Chapter 1
7In the dead of night after passing out after a long shift i heard a voice shout....
"Wake up"
"What, who is that?"
"I said wake up"
"Why whos there?"
"I wont tell you again"
"Ok ok" I groaned as I tried to wake up. Who's voice was that i wondered to myself. For some reason I wasn't afraid of the voice i had heard it was almost calming.
I open my eyes, sit up and look around my dark room. I see nothing. No person no shadows no light just nothing. Just black. It must of been a dream I told myself as I laid back down. My mind swirling with what had just happened.
This wasn't the first time I thought I had heard a voice in my head. I actually used to think i had an imaginary friend in my head. My bed feels like heaven right now after the day ive had. I really didnt want to move if i didnt have to. I was exhausted to my bones. I had spent the last 12 hours working at the steel works factory. Everyone always told me it was a man's job but at 5ft 11 and having a muscular figure from years of working out, my mother said i could fit in and work as hard as any of the men there. Don't get me wrong there were a few other women there but I worked on the big heavy machinery they did the smaller tasks around the works. I wasn't a skinny girl but I certainly wasn't big just muscular arms and legs, so i never really understood my mom saying that about me however i had curves in all the right places my friend Kate told me. I need sleep. I need my body to recover. This job is hard on my body but i dont complain it keeps me out of this hell hole. Its not an easy job but I enjoy it and I have made some amazing friends. Kate, Max and Jenny were the best parts of my life right now. My family make me work so they dont have to. It's unfair but it gets me away from them I guess.
They have not been the best parents at all. They refused to let me finish school because that meant friends and freedom and heaven forbid I ever wanted to get a better job and leave this place. Tomorrow is my 18th birthday and I need some sleep so im ready for my birthday celebrations. I didn't tell my parents but I took the day off work so I could enjoy my day without being told I wasn't allowed this year because they wont question me working or even if im working late. I would just leave for work as always and come home when i was ready. If im honest they would actually tell me it was good i didnt want my birthday as it wasnt important anyway. I never had a birthday party or cake. They chose to treat themselves to a fancy dinner somewhere every year and leave me with Miss Emery from next door. She was the only one who had ever been kind to me. Knowing it was only on my birthday they asked her to babysit me she would sneak over a small cake and candle just so I could celebrate. She was the highlight of my year until 4 years ago when she moved away to look after her grandchildren.
Thankfully my friends have made sure i get to have an amazing fun filled day this year at the carnival in the next town over and then they are taking me to my club so we can drink (legally) and dance the night away.
As I start to drift back off to sleep, I hear that voice telling me to wake up again. Seriously am I losing my mind? I start to sit up when I hear it louder now. "Your in danger" it says. "Why? What is going on who are you?" I whimpered looking round my room again starting to feel scared now. "Please trust me Bella Walker wake up and leave" the voice said to me almost begging. "You need to leave this house. I will explain when we are safe. I want to tell you everything but right now we need to leave" the voice says. "We?" I said to the voice with no response. I think on it for a few minutes staring at the ceiling in my dimly lit bedroom.
I check my alarm clock it reads 11.55 just 5 minutes until my birthday. Why today of all days is this happening? I was finally 18 tomorrow. I could finally leave this house and my mother behind in just 5 minutes. I would miss my father a little but only because he showed some kind of interest in me when mom wasnt around. Although i needed to save a little more money and hide it like i have been doing but at least at midnight I knew it was now a possibility. She couldn't stop me when I turned 18 if I wanted to leave. Every year I had counted down until I was 18 and able to escape her and her control. Every year I had written in my diary that I was 1 year closer to my freedom and my own happiness.
I hear a noise on the landing outside of my room. I have always had amazing hearing I have no idea why but I can hear things that happen that no one else can. It's always been a party trick of mine. I remember one day back when I was 9 or 10 and my "friend" at the time, Abby, had been hiding from me whilst we played some silly game she made up. I heard her from a long way away talking to someone saying how I would never find her and how she hoped id just go home and stop following around. I stopped in my tracks to listen to what she was saying. She said to whoever she was with that she was only my friend because mom paid her to be. I just stood there and cried for a moment before I turned and walked home. I was heartbroken and didn't speak to my mom for a whole week after that. I never did tell her that I found out and i never spoke to Abby again either.
I scramble out of bed throw a few bits of clothing and some shoes in a bag from my wardrobe, grab my phone and car keys before I head to my window. I run back to my bedside table and grab my envelope of hidden savings and my laptop. I might need them if this voice is right but why am i trusting this voice? This isn't making sense but for some reason this voice makes me feel safe.
It's a long way down to the ground as we live in a 3 story house and im shoved away in the tiny attic room. I have never understood how my parents could afford a house like this when they do nothing all day. Like literally nothing at all. I barely saw them leave the house unless it was to take me to school. They even got the food delivered. I think the weirdest part was we always had nice cars and I even had a private education for a while. As I got older I had tried to ask if we were rich but mom just said it was none of my business so I never asked again. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere alone, apart from work now that I can drive, but they made sure I had a tracker on my car. I never went to the movies or the beach like a normal teenager. I knew exactly where the tracker was placed on my car so i must remember to remove it when it was safe to. If I need to get away the last thing I needed was them tracking me.
I look outside and see how dark it is. All I can see is the stars shining and an almost full moon. It lit up the ground below in its bright light. I always thought it was most beautiful at night. Apparently the full moon is tomorrow night. (My mother kept telling me for weeks.) I didn't understand why it was so important but she would tell me once a week after my 17th birthday.
I carefully remember how far down it is from my window to the ground below. I look out of the window that I know or I think i know, im abit thrown off right now by what is happening, that if I climb to the edge of my sill I can reach the drain that goes all the way down. I have climbed up and down it many times so I dont get in trouble for being out when I shouldn't, so this shouldn't be too difficult. Thankfully I was never caught and only ever went into the gardens to watch the stars anyway and lay on a blanket until dawn. I had to be in my room when they woke up or i would get in trouble for sure. It was my happy place for me to be surrounded by nature. It is warm and dry out so at least it wont be slippery on the grass. As I decend the pipe I hear my mom in my room screaming to someone I assume is my father. Why was she in there? Did they hear me leave? Oh crap I need to stay quiet now.
"Where is that little brat. We cant let her leave. She can never find out what or who she is. We stole her for a reason. We need her to complete the bond Arthur! We have put 18 years into that mangy mutt she cant leave now!" She screamed so loudly I think thought the neighbours would hear her.
I put my hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming and felt a tear roll down my cheek. Was she saying they were not my parents? I dont understand but I dont have time to deal with that right now. I know I need to leave here and fast. Whoever had warned me to leave i could never thank them enough. Im still so confused who had spoken to me though. What had I just heard? I was stolen? How can that be? So many questions whirled through my mind. As I thought about all of this I realised I still hadn't moved down the drain anymore. My mom is the worst of my parents in my opinion. She is always telling me what I can and cant do. Even from a young age i wasnt like a normal child. I had to do as i was told and wasnt allowed friends, apart from one she paid apparently, outside of school and definitely not in the house. Eventually i even had to give up school so I could "go and get a job so me and your father dont have to look after you anymore" she would scream at me daily until I got my job. Although she was cruel I thought she loved me on her own way. She always made sure I looked good and took me to party's with her. I never understood why all the people were so interested in me. When I was as young as 4 or 5 she would make sure I always looked "beautiful for the people and wouldnt embarrass her" as she always said. My father on the other hand was a caring and kind man but he never really showed me any fatherly affection. He was not cruel or unkind but he was never loving either. I dont remember him ever hugging me as a child but he always got me a gift for my birthday and Christmas and came to every play or recital I did, despite my mother telling him he shouldn't or couldnt. It didn't make sense that he did all of those things but could never find it in him to say he loved me or say anything to stand up for me against my so called mother. As I reach the bottom of the drain and jump onto the lawn below, I realise they have had the sprinklers on recently so now the grass was slippery, but the voice in my head shouts at me to run so I do. I run as fast as i can and hope i dont slip over. If I had not listened before to whoever was saying all of this to me I would be in danger so I listened now. I ran towards where I parked my car. I always left it on a nearby street as my mother said it was ugly and didn't belong near the house. We had lived in the same house my whole life. It was a big 5 bedroom house with pillars by the door and a stark white exterior against the dark green of the trees and a huge front lawn that i was never allowed to play on with so many trees surrounding all the edges of the property. If you didnt know there was a house there you would of thought it was just a forest. They always drove the newest and most expensive cars. All my friends were jealous that I lived in such a nice home but they never knew how cruel the inside was. How there was no love. How we never sat down to eat a meal or how I had never even watched a film with my parents. They had never read to me at bedtime when I was small. As I ran down the tree lined street I could hear someone running fast towards me. How is she so fast? She was almost superhuman in how fast she was running at me. I got to my car, a blue volvo, that i had saved every penny for and bought for myself as soon as i passed my test and climbed in as quick as I could locking the doors behind me. I threw my bag into the passenger seat and started the car. Just as I was about to pull away my mothers face appeared in my window. She looked red in the face but her bright blue eyes gleamed like she wanted to murder me. She looked so enraged like she wanted to physically hurt me. That was one thing they had never actually done thankfully. "Where are you going at this time of night sweetheart? It's your birthday in just 2 minutes. Dont you want to celebrate with mom and dad?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice. The voice she used when we were in a public space. "Away from you" I screamed and put my foot on the gas and drove away into the night with no idea where I was going or what the hell was happening. I watched her get smaller in the rear view mirror and saw her stomp back towards the house i had grown up in throwing her hands about in the air as she walked back. I saw my father come shortly after to take her home. I knew this wasn't over but it was definitely time for me to get away from them. After about an hour I pulled into a rest stop to get gas, dump my phone, get a burner and add my only 3 friends numbers. I knew there was no one else I would want to have my number anymore. I used some cash that i had bought with me from the envelope of my savings that i had managed to save from my job and hidden. It wasn't much but it would definitely help me until i can find a new place to settle down in. I was heading out of my home town the place I had called home for almost 18 years but apparently it was all a lie. Was my whole life just one big lie? Before hopping back into the car I pulled the tracker off from under the wheel arch and stomped it into the ground as hard as I could taking out some of my frustration on the inanimate object. I checked around the car for any others I may of missed. When I was satisfied there was no more on the car I got back in the driver seat. Who am I? What did they mean they stole me? What is happening? I screamed at my steering wheel and to nobody in particular hoping maybe this mystery voice would talk to me again. The tears flowed freely now I had a minute to take it all in. I banged my hands hard against the steering wheel in utter frustration. "We stole her for a reason" what did that even mean i asked the voice hopeful for an answer but i got no reply. It felt like it was playing on repeat in my head now as I drove the last few miles from my home. I had no idea where i was headed but I didn't care right now.
