Kidnapped

Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

I listened to the message about five times before I actually understood what it said. I was too busy listening only to Jake's voice, the voice I missed so much, the voice I'd never hear again. But when I did understood his words, what they meant, another shock went through me.

"Erica? E-Erica? It's-it's Jake." The message started. There were some shuffling noises and Jake was breathing hard like he'd been running. "Erica, I-I need your-" There was a shuffling and then silence. "There's a factory." He was whispering now. "It's huge, it's where they're keeping them. They make us work for-" More shuffling. "You can't go in the front. Th-they have people wa-watching. . ." There was a long pause and I could hear his breathing. "If you go around back, there's this. . . door, it's how I got out. . . I left my jacket by the. . . river. . . with the key." Then there was a loud boom noise. I recognized it as a gunshot. Jake whimpered. "They're coming for me. . . I can't . . ." There was more shuffling and I couldn't even hear what he was trying to say. The last words before it cut off, however, were as clear as day. "Bye Erica. . . I love you." Then there was the unmistakable sound of a siren and the message cut off.

I was crying now, and Dave was sitting next to me on the bed. He hadn't heard the message yet, so I handed him the phone. He just set it down beside him and pulled me into a hug.

"It was from Jake." I sobbed. We sat there for a minute as I cried. Once the tears stopped, I pulled away from Dave.

"Listen to it," I told him, and he did. I watched his face change from curiosity to horror as the message played into his ear.

"They've got an entire factory," I said after he put the phone down. A factory. How many kids could there be? What are they using them for? How would we ever get them all out? Save them? Where could it even be?

"I know." Dave replied, sadness in his eyes.

"What are we going to do?"

"Right now, nothing until we learn more. And with your leg and arm messed up, we really can't do much anyways."

There was a long pause before he spoke again. "That one girl we met in jail- she had the same thing done to her, yes?"

"Yeah," I answered.

"Well, if they've got an entire factory, there must be more, right?"

What Dave was saying made me think for a moment. I nodded. "Yeah,"

"Well, the girl- she said that she didn't know anybody that could bail her out of jail. They must be targeting certain people. They look to see who has family members or friends and they pick off the people that won't fight back, won't have any way to get out." Dave said. "If they take children that don't have anyone to fight for them, they know they won't be exposed."

"Why'd they pick me, then?" I asked. "I have you, and my parents."

"Well, your parents are hardly around and they don't seem to care, so that makes sense."

"And they didn't think that I had any friends that would do all of these things for me." I replied. "But I do, and when they found out, they convinced the police that I was the one that kidnapped him and you were my accomplice, then they took your parents." I said.

"But it doesn't make sense," Dave said. "If they actually believed that you kidnapped him, then why did they let you go so easily, and not allow you to defend yourself?"

"I don't know," was all I could say.

After trying to solve the puzzle for a few more minutes, sleep started trying to take over my body. I welcomed it and the second I laid my head on the pillow my eyes closed and I was asleep.

But my dreames weren't much better.

I dreamt of a dark night sky, with no stars or moon. I was laying in a pile of leaves in a forest, holding something in my hand.

A phone.

When I looked up at the sky again, the moon was shining, bright and full. But something was off about it. It was moving. Rippling. Swirling. Changing. And I realized I was looking into a river, staring at the reflection of the moon instead of the moon itself.

I had no control over my body, my legs just moved and stepped into the river. It was deep, deeper than I expected, and my legs sunk down further and further, reaching for a nonexistent bottom. I shuddered as the icy cold slipped over my body, covering me with a horrible burning sensation that started in my toes and froze all the way up to my face. I sunk down further, and soon my head was entirely underwater.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I was going to die. I was going to drown in this bottomless hole of water. Everything started to fade into black.

Jake's face appeared out of the darkness. His hair was spread out like it is when you're underwater. His eyes were open, but they didn't see anything. They were glazed over and dead. His arms were limp, and he was sinking down in the water just like me.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to move my limbs and pull Jake up to the surface. I wanted to get out of this icy death trap. I wanted to breathe. I wanted to grab Jake's hand and shake him to life, swing him around and laugh like we always did. I wanted to see his childish smile, his bright eyes, his hair blowing around in the wind on a nice spring day.

But I couldn't. I was as dead as Jake. I was drowning.

I couldn't bear it any longer, I couldn't do this. I sucked in quick and hard and the cold icy water filled my lungs.

I woke up screaming.

"Erica!" Dave's voice stopped my screaming, but didn't stop my shaking body and my racing heart.

"Erica, it's alright." He said. His hand found mine and he pulled me into a sitting position on the bed. I was too terrified to move. I just stared straight forward and continued shaking like a scared little child.

Dave lifted his hand and pressed it against my forehead.

"You have a fever," He said. I still didn't speak. "Are you okay?" Dave asked. All I could do was nod. I was fine, just terrified. Then I remembered my dream and tears started to fall.

"It was . . . Jake. We were. . . in a river." I managed to say through my sobs.

"Don't worry, you're fine." Dave's voice was calming.

"I know," I replied as he wrapped his arms around me. "What time is it?"

"Four twenty-three." Dave replied.

"I can't go back to sleep. I'll have another nightmare."

"Well then we can just sit here as long as you want until the sun comes up."

"You can go back to sleep, I'll be okay." I said, pulling away from him. He held me tighter.

"I'm fine, I couldn't sleep anyways," He said.

"What are we going to do today?"

"Sit around the house and eat and sleep and be lazy. Its not like we can do anything anyways, and you have a fever so you probably shouldn't be doing anything anyways." Dave replied. I took a deep breath before answering.

"Okay."