Brainwashed

The Truth is Worse Than Anything I Could Bring Myself to do to You

Kimberly POV

I analyzed my brother as he ordered his coffee, perplexed. He seemed to be different somehow, but I couldn't place my finger on it. After ordering, Chris sat across from me with a blank expression. "So... um, how have you been doing?" he asked, mumbling awkwardly. I laughed at the question with a smile.

"I've been fine, Chris. But the million dollar question is who was that girl earlier? She seemed like a good woman," I hastily replied. He looked confused for a moment, but the dull expression from before soon returned."Oh, she was my-uh-girlfriend. Yep, like you said before!" my brother said, not sounding too sure himself. 

"Well, I hope to meet her some day! Too bad she rushed off in such a hurry," I happily declared with a grin. Having my brother back for the first time in twelve years was so wonderful and I could barely hold my excitement in. "She had work to do," Chris stated, clearly now. His voice almost seemed robotic, combined with his blank face. 

After finishing our coffees and my discussing of the last twelve years, we parted ways outside. Right after we left the coffee house, I realized that he had never said anything about how his twelve years had gone. I walked over to the area he had wandered off to question him and noticed the large woman from before walking back over to my brother. For some reason, I felt the need to hide behind one of the Starbucks pillars to listen in onto what they said. They were talking in hushed tones, but I could still pick out fragments of what they said.

"She needs to be trained or taken out," the woman whispered. Chris nodded his head in agreement. 'What the hell is my brother doing,' I thought as I watched their exchange of words. Before I had a chance to question them, Chris started to speak. "I have the bargaining chip in place. The only thing left is... show up. Let's hope she doesn't fail... will be the end for poor little Finn."

I gasped at this from behind a pillar. 'Could he be the person behind Finn's recent disappearance?' My brother and the woman seemed to have noticed my gasp and stared at me. I stared right back at them with wide eyes, fearful of what they would do to me. 

"Oh Kim, why did it have to be you? No matter, we shall dispose of you anyways," the man I once called my brother snarled. I gasped as he and the woman took hold of me. We were near the forest that he and I used to play in, too far away from the Starbucks for anyone to see me.

They dragged me through the snow for what seemed like miles on a well-worn path. Then, finally, Chris and the woman dropped me abruptly onto the ground. I grunted out angrily, but they were too busy opening what looked to be an underground hatch of some sort. I began to hear a familiar voice before the woman hit me and I passed out.

Finn POV

My captor had left for some reason. I didn't really care, just wanting to get out, find Ava, and get back home. The first thing I did after he left was search every inch of the room. My shoulder still ached will a sharp pain from my fall down the stairs.

After about thirty minutes of searching and finding nothing, I leaned against the wall, sighing. I knew that in my condition-my shoulder practically broken-there was no way that I could help Ava, but I still wanted to do something. I hated the helplessness of the situation. Now I knew how the princess waiting for her knight in shining armor felt.

Eventually I heard something outside. First I thought I was hearing things, since it had been so long since the man had left. I knew I had to do something to get the person's attention.

"Hey! Someone help me!" I shouted desperately. The hatch began opening and I could barely hold back a grin. However, that all changed when I saw who my knight was. My captor and a woman threw down a passed out Kimberly next to me. I screamed, thinking that she was dead, but she grumbled in her slumber.

The man climbed down the stair-ladder with a blank expression. He looked bored, as if getting a fish for Christmas when he really wanted a puppy. I scoffed at the look. "At least pretend to care about your captives," I muttered, irritated. He shot me a glare. "You are nothing but a bartering piece in this game, boy," he spat. 

My eyes moved to the woman. She had the same look, except she seemed to anticipate something. Her chocolate eyes didn't seem to belong to her. They looked dimmed, as if something had stolen their light. 

It was around the time that I had been stuck in the underground room for a couple of hours that footsteps could be heard outside. The sun had gone down long ago, since it was winter. The man and woman looked at one another with wide eyes. Either I was about to be saved or the person they had been waiting for had arrived. Kimberly still hadn't woken up. I was about to ask what was happening when the woman placed a rag over my mouth.  'Chloroform' I thought wearily before the darkness greeted me once again.