Chapter 1 A tingling feeling of pain shot through my body. I didn't know where I was or for how long I had been taken. I could feel sweat beads shooting down my face. I couldn't see. I couldn't shout. I couldn't move... I tried to move but the ropes had been bound tight to this uncomfortable chair. I also tried to scream but a piece of cloth with a big knot in the middle had occupied my mouth. My mouth felt awfully dry and the cloth tasted musty and sweaty as beads of sweat had been flowing down my face. A black bag was covering my face and eerily listening to see if my saviour was coming but I was being naïve. I heard a man's heavy footsteps pierce the ground and the closer he came, the harder my heart started pumping. The man stretched forward and lifted the black bag on my face. I had a sudden flash back and remembered. This is what happened... It was 3pm in the afternoon and I was getting ready to go out with my friends. I got dressed like anyone would do and I left the house. As it was only 3.30pm, I had decided to go through the short-cut as the sun was still up. I walked through an empty alleyway and heard a crunch. I started walking faster and faster and faster until I unconsciously started running. I turned for the left and had got trapped in a dead end. I screamed but to no avail, the mysterious man had abducted me. I had seen this man's face just before he had put a black bag over my face. He had jet black hair and grey eyes, which looked dull and tormented. Through my gut's instinct, I knew he had taken me to an abandoned warehouse. He pulled the bag off my face and switched a lamp on which was on a table next to me. The man had pulled the lamp and positioned the light on my face. I couldn't see his face at this point as the bright light was shining in my eyes. “Here’s the deal, heir of the double backhand society. You will answer all my questions and you will be free from harm. However reluctant behaviour will lead the mind traumatising or severe cases, by the latter, I mean death,” This man had said whilst interrogating me. I started breathing hard and screamed. “What on earth are you talking about? LEMME GO!” I tried to jerk the chair side to side to lose the ropes but it was completely worthless. Another man came into the room and the man behind the lamp had left the room. “Well, what have we got here, Carli Nova's granddaughter? Oh ho, this sure is going to be fun squeezing it out of you!” the other man said but I couldn't see him as the light was still shining on my face. He got up and stood in front of me. He had gloves on and had slapped my hard on my face until my cheeks went an auburn red colour. He tried to squeeze intel from me but I had no idea about what he was talking about. He then pulled my hair so far back that I was looking up at the run down warehouse's dark ceiling. He then started shouting “Where is it? Where is the golden mark of Dupentio? ” “I DON'T KNOW FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! LEAVE ME ALONE YOU OLD FREAK! GO FIND SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” I screamed at him with a rush of anger flowing through my veins. The other man had come back and said “That’s enough Larreous; she might get her feeble human lawyers on us!” That other man who had interrogated me had laughed a laugh of pity and he made a cloth with a big knot in it occupy my mouth. They then put the black bag over my head again and I heard them mumble “Torture her even more tomorrow,” I sat back in the dark and had started crying. I hadn't cried in front of those men to show that I am hard to crack. Truth be told, I was easy to crack... I had finally drifted off to sleep but I kept on being interrogated every day until they nearly reached the limit of torture. “ FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, I DON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT! I SWEAR, WHEN I-” I grumbled until I got interrupted by the interrogator taking his tie off. I watched in disgust and he had been naked to the waist. He was a fat man and really ugly. He carried on stripping until he only had his boxers on and he whispered in my ear as he came forward, “Today’s gonna be a tiring day.” I screamed and he had a little smile on his face. He came closer and closer and I screamed at the top of my lungs. This large man fell on the floor and behind him was a familiar guy. He had his hand gestured like a karate chop and the man below him was practically bleeding. I looked at my saviour with awe and I honestly believed that saviours didn't exist until I met this guy. He hurried and untied my rivers of ropes and helped me up. My clothes were disgustingly black and my hair was literally a hairball stuck on my forehead due to the constant sweating. He pulled off his long black jacket and put it on my shoulders. “You okay? You may not remember me but I'm Matt, “he said. I stood there eyeing him for a minute and said, “Yes, I'm fine thank you, I'm Ellen.” I stared at him again and he was actually really handsome. He had chestnut brown hair and sapphire eyes which shimmer, just like the clean oceans. He had black jeans and a white and black checker shirt on and black plain trainers. I looked at myself and thought “What the hell am I wearing?” He lead the way, unlocked his Porsche Boxster and I followed him to where he parked it. He had parked it in front of the abandoned warehouse and he had opened the front seat passenger door for me. I sat down, he closed the door gently and he went around to the driver's seat. He sat down, slammed the door and revved up the engine. We sped off in Matt's car. From the looks of it, Matt had an athletic build, lean, handsome and I had only reached the bridge of his nose in height. I didn't know him really well since he was really quiet in secondary school. I looked around his car and saw the date: Sunday 21st May 2011. It had been one whole month since I got abducted. I had missed essential time of sixth form as I was due to do tests over that period of one month. I sighed and said, “I live on 1513 Colesby Street.” Matt drove off in the direction of my house and had stopped directly in front of my house. It had a sign saying “The Hansmith family.” “Who the hell are they?” I thought and stormed front of the house. I knocked on the door and a woman asked, “May I help you?” “ Where have my family gone?” I asked as gently as I could but I felt a deep concentration of worry consume me slowly. “They left last month and moved to somewhere else as they said they couldn't bear the thought of their deceased daughter who had been abducted.” She replied. I nodded and said “Thank you, Mrs Hansmith?” “ You’re welcome,” she said with a smile and as I walked off her porch, she closed the door. I knocked on Matt's door and said “My family's long gone.” He nodded and gestured me to come inside his car. “ You can stay at my house if you want...” He said and I replied with a “Thank you.” Matt drove off in the direction of his house and as soon as he had parked his car in the driveway, I sat back in awe. Mark’s house was huge, white and reminded me of Buckingham palace but a miniature version. “Keys please,” I asked and he gave it to me without hesitation. As I skipped off into his house, Matt remained in his car and bit his right hand’s knuckle. “Just a little bit longer,” He thought and followed me as I gestured him to come. I stepped inside and looked around for the bathroom. “Upstairs on the left,” Matt said whilst he had a glint in his eye. It kinda freaked me out but i followed his directions. I had a long bath and had scrubbed hair and body clean. I put on two towels: one on my head and one on my body. “Crap! I need clothes,” i had whispered to myself and bit my lower lip. I thought of calling Matt but chances are that he would hear me as he was downstairs, i think... I quietly unlocked the door and sneaked out of the bathroom with the dirty pile of clothes in my hand. I ran quickly into the next room and stumbled into Matt’s bedroom. “S**t, why his bedroom of all the bedrooms,” i thought and heard footsteps coming up the stairs. “Where do i hide? I’ve got a towel on!,” I screamed internally and i rapidly ran inside his huge wardrobe. Matt came into his bedroom and i could see through the little gap in the wardrobe that he was sitting quietly on his bed. I could tell he was lost in thought and stared at him until i remembered that he mustn’t spot me with a towel on. He started taking his shirt off and i unconsciously squeaked. He turned to look at the wardrobe and i held me breath and dug in deeper behind the clothes. He reached out towards the wardrobe and opened the door. He instantaneously saw me and i froze up. He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the wardrobe and pushed me to the wall. “What are you doing in my wardrobe? “ He put his hand next to my head and blocked me from escaping from his grasp. “I was J-just looking for clothes,” I gulped guiltily and buried my face in my hands which was turning a bright shade of red. I had dropped the clothes in the wardrobe and wanted to ponder about how to get it back but Matt was looking straight into my eyes and my heart started beating fast. Thump-thump thump-thump, my heart screamed and i could feel his breath on my face. My mind tried to prevent any touching but my heart had decided to go with it. He came closer and closer to my face until his face was a few millimetres in front of me and his cellphone started ringing. I sighed and his loosened his grasp and answered the cell phone. I sneaked off into another bedroom and it seemed like a woman’s bedroom. I rummaged through the clothes and found clothes which seemed to fit me. I put on a my usual under clothes (underwear etc.), a white jumper, grey jeans tainted with a bit of white and some house slippers. I went out of the room and made my way into the kitchen and stood near the sink. I drank some water and stood back with my head facing the ceiling. I sighed as my blonde curly hair had fell back and my emerald green eyes lock on with the white ceiling of the kitchen. “What’s there to sigh about?” Matt said whilst sneaking up on my. He stood beside me and looked at me with a devilish grin. I looked away from him at looked down at my toes. “ Nothing,” i replied trying to act casual. Hell, i didn’t even know what casual was even more! “You seem grumpy, what are you grumpy about?” he said with a frown. I could tell he wasn’t even happy with me from the start. “Nothing,” i replied yet again with the same tone as the first time i said it. “And you’re going to say you were doing nothing hiding in my wardrobe, I’m guessing?” he said with a curious tone but his facial expression didn’t seem very curious. I looked at him and mumbled “I didn’t mean to hide in your crummy wardrobe anyway...” He was still staring at me and said “Well, whatever. If I was you, I'd better go shopping for new clothes and books. College starts tomorrow.” He took out his wallet, took my right hand and shoved money into it. He made me scrunch up the money tight but not to the point it was unrecognisable and I looked up at him. He looked into my eyes with a smile on his face. “ My treat,” he whispered lousily and walked off into the larger turquoise living room. I swear you'd think that his family was addicted to anything that had green on it. I put on a spare jacket from that lady's room upstairs and I put on a pair of shoes which fit me. I took off the grey jumper, wore a white slim fit shirt, a grey zip up jacket and a grey knit beanie which I tucked my long hair in apart from the fringe. I looked at myself on the body length mirror in that room and decided I looked good enough to go out. I looked like one of those skinny supermodels because I was quite tall and those kidnappers only gave me breakfast and dinner, which was quite reasonable. I zoomed down the stairs and saw Matt waiting down at the bottom for me. “ I reckon you need a lift?” He said whilst smirking. “ Yeah, I do thanks,” I replied with a smile barely-there smile. I stepped out of the house, walked past the huge grass green front lawn and walked towards the road where the car was parked. I sat down in the front passenger seat and closed the door behind me. Matt sat down and closed his door and revved up the engine. We drove off towards the shopping centre. We walked around the shopping centre, holding ten shopping bags each and I still had to get new books. Overall, I spent £350 with £50 to spare and so I told Matt to go and stay in the car. He listened obediently and carried all 20 bags back, which looked like he was only carrying one. I bought my necessities with £10 which life me with a mere £40. I looked around to see if I could get a thank you present for Matt and I had stopped by a huge gift shop which specialized in everything. Earlier, I had seen a ring which Matt had in his wardrobe and I thought I’d get hid a personalized ring. I went inside the gift shop, bought the personalized ring and it was placed in a awesome black box. The ring costed £30 and I had £10 to spare and so I ran into a large chocolate manufacturer: Thornton’s. I Bought mini chocolates saying ' Thank you,' on them and rushed back to the car park. It was already 20:00pm and I was getting pretty sleepy due to my kidnappers' routine and I bumped into to someone whilst yawn and covering my mouth. It was a tall man, 6ft 6-ish, wearing a biker jacket with a blue Mohawk. He looked down at me with fury in his eyes and shouted “ WATCH IT KID!” I ran away from this man as fast as I could as he scared me half to death until a hand grabbed my arm. He pulled me back and I was about to punch him in the face until I realised it was Matt. He said”The car's here,” whilst pointing out the car. He opened the door for me and I sat in with 2 small bags in my hand. He sat back in his drivers seat and drove off. We sat in silence yet again until Matt asked “What took you so long.” I handed him a bag and said “ I bought you a present,” and handed him a bag. He stopped at the red light and looked in the bag. “I think you might need it more than I do,” he sniggered and tossed the bag back to me. “ HOW RUDE!” I said whilst looking inside the bag he tossed me. It was the wrong bag and it had Always pads in them. I blushed 3 shades furiously and Matt laughed his stupid little socks off. We finally reached our destination and I handed Matt's present to him while he locked his car. I stared at him wanting to see his reaction and he was grinning like an idiot. He then looked at me and said “Thank you for your presents.” I looked away going slightly red but I think the dark sky had covered the shade of my face up. We walked past the big lawn, up the doorstep and Matt unlocked the door. He let me in and I ran straight to my room to plop the bags in. He followed me up with the remaining bags after he locked the front door. He knocked on the door before he came in and I opened the door. I made the plain bedroom like my old bedroom and he smiled at the changes I had made. I put on a green sweater, jeans and some slippers, which I had all bought and decided to cook. Tying up the apron, I got out the ingredients to cook spaghetti Bolognese with freshly baked garlic bread and chocolate fudge cake. I started off with the pasta which only took a mere 15 minutes and then I quickly moved onto the Bolognese sauce. I cut a finger whilst dicing the tomatoes and I splashed a small amount of the sauce on the apron and I put it on the electric hob. I then set out the table and started making the fresh garlic bread. I smeared some flour on my forehead as I was sweating a bit and wanted to wipe it off. “Bread is done,” I murmured to myself and I went back to the pasta Bolognese. I finally finished it and put it on the table. I still had the chocolate fudge cake to make and I yet again smeared flour unconsciously on my face. I then cracked an egg but one went on my apron. “ The apron is seriously trashed,” I thought and carried on making the cake. I had finally finished the food and I looked absolutely atrocious! My fringe was drenched in flour, my hands were dirty and like I said before, my apron was absolutely trashed. I called Matt down from his room and told him to eat while I freshened up. He started laughing at the sight of me but suppressed his laugh by clamping his hand on his mouth as I was giving him an evil glare. “He was cute when he used to be shy,” I thought whilst stomping off towards the bathroom. I scrubbed my face with the facial scrub I bought, washed my hands with antibacterial hand wash and washed my hair for the second time of the day. I brushed my hair after towel drying it and it looked as it did in the morning. Glossy, blonde curly locks- I inherited the curly locks from my mother but the blonde colour and the emerald green eyes from my father. My hair was pure blonde, not the common dirty blonde hair you'd find and my eyes were 100% emerald green. Not a lot of people had green eyes which made them quite a rare eye colour. In secondary school, I was quite popular amongst people as I was honest and trustworthy but most guys liked me because of my body and face. Not me. That's why I avoid all suspicious guys and avoid all guys when I am not with my friends. But I have a feeling Matt is different. I remembered the food and ran down the stairs. He was still sitting on the table and I asked “Why didn't you eat?” “Because I was waiting for you,” he replied and eyed the food. It looked exponentially tasty and smelled blissful. I think I could feel myself drooling and I quickly wiped my the sides of my mouth. I sat down on the chair across him and I saw him wearing the ring. I smiled at him and asked whilst we were eating, “How's the food?” “Probably as good as any professional chef,” he replied with a mouth full of food grin. I walked around the eight seated dining table and picked up my plates and his plates. I washed up before I did the washing up and boy, was there a lot to wash. Pots, pans and you name them, they were all piled up, ready to wash. Matt offered to help and it was something not to refuse! Who on earth wouldn't except help if the dishes are piling to the freaking sky? We washed up in silence until I dropped a plate whilst drying it. A big piece of the plate digged into my hand but strangely, I never felt a thing as a greater pain was overflowing inside me. As I was kneeling down on the floor, my heart starting pumping so fast that it felt that my heart wanted to jump out of my body literally. Matt was saying something but I couldn't make out what it was or turn to him as my whole undivided attention was a glowing mark on my gashed wound.