I kept asking the man questions, but it was useless, he wouldn't tell me anything about himself. I even asked if he was responsible for the other kidnappings of the teenage girls from around here, but he just simply laughed. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a murderer the way he talked.
Why he would rant on about useless things, I would sit there in my room and cry, which was all I had been doing all week since the last search party. I felt like a was a traitor, I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror anymore. I knew who had Abby, but I couldn't tell anyone because he would kill her.
Him. I wanted to know what his name was, what I could call him. Sometimes I would think of nicknames for him I don't think he would like.
So I finally asked him. I kept the screen off so the phone wouldn't overheat.
"What can I call you? You won't give me your real name."
He paused. "Maybe Bob. Bob is a simple and trustworthy name." He sounded satisfied with his choice, but it made me sick.
"Alright Bob." I scoffed at him. He was a disgusting pig and I hated his guts.
The disgusting pig cleared his throat. "It's been about a week, hasn't it? Since we started talking?"
"Yes."
"It's time you competed your first task." I didn't want to do anything he wanted, I couldn't. My mom thought I was absolutely crazy calling off search parties, I even had to call the police station and tell them that we had found Abby so they would no longer count her as missing, all because of him. If the police were involved, Abby would be dead, and I had to keep her alive.
My mom wasn't to sane herself. Abby and I were her world, her everything, and it had been shaken, tampered with. She didn't know what to do anymore either, even if it had only been a week since Abby went missing. Still, people were very suspicious of what I was trying to do. If only they knew.
He said he would give me some time before giving me my first task, he had to "organize it" for me. Gosh! He was such a sick person! I had to keep reminding myself: don't make him mad, do whatever he asks.
"What do I have to do? I-I'll do anything. Just please give her back!"
"Please give her back! Please give her back!" He mocked in a high pitched voice. Abby screamed, and I could hear him walk a few paces and smack her. She remained hushed. "Stop with the whining already!"
I curled up into a ball on my bed. "I'm sorry, I'll stop. Just....don't hurt her anymore."
"I'll do as I please." He paused before continuing. "Your first task is to get a bottle of penicillin."
Penicillin! I couldn't get penicillin!
"Where would I get penicillin?" I asked, or attempted to, calmly ask. I had absolutely no idea how I could get medication like that easily.
"This is your task. Get it done within 24 hours or your sister will suffer. You don't want that, right Taylor?"
My eyes began to swell with tears. Abby was going to suffer because of me. There was no way my doctor was going to give me such a strong antibiotic if there was nothing wrong with me! I didn't know what to do.
Then it hit me. I would have to steal it.
The knock on my door almost gave me a heart attack. I knew it was my mom, of course.
She came in and closed the door, sitting down on the edge of the bed and patted my pale legs. I used to be really tan, but ever since Abby went missing, I never went outside, unless I was out there searching for her.
I slid the phone under my bed, praying he wouldn't say anything. I could hear my petrified heart pounding out of my chest.
"I called detective Arnold earlier, he's coming over this afternoon. Him and Worton think they know what happened to all of the other girls who have been kidnapped, and they believe the same thing has happened to Abby."
I couldn't speak, it's like I was a child again and didn't know words or sentences. I scrambled to get my phone and put it on mute so he could not hear anymore of this conversation. The police weren't supposed to be involved, and if he heard us talking, Abby would be dead.
I finally found my words. "Is it a person, or a group of people? Where is she?"
Mom shrugged her shoulders. "The detectives think it's a large group of people spread across the country."
I was confused. "What does that mean?"
She covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to cry. "They think all of these girls and Abby......have been s-sold...." She began to stutter as her chest was heaving. "Into h-hu-human trafficking." I couldn't react. She was being sold for.....I can't even say it.
So was the disgusting pig who wanted to be known as Bob a part of this trafficking game? Or was the police completely wrong and Bob was just an insane murderer?
But I soon remembered; no police. "No Mom, we can't go." I shook my head, I needed to reword that. "You cannot go. It's to much for you."
She stood up from the bed. "What! I'm her mother! I'm going." She looked at me like I was insane.
I stood up to and tried to hug her, but she stood back. "Mom, what if it is true? You'll be a complete wreck." I put my hands on both sides of her arms, attempting to comfort her. Her tense body relaxed, her breathing normal.
"Okay, okay I'll stay. But when you get back, tell me what has happened, at least what you think I can handle."
She hugged me. If only she knew. I was lying to her, and it tore me up, my heart felt like I had betrayed her, and in a way, I was. I wasn't going to go to the police, instead I would go to the pharmacy or hospital to steal the penicillin.
When she left the room, I rushed back to my phone and unmuted it, breath heavy.
"Alright Bob, I'm going to get the penicillin. After I do this, will you let Abby go?" What was I saying? Of course he wasn't going to let her go that easily.
He must have thought I was stupid. "Oh no, no no no no. You have to complete many more tasks for me."
"Like what?"
"You'll know when I give them to you." I growled at him like a little child getting angry at their parent. "Go compete your first task."
I nodded quickly. "I'm leaving right now." Grabbing my car keys and telling my mom I was heading out to the police station, I went out the door, pretending to drive away as my mom watched me back out. I went to the edge of the street where she could not see me.
"Remember Taylor, if you fail this task, I'll punish her."
