Chapter 4: Chapter 3: Kindly Kidnapped (I just don’t get why you are reading this...)
The fear of the dark is considered a rather childish and foolish one. But actually, it's a rather human one. Although one could say they are scared of the dark, what they are saying is actually not true, for one can not simply be afraid of a shade of color. "Do you want to go see blue paint samples for your room? I can't there might be darker hues there, and I am scared of the dark". See? It makes absolutely no sense. What does "being scared of the dark" mean then? Well, there are a couple of options. It might mean that you are scared of the unknown. Like, if you walk down a dark path, you might be scared due to the fact that it is so dark, you can't really see where you are going, and are walking straight into the unknown. Or maybe you are scared of what lurks in the dark, your imagination summoning the worst beasts and monsters possible to haunt you as you restlessly toss and turn in bed. But, no one is really just scared of one of those things, for they are quite connected, so the "fear of the dark" is a blend of the two. Why on earth is it called the fear of the dark then? Because it is really only in darkness that you can't see where you are going, it is really only in darkness that you can believe that there are monsters lurking under your bed. Darkness is what brings out this fear, so it is the name it is given. Now, as the thought continues to dwell in my mind, I am realizing, that all people, some more than others, are to some extent "afraid of the dark". I mean, this isn't even an assumption, it's a rock hard fact that everyone has a subconscious, that everyone has an imagination. That's why most kids have a monster under their bed, a night light, covers even when it is hot. For it is in your childhood, that your imagination is the most untamed and hopeful. It is your imagination that lets you believe that all your troubles will leave you alone if you have a small flickering light. Or that someone can't stab you if you hide under your covers. And even that a monster (being some sort of a demon, I can relate(just kidding I am human(I think))) would even consider living under your bed, I mean, it isn't exactly a 5-star hotel down there. But, if everyone is "afraid of the dark" then why do we all deny it? I mean let's get real, although being scared because your own imagination is tricking you isn't the most "manly" thing in the world, if everyone has those mysterious lurking figures in the back of their mind as they look around their dark room, then why are you so tough if you just deny having them? Exactly it is quite stupid when you think about it. An interesting fact for you reader, I in fact wrote this exact passage from this cringeworthy book, in the dark, and as I spoke about seeing shaded figures in the back of your mind, I could almost see the terrible demons, prancing across my mind. And am not going to even try and deny it, I am scared of the dark too.
Everything was dark in Smith's mind, or, whatever the color of "nothing" is. Finally, his eyes slowly opened. Wincing as a wave of pain hit him, Smith strained his eyes, trying to see in the darkness. He sighed and closed his eyes, by straining his eyes he was making the severe headache worse. He opened his eyes again, and after a minute, his surroundings started to come into focus. It was a rather empty room, there was a battered couch which had been hurriedly shoved to the wall. There was a coffee table, that had also been moved to the wall, along with a bigger table. And the last items in the room, were 4 chairs, 3 of which were roughly shoved with the tables. Smith was bound to the 4'th. He tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry and his lips were cracked. How long had he been out? Where was he? What even happened exactly? And why, why was his head hurting so much, what was the sharp pain in the side of his head? But he couldn't really answer any of these questions. There was no clock in the room and his hand with his watch was tied behind him, and besides, it was too dark to see. There was one window but the curtains were drawn tight, so he had no way of knowing where he was. He seemed to have forgotten the most recent events he had been through. And his hands were bound firmly behind the chair back, so he couldn't even reach up at his head, to feel for the blood that was there. I would almost feel sorry for him, if I hadn't known, that this was just a fraction of the kind of pain he caused us.
Suddenly he heard another noise apart from the ringing in his ears. A small stream of light shone from somewhere behind him, illuminating the dark floor, and revealing the dust, scattered like secrets across the dark room. Squinting from his first exposure to light in a long time, he attempted to crane his neck so he could see who was casting a shadow over the stream of light. Who had just opened the door, making that sound. And who was possibly his kidnapper. He strained and strained trying to look back. Why was the person just standing there watching him! But he soon gave up trying to catch a glimpse of this figure, as his head throbbed harder with every attempted strain. Gasping at the pain, he went limp, allowing himself to bow his head forward in defeat. Then, just as carefully as it was opened, the door was closed again, engulfing this wretched man in nothing but darkness again, and soon in sleep.
His eyes flickered open again. No more darkness. This time though, he felt way better than before, though his mouth was still dry. The pain in his head seemed to have dulled if not completely went away, and when he reached up to touch it, his hand made contact with a bandage, he was no longer bound up. For a few minutes he just lay there, trying to grasp a concept of were he was, exactly how he felt. Then, shifting himself on what he had now gathered to be a couch, something else caught his attention. Three people were sitting in the middle of the room, the one he was slowly realizing had been the same one as the dark room that he had been imprisoned in. His own two eyes widened as he stared at the three people before him, suddenly starting to recollect what had happened, starting with the strange girl on his way to work yesterday. Well he thought it was sometime around yesterday….
Six eyes stared back, having felt the gaze of our poor main character resting on them. Then, the familiar women got up, her chair scraping against the floor as she untucked it from the table. Picking up a water bottle she slowly walked up to Smith, still no one having said a word, and bent down next to the couch, opening the water bottle. Carefully, she handed it to Smith, who with great effort managed to push himself into a seating position, his muscles screaming in protest. Picking up the water bottle, still not looking the women in the face, he took a couple sips, to weak to take any more. Then, the strange women said something "I am sorry about before, you see, we aren't really experienced with kidnapping. We have done it once or twice, but this one was particularly difficult, and some of us," she said glaring back at the man, who glared back sticking his tongue out "went a little overboard on making sure you didn't get away. I do apologise for this, I have since then tried to make it my business, that you were kindly kidnapped."
These words were met with a snort of derision, from the other woman "yeah that's all good, but how do we know that he won't harm us" she said looking at Smith with what at the end of the book you will agree, was a very well placed glare of suspicion.
The man gruffly spoke "are you kidding me? With those weak baby arms? I hardly had to shove him to knock him out". Smith I must tell you, is not a very small and weak man. He is perfectly average in strength, size, and proportion. With this piece of knowledge, you can now lead yourself to conclude that this man must be pretty strong or something. And he is, or was, he is half alive now, his eyes are clouded and sunken. He's tired, he's dying. It's rather ironic, because it's all Smith's fault.
At this statement Smith scowled at the other two kidnappers, but soon stopped when the young woman glared back. He felt a shiver run down his spine as she locked eye contact with him. Quickly he looked away, he didn't want to get beaten up again. The kind kidnapper spoke, only addressing the unkindly kidnappers "Please, Landon, Tey, don't intimidate our prisoner too much". Tey rolled her eyes, she would rather continue to glare at him and make him cower in fright, but she listened and looked away.
"Fine Beatrice, I won't make fun of the shrimp." said Landon, picking up his cup and drinking more coffee.
Beatrice nodded "that would be nice." then she turned back to Smith. "I feel like we owe you an explanation," she said quickly. Smith nodded urging her to go on. "Well first of all I have to address the fact that you are not exactly employed anymore," she said slowly.
Smith who had been in the middle of taking a swig of water started choking on it, forcing Beatrice to awkwardly pat him on the back. "Say what now?" he said in a strained voice.
Hesitantly Beatrice nodded, clearly a bit surprised about how he had taken this, given the circumstances it was the least of his problems. I for one am surprised, because honestly if it had been me I would be overjoyed, since Malmart is a rather horrid place. Then after a moment's silence she said "should I continue or-" but she was interrupted by Smith's nod. So she continued, "I also think that I should note, that you are going to be staying with us for a little while-" she was interrupted again, but this time by everyone in the room.
"No way, nu uh" said Tey crossing her hands over her chest.
Landon, who had been in the middle of a gulp of coffee, choked and after a moment managed to splutter "what! What the (very very rude and bad words) are you thinking! Why in the name of (A whole lot of no no words) would we keep him! In what (Lets keep this PG.13 kids) world is that a (yay just one bad word) good idea!".
Smith was in shock, he didn't seem to be able to take in anything, not Tey's objection, not Landons swearing (which you won't hear either), and not Beatrice's vain attempts to calm down and convince Tey and Landon.
When Smith finally came around, he heard Beatrice say "So then we will keep him here, right?"
"Right" the other two groaned reluctantly.
Quickly Smith suttered "w-wait! As much as I would like to ...uh... stay here. I need to uh… uh… go home to… uhhh… Take care of my goldfish" he said lamely.
"Right, your goldfish" Tey said sarcastically "your invisible goldfish".
"Yeah well how would you know that I don't have a goldfish!" Smith said stubbornly, trying to grasp onto his terrible excuse.
"Because I went inside your apartment dummy" she said rolling her eyes.
"Wait a moment! How do you… how did you… why do you… wait what! You went inside my apartment! You-you… you know where I live" he shouted backing up against the couch.
Tey carelessly shrugged off his bewilderment. "Yeah, as soon as we kidnapped you, Beatrice sent me to find where you live and snoop around, you know, make sure your contacts wouldn't wonder where you are."
"But… but how did you find my address?" he said shocked at how casually she admitted to this.
"I know people," she said vaguely.
"You know people, what kind of explanation is that!!!" he snapped at her
"Geez, why are you so upset," she said, leaning back in her chair and taking a calm sip of her coffee.
"Oh I will tell you why I am upset, you just stalked me down using random people, found my apartment, broke in, went through all my stuff, and now you are just acting casual as if you didn't do all that!" he almost hissed at her. (that dude needs to chill out). "I know people!" he mocked irritably.
"Yeah? Well actually it looks like you don't," she said testlily. "You hardly have anyone in your contacts, I know the real reason why you are upset that I looked through your stuff. You're just upset that I found out how painfully single you are. It's actually kind of depressing." she teased casually not even looking at him.
Smith was fuming by now, if I were to draw him as a cartoon, steam would be coming out of his ears and nostrils. He opened his mouth to say something, but all he managed to get out was some sort of weird strained gasping sound. He tried to say something again, but before he could make a sound, he was cut off by Beatrice, who had been too busy making soup to notice the rising argument until now.
"Cut it out both of you," she snapped to the two of them.
"Yes 'mom'," Tey said teasingly.
"Yeah? If I was your mom you would be grounded constantly." she muttered before saying "Eat your soup before it gets cold and I warm it up by placing it under Landon's armpits".
There seemed to be a sudden scurry among Landon and Tey to get their soup, not wanting to see if her threat had been real. Beatrice got soup for herself and then came back to Smith who was still on the couch, with a bowl of soup for him.
"Beatrice…. Is it morning or evening, because they are drinking coffee but soup for breakfast seems really weird." Smith said looking around still not seeing a clock anywhere that would tell him the time.
"Oh its 8 pm," Beatrice grinned.
"Then why are they drinking coffee?!" exclaimed Smith, "how are they going to fall asleep?".
"What do you mean?" said Landon who was clearly offended. "It's always time for coffee!"
"But then how do you sleep?" asked Smith, his eyes wide.
"Well Landon sleeps because he can never have enough sleep." Tey explained, Landon nodding in agreement. "And as for me, well, I don't know how you came to the assumption that I sleep."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone