CHAPTER THREE
I STRUGGLED INSIDE THE BAG, PANIC CLAWING AT MY heart. I felt myself being lifted and throw into the back of the car. "H-help!" I yelled, my voice muffled by the material of the trash bag.
"I have a knife at your head,," the man's growling voice hissed close to me, "so if you say anything else I can silence you with it."
I froze with fear. I whimpered pitifully. I wondered what was happening to me. Why was this man shoving me in the back of his sleek, shining black Chevy car? What was going to happen to me? Was this for some stupid prank? I didn't think so. To me, this was something a lot more serious- a lot more dangerous.
I could tell that the car was moving. The hard floor beneath me bounced me up and down in a jerky motion Then, after some time and no warning, the car jerked to a stop. I tumbled forward, uttering a cry of dispair and pain as my head hit something sharp and jagged.
The knife. I saw that a small rip had been made in my bag. I reached through the tear, fumbled with the knife's brown handle, and pulled in slowly inside the sack I was stuck in. I kept the silver blade presses sideways against my wrist where my pulse was fast and frighten.
"I'm getting you out, girl," snarled the man. I heard a slamming of car doors and the man stumbled out of the car, lifting me roughly into the sunlight. I made sure the knife was still safely hidden when he dropped me onto my feet onto a carpeted floor.
Suddenly, there was light again. The man had siezed the top of the bag and pulled it. I saw long sun-streamed windows all around the large square room, and a sizeable wooden table on a risen platform, where a thin man was sitting patiently. As if he had expected me.
"Hello,Vennasa Frostwater," he said in a high-pitched, shrill voice. "I see you have come."
"I didn't come! I was forced against my will!" I shrieked at him, hiding the knife in my pocket, my hand still gripping its handle. "You kidnapped me!"
"No, I didn't," the man said coldly. "He did," he gestured to the other guy. As his hand waved over his desk, I could see a black object shadowed there. A gun.
I held onto my weapon tighter still. Even though I was frightened beyond my will, I was willing to do what I had to do to survive. "Who are you?" I snapped, changing the subject with a narrowed pair of bright green eyes.
"I should not tell you." the man whispered quietly. "But since you are staying here forever, I shall. I am Andrew Cruise."
"Staying here forever"? What in the heck does that mean?
I brandished my knife at him, inches from his nose. He winced once, picked up his gun and shot the knife clean out of my hand onto the floor. The bullet and my only chance of escaping fell on the floor with a clank. The other man who had taken me raced across the carpet to snatch them before I reached it, succeeding.
" So, Mr. Cruise, " I said politely and formally, trying to keep my voice from shaking, "why did you kidnap me? I think that's the real question we all want to know."
"Well," Mr. Cruise leaned forward on his desk, " because you are a vitim of a higher power. Of my higher power. " he replied, and an evil laugh echoed through the room, high, shrill, and dangerous.
