Kidnapped

Chapter 29

Chapter 29:

Words formed in my head, working their way down to my throat, and into my mouth. But when I opened it, nothing came out. Even the air seemed to pause, unable to make its way into my lungs.

And then he laughed, and the world came crashing down around me.

"You- this- you- how-" I stuttered. My eyes turned to stone. "You're insane."

"Am I?" My father asked, an awful look coming across his face. Sad, but happy at the same time.

"You can't do this. Turn it off!" I said.

"You can't turn a bomb off, Erica." He said, his tone almost full of...regret?

I glanced at the clock that was ticking down with every second. There was less than an hour left on it.

"Why would you do this?" I asked. "You're going to kill everyone in this entire place!"

"Well that's the point, isn't it?" He laughed again.

"We have to get everyone out! We have to-"

"We don't have to do anything. They know too much, Erica. They all know too much." His voice was trembling now, and he was shaking.

"No, no. We can fix this! We can-"

"I am fixing it!" He shouted. I backed up, running into the guard as I did. But he stepped towards me, grabbing my arm roughly. He pulled me to the other side of the room easily. I was weak. Helpless. Like the children.

"This," He said, shoving me against the wall painfully. "Is the only way to win. The only way to truly get rid of this wretched place. This horror story come to life."

He grabbed a rope and began to tie my hands together tightly. I tried to break free, to escape, but he just yanked my arms sending a sharp pain through my back. I fell to the ground.

"No! Please! Let me go, there has to be another way!" I pleaded. I sounded like a child, begging for help. I hated how weak I was, how much I always depended on others.

"I've tried. For so long. Erica, don't you see? If I just left, they'd kill me. And if I died, they'd replace me."

"Who would?" I asked.

"All of them! Everyone working for this place! We keep each other in check, we use each other to keep this place going. It's our job, our responsibility. We play our parts."

"Why, though? Why can't you all just stop? All at once?" I asked.

"Because we can't! If we stopped, we'd all get thrown in jail! We'd lose our money, our only hope of surviving!" He said as he wrapped a rope around my legs, tightening it so I couldn't escape.

"Please! Don't do this!"

"It's too late. It's already done." He replied. "You see, by getting rid of this place altogether, by getting rid of everyone in it, nobody will ever have to know it existed. Nobody has to throw anyone in jail, or do anything. Because they'll all be dead, anyways."

"Think about all of the children! Think about everyone you're murdering by doing this!" I yelled, panic setting in.

I was going to die.

"I don't care about the children! I don't care who dies! Don't you see? I have no soul, Erica. No conscience, no voice that tells me what's good and bad. I do whatever I want. I don't care about others, I don't feel things. They can all die, for all I care. I'm going to hell anyways."

"Please! You don't have to do this!" I begged, tears filling my eyes.

I was going to die.

"Yes! I do!" He turned away from me. I was wrapped in ropes now. Tied up. But why should I even care? I'd been tied up the entire time, anyways. I'd been caught in the headlights, trapped behind the doors. I just never knew it.

Even if we'd somehow escaped them. Even if we somehow freed all the children. It would all come down to this in the end anyways, wouldn't it? Me. Him. The bomb. All in this dumb, dark little room.

He walked away from me, starting towards the door.

"Wait! Please, don't leave!" I screamed after him, trying desperately to break free. "Please, we can fix this! Please!" I begged. Then my voice dropped to a whisper. "Dad."

At that word he froze in his tracks, and slowly turned to me. I didn't see his face, whether it was blank, sad, angry. My eyes were blurred with tears.

Then he stepped back towards me, staring me straight in the eyes. He stroked a finger down the side of my face.

"Erica," He whispered. Softly, gently. "My daughter."

I sobbed, tears falling onto the tile floor.

"Please." I said.

He was silent for a moment. When he spoke, it was firm but soft. "That was the same thing your mother said to me before she died." His voice turned to stone. "Before I killed her."

I stared at him. This monster in front of me.

I was going to die.

"Goodbye, Erica." He whispered, planting a kiss on my forehead. I wanted to dump acid all over the spot to get rid of it. I wanted to slap him. I wanted to scream. I wanted to do so many things in that moment. I had a whole book full of things I wanted to say to him. A list of adjectives I'd like to call him- none of them being very nice.

But all I did was sit on the cold floor, sobbing like the weak, pathetic person I was.

I was going to die.

"You will be missed."

"Hopefully not by you!" I spat angrily.

Then he laughed, and I heard his laugh carry out all the way into the hallway.

I was going to die.

I stared at the numbers on the small screen of the bomb.

47:23

47:22

47:21

Every second was one second closer to zero. Zero. The moment I would die. The moment I would have failed at everything I could possibly hope for at the moment.

I was going to die.

I was going to die.

I was going to die.