Hi there! Long time lurker here... I have been thinking of putting a story on here for a while. This is my first attempt - so here goes! Let me know what you think, there is a second part in store if you like it...
Silenced - Part one
Luke loved his job. He simply couldn't imagine it comparing to any other job out there in how exciting and fast-paced it was, let alone unpredictable. He was 16, fresh-faced with dark brown eyes and brown hair. The girls adored him, but he was too tied up in his work to be bothered about them.
He was a rookie journalist who had outgrown the school newspaper and had decided to go freelance with his work. The adrenalin rush of writing a breaking story was second to none - but he was off the beat for a while as he had an investigation under his wings that was consuming all of his time. It was an investigation of a rumour that would get him on the fast track to working for the best newspaper in New York if it was true. And, if his lead was legit, he could be certain that it was.
The rumour was of a kidnap service in the town, only known to a few people. For a substantial amount of money, a person could pay to have someone kidnapped, bound and gagged... for starters. Nine people had gone missing in the town, only two had returned safely. Nobody knew much about the circumstances around their disappearances, the media just thought they were tearaway teens. But out of the two safely found, only one was willing to talk to Luke - a 9th-grader called Lola Smith.
They had gone to the same school, but had only passed in the corridor. Lola had long black hair and the darkest eyes he had ever seen, her pale skin punctuated by the redness of her lips. She was a rebel to the school uniform that was strictly in place - she wore hoodies over her blue school sweatshirt, mostly.
It was an August afternoon when they agreed to meet up, some three months after Lola had returned from the mysterious circumstances that had seen her go missing in the first place. They were to meet at the Rewind Diner over a milkshake, to talk over the ordeal that she had gone through.
"Hi, Lola - I'm Luke."
"I know who you are," said Lola sweetly.
"Ur... cool," replied Luke, trying to gain control of the situation. He fumbled in his bag for his dictaphone and his notebook before saying: "How are you doing?"
"I've been so-so. You?"
"Well... I've been a little tied up at the minute to be honest," answered Luke, instantly regretting what he had said.
Lola returned his stupid reply with a cold glance - it was nothing compared to what she had endured.
The awkward moment passed. Luke asked her more about what had happened to her on the night of her disappearance. Unbelievably, she remained composed through it all, despite the ordeal she had endured being unreal. After about an hour, they split ways and promised to meet again, Luke in disbelief from what he had heard from the innocent and quiet girl he had met.
Apparently, she was walking home on a cold afternoon for May. She was engrossed in her music, "Toxic" by Britney Spears to be precise. She was wearing her skirt, colourful striped leggings and her shirt, tie and sweater from school. Over the top, was a thick green hoodie that in some ways really weighed her down, but she loved thick clothing.
Despite her headphones being in, she felt the awkward feeling that most endure when they are being followed. The suspicion, the paranoia and the vain attempts to try and make a detour in the hope to rush off the person in question. Beginning to get desperate, she tried to make a detour into a park - a detour which would mark the first of the fateful mistakes that she would make in her lifetime.
It wasn't too long before there were two people following her in the park. Suddenly, a third man leap out of a bush and forcefully clamped his hand over her mouth, dragging her green hood over her head. Mmmmphing under the forceful hand desperately, she was dragged to a nearby white van, where she was pinned to the floor and her hands bound tightly with lashings of rope. Petrified, she was turned over to see someone was removing of one of her shoes. She tried to kick him off, but the third man was ensuring that she couldn't make a move. She mmmmphed desperately through the hand, but the door to the van had now been closed: she was alone with the three men. The hand was removed and her screams were only audible for a second as her bright blue legging from her left leg had been tied tightly over her nose and mouth. Her legs were then tied tightly together with rope in a way that her tied arms and legs were connected by a cinch knot.
"The more you struggle, the tighter you'll be tied up, Lola."
Her brown eyes widened. She wondered: "How did they know her name?"
The girl that had her hands and legs bound tightly with rope struggled desperately regardless. She tried to shake the thick, green hood of her hoodie from her head to no use as she tried to breathe through the tight gag placed over her nose and mouth beneath the hood. As she struggled, she felt the bonds around her hands tighten as the van began to move. In a final act of bondage, the man dragged her up to a nearby box, duct-taping her body to it so she was weighed down and couldn't move around the van.
She mmmphed and mmmphed to no avail, looking around desperate for something to help her. In the movies, there was usually something sharp to rub the rope against in the hope of being set free. Why didn't she have this chance. She writhed and struggled against her bonds desperately, completely ignoring her captor's advice to stay still.
Seconds bled into minutes, minutes bled into hours. After what seemed like three hours, the van finally stopped. The duct tape fastening Lola to the box was cut and she was picked up by her legs by the stockiest of her three captors. She whimpered into her gag as she tried to free her hands desperately. She was kidnapped - bound, gagged, hooded, alone.
Her brown eyes took in her surroundings. They appeared to be entering some kind of factory. But, by the time they were in there, she could see that it was disused. All that remained in the middle of the vast expanse of space was a platform and a metal ring with around 60cm of diameter, suspended from the ceiling by chains. She was being carried to it and instinctively, she struggled - in a bid to free herself from what was coming next.
The next thing she knew, one of the captors removed her gag. She screamed at the top of her voice, only to have a hand clamped over her mouth.
"Shut up," said the man.
The other two men took to removing the ropes that restrained her hands and her feet, leaving her hood up. Forcefully grabbing an arm each, they went to proceed to the metal ring on the platform. To Lola's surprise, the metal ring opened up, and she was being pushed inside it. Once her body was in and her arms were by her side, the ring was fastened slowly so she had room to breathe, but no room to escape.
She looked to her captops, desperate and scared.
"What are you doing to me?"
"I've heard your parents have got a bit of cash, Lola. All we are going to do is make sure that we get this cash off them, in exchange for you."
"Let me go! You won't get away with this!"
"Oh - I think we will..."
That is part one! I have another few parts planne, let me know what you think!