Life's Essence

1- Setting The Stage

A/N- You guys have StayAliveLovely to thank right now! She saw where I had put something up giving an opportunity for the updates to start today instead of Thursday, and she did it! So here you go, early update!

Two Years Ago

Dallon and I were walking back to our apartment after a night out together when it happened. We had gone to a small bar for live music night, like we always do every other Friday. It had become a little tradition of ours.

It was a routine.

That was a mistake.

Dallon and I were very much creatures of habit. Every weekday, we'd get up at 7:00 AM and get ready for work. I worked at a music school giving people vocal or piano lessons, and Dallon was a music teacher at an elementary school. He may look tall and intimidating, but he's a huge softy and absolutely loves kids.

I got off work at 4:30 PM and went to the gym afterwards and exercised until 6:00 PM and then went home. Dallon's school let out at 3:30 PM but he stayed there until 5:00 PM wrapping up projects from that day and planning out new lessons and events for the kids.

When he'd get home at 5:15 PM he'd make dinner if he was feeling up to it, if not we'd order in. Every other Friday at 8:00 PM we'd leave the apartment and go to the same small bar, stay until 10:30 PM, and then go back home. Saturdays and Sundays were always different, but everything else very much followed the same pattern.

And we were happy. We were content. Things were working out great for us in life. We had a nice apartment in a good area, were engaged to be married, and even had plans for adopting in the future.

Anyways, we were halfway home when we noticed something lying on the sidewalk ahead of us. As we got closer we realized it wasn't something, but rather someone. A man. When we were close enough to see his face, he looked uninjured so he hadn't gotten mugged, and he still had a pulse.

After a couple moments of debate, I was pulling my phone out of my pocket to call an ambulance when we found out the man was perfectly healthy. And strong. He jumped up and threw his arms around my neck, pulling me into a headlock and causing me to drop my phone out of fear.

Three more men seemed to appear out of nowhere and a black van pulled up to the sidewalk next to us. One man came over to me and pushed a sickly sweet smelling rag in my face. I tried not to breathe in, hearing Dallon's muffled, panicked shouts from behind me.

However, my lungs betrayed me and I took a huge breath in, almost instantly feeling dizzy. I saw two men dragging Dallon's limp body over to the van shortly before my eyelids closed against my will.

When I woke up, I had a killer headache, my wrists were bound behind my back, my ankles were bound together, I could barely see anything except for the faint outline of a chair in the corner, and I could hear the quiet sobs of my fiancé.

With a good bit of effort, I was able to sit up despite my limited use of my hands. When Dallon heard me shuffling around, he called out to me.

"Bren? Is that you?" he asked through sniffles and tears.

"Yeah baby, it's me. I'm here. Where are you?" I croaked out.

"Just keep talking, I'll move over to you." He replied quietly.

"Are you hurt? Do you have any idea where we are?" I asked, hearing him slowly shuffling over to me.

"I'm not hurt as far as I can tell, but I have no idea where we are. I haven't been awake that long I don't think, and nothing has happened since I've been up."

Finally, I could feel his presence next to me. He scooted over until his side was pressed up against mine and rested his head in the crook of my neck, his hair slightly tickling the edge of my jaw line. I could feel that he was shaking, and I didn't blame him a bit. I was suppressing an anxiety attack of my own.

I leaned over and pressed a kiss on the top of his head before resting mine on top of his. As my eyes adjusted to the lack of light in this room, I could more clearly see the chair in the corner along with the door in the wall opposite to us.

After what felt like forever, we heard footsteps and voices on the other side of the door. We heard the locks being un-done, and then to door flew open, making Dallon and I cry out at the sudden flood of bright light upon our blown-pupils.

Our eyes were squinted tightly shut as some men came over and grabbed us under our arms and threw us over their shoulders. As my eyes readjusted I looked around at our surroundings.

The carpet was worn, torn, and filthy. There were scuff marks along the walls and even spots where it looked like fingernails had been dragged along. I shuddered at that thought and continued my observation of the area.

There were no windows so I could get any hints as to where we were. There were plain, unmarked doors along the hallway and everything looked the same.

I looked over at Dallon, he had his eyes squeezed shut and I could see his lips trembling and tears dripping onto the carpet below. I couldn't help but wonder how much tears this carpet has had to absorb in the past.

The men stopped walking for a moment, I heard the sound of a door being opened, and then as we moved forward once again I saw the carpet change. This one was a bit nicer, or so I thought until I saw a huge stain of what looked to be blood. That alone made my anxiety levels triple.

We were pulled off the men's shoulders and made to sit on our knees facing a rather large desk. I heard a click and felt something small and circular being pressed into the back of my head. I glanced to the side and panicked when I saw a gun pointed at the back of Dallon's head, but that when I realized that there was one pressed against my head as well.

What the absolute fuck is going on? I heard the door behind us open, but was too petrified by the gun pressed to my head to even think about turning around to see who was entering the small room.

A man slowly came into my range of view. He was tall and lanky, with raven black hair and cold blue steel eyes. He sat behind the desk, not an ounce of emotion on his face. His gaze was hard and his posture was stiff. I got the feeling that if I even looked at him funny he wouldn't hesitate to tell the man behind me to pull the trigger.

Or worse, tell the man behind Dallon to pull the trigger.

"Is this them?" he asked, addressing the men behind me. Nothing was said, but the man's gaze turned to my eyes so I guess the men behind me gave him some sort of nod of confirmation.

"Do you know why you two are here?" he asked, looking at me.

And, of course, I couldn't keep my fucking loud mouth shut.

"No, I do not fucking know. We have been told nothing since we've gotten here. We've been carried around like sacks of flour and have had guns pressed to our heads with no fucking clue why or what we did! Now, please tell us, why the hell are we fucking here?!"

The man calmly stood from the chair behind his desk and began to walk over to us. I glanced over at Dallon and could tell he wanted to strangle me himself. Just as I glanced back up, I felt a fist connect with the side of my face so hard I saw stars and tasted blood.

A/N- Some people have asked me who some of my favorite authors on here are, so if you're curious or just need some new books to read I'm putting up a part in my rant book of my top 3 authors at the moment