The Kidnapper

Chapter 19

Taylor

I worked out for over two hours at the gym, making me feel very new and refreshed. Luckily, I was granted more work out time since Blair was done her training early today.

I must admit, I was quite impressed by the equipment. They had everything: treadmills, benches, racks, bikes, anything, you name it.

Leighton was not so bad when I was nice to her. She'd let me out of my room, she let me use the pool, she gave me amazing food and best of all, unlike Blair, I wasn't being followed by someone constantly. I guess Leighton trusted me.

But I still needed to get out of here. This couldn't go on. I needed to have a life again, to go back to school, to be with my friends. I was sick of being stuck here against my own will.

I was reading a book that I had found in the library, comfortable in my new bed when I heard a knock on my door. This was new, people would just come in here with asking for permission first.

"Come in," I called out.

Leighton walked inside, carrying keys.

"Hey Taylor!" She said happily. She pointed to my bed, silently asking me if it was okay to sit on it. I nodded and she immediately sat beside me. "How are you liking your new bed?"

"I love it, it's very comfortable. Better than anything I'd ever had before," I replied sincerely.

She looked genuinely pleased and gave me a dazzling smile.

Wait what? Since when was Leighton's smile dazzling? What's wrong with me?

I looked at her once more and realized that she was pretty. She had big eyes, and I really liked that on girls because it reminded me of a doe. She had a nice jawline and nice, straight teeth.

I shook my head. I never realized she was pretty because of the way she acted. God she was psychotic.

I remembered my plan from yesterday, I still hadn't done much about it. And there she was, sitting next to me. It was now or never.

"Hey Leighton... Remember that time I yelled at you?"

Her face fell. "Yes... I'll never forget that. But I forgive you. I'm sure you didn't mean it," she said.

"Well you're right. I didn't mean a word of it," I replied.

She smiled big.

"I've been thinking a lot," I continued. "And I think I might actually... love you." I said the last part so quietly, I wondered if she heard.

Her smiled broadened. So she had heard me, and she seemed to believe me.

"I knew you'd remember," she whispered. She leaned in and pressed her forehead against mine, looking straight into my eyes. She was still smiling down at me. "You remembered, do you? Your promise?"

She had mention a promise before. I had supposedly promised something to her in our younger years but I frankly couldn't remember. I racked my brain, trying to find answers.

I didn't answer and she ran her fingers up and down my arm, whispering in my ears repeatedly: "you promised."

I couldn't bring myself to ask her what the promise was, or it would ruin everything.

She finally stopped repeating "you promised" then sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. I didn't know what to do, so I silently stroked her hair with my right hand.

She fell asleep next to me and it was peaceful. She looked so vulnerable like this, not at all intimating or crazy.

This reminded of the old Leighton, when we were kids and lived next to each other. Every time she was upset after getting into a fight with her parents, she would always sneak out and come to my house. She would cuddle up against me, and I would stroke her hair to calm her down and she'd fall asleep. Just like this.

She used to be so sweet, I never thought she'd ever be able to hurt a fly. But now that I think about it, I didn't know much about her. She didn't really like talking about herself, and she never let me come to her house.

Our parents hated each other. They didn't know we were friends. My parents would call her parents arrogant psychopaths and hers would call mine scoundrels. They always warned us against each other, but we never listened to them.

Was she always like this? I wondered. Surely, her parents were always assassins, but had she started working for them at a young age? They were all so proud of their little group, I wouldn't be surprised if they had told her all about it and starting corrupting her as soon as she learned how to talk!

I know Leighton was still a good person deep inside and I could make her go back to the way she was.

She stirred in her sleep, and woke up seconds later.

"How long was I asleep?" She said, rubbing her eyes.

I looked at the clock, it was eight pm. "About forty minutes. I didn't see the time go."

She yawned, not replying. She noticed I was watching and giggled. "What are you looking at?" She said jokingly.

"I was wondering, what age did you join your group?" I inquired.

"Our name is The Justice Seekers," she informed me, smiling. "I was introduced to their lifestyle at six years old. Fired my first gun, went on my first mission and killed my first target."

She sounded very proud and satisfied, and I tried not to let my shock show on my face. Six! She was only six years old and she'd killed someone!

"I officially became a member of the group recently. About seven months ago. I always went on missions with them but I never really knew why I was killing all these people and what the purposes of our missions were. My father recently explained everything to me in a letter. He was the leader of the group."

"Didn't you feel weird, killing these people without knowing why?"

"Yes, of course I did. Every time I asked, I always got told I was too young to understand. But as the years passed, I learned how to cope with the guilt. And now I feel no remorse at all."

I nodded and tried to assimilate this newfound information. I felt shocked, scandalized, amazed, disgusted and impressed.

"Anyways, I'm hungry. Wanna come down to the kitchen and grab a burger?"

My stomach rumbled causing me to realize that I indeed was hungry. I hadn't noticed.

Leighton smiled and stood up, taking my hand. "I'll take that as a yes."