Kidnapped

• Olivia Williams, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2019

I thought it was a normal night. That was, until my phone buzzed. I picked it up and an unknown number had messaged me.
‘Hey Ash, I have some bad news about Sarah.’
I panicked as my hands clumsily replied to the stranger asking what had happened to my friend. The reply I got crushed me.
‘She died. I’ve organised a memorial, it’s in fifteen minutes in the forest behind her house that was her favourite place.’
I felt the world fall around me. How could Sarah be dead? We were only 20! I quickly ran over to the forest and stopped at the exact spot we used to hang out.
The smell of gas still lingered in the air as I stared solemnly at the remains of the wooden hut we built. So, this is how she left, she burned down the one place we had together and went along with it. I looked at my watch 2:15am. I had been standing here for two hours now, waiting for the unknown person. Realisation hit me. I’d been set up. Why would there be a memorial at night in a forest? A sense of danger covered me as I turned and started to run out of the forest. I was too slow, a pair of cold, tough hands gripped onto me and led me over to a black car. My hands and feet were tied up with a dirty cloth. I watched my house pass in silence.
We drove for what felt like forever until we reached a dark, tall metal gate. I heard people murmuring and soon we approached an impossibly large manor. As the car door was opened, my hands and feet were freed. Guided through the house, people stared at me. I was sat down on a red leather couch across from a person in a spinning chair. I couldn’t see them, but I had a strange feeling about who they were.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Ash,” I recognised the voice, it had to be Sarah, but I thought she was dead. She spun around and faced me smiling softly. An unexplained feeling of disappointment rushed through me. The person sitting in front of me looked like a vampire, she gave me a proper smile, revealing fangs.
“Ash, I am Sarah,” I shook my head. There was no way this person or vampire was Sarah. She was dead. I was sure of it.
“It’s okay, there will be no suspicion of your whereabouts. We’ve erased memories of you from anybody that knew you.” Sarah smirked. Her teeth as sharp as knives. I screamed, as long sharp nails dragged me into a slightly brighter room. Tied up once again, this time to a cold, metal table, I looked over and watched Sarah have a hushed conversation with someone. She walked over to me, put on clean leather gloves and stabbed a needle into my heart.