Taken {completed}

Chapter 3 {picture of Adam}

-XxreadabookxX and RolyatEnaj_

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   I open my mouth to scream but he quickly covers it with his hand.

   "No one's gonna here you, sweetheart." His voice echoes eerily through the room, making the fact that what he says is true cut deeper than I'd like.

   "Then let go of my mouth!" I growl, muffled by his grasp.

   He releases his grip and takes a step closer. As he does so I take a step back but stumble over what seems to be steps. I peer over my should and see a large staircase leading up to the second floor. Adam stalks over to me like a lion hunting its prey. My body begins shaking and I try to clamber up the stairs but he's too quick, grabbing my ankle before I have even reached the fifth step and pulling me down until I land at the bottom of the stairs next to his feet.

   I look up at him, tears filling my eyes. I feel so vulnerable, so weak. How could I have been so stupid? He towers down over me and smiles wickedly. "I enjoy playing games, Bryony!" he says with tone of pleasure in his voice.

   "What's wrong with you?!" I force out.

   "Well, you see," he begins, pacing back and forth slowly, "I have a...condition, that just so happens to make me enjoy pain. Whether it is inflicted on me...or others." When he says 'others' he looks me right in the eyes, narrowing his own with a devilish grin. I shudder at the thought of him hurting me.

   He saunters over to me, as casually as he did this afternoon in class. Except this time I am not excited about it. Not one bit. He quickly grabs my wrist and pulls me up off the floor. I attempt to resist his grip but it is too tight and forceful. Adam drags me through a door and down a different set of stairs.

   When I see what the room at the bottom of the stairs contains I instantly want to get out. I claw at the handrail, hold on as tight as I can, kick, scream. But it is no use.

   A large, metal table is situated in the centre of this room, next to a line of sharp tools and weapons, the only shiny and clean items in the entire house.

   He releases my hand to retrieve something off of the floor. Without a second to waste, I race back up the stairs, taking two at a time, praying that I can get out of here alive. I hear his malicious laughter following me all the way to the front door.

   I pull and pull at the door. "Come on! Come on! OPEN!" I yell at the door, trying everything within my power to get it unlocked. Just at that moment I see his silhouette protrude in my periphery and I grow tired and frustrated.

   "Oh, Bryony." He says tutting.

   I give up, placing both hands on the door and shutting my eyes. "Please," I beg, my voice quiet and weak. "Please. Just let me go."

   I hear him walk over, maybe he heard something in my voice that made him pity me. He places his hands on my shoulders, gently, then pushes me into the door and I grunt in pain and shock. Who is he? This isn't the Adam Brown that I thought I knew. Taking my wrist again, he drags me back through the door and down the stairs to his basement again, but this time he locks the door behind him. He thrusts me harshly onto the table, which is cold and hard, just how it looks, straps me to it.

   "Pity," he smiles wickedly, "You had such a beautiful face." Had?! I think, Had?!

   "Adam, please. You're a nice guy. You don't have to do this." I try to convince him but he just ignores me.

   I'm just lying there crying and sniffling and quivering with fear.

   This morning I went to school. Everything was completely normal. I was even partnered up with my crush and invited over to his house. This day couldn't have been more perfect.

   But it certainly could get a lot worse.

   My heart sinks when I look over to see him contemplating which sharp implement to use. He finally settles on a scalpel; a small, yet sharp tool.

    My body is restrained to the table, so I can't even defend myself from what he is about to do. I'm crying uncontrollably, my vision blurring up as fast as I blink away the tears. Adam raises my shirt above my bellybutton, around where my ribs begin. With the scalpel held strategically between his finger and thumb, frowning slightly with concentration.

   I squeal and writhe as the cold scalpel makes contact with my skin.

   "This isn't your first time, is it?" I ask through clenched teeth, catching him off guard. Beads of sweat run down my forehead and my breathing is shallow and quick.

   He freezes and looks up at me. "Huh?" he asks, taken aback.

   "This isn't your first time, you've taken others?" I repeat. I can feel a line of warm blood slide down my stomach onto the table.

   "Oh, well, no. It isn't." he says and continues with his insertion. I scream as he cuts along my stomach, not deep enough for damage but deep enough to cause a large loss of blood. Out of the corner of my eye I can see him smiling at my blood-smeared stomach.

   He grabs a towel and wipes the blood off of me. It stings, a surge of tears erupting from my eyes. I clench my teeth to fight the pain, wheezing loudly. My head is spinning from the blood loss.

   Adam wraps a bandage around my waist but everything is blurry by now.

   He unstraps me from the table...

   And picks me up...

   He carries me to a cage...

   And locks the door...

   "Goodnight, sweetheart." He says and kisses my cheek. My eyes are fluttering open and closed. The last thing I see is him exit the room and lock the door.

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