Wish You Were Here

9

Aaron and Grant talked quietly for a long time. They seemed frustrated that they hadn't come up with a plan for our escape, but their determination didn't seem to falter.

"Have you gone away to camp before?" Cal asked me.

I smiled at the thought. "Every year for the past few years. I love it. I did horseback riding one year that was amazing! We all rode this one trail and stopped at the top of a mountain. The view is something I will never forget." I closed my eyes and could still clearly remember how beautiful it was. The blue sky with white puffy clouds, rolling hills, bright yellow flowers...it was a dream come true.

"What about you?" I asked.

"This was my first time," she replied. "Can you believe it? My mom actually pushed me to go. She said next year I'll be seventeen and probably won't want to go, so I should do it this year while I still can."

"This was my last year to go away. I'll be seventeen next year, too. My mom's been pushing me to get a job, so I'm guessing I'll be stuck working next summer..." I said.

If there is a next summer.

"I have an older sister, Rachel. She's interning in New York this summer. My parents are in Asia for eight weeks."

"Wow! Your whole family travels a lot, huh?" Cal asked.

I chuckled. "Actually, we don't. Just me and only for summer camp mostly. My dad had to travel for work, so my mom went with him since I came here and Rachel is in New York."

"Oh. We don't travel either. Since my dad left, it's been hard on my mom so we don't do vacations," she added.

"Why do you think they took us?" I whispered.

"Gina and Dean? If that's even their real names," she sighed. "I have no idea. Some people are just bonkers."

"But look at this set up. The hidden door, walls with chains, all this land. Why buy this place and modify it like this just to lure teenagers so you can chain them to a wall? There must be more to it," I told her.

She was staring straight ahead and I followed her gaze. Aaron's and Grant were staring at me, having heard what I'd just said. Cal looked back at me.

"You're right," Grant said. "She's right! Think about it. They must own that land where we went to first, remember? With Dean when he brought us over on a boat. This must be an island. It's a small one, but still - it's an island. Equipped with the main cabin and this one. And this basement. Come on! This couldn't have been cheap to set up."

Aaron thought about it. "Maybe they have a bunch of money?"

"Maybe, but even if you have money to blow, do you spend it on making this whole dungeon place? Just to hold a bunch of kids hostage?" Grant asked.

"No," Aaron shook his head. "You're right. They're not going to just keep us chained up. There has to be a plan or something. Otherwise why just collect us down here?"

"Exactly," I chimed in. "Why go through all the trouble?"

"For the money," Will added. "Our parents all paid them, didn't they?"

"Yeah but for the five of us? That's not that much money," Cal told him. "Not compared to what they spent on this place anyway."

"They must want something else from us," Aaron stated. "I don't know what it is, and I don't care to find out."

His words chilled me. I had thought we were all chained up down there and would remain that way for the whole eight weeks. I didn't know what would happen after that, but I imagined we'd be free somehow. But what if Gina and Dean were keeping us down there for some other reason besides just collecting people?