I am a pizza delivery driver, and It’s my last stop of the night. The house I drove to is on an unlit, unfamiliar street. I ring the doorbell, and I am greeted by an unusual character. He invites me in because of the snow storm and the freezing temperatures to grab the money. He abruptly knocked me out cold. I woke up, tied to a chair. The light pierced my eyes as I woke up. The room was filled with bright light. The room was empty and had a smell of fresh paint. There were flowers painted out from the corner of the ceiling. The room looked like something out of a toddler magazine. A man walked into the room with a determined walk. He stopped right in front of me. Standing about 5’9. The man had filled out muscles that seemed to be restricted by his old shirt. He spoke to me in a low somber tone “ You’re coming with me”. 

He untied me and escorted me down to the basement. I was amazed by what I saw. There were some kids hung on the walls and others chained to the floor. The man escorted me to chains in the middle of the room. Then he grabbed one boy smeared in blood off the hook. It looked like he’d been dead for about a day now. His skin was now faded more than ever with a hint of green. The man dragged the boy up the stairs and shut the door behind him. The room was filled with darkness.  There was one window, but it was very small. I was so petrified to look around, but I closed my eyes and tried to think of something good. My body trembled with fear; my mind raced. Then the door peered open and the man walked in with a tray of food.  He set it on a shelf over my head. He approached the boy next to me . He handed him his phone and told him to call 911. The boy didn’t move but he demanded. The boy stood still, but the man persisted. He grabbed a bag and tied it over the boy’s head. The man hung up the phone, and now the boy’s body lay next to me lifeless. The man unhooked the boy’s chains and was dragged up the stairs. The man had left the food on top of the shelf, but at this point I didn’t feel like eating anyways. After a few minutes of silence, a girl from across the room spoke. 

“ Who are you?” she called out. 

“ Saige,”  I whispered. 

“ Why are you here?” she asked. 

“ I don’t know,” I said in a confused voice. There was a long silence. I had no recognition of time, but all I knew was that I was exhausted. I rested my eyes to close, but I couldn’t fight it any longer. I drifted into a deep sleep. I woke up to an empty stomach and kids sighing  as they are here another day.  I was also awoken to the sound of more kids being escorted to their chains. The worst thing was that there was another one hung on the wall. I couldn’t quite make out how old the girl was, but she seemed to have been around two. The man grabbed the food off the shelf and threw each of us a piece of bread, and then he left the room. I had been very hungry since last night, so I finally ate. In the room there were no more conversations, as everyone was eating and trying to forget about the little girl hung from the wall.  A long while after, I heard a voice. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I recognized the voice. It was the young girl from yesterday. 

“Hey what are you guys all chattering about over there?” I called. The girl spoke back to me. 

“We're talking about our next mission in Africa,”  she murmured quietly.

“What do you mean?” I replied, very confused.

“We all get assigned missions every month to go to  Africa to steal priceless artifacts and then sell them on the black market for profit, and that is how we stay alive,” responded the girl. 

“What is your name?” I asked curiosly. 

“Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzy instead,” she added.

“Okay alright,” I joked.  The door opened, but this time a different man walked through. He walked straight towards me and kneeled down. I have an assignment in Africa. 

“ Are you in?” he ordered. 

“Yes,” I answered quickly but not sounding scared. The man explained that I would be transferred in the morning to a new commander and that I had to listen to him. He said that he would come and get me in the morning and escort me to my plane where I would meet my new commander. My new commander name was Richard Davenport. He was known as Sir. 

I went to bed that night excited to get out of this horrible place, but nervous about what was going to happen in Africa. 

“Goodnight”, I called out to Lizzy but she didn’t respond, a little boy responded. 

“She’s asleep”, He whispered. 

“Oh, Okay”, I said sadly. 

“ I can talk to you if you want”, he offered.

“I am okay”, I sighed.  I closed my eyes hoping that I would fall asleep, but my mind stayed awake. I was thinking about my mission and what  Was going to do. If I was going to come back to this place or die on the job. I wondered what commander Richard Davenport or Sir would be like. Would he have one of those skinny but muscular guys that don’t have any definition or would he be very jacked up with huge muscles.  I tried so hard to turn my brain off but I couldn’t. So when the man woke me up in the morning I was so tired and exhausted from the lack of food and water. 

“Little boy, help Lizzy and take care of her okay?” I said. 

“Okay,” he responded. THe man pushed back until I let him pull me up the stairs. He said that I would get some food and water once I met up with the commander. After we walked outside the man put a blindfold on me and took me to the car. The man pushed me in and we drove away. We drove for a little bit and then the man flipped on the radio. It was playing the 80’s station, my personal favorite. We drove for a little while , but then we finally came to a stop. The man opened the door and took my blindfold and cuffs off. He told me that if I ran he would shoot me on scene. I walked all the way across the airport parking lot to reach the front doors of the airport. There was a very short man with dark brown hair smoking a cigarette waiting for something. He approached me and told me he was Richard Davenport. How was definitely not what I was expecting. He had no muscles, but he almost seemed overweight. He was dressed in an all black tux with a blue tie and shoes. We walked to security which was easy because I had no belongings. We had a short wait of about 15 minutes, to board the plane. I realized that Sir didn’t have any belongings either. We boarded the plane and were seated in the back. I sat next to Sir. He also had 4 men in black suits all around him. They carried long balck suitcases everywhere they went. We had several connecting flights, but we finally made it to Africa. Sir explained everything to me. We were to leave from the hotel at night and come in through the main entrance and I was to enter the storage room through the vent in the bathroom. Then we would give the art straight to the people and get out of there so we didn’t get caught. We settled down in the hotel and waited around for awhile. Sir told me that it was time to go and we walked out of the hotel and drove down to the art center. We walked around so we wouldn’t draw attention to ourselves and then I walked into the bathroom. I quickly unscrewed the vent and climbed in. It led me to an open room, which I thought was where the art was stored. Then I saw Sir and his team opening up boxes of art and jandig them to a man in a purple suit. The mission was complete and so we left the building. When we returned to the hotel I ran and ran because I was scared, but knowone chased after me. I ended up at a nold restaurant, and I just took a seat in a booth. The waiter came up to me and gave me three 100 bills and told me that I had to go. I went to the airport and booked a flight back to America. I left with the feeling of excitement and power. When I arrived back to my hometown I went immediately to my house. My mom came running out  and gave me the biggest hug I have ever had in my life. I had explained to her what had happened and that I needed to help the other kids. We informed the police and they did scans throughout  the county and they located down the people. All the kids were returned to their families and the men were sentenced to life in jail for life, but they didn’t get the death penalty. I returned to school that following week all of my friends wanted to her all about my time but I never really felt like sharing. MY mom put me into therapy with Dr. Samantha Welsh because she was supposed to be one of the best. I had 3 weekly session all lasting anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. She helped me deal with the aloneness I was feeling. She also told me to only tell my friends what I wanted to and not to let them pressure me into anything I didn’t want. As time passed I became more open and started to come back out of my shell. One day, this new boy at school came up to my locker, he looked pretty determined but I didn’t know what for.

“Hi I am Ryder,” he called. 

“ My name is Saige, nice to meet you,” I answered. 

“Would you walk to class with me,” Ryder asked.

“Sure but what do you have first period,” I asked. 

“Same as you I guess I am very lucky,” he joked. Mrs. Sanders never cared where we sat and so I didn't have any of my friends in first period so I told Ryder he could sit next to me. The bell rang and class was dismissed and we had five minutes to get to our next class or we would be late. It turned out Ryder and I had all the same classes except for our electives. We walked together to class everyday now and we sat by each other. My friends are very excited for me to have found a boyfriend, but I told them that we were just friends. It was a plain old monday morning, I met up with Ryan in the front of the school, but instead of going straight inside he pulled me away and took me to a bench. 

“Saige,” he asked. “Will you be my girlfriend, and I understand if you aren’t ready for a relationship,” he said.

“Yes I will,” I answered. Even though I knew I probably wasn’t ready for a relationship I really liked Ryder and I want to make him happy.  Later that night I got a message from a strange number, so I clicked on it and it was Lizzy and I think the little boy. I asked them if they could meet me at a restaurant in town and they said they could. Ryder came with me and when we arrived at the restaurant Lizzy and the little boy were already waiting inside. We exchanged stories and ate a lot of pizza. I ended up going to Stanford and Ryder made it too. We got married  3 years later and now we have 2 kids. One boy named Jacob and the girl named Elizabeth. Ryder and I still keep in touch with Lizzy and the little boy who are siblings. Lizzy told us that her brother's name was Daniel. They are both in the 6th grade and living in a big house only 2 hours away from us. From this day on I will never let my kids be pizza delivery drivers.