Taken | Teen Ink

Taken

September 12, 2022
By bellawinthrop BRONZE, Pasadena, Texas
bellawinthrop BRONZE, Pasadena, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

In the year 2100, transformable aliens called shifters walked the earth.After their parents death 18 year old Ashlynn, her 8 year old brother Sam, and her 19 year old boyfriend Cole were left to survive.

Months later, Ashlynn woke up from a terrible nightmare. The tossing in turning woke Cole.

“Calm down, it's just a dream” he said as he gently shook her arm. Ashlynn's eyes opened wide, then slowly started closing. 

“I’m fine…” she finally said after a long pause. 

Cole accepted her response and went back to sleep. Ashlynn got out of bed and goes to Sam's room to check on him. She sees his slender body tucked under the covers fast asleep.

Later that morning they all wake up around 6:00am to go get supplies from what's left of the grocery store. Once inside the store they quietly run to the back of the store.

“No dawdling, get in and get out” said Ashlynn very austerely. Cole and Ashlynn split up to get their weeks worth of food and medicine. They meet back up in the pharmacy when suddenly Ashlynn hears a strange noise.

“Get behind the counter, now!” she intensely whispered. 

She put her hand over her brother's mouth and held her breath. She turns to the man sitting on the broken tile floor next to her. He mouths TAKE YOUR FAMILY HOME. The man then jumps out from behind the counter, runs across the store and starts yelling at the shifter standing  in the broken window. The shifter starts chasing him giving Ashlynn a break to get her family out the store and down the street before they heard the animal like screams of the man. 

They make it home and start unpacking their backpacks full of food, pretending like nothing had happened. Ashlynn goes to her bedroom to get her fathers necklace off the dresser to put it back on. When she gets to the dresser she found the necklace replaced with one of Sams favorite toys. She goes to confront Sam in his room and finds the necklace in pieces all over the floor. 

“SAM HOW COULD YOU!” she yelled

“It was an accident. I just wanted to see it and then it fell and broke. I’m sorry i didn’t mean too,”

She continued yelling at him about how careless he was and ran off crying into her room. 

“You know how special that is to your sister. I can’t believe you right now!” said cole. Then he followed her into the bedroom.

“I don't need them. I don't need anyone!” Sam said to himself.

He quickly packed a backpack leaving the broken necklace on the floor and stormed out of the house into the woods. Past the trees and towards the city.

After 30 minutes or so Ashlynn and Cole agree to go talk to Sam to see if they could fix it together. They go into Sams room and see the broken necklace still on the floor but Sam, his backpack, and several pairs of clothes are missing. They rip open the banal front door to the yard to find Sam was nowhere to be found. 

“We have to find him, I can’t live without him!” Ashlynn said in a shaky voice.

Ashlynn and Cole run out onto the woods following his foot print. They finally stop when they see shifter marks, Sam's backpack and drag marks through the mud. 

Ashlynn falls on her knees in front of the backpack cries inconsolably “I can’t lose him, we have to find him cole we have too.”

“We will find him I promise, If it’s the last thing I do.” Cole said, kneeling next to her.

Sam gets dragged through the mud kicking and screaming. When the shifters stop dragging him he is standing face to face with a tower so tall it looks like it would break the atmosphere. He then bound and gagged then shoved in an elevator that took him to the top floor. There he is strapped to a big black table. What he can only assume is a doctor of some sort, comes in and starts talking to the others in a strange language.Unsure of his fate, he laid there in fear of this giant thing. 

Ashlynn and Cole run in the direction of the drag marks into what looked like the tallest tower you have ever seen. Ashlynn and Cole make a plan and ascend into the tower. Ashlynn and Cole split up to search all the rooms. Ashlynn finds Sam with a blank stare sitting on the black table. 

“Sam?” asked Ashlyn

There was no response. She kneeled in front of him grabbing his face with both hands.

“Sam, I’m here.” She said with tears flooding her eyes.

“Sam, can you tell me our parents names? Please! Sam, please! Please talk!”

Cole hears her and comes in to find the same blank stare Ashlynn found.

“Come on buddy… Come on! Come on Sam!” yelled Cole with tears in his eyes.

Sam slowly blinks and turns his head toward his sister.

“Mom's name was Sarah and dad's name was Phil.” Sam said

Ashlynn and Cole look up.

“That's right!” she said excitedly as she grazed his face.

“What are y'all doing here? How did yall find me?” Sam asked

“What do you mean what are we doing here? We came to find you.” said Cole

“I thought yall were mad at me?” asked sam

“We were not that mad. We will never be that mad” answered Ashlynn

Just then they heard a siren go off. Over the loudspeaker were the words FOREIGHN INTRUDER.

“We need to leave now.” said Ashlynn

Cole lifted Sam off the table and they ran out the whale sized door. The shifters found them and took them back to a different room filled with futuristic technology. 

“We should explode the building.” said Ashlynn

Cole agreed and they came up with a plan.

“Okay so i'll light the match and throw it into the room then run out after yall.” said ashlynn

They break out of the room and down the stairs all the way to the first floor. Cole gives Ashlynn the match, picks up Sam and goes outside the front doors to wait for the plan to be complete. Ashlynn lights the match as a metal gate comes down in between her and the doors. 

“Ashlynn!” Screamed Cole 

“Take care of him.” Ashlynn said 

“No, he needs you. I need you. Please don’t.” Pleaded Cole

Ashlynn shakes her head looks at Cole then Sam and says

“I love you.”

She drops the match and the entire building explodes. Cole Grabs Sam as they fly backwards.


The author's comments:

This story is about a 17 year old girl forced to raise her 8 year old brother in a world where aliens called shifters walk the earth.


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