Last Seen in San Diego.

I felt as if I was running through an endless forest, never finding my way out, never finding my way home. I continued to see the light to what I thought would be my escape, my pathway home. The closer I moved towards the light, the darker it became. I was so close, but a sharp pain took me away from the illusion. It was as if I was being hit on the head with a blunt object but without the option to fall into unconsciousness.

Kellin?” Her soft voice filled my ears next. I slowly fluttered my eyes open, crawling away from the various faces staring down on me. I looked back and forth between all these faces, my eyes landing on Tay. I felt myself start to panic once again. Where the hell was I? Who the fuck are all these people? “Kellin, calm down.” Tay says, attempting to calm me down. I stand up from my spot on the floor, allowing Tay to pull me close to her.

“Tay, what happened? Where are we?” I ask in almost a whisper.

“If I knew, I would tell you.” She told me sadly.

I looked at all the strange faces in the room, they looked familiar. I also took a second to look around the room we were in. Walls were grey with the paint chipped on each wall, there were beaten up chairs and couches sprawled everywhere. Even a table in one of the corners. There were no beds so I wondered where everyone slept, if they even slept at all. I turn my attention back to Tay and the people near us.

"Who are these people?" I whisper, trying not to let anyone else hear me. To be completely honest, I fear them. They could be working for the man and could choose to cease my existence at this very moment. But then again, I doubt Tay would even be near them if that was the case. She grabbed my hand, leading me to the various people in their own world. She turned away from me, motioning all of them to come over.

“Kellin this is Jenna, Oli, Jack, Alex and Mike.” She introduced all of the ones standing in front of me. As soon as she said their names, it clicked in my mind who they were. I noticed the way she looked at Mike, I wondered if that was the guy she had a crush on. Anyways, that wasn’t important at the moment. My eyes trailed towards the one in the corner, scribbling something out on a piece of paper.

“Yeah I know who they are. Who’s that?” I say, pointing to the boy in the corner. I tried my best to not call attention to myself but I failed. I received a nasty glare from the boy before he turned back to the paper.

“Oh um, that’s my brother Vic. He’s not a people person.” Mike said, sort of like he was giving me a warning. My heart stopped though when I heard his name, Vic. That was the boy from the picture, he looks so different now.

“Oh.” I said, getting the hint that I should probably not interact with Vic but knowing me, I wouldn’t obey.

“Yeah so what happened to you guys? How did he get you?” Jenna asked. She had an Australian accent which threw me off a bit. I wasn’t expecting that.

“Uh well I guess it was a day or two ago. I honestly don’t even know how long we’ve been with the man these past days, it feels like forever already. I was walking home from my friend Jesse's house when he grabbed me. I tried fighting back but then he injected me with something and I became numb. He took me to his van and that’s when I noticed he had taken Tay as well.” I told them, looking at Tay so she can tell her story.

“I can’t remember much really. I remember being hit with something and thrown on in the van that’s it.” She said, tensing up at the fact that this actually happened.

“Did you at least catch his face? You guys weren’t blindfolded like the rest of us so maybe you got his looks so we can tell the police when we get out!” Jack said a bit too happily. Apparently that was a bit too happy for the boy in the corner. He laughed as if it was the funniest thing he’s ever heard. Our eyes trailed over to him, he smug smile plastered on his lips.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, genuinely curious at his actions.

“We’re not getting out of here kid. I don’t know why they’re getting their hopes up. As if you two could magically change our fate.” He told us, going back to his drawing. I couldn’t help but hate the attitude and bitterness coming from his voice.

“Vic, come on you-” Mike tried to speak but was cut off.

“No Mike!” He roared. “We’re not leaving unless it’s in a body bag. He was drugged and with his weak composure I doubt he was able to fight the man long enough to even see his face. He probably didn’t see anything that could help us, so stop trying.” He snapped, glaring at me. I’ve only been here for about an hour and half of the time I was unconscious. How the hell could I have pissed him off?

“What about you” I say back, not allowing him to just be rude with me for no reason. “You’re obviously stronger than me right? Why couldn’t you fight him off and see his face? Why couldn’t you run away from him, maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation right now.” I spoke. The whole room silent as they watched the scene unravel.

“Kellin, I wouldn’t-” Alex tried to speak, but I cut him off the same way Vic did to Mike.

“No, I’ve done nothing for him to be an asshole to me so I’m not going to sit back and let this stranger talk down about me.” I don’t see why I was getting so mad, why I didn’t just let it go. But the point was that I didn’t and now with the tan boy walking towards me, I knew I was going to pay. We were now standing face to face and to say I was scared would be an understatement.

“Listen here pretty boy, you don’t know shit about me so if I were you I would keep your mouth shut. Okay?” He snarled. I tried to keep my tough guy act up, so I just rolled my eyes and walked away muttering a small ‘whatever’ and heading to the chair in the corner of the room. Tay followed me, pulling a chair along with her.

“What the hell was all that about? You should’ve just listened to Alex.” She scolded me. I looked at her in disbelief. This wasn’t my fault at all.

“Seriously, Tay?” I just rolled my eyes at her. We stood like that for awhile until I decided to the others. I sat on the floor, entering their little circle with Tay following right behind, sitting in the middle of Mike and I.

“So Kellin, you knew who we were. How?” Oli asked skeptically. They all nodded before turning their eyes to me.

“He’s probably working with the man.” I heard Vic mutter from the other side of the room. They all looked at me panicked, so I had to quickly reassure them that I was in the same situation they were in.

“What? No, I’m not working with him trust me. I knew who you were because I was doing some research on kidnappings for a story I was writing in my english class.” I explained.

“Sounds skeptical to me.” He spoke once again. What the hell, was he trying to make them kill me?

“Yo Vic, shut up and let him speak.” Oli yelled over at him, earning a glare from the mexican. “What’s your story about because it does sound a bit skeptical to be writing something like that, then ending up in this situation.” He explained, which I completely understood his point. But seriously, why would I be locked in with them if I was working with the man? Stupid Vic.

“It’s a love story based on this experience my history teacher told me. This girl gets kidnapped and her boyfriend doesn’t stop looking for her until he finds her.” I explained them, they all nodded but of course there had to be another smart remark. Vic fake gagged, causing me to roll my eyes once again. When I looked at his picture he looked so sweet, like he couldn’t hurt a fly. I guess I shouldn’t base personality on looks, because he wasn’t sweet at all.

“Okay so you’re not working for him, but do you happen to know who he is? Any clue?” Jenna asked hopefully. It hurt to let her down, but I had to.

“No, I couldn’t recognize the voice. I probably wouldn’t even be that much help since I literally moved to San Diego a few days ago.” I told them, receiving sad glances.

“Wow so you weren’t even here for that long before you were taken away. That must suck for you.” Jack says, I nod.

“What about you Tay?” Mike asked her. She shook her head no.

“He didn’t really talk to me. The only time he talked was to Kellin but I was yelling at him to stop hitting him. That’s really it.” She said, putting her head down. Mike rubbed her back, comforting her. Aw.

“So how do things work around here?” I ask, looking around the room.

“Well, I bet your number one question is if we get food. Isn’t it?” My stomach answered for me. “Well yes we get fed but not as much as we would at home. It’s not as good either. Most of the time it’s just sandwiches and water.” Jenna told Tay and I.

“Yeah he feeds us two times a day, but it’s his choice whenever those two times will be.” Oli concluded.

“As for sleeping, we either sleep on the couches or the floor. Since most of us prefer the couches, we try to sleep at different times.” Jack said.

“What about bathrooms?” Tay asked.

“Uh bathrooms are straight through that door in the corner. There’s no windows in there but there is a toilet, a sink and a shower.. In the bathroom there is a small closet filled with two towels, one for the girls and one for the boys. Toilet paper and various soap packages.” Alex told us.

“Our conclusion was that someone used to live in this room because we highly doubt that the man would be that nice to us. On the bright side, when Mike was taken they didn’t take away his chewing gum so none of us really have to worry about horrible breath just yet.” Oli said jokingly, causing Jack to chuckle. I don’t know how they seemed content at least. I feel as if they all have hope to actually get out of here. It’s been over a year and they haven’t been rescued but they still think they are. Or well it seems that way. Me on the other hand, as much as I hate to say it...I agree with Vic. Neither him or I have hope that we will get out of this and for some reason, that’s what I’m going to stick with. It seems as if the false hopes keeps them going, helps them not give up but I think they should face reality. I heard a loud squeak coming from the other side of the room, then a loud bang. Our heads turned to see what happened, but he wasn’t standing there. On the floor lied a tray with two sandwiches and two glasses of water.

“Why only two?” Tay asked Jenna.

“Well we already had our second meal of the day so I’m guessing this is for you two.” She says sadly. I see her glance at the tray before walking over to the couch. Immediately I felt bad and since I didn’t have much of an appetite, so I was going to do the right thing. I grabbed my sandwich and water before walking over to where she was. She moved over, assuming I wanted to sit next to her but I never moved.

“Here you go.” I say as I place the sandwich on her lap and the water on the floor.

“Oh no, Kellin. I can’t take this. Eat it you must be hungry.” She tried to reason but I only laughed.

“No it’s okay really. This whole situation caused me to lose my appetite anyways and I figured you need it more than I do.” I told her. She tried to object but I wouldn’t let her.

“Thank you, it means a lot.” She smiled at me before taking a bite into her sandwich. I nodded and headed over to the other couch where I laid myself down, ignoring the glare from Vic that I felt burning the back of my head. Jenna soon joined me, making me sit up instead of laying down like I was.

“Damn Kellin, trying to be prince charming already?” Alex joked about my interaction with Jenna. I laughed before shaking my head.

“Kellin flirting with Jenna? Ha that’s funny. He’s gayer than you guys are.” Tay called out, causing them to laugh a bit.

“Ah so you play for our team, good to know.” Jack laughs, pulling Alex closer to him.

“You guys are cute together.” I comment, causing them to blush.

The rest of the day I spent getting to know everyone except Vic because he secluded himself from everyone else. I wondered what got him so bitchy. I mean I know we are locked in here forever but that doesn’t give him the reason to be such a dick to everyone. Hell I only just got here today and he already hates my guts. According to Oli, he wasn’t like this all the time. He slowly started developing this attitude and soon it just stuck as more people started coming along. Yes he tolerates them but he doesn’t necessarily talk with them as much. The only one he has a real conversation with is Mike and that’s because that’s his brother.

From what I was guessing it was pulling around night time and everyone was getting tired. Tay fell asleep on Mike’s lap, which of course I found adorable. Jack and Alex shared one couch and Jenna slept on the other while Oli slept on the floor. I tried to fall asleep but I couldn’t and knowing that Vic and I were the only ones awake in the room made me want to fall asleep quicker. He glanced over at me, groaning when he saw that I was awake. I went to say something but I decided against it, I’d rather not piss him off. I laid on the floor, using my sweater as a pillow and staring at the ceiling. I’m not sure why but I couldn’t stop thinking about Vic. It bothered me so much that he hated me but besides the fact that we had that little...incident if you may call it, I don’t see why my presence bothers him so much. I felt myself grow more and more tired until I finally gave in. I slowly closed my eyes letting sleep take over me. Tomorrow was a new day in hell, maybe a new day for Vic and I as well.