled voice spoke from behind his mask. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. A group effort? Were there more of them?

“What group?” I asked.

“Why, yours.” Confusion swept my face again. My group? Did he mean the bands? What did they have to do with this?

“What are you talking about?”

“You and a few of your friends took some things from us and we want them back,” the female said.

“And what did we take?”

“Now, we can’t give you all the details,” the man said in an amused voice. He came closer to me and crouched down. “Just know that you and your friends will pay for what you did.” He looked to his partner and she nodded. She walked off out of my line of sight. I tensed up. Not being able to see her freaked me out.

“What did we do?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“You took two things that belong to us, and we want them back.”

“But what did we take?” I was genuinely confused. As far as I knew I’d never met either of them before.

“We can save the details for another time,” he said while standing up straight. He looked down at me again. Then I felt it. My neck was met with a sting of pain. A cold metallic tool went down the side of my neck making me cry out in pain. The man chuckled darkly. Soon I felt a line of liquid trailing down my skin.

“Take care of her,” he said, “but stick to the plan.” I assumed she nodded because he left shortly after there wasn’t a verbal response. The female came into my line of vision holding a bloody knife.

That was my blood. My whole world stopped.

“Oh, don’t be scared now,” she said when she saw my expression. I shook off my thoughts and focused on her. “We’re about to have some fun.”

“I think I’ll pass.” My remark just made her mad. She gripped the knife and sauntered over to me. She lightly trailed it down my cheek before applying pressure down my neck. I gritted my teeth, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing my pain.

“What do you want from me?” I asked when the pain subsided a bit. She looked at me, the corners of her mouth turned up into a creepy smile.

“Like he said, we just want what’s ours.”

“And what’s yours?” My voice was shaking slightly, but not from fear. I was losing consciousness. I didn’t realize how much blood I had lost until I felt it pool on my shoulder.

“Well to be honest you don’t have anything to do with what’s ours, but you are nice bait.”

“Bait for who?”

She smirked. “I think I’ve told you enough.”

“And I think I need to know why the fuck a couple of crazy bitches are keeping me trapped in a fucking basement.” I wasn’t sure why I said that but I was livid. I wasn’t really a part of this and yet I was being attacked? Fuck this shit, I was gonna fight back. Unfortunately she didn’t like that. Her fist collided with my face as soon as I closed my mouth. My vision went blurry for a minute.

“See, I wouldn’t have to do that if you’d just cooperate.” I spit out whatever was in my mouth, tasting the metallic sting of blood.

“Crazy bitch,” I muttered as I stared her down. In a rage she punched me again. My head whipped to the side just as quickly as her fist hit me.

“Man, I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” she said with a chuckle. I barely heard her though.

All of my senses were weakening. The corners of my vision were going black, my hearing was limited, and my speech was slurred. The hits and the lack of blood were fucking with me in the worst way. I prayed for a savior.

“Now, are you gonna cooperate or will we have to do this the hard way?” I looked her straight in the eye with whatever strength I had left.

“Fuck you.” Her mouth twisted up in an expression that I could barely read. She quickly stepped to me and cocked her fist again before something stopped her.

There was a crash from upstairs and some yelling. We both looked up at the staircase in an attempt to figure things out. The yelling got louder and then there were sounds of glass shattering and heavy things hitting the ground. Whatever was going on up there was physical and intense. However, it didn’t compare to what was going on inside of me.

I was blacking out. The physical strain I had gone through was finally pulling me under. I tried so hard to stay awake, but I couldn’t. I think I heard my assailant say something about finishing me off quickly before things got too bad upstairs but it didn’t matter; I was already done for.

I felt a sharp pain meet my side when a bright light filled the room along with some yelling. The pain didn’t leave but instead faded as the light and white noise took over.

My body went limp and my senses shut down completely. The light surrounded me as I accepted my fate.

Notes