Chapter One.
"Maya, just shut up, alright?" I groaned heavily and rolled my green eyes skyward, ignoring my twin sister as she babbled on like an insufferable idiot.
"Come on! You know you like him, and he certainly likes you..." She mused, unsuccessfully trying to hide the sneaky smile lurking on her pink plump lips. I could see clearly enough that the edges of Maya's lips were beginning to quiver, turning upwards but hesitating like she was tying to bite it back.
"If you like him so much, you go for it!" I squealed, my anger building up like a raging volcano. I could feel my breathing increasing with every step I took, my face reddening as the blood rushed to my cheeks and my palms curling into tight fists at my side. Why did my twin sister have to be so naïve? There were better things than boyfriends...
"I can't go for it, can I? He so clearly likes you, and plus, you know I like Jake..." She mumbled miserably. My anger subsided then as I smiled sympathetically at the moping teenager by my side. I knew for a fact that Maya had practically been in love with Jake for a year now and he had not shown the slightest bit of interest in return. Maya just happened to take this as a personal kick to the gut, but - not to be biased or anything - Maya was extremely pretty. So pretty, in fact, that almost every guy in our year wanted to Hoover up her face. It just so happened Jake did not.
"Don't worry; he's bound to notice your extreme beauty and bright personality any time now." I reassured her with a bright smile, revealing my pearly-white teeth to the world. Absently, I stroked my long brown hair, twisting locks of it between my fingers like a cascading spiral.
"Whatever..." She ignored me and sighed, staring off into the darkening horizon with her similar green eyes. They seemed to shimmer beneath the orange sunset and for a moment I was sure she was crying, but before I could say anything, she had blinked away the salty water and gotten rid of any evidence. "What are you going to do about Cody anyway?"
"Ugh! I'm going to do nothing about Cody because there is nothing to do!" I moaned, throwing my hands into the air in a fit of frustration.
"But-"
"No 'buts'! I do not want to hear about Cody again until tomorrow at least." I spat, feeling angrier than I should have. Mentally, I kicked myself in the stomach; Maya was only trying to be nice, right? "Look, I'm sorry... I just don't want to think about guys right now." I muttered, flashing Maya an apologetic smile that was to assure myself more than her.
If I was being honest, I really didn't want a boyfriend. Right now, anyway...
The rest of the journey home was spent in utter silence. I could suddenly feel the alcohol in my stomach churning and going to my head, making me feel dizzy and uncertain of my feet. I wasn't worried about it, in fact, internally I laughed at my drunken state, but it wasn't until I noticed Maya swaying on her feet that I began to feel worried.
Maya hadn't drunk at all earlier. Normally, she was even worse than me, but a recent event of spewing all over the place and knocking herself out on our bedroom floor had put a restriction on her liver for the time being. It might seem like we do, but we don't actually make a habit of binge drinking; it's only every couple of weeks when someone's parents happen to be away on business trips or on holiday.
"Maya? What's wrong?" I asked in a slurred voice. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, but I wouldn't allow them to shut over my eyes. Frantically, I threw out my arm in search of the buildings wall to keep myself up. I just felt so damn dizzy!
"Eva! What's..." Maya's familiar voice echoed through my mind, bouncing off the inside of my skull like a fierce echo. The sound seemed to hurt my fragile mind. I felt like my head was shrinking and squeezing my brain until the soggy remains could spill out of my ears.
I slouched to the ground, unable to keep myself up any longer with the support of the brick wall. I had no strength left; not in my arms, or my legs... I fought fiercely to keep my eyelids open and watched, unable to do anything, as Maya sunk to the floor too in a heap of raven black hair. I tried to reach out to her, but I couldn't make my arms move an inch, never mind stretch the distance it was to my other half; my twin sister.
The edges of my vision blurred and increasingly grew fainter and fainter, the black of unconsciousness grabbing at my sight. A black van stopped beside us as we lay across the sidewalk, unable to move and paralysed by our own fear. I was so happy that someone had stopped to help, until I realised they so obviously were not there to save us.
Three hooded figures stepped out of the running van, all muscled and rippling beneath their leather jackets as they stalked towards us. They took no time in efficiently picking us up and dragging our immobile bodies to their vehicle. And of course, I felt every bump and knock that smashed my body as they piled us into the back. Figures I couldn't do anything, other than keep my eyes open and feel pain.
I could hear a faint thrumming of drums, but it took me a moment to realise it was my own heartbeat, drumming so loudly that it was hard to hear anything else among fog of confusion. I watched in utter horror - but still unable to do anything remotely productive - as the men shut the door behind them with a loud 'crash' and the van drove off, curving off into another street. I heard them talking frantically, but I was unable to understand anything, as I lay piled in the most uncomfortable position with my sister lying face down across my legs.
I wanted to scream for help, kick down the back door, pick up Maya and run for it. But I couldn't do anything. I was helpless and immobile in the back of our kidnappers car.
Then, everything went black.
