TW: This one's kinda hefty, we've got kidnapping, suffocation, torture, interrogation, drugging, death, suicide, lemme know if there's any more.

I've literally been sitting in the same chair, in the same spot, for years. Okay not years, but it's felt like it. Time goes really slow when you're kidnapped and have nothing to do all day. It also doesn't help that I've been blindfolded and gagged so I can't annoy them anymore.

One thing that does help is how atrociously dizzy I've been. It could be because I've had nothing to eat and only enough water to keep me alive. Or maybe the beeping of the machines I was hooked up to just wormed its way into my brain, all I heard all the time was that unbearable noise.

My throat was terribly dry, scratching with every breath. I inhaled a little too deeply, setting off a string of coughs, each one burning more. They couldn't get out with the gag. Each choke became more and more forceful, shaking my entire body.

I couldn't breathe.

"She's choking!" I heard a voice yell, running in through the door. "I'm taking her gag out."

"Don't do that, idiot! Boss said to keep the gag in." Another voice near the door yelled.

"Boss would be more upset if we let her die." The gag was taken out and I could finally breathe. My coughs were violent as I gulped down the sweet air (it was really musty, actually. I was pretty sure we were underground). "Are you okay?" Now that I wasn't choking, I recognized him as the guy who was scared of bugs.

I only nodded, still panting in breaths. Once I can finally speak, they're gonna wish they had me choke to death.

"Let me go." I croaked.

"No." The guy at the door said. I heard his footsteps nearing closer. "What can you tell us about your parents?" Oh how I love this question.

"Which ones?" I put all the sass I possibly could into those two words. I didn't even regret it when my head jolted to the side from being slapped. After all, that was what usually happened after I said that.

"You know who we're talking about." His stinky breath was even closer to my face when he said that.

"I actually don't. Mind enlightening me?" My voice cleared up with every word. I made sure to breathe really heavily in his face because I knew for a fact that my teeth hadn't been brushed since I'd been taken. I heard him back up a bit.

"Emma and William Foster. Tell us what you know about them."

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." I confessed. "I hardly remember anything of them except for random moments and the day they died. I've always had a really cruddy memory." I heard them whispering to each other, but I couldn't make out the words.

"Do you know what their jobs were, who they worked for?" The other one, bug guy, asked.

"Nope. That's the thing they were the most secretive of." I heard one of them start to pace.

"What about colleagues? Anyone they worked with?" Stinky breath guy said.

"Nope." I really hoped that I was a good enough liar, I was not about to send a bunch of mega strong kidnappers after my old and wrinkled manager. He might die of a heart attack before he could even be taken.

"She really knows nothing!" I heard a crash, assuming Stinky kicked or threw something.

"Hold on, calm down. She might still know something, just not strictly about her parents." Bug turned his attention to me. "Do you know about any of their projects?"

"Nope. They left work at work and home at home." That one wasn't entirely a lie. They did talk about some stuff, but never when they knew I was listening. It was only small bits I gathered from eavesdropping.

Stinky groaned.

"Go bring her in. She'll get her to talk." Umm, who? Not gonna lie, that kind of terrified me. Especially with the fact that in all the movies I've seen, that last line always ends in torture.

The door opened again, two pairs of footsteps walking in.

"Hello, Moonlark." Okay seriously, how did those people know I was Moonlark? Hold up, I know that voice...

"I know you." I said. I still couldn't figure out who it was, I just recognized her voice.

"Well I'd hope so." She took off my blindfold. "It's me, Vespera."

"Oh that's your name!" Honestly, I was too excited over the fact that I finally knew ECV's head coach's name to pay much attention to the fact that she was the head coach.

"What?" She turned her to Stinky and Bug, who both had ski masks over their faces, along with tinted swim goggles to cover their eyes. "Is she serious?" They both nodded in unison. "Fine. Let's fix this problem." She came closer to me and put the blindfold back on. I could hardly move from the fear pulsing through my body. Vespera started untying my right arm from the seat of the chair.

"What the heck are you doing? Oh are you finally acknowledging my threats and letting me lea-" My vocal cords shredded with the screams that cut me off. There was something pressing into the inside of my wrist it felt like pure fire. I thrashed around, trying to get away, needing to get away.

"Stop! Stop it!" I screamed. Whatever that thing was, Vespera just pressed it harder. If it weren't for the blindfold, I was sure my cheeks would be soaked with tears.

She finally removed it, but I could hardly feel my arm or hand. It felt like it all melted away. The only noise I could let out was a tiny, pathetic whimper. Someone off to the side threw up pretty violently, I could hear the vomit hitting the floor.

"Want to talk now?" Vespera asked, her voice right next to my ear.

"I don't know anything." I cried, my throat feeling scratchy and broken. Her fist collided with my nose, releasing a river of blood. "Oh come on! That just healed!" I shouted.

"She's seriously still snarky?" Stinky asked. I spat in his direction. I took it that my spit hit him, given the scream.

"Screw you." I want to go home.

Vespera growled but didn't get to do anything because the door opened.

"It's time." Whoever was at the door said. Time for what? I wanted to be fearless. I've always been fearless in dangerous situations, craving adrenaline, but I didn't want any of this. I liked jumping off high things, knowing what was going to happen. I had no idea what my kidnappers had planned for me, if I would ever get to go home.

I felt the cloth against my mouth and nose again. I thrashed, hitting the hand holding it with my burnt arm. I immediately felt too much pain and yelped, inhaling the sedatives. Everything went dark in a matter of seconds.

"They'll never find her. By the time we're done with her, she'll be actually dead and we'll have everything we need."

"Do you really think the plan's gonna work, Gethen? What if they figure out it's fake?" Gethen?

"They won't. You know all the cautions we have. It's a foolproof plan. Shh, she's waking up."

I blinked my eyes open, my mind still hazy. I moved my head the tiniest bit and was swarmed by dizziness. I was pretty sure I passed out again, having to open my eyes when my kidnappers started talking to me.

"Moonlark." Stinky—Gethen—shook me. I grumbled against the gag they must've put back in.

"Sophie. Are you awake?" Bug asked. I shook my head. Maybe he'd believe me and let me sleep. "You've gotta get up. You've been out for a while."

"And we've got a fun little surprise for you!" Stinky sang. I didn't care that I knew his real name, Stinky suited him better.

I groaned and gently lifted my head from where it was resting on my shoulder, wincing with the pain of where it cramped up. Before I knew it, my blindfold was ripped off. I squinted my eyes from the burning light. It took me a few seconds to adjust, but Stinky started talking as soon as I did.

"Here, how about we turn this TV on for you... you can see for yourself." A TV I hadn't noticed in the corner of the room flicked on. Stinky struggled with YouTube TV for a minute before finally getting to the Eternalia news channel.

"After six days of seventeen year old Sophie Foster being missing, her body was finally found at the bottom of a cliff near Lake Atlantis.We will not show any images here for viewer discretion, although there will be some on our app. Now over to Cadoc, who's at the site, for more."

Stinky shut it off before it switched over, but I hardly noticed through my shock.

"I'm not dead." I said.

"Well no, obviously." He laughed.

"How'd they find my 'body?' I'm right here." There's no possible way that they pulled whatever they did off. You can't turn one body into another, you just can't.

"Since you're never going to escape now, I'll tell you." He laughed again, eyes gleaming maliciously. I waited very patiently while he just stood there, saying nothing. I waited a little bit longer. He still just stood there. Eventually Bug hit him, causing him to snap out of whatever was going on.

"Vespera made a fake body! It's perfect, it looks exactly like you. Then we've been slowly draining your blood, which is why you've been dizzy. We took way too much a couple times." He laughed again. I almost couldn't believe how truly psychotic Stinky was. "Anyways, we got just enough blood to put in and around the body, then broke it and put it at the bottom of the cliff. One of those pathetic little search parties they sent out found it. We've got people working in the police and morgue to make sure everything goes smoothly. The plan is perfect! You'll never be found now. Might as well give up and tell us everything you know." I bared my teeth, ignoring everything he said for the moment.

"I'm. Not. Telling. You. Anything. I don't even know anything you're asking me. Might as well you give up, and let me go." He laughed again, getting really close to my face. His moldy, fishy breath surrounded me. I shuddered and gagged.

"You're not going anywhere. And you aren't only here for information. Vespera's got a little experiment going. We'll see how that turned out soon enough."

"What?" I asked. "What did she do to me?" I didn't feel any different. But after what she did to me the day before, I knew she was truly psychotic, just like Stinky.

"Don't worry." He smiled in a way that seemed like he was trying to be non-threatening. It didn't work. "It's nothing your parents didn't plan for." My eyebrows scrunched together. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"My parents wouldn't do anything to me. And they definitely wouldn't work with you sick bastards!" That comment earned me a smack to the face.

"You don't even know who your parents truly were! If anything, they're the sick bastards. We're just finishing their work."

"Finishing what work? Last I checked my parents never kidnapped and tortured me!" Bug grabbed Stinky and stomped him to the door before I even finished talking. I was seething. How dare he try to lie to me about who my parents were. They're dead! He's as psychotic as they come.

"Enjoy never getting rescued!" He shouted as the door slammed shut.

I hated to admit it, but he was right. My friends and family would never find me, not if they thought I was dead. They found my 'body.' They stopped looking.

I would never leave. No one would come to my rescue. For the rest of my life I'd be subject to their interrogation, torture, and experiments. There was no more hope, no more dreaming of escape. It'd never happen, no one would come for me.

Not unless I escaped myself. That's what I'd have to do. I'd think of a plan and get out. I'd make it back to my friends and family. Biana, Dex, my parents. Keefe.

I'd be back with them soon. I had to be.

She's kinda short but pretty heavy. hope you guys enjoyed... well maybe not bc that might be a little psychotic but idk. also i kinda enjoy torturing characters so have fun with that! do you guys think she's gonna escape? i wanna hear your theories! (also i've already got it all planned out so i wanna see if any of you guess right.)

Avery, out ->

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