Missing

20

Chapter Twenty

Later that day

I was on chapter ten of The Hunger Games when the door was opened to reveal some people standing menacingly in the door way, this time it was three men and one woman. Chills erupted through my body as I lay under my blankets, hoping that they would leave.

"What do you want?" I asked my voice quivering as I spoke, they were all so intimidating.

"Do you know if Mark has our money still?" one man spoke up, I hadn't seen before. He was young, a young father; I suspected that he was the father of one of the small children that I had seen the day before.

"Well," I thought back to Mark and I's conversations, "He told me to go to a wood, there was a cave with a lot of money in it. Whether its yours or not I don't know." I saw their eyes light up at the prospect of money.

"Where is the cave?" the woman barked and I jumped slightly when she spoke, her loud voice surprising me.

"Sycamore wood," I said in almost a whisper and smirks appeared on their faces, two even highfived and all of sudden hope washed over me, "Does this mean you can let me go? You have the money he took!"

One of the men let out a hearty laugh, almost doubling over as he did so before he could finally talk, "No way! We still need the organs, but the money is an added bonus I guess."

The truth of reality hit me hard again and the previous hopeful attitude was stomped on and left to die.

"Can't you just go to a hospital, the NHS do this stuff for free don't they?" This made them all cackle, they laughed at my naivety.

"Waiting lists my dear, our children cant wait that long for their transplants. They need them now. When we contacted Mark they had a couple months to live, that deadline for transplant is getting shorter each day. You know how long he was planning to run away- don't you Kansas?" every time they told me something about the case or myself made me feel sick, they had been watching. Waiting until they knew they could get me, until they needed to get me. When Mark showed enough attachment to me that they knew they could get back at him and get what they needed.

"Mark will save me," I shouted at them which actually caused one to fall to the floor from laughter. I sunk into the bed as they made fun of my hope, the one person that I was counting on helping me. He knew these people, he probably knew where they lived. I imagined that he was leading the search party just like I had, how he would a useful asset in the police station telling them about the people that were holding me captive. I had helped him in the same way, he was the type of person to repay favours like that.

"You keep thinking that darling," one of the men said patronisingly and with that they left me with thoughts of doubt running through my mind.

Mark would do the for me as I did for him- wouldn't he? After the hell I went through for him the least I expected him to do was make up for his actions by helping me out of a situation that he caused. But their words, they instilled some uncertainty in me. Maybe I didn't know mark well enough to judge what he would do. Maybe he wouldn't care that I had been kidnapped. Did anyone even know that I was kidnapped?

Sinking back into the bed, I placed my head in my hands; it hurt too much to think about it. I was supposed to be strong, I was supposed to have all the answers which I obviously didn't. Why did I have to rely on someone else to find me? Why did I have to be a damsel in distress?

In a fit of rage at myself I punched the wall which only resulted in my fist hurting and more emptiness building inside of me. I could do nothing, it didn't mater if they had the money- they still needed me. As hard as I tried I found that I couldn't hate them, I couldn't be angry with them. All they wanted to do was save their children, all they wanted to do was preserve their children's fragile lives. Mark had deceived them by giving them false hope, I could see that the time they had waited for those organs to arrive had taken a toll on all of them. They all looked so down, so depressed, their eyes were dead. I was their only chance. They wouldn't let me get away.