It was dark outside, the sky completely black. Estella knew that leaving the house at this time was almost a death sentence for over 25's…but she was lucky. She was only 23 and wasn't scared to go outside at night. That was until the past few weeks where people her age- 'babies' (people who were still not in time) were disappearing without trace. That night her mom asked her to watch her younger sister, Adele. She agreed and was trying to entertain the 6 year old when Adele became distracted by a light coming from outside in the alley behind their apartment.
"Adele, don't move from this table." Estella said getting up to grab a sweater from the other room. It was chilly outside, therefore chilly inside the apartment. She hated seeing her little sister shiver.
"Okay Stella" Adele said kicking her feet under the wooden table and staring at the window overlooking the street. Rushing from the room and grabbing the tattered purple sweater from the creaky old bed she ran back to the kitchen.
"It's getting old Adele, but it's still…" the chair was empty and the front door was unlatched and hanging open. A shiver ran down her spine as she saw the plate still full of food her sister had not ate. She made a dash for the door and called out quickly.
"Adele!" she said running outside and clutching the sweater still closer in her hands. Adele was a real baby, only 6. If anything happened to her, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. The gravel crunched beneath her feet and the wind made an eary snapping noise against the back of her neck. It was cold out and Estella was only wearing a pair of old shorts and a chunky sweater. Her favorite sweater, it kept her warm and was a present from her father. She cherished it and it was her sole prized possession. Running towards the alley way she heard a crying noise coming from the other side of the alley. It wasn't just any crying noise, it was her sisters. She looked towards the other end of the alley and saw her little sister being held by a blonde haired, evil eyed boy. Immediately she knew who it was, and her stomach sank.
"LET HER GO!" She said running forward towards her sisters outstretched arms. She was quickly detained by a minute men. "Fortis please…let her go."
"Babies you see." He said sitting her on the hood of the car and turning his attention to me, before hopping off the hood of the car. "They have a use other than wasting borrowed time."
It was Fortis and the other three minute men who terrorized everyone. They stole time from hardworking people, drained them of the time- thus killing them. She had learned how to avoid them, most people had. She knew when they made their rounds and she made sure she was not in those areas at that time. However, up until a few weeks ago she had no reason for worry. She was living on no time, she was a baby. People had been disappearing and were gone without any indication. They didn't know who was committing these crimes, but it clicked in her mind…it was him. It was the four minutemen who had made people's lives a living hell.
"You see." He said tracing a face over the sweater on my arm and yanking it up to reveal numbers not yet started. "You are living on borrowed time, time that is mine. Time that once you turn 25…will be mine."
I watched at Adele sat stunned on the hood of the orange car, she was shocked and scared. Giving her a look that meant 'Run when I nod my head', and then her attention was drawn back by Fortis who roughly grabbed her by the chin, inching closer to her ear. He started to whisper in a very low tone, causing the hairs on her arms to stand up.
"I swear to god you try and escape and she won't live to see the next day." I pulled away, looking towards the brick wall.
"What do you want?" Looking back towards him and wrenching my arm from his grip. "I'm not 25."
He laughed and looked down at his own clock, which read '12 years, 10 months, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 10 seconds.' "You'll find out the purpose of why we need you two soon enough. Liuti, grab the rat."
"ADELE RUN!" I said kneeing Fortis in the stomach before darting to the hood of the car and grabbing Adele by the arm. Before she knew it, she was running like she had never run before. Adele in her arms whaling and screaming. There were screams coming from behind her and she knew they were closing in on her. She lowered Adele down and continued to run.
"Adele, you go inside and lock the door." She said looking over her shoulder and seeing them come closer. "Don't open the door for anyone. Go."
She ran from me, making a break for the apartment square. Before I knew it, Fortis had a hold on my hair and was dragging me back towards the car. I put up a protest, screaming and kicking as I went. If he was going to kidnap me, it wouldn't be without a fight.
"You will pay for that." He roughly threw me into the car and jumped into the passenger's side. I looked up towards the window I often looked out, as a child. I saw a blonde head and two sets of fingers peering over the edge of the window sill. I kept my eyes on my little sister as the car drove away, driving me towards an unknown location.