Taken





This book is dedicated to Julia  my best friend and #1 source of criticism when needed.


Epilogue:

She was running, she didn't know where but she kept going. Her feet slapping the pavement, the steady thump of her backpack reminding her, there is no turning back. She decides that changing her name is a good idea. Maddison Garcia is traceable, being found is not part of the plan. Maddi’s brow creases and she bites her lip, he used to call that her thinking face, God how she missed him, no she can't think like that. “Names that roll off the tongue, Lisa, Lissy, Gabby, Julia.” Maddi trails off realizing she was speaking out loud. She stops running and takes a bottle of water and an energy bar out of her bag. She see’s headlights heading toward her, slowing down. The car stops a few feet away from Maddi and a man gets out. He walks to the front of his car and stops, calling out, “Need a ride?” Maddi can't see his face and knows you should never take a ride from strangers, so she replies with a short, “No thanks.” Maddi notices that the man is tall, with dark hair as he turns back to his car. Maddi shoves her stuff back in her bag and gets up. She heard fast footsteps behind her, but when she turns to see what is going on a pillowcase is pulled over her head. It smells chemical, Maddi passes out without another thought.


Chapter One:

I wake up slowly, I feel like I'm trying to push my way out of a thick fog. I slowly open my eyes, they are still covered by the pillowcase. I can tell i'm in a car. My body is still trying to wake up, but my hands are tied up. I jerk my hands to see if i can get them loose. I hear a man's voice say, “Oh good you're awake.” The pillowcase is pulled off my head. I'm blinded by the sudden sunlight. As my eyes adjust I turn toward my kidnapper. He smiles at me as I study him. Tall, dark haired just as I had thought. He has brown eyes so deep that you could get lost for days. “I’m Anden.” he says in a low voice, his smile continuing on into it.
He is so formal, so polite, and I snap, “Look Anden I don't know why on God’s green Earth you are doing this!” I tried to sound tough but my voice cracks, and his face softens. He looks at a loss for words, but then finds what he wants to say, “I’m sorry to scare you, and I wouldn’t have gone about this if you had just come with me.” I stare at him my confusion turning to anger, “ What the literal hell?! Apologizing does not make this okay, and furthermore why in the world would I get in the car with you, a complete stranger!” Anden blushes and apologizes again before hesitantly asking me, “You really don’t remember do you?” I stare blankly at him until he continues, “Your dad sent me.” I stare blankly yet again, my dad left when i was six. He let these words sink in and then continues, “Our dads were best friends, and so were we before your parents split. There’s so much you need to know and so much I need to tell you.” I continue to stare and tears fill my eyes. I try to hold them back but they fall silently leaving shiny trails down my cheeks and bringing mascara with it.
Anden has a sad look on his face as he leans over and unties my wrists. We fall back into silence and my brain is screaming at me. I have so many things I want, no need to know. Like why did my parents split, why didn't my mom tell me that my dad didn't just leave. My entire life was a lie and I lived cluelessly. Anden breaks my train of thought as he pulls into a small gas station to fuel up. He looks at me with a small smile, “Do you want anything to eat or drink?” I look up at him slowly and say, “Sure just surprise me.” He nods and gets out.
Anden pumps the gas and i just stare out the windshield wondering how in the world my life has changed so much in such a short period of time. Anden is done pumping gas and heads inside, he comes back a few minutes later with Fritos and Sweet tea. My favorite snack. He gets into the truck and hands me my stuff. I look at him questioningly. He realizes i'm looking at him and asks, “That’s still your favorite snack right?” I nod slowly and ask him, “How did you know?” He just laughs, “i'm the one who introduced you to that snack, your parents were health food freaks and never let you have junk food. So one day when you were over at my house i gave you that as a movie snack and that's all you wanted to eat. Your parents weren’t happy but you were so picky, they were just happy that they got you to eat.”
I laugh and realize that he does know me. In fact he seems to know more about my childhood than I do. When I was six my mom moved us to Arizona and on the way down a truck hit us head on. My mom was fine but i suffered from a concussion resulting in memory loss. I guess that’s how my mom got her chance to lie about my father. She didn't even tell me his name. My mom was never the nurturing type and made enough money to get food and pay rent.
I moved out when I was 17 years old, a junior in highschool. I moved in with my best friend Sophie, her parents had always been my family and had no problem letting me live in the spare bedroom. Sophie is a volleyball player and is a riot, she was always like a sister to me and helped me a lot with both emotional problems and homework. She moved out to Florida where she had a scholarship, full ride from playing volleyball. I felt odd staying with her parents so i moved in with my boyfriend of four years, Brad James.
He was a football star in high school, and wasn’t leaving for college until the summer was over. A month into living with him it was my birthday June 13th, I had just gotten off work at the library and was headed home, expecting a surprise and boy did i get one. As soon as i walked in I saw him sitting on the couch kissing a girl that looked somewhat familiar. I realized who she was as soon as she turned around. It was Sophie, she turned bright pink and so did he. My jaw must have been laying on the floor. They both immediately started to explain how this had come about but i wasn't going to stay to listen, I walked upstairs and packed my bag and left. My phone was blowing up with texts and calls but i ended up shutting it off. I just kept driving. I made it to my moms and told her i was leaving she just nodded and kept staring at the tv. I went to my old bedroom and unpacked. I only took the necessities. I walked out the front door and that's when I started to run.
By the time i snap out of my thinking trance we are back on the highway. I look at him slowly and ask, “Anden can you tell me about my dad?” He looks at me with a sad smile and says, “I will tell you everything just not right now. He turns back to the wheel and we fall back into silence. I have no clue where we are and I don't want to ask, I just lean back on the window and stare outside, it's almost dark and anden turns on the headlights. He asks me if I want to listen to music and I tell him that's fine. I’m getting sleepy so maybe the noise will keep me awake. It doesn’t work though. Soon I’m drifting off into the world of dreams. I have strange dreams, that seem more like memories. I remember Anden and my father. I remember riding bikes with him and going to the pool with our moms. Secretly meeting him at my window after he climbed the tree and we would talk for hours and how i thought he was the coolest seven year old around. I continue to remember these things as i sleep.







Chapter Two:

When I wake up the next morning I open my eyes slowly. At some point during the night Anden covered me with his blanket and I was leaning on his shoulder. He smiles at me as I open my eyes, “Good morning sleeping beauty.” I yawn and wave at him as my eyes adjust, I look at the clock on the dash and see that it's almost 11. Anden looks exhausted and i can tell he will need to stop soon, probably sometime tonight. Anden looks at me questioningly and i look at him confused, “What’s up?” i ask slowly. “Well, you're acting different today, what's changed?” I think before answering, “I remembered some stuff last night, not all of it but a lot. Don't worry I still have lots of questions.” The next hour is full of his questions asking me what i remembered. I answer all of them that i can and eventually we get to another town.
Anden pulls into a gas station and hands me a twenty, “Can you run in and get some food while i pump gas?” I nod and head inside, I grab a couple donuts and two cappuccinos, as I pay i'm worried that there might be some kind of amber alert out for me but I go unrecognized and return to the truck. Anden is ready to go
I and i get in and hand him the food and put the drinks in the cupholders. He gets his donut out and scarfs it down like it was his first meal in days and we are on the road again. I slowly pick at my donut as i wait for my coffee to cool. By the time i'm done Anden has already started on his coffee and is teasing me about how sweet it is. I get somewhat defensive and defend it by saying, “Well it's a cappuccino and it's not starbucks but it will have to do. We fall into a comfortable silence and Anden drives, still headed to the mystery destination. We listen to the radio and Anden changes it to a rap station. He seems to know the words, and continues to sing in his out of tune voice. I start to think about all the things that have happened in the past few days. I ran away from home, got “kidnapped” and am now friends with my kidnapper. I still don't know where we are going or when we will get there but I know I can trust Anden, so I don't ask questions. Anden keeps singing but it's getting quieter and i can tell that he is tired and that he needs some sleep. “Hey if you tell me where we are going, I can take the wheel for a while, you look exhausted.”, I half state, half ask him. He looks at me for a minute, thinking, and finally replies, “I’ll keep driving for now. If I get too tired I’ll stop to rest.” I nod at him and go back to sleep. She didn’t know where she was going to be when she woke up, but she trusted him enough to sleep peacefully. To be continued.