Whisked Away by fallenangel121212 (snow like ashes series TXT) 📕

It was the bumpy movements that finally woke me. When I awoke I realized there were many things wrong with the situation. First I was gagged, and when I tried to remove the gag from my mouth, I realized my hands were tied together. As I started to thrash around, a firm voice beside me said “Hey she’s starting to wake up.”

“Well well well, looks like Sleeping Beauty has finally woken up.” said a voice from the front of the car; I assumed it was a car anyway. I kept squirming, but the next words the man said stopped me cold.

“If you don’t stop struggling, we’re going to have to knock you out again, and I don’t think you’d like that.”

Ok I was freaking out now, but I instantly stopped struggling.

Calm down Erica, you’ve got to stay calm if you want to stay alive. I told myself.

I was currently in a lose-lose situation. I had no idea what I was doing gagged and bound, or who these people were, but I knew I had to remember. Except it was so hard to form coherent thoughts! I figured they must have drugged me, why else did my head hurt and everything was fuzzy?

As I struggled to recall what had happened, some fuzzy memories did return.

***

“But mom,” I said. “I don’t want to go to the stupid pool!”

My mom sighed next to me. “Erica we’ve been over this, you haven’t seen your cousin in three
years and while you may remember her; she was too young to remember you! Don’t you remember how cute she was?” my mom asked.

Of course I remember Sophie; I had been eleven at the time. I sighed and sank deeper into the passenger’s seat. I absentmindedly twirled the blue streak I had gotten in my back length brown hair the previous summer. I wondered why my mom was making such a big deal out of seeing my cousin. Sure, little five year old Sophie was adorable with her golden blonde hair and her dazzling midday sky blue eyes, but that didn’t mean I wanted to halt my summer vacation for her. I was supposed to be hanging out with my best friend Rachael today, but instead I got dragged into this. Plus, I had other reasons for not wanting to go today.

Suddenly a laugh from the back seat interrupted my thoughts. My eight year old brother Matthew, or Matt as he liked to be called, was being a pain as always.

“Erica,” he said. “you always love going to the pool. Why don’t you want to go today?”

I flushed. “I just have a bad feeling, that’s all.”

My mom sighed next to me. “Sweetie, I think you’re just overreacting. Nothing bad ever happens at family pools.”

If only my mom had known how wrong she was.

***

That’s right we were going to visit Sophie.

I thought groggily. I wondered what these people wanted with a fourteen year old girl.

Were they going to kill me?

I hastily pushed that thought away. No if they wanted to kill me, they would have done it long ago, right? Besides, I hadn’t done anything that warranted killing me! Sure maybe I was rude to my mom and brother sometimes, but what teenager wasn’t!? I felt like there was some vital piece of information that I was forgetting, but the fog in my mind was too thick to remember what it was.

As the car went over another big bump in the road, I was pushed into the air and landed hard on my stomach. I couldn’t stop the “oomph” that escaped from my mouth. Quickly I tensed, hoping no one heard me. As I held my breath, one of my captors coughed, but otherwise ignored me.

As I struggled against the panic that was about to burst from me, I took long deep breaths. They helped a little. I needed to figure out what they had done to me and why they had taken me in the first place. Taking another deep breath, I ventured deeper into the fog that was my mind.

***

When we arrived at the rec-center I glanced up at the huge building. We had been here before, but usually when we went; it was some sort of treat. They had a huge pool area with three different sections. One section was obviously for little kids, where there were little slides and shallow water for the kids to play in without getting into too much trouble. There were also hot tubs by the pool so that parents could relax while they watched their kids. Then there was the regular pool where people could actually swim. I didn’t like it though because the water only went five feet deep. My favorite part of the place was the diving boards. I absolutely loved them.

Unfortunately when we got to the parking lot the whole area was full. It wasn’t that surprising, since it was the middle of August, but when the only spot we could find was in a totally isolated place I got concerned. Don’t ask me why, but for some reason I had this feeling that we had to be with other people. Usually when we get out of the car I sprint ahead of Matt and my mom and have to wait for them inside the main building, but this time I stayed close by. It was only when we arrived inside that I realized I had forgotten my pool bag.

“Oh Erica you’re so forgetful.” My mom said when I asked for the car keys. After she fished them out of her purse, I promised I would only be gone a minute or so.

“Hurry up sis! I want to go inside!” Matt complained.

I promised him I would be quick. As I ran for the car, I got that panicked feeling again. I did my best to ignore it. When I got to the car I realized just how isolate the area was. I also noticed there was a van that hadn’t been there before.

“I guess someone else had trouble finding a parking space too.” I said aloud nervously.

With shaking fingers I unlocked the car and got my bag. I turned around I started walking towards the building…. Only to be knocked down by a man with a mask!

“Hey sweetie, you’re coming with us.”

It was obviously a man, I could tell by his voice. As I struggled to my feet I stepped on my sunglasses, which had fallen from my bag, and got ready to run, but then another person appeared behind me and clamped his arms around me, preventing my escape. It was then that I started screaming.

If you’ve never been in true danger, you have never experience fear or what it does to you. Suddenly all of my senses were superhuman. I could smell the chlorine from the pool, the sweat on the people who had me, I could hear them breathing, feel the rough fabric of their clothing, and see every little detail of the world. True fear also gives you the highest and loudest voice you could ever imagine.

“HELP! CALL 911! FIRE! I’M BEING ABDUCTED! HELP!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, feeling like a trapped animal. It felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my head.

“Will you shut her up!” said the man who I named goon one.

“HELP! CALL THE POLICE!! FIRE! I’M BEING ABDU-……” suddenly my screams were cut off as a damp and sweet smelling cloth was shoved over my nose and mouth by a third person.

“Chloroform!” I realized with a shock.

Before my dad had left our family three years earlier, he had been part of the FBI. He had taught me all kinds of cool things, including how to identify knock out scents.

“Oh no…” I thought as the world became fuzzy. I futilely tried kicking the man who had me trapped but it was no use. The chloroform was taking effect and my struggles became weaker and weaker, until the world was engulfed in darkness.

As I lay in the van remembering all of this my mind went into overdrive. The horror of what had just happened helped clear some of the fog from my mind. Instantly my thoughts went to my mom and Matt. They must be freaking out right now. I’m sure when I didn’t come back they must have come to look for me. I wondered what the scene looked like, I hope I had done something to show that I had been kidnapped, maybe they would see the broken sunglasses and dropped bag and realized something was up. Poor mom, she wasn’t the strongest of hearts, I hope she took this well. I wish I had a watch or could see outside so I could guess at how long I had been gone. I also wondered why they had taken me in the first place. Were they looking for a ransom? Or was this an old grudge against my family? Suddenly I gasped which I immediately regretted when the man sitting next to me grumbled and hit me on the head. Of course! This was because of who my father was! Being an FBI agent probably meant that he made a lot of enemies. It finally made sense now why they had kidnapped me. I was thankful it was me and not Matt who had gotten into this mess. Unlike me, Matt hadn’t gotten any training from dad.

I calmed down and tried to remember what he had taught me. Suddenly goon one bent over and started removing the gag from my mouth.

“Make any trouble and you’ll regret it”

The hidden message was clear, don’t try to escape or call for help. I glanced up