This is a dark story, but it's based off of a dark song, so that can be expected.
This one shot is about the Powerless Trilogy (and takes place during the second book).
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
WARNINGS: GRAPHIC RAPE AND TORTURE AND VIOLENCE, KIDNAPPING
Have you seen me?
I've been wandering
Out by the road
Trying to get home
He used the garbage bag and nail gun
Do I look like someone
You could use to have fun?
I tried to run
But he's not done with me
-"Have You Seen Me?" By Nicole Dollanganger
His head felt like it was splitting open. Everything hurt and ached, and he wasn't sure how long he'd been walking, but he felt like he was no closer to home than when he began. In his fist was a crumpled missing persons poster he'd found. His picture was splayed across it...
A FEW WEEKS EARLIER
The Supers were mad at him because of him hiding the ring and lying to them for almost a year. Eric was the only one that wasn't angry (unless you counted Louisa, who Daniel hadn't talked to since she lost her powers, and Rose, who had no idea what was going on), and Daniel didn't trust himself around Eric after he borrowed his powers. Twice.
Daniel exited his house and hopped on his bike, beginning to pedal down the street. Maybe a bike ride would clear his head, make him forget about his worries for a while.
Daniel turned into the empty lot behind some stores, and he rounded the dumpsters and pedaled in circles, quickly losing track of time.
At some point, a car drove into the lot and parked in front of the back door to one of the shops. Assuming it was an employee, Daniel continued biking, not thinking much of it.
Until hands wrapped around his waist, lifting him off his seat and dragging him backwards. Daniel's legs became tangled in the bike, but as Daniel began to kick at the person restraining him with their arms around his waist, the bike clattered to the pavement.
"HELP ME!" He cried, battling against the man (definitely a man. Daniel could smell his cheep Cologne and could feel a muscular chest pressing against his back). "MOM! MOLLIE! ERIC! SOMEONE!"
A hand clamped over his mouth, and Daniel struggled to push it away as his blood curdling screams reached an even more brutal intensity.
The door to the car was thrown open, and Daniel was thrown into the front seat like a rag doll. The man rounded the car, oddly calm, and lowered himself into the driver's seat, pulling out of the parking lot, completely unfazed by Daniel kicking him and punching him and continuing to scream.
As the car disappeared down the road, a man ran out of a nearby building and stared at the bike lying on the pavement, its pedals still spinning with a metallic clang and a whirring sound, in horror.
"Please let me go!" Daniel begged, slamming his shoulder against the door.
The man didn't speak as he continued to drive. He barely seemed to notice Daniel at all.
Daniel tried to peak at the man's face under the wide brim of his baseball cap, but the man suddenly pulled the car over and yanked a bag over Daniel's head. A rope was tied around Daniel's neck, making his breath hitch, and was tied, not tight enough to kill him or cause damage but tight enough to prevent the bag from coming off.
"Please," Daniel pleaded.
The man remained silent.
Daniel isn't sure how long they drove, but it felt like an eternity before the car stopped, and the man dragged Daniel out by his upper arm.
The man shoved Daniel forward, and Daniel felt himself being guided up some steps and heard the creak of a door swinging open- by the sound of it, a glass or maybe a screen door.
Daniel cried out as he was thrown onto a mattress, and he sobbed as the man crawled on top of his legs, pinning the poor child to the bed.
"Sir, please, let me go!" Daniel whimpered.
The man finally spoke, laughing. "Not a chance, kid."
"Why did you take me?" Daniel asked.
Daniel could almost see the man shrugging. "Various reasons," he stated, simply.
Daniel kicked and struggled as the man bound his arms behind his back. The man began pulling his jeans off.
"STOP!" Daniel screamed, kicking blindly.
"Scream all you want, kid. No one can hear you out here," the man sighed, tossing Daniel's jeans to the floor. Daniel stopped breathing as he felt something sharp being pressed against his neck, and the man slid it from Daniel's throat to his shirt, barely touching the boy's skin. Daniel cried out as the man suddenly sliced through Daniel's shirt, ripping it near the bottom of the fabric. Pain skittered through Daniel's sore limbs as the man cut and tore his shirt off, nicking and bruising his skin.
The man yanked Daniel's boxers off, and Daniel cried as he was exposed to his kidnapper.
His ankles were chained to the bed frame at the bottom of the frame, and Daniel's fists clenched, his nails biting into his palms, as he prepared himself for what was to come.
His world exploded in burning pain. It was the worst pain Daniel had ever experienced, and he screamed so loudly, he heard some birds outside squawk in surprise and the flap of their wings as they bolted. If only he could bolt right now...
Hands wrapped around his neck, choking him, and Daniel felt sweat pour down his face as his oxygen supply was abruptly cut off.
"Stop," Daniel rasped. "Please."
The man didn't listen, and Daniel wasn't sure if his choked plea could even be heard through the fabric of the bag.
Just as Daniel's vision began to go black, the man removed his hands from Daniel's throat, and Daniel sucked in as much oxygen as possible in a single breath.
The man chuckled. "You're sweet. Now... scream for me."
At hearing that command, Daniel snapped his lips closed. This man had not broken him. He wouldn't scream or give this sick man a reaction. He would not let this man get off on his pain.
The man thrust into him harder, so hard Daniel's head smacked against the headboard. Daniel bit his lip so hard, blood trickled down his chin, but he refused to scream.
"I said I want you to scream!" The man snarled, yanking the bag backwards and pulling Daniel's head with it. The rope around the bottom of it bit into Daniel's neck, and his breathing grew shallow.
Daniel shook his head as best he could.
"All right," the man said in a frighteningly calm voice, "if you won't scream, I'll make you scream."
Daniel whimpered as a sting originated in his left side, the man having sliced him with his knife. More cuts joined the first, and part of Daniel knew obeying the man would be the best way to stay alive, but Daniel wasn't entirely sure if that was what he wanted anymore.
"You're a tough nut to crack," the man muttered, "but I've broken tougher boys than you."
Daniel didn't like the sound of that. No one would...
The man unchained his feet, and Daniel kicked the man, but the man was like a brick wall. Daniel didn't think he even flinched!
The man lifted the scrawny, naked boy off the bed and carried him a few feet before forcing him onto his knees. Daniel flinched as the wood beneath his knees rubbed against his skin, giving him splinters. His arms were untied, only to be chained above his head.
Man, Daniel knew this guy was sick, but he had equipment for sex 'games,' which meant he was... experienced... in all of this. How many victims had he had before Daniel? Was Daniel number ten, twenty, thirty? The higher the estimated numbers went, the more sick Daniel felt.
Daniel waited...
And barely swallowed a scream when pain burned a line across his back. The man was using a whip on a thirteen year old boy after raping, choking, and cutting him. This man was horrible... Daniel dreaded what else the man had in store for him.
"Scream, or we can do this all day," the man said, his breath brushing over Daniel's ear, making him jump. Daniel could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Please," Daniel sobbed. "Just kill me."
The man laughed. "Where's the fun in that?"
The whipping continued for what felt like hours, but in reality, was only half an hour at the most.
The chains released Daniel, and the boy was so weak from pain, he tumbled face first to the floor without even trying to run away. He wanted to, but he could barely stand, much less run.
The man chuckled from somewhere behind him, and Daniel was tied to the bed, his wrists hand cuffed to the headboard and his feet chained to the bottom of the bed frame.
The man left without another word.
Daniel isn't sure how long he was held captive by the man. He was only given three gulps of water (each on different occasions), so it couldn't have been more than two and a half weeks, otherwise Daniel would've died of dehydration.
His life continued in the same fashion for that amount of time. The man came and went, never telling Daniel the time or day, and because of the bag over his head, Daniel couldn't tell anyway. He could've come several times a day or every few days, but Daniel wouldn't know the difference due to sleeping since he never knew how long he slept when he did.
The man would come in, rape and torture the boy, and then leave. Daniel never received any food; he was occassionally drugged, either with a syringe (he didn't know what was in it, nor did he want to) or being force fed pills, both of which made him pass out. He didn't even want to think about what the man had done to him while he was unconscious.
By the end, Daniel was in an utter state of shock. He barely processed what was going on around him. It was probably caused by a combination of blood loss, trauma, the drugs, starvation, dehydration, and Daniel's possible concussion from having his head slammed against the headboard repeatedly.
Then, one day, things changed.
Daniel jolted at the creak of the door, and his breathing picked up as panic coursed through his veins like acid.
"Please, no more," he begged. "Please kill me!"
The man only chuckled. "Lights out, kid."
A strong force pounded against Daniel's forehead, and a sharp pain shot through his skull.
Then everything went black.
Daniel didn't expect to wake up, honestly.
Daniel blinked his eyes open and flinched as he was blinded by light. After not seeing the sun in so long, it was downright painful.
Daniel sat up and found himself lying on the side of a vacant road. The bag, the man, the restraints... they were all gone, but the pain wasn't.
Daniel whimpered as pain rocketed through his body, and he struggled to his feet, only one word on his mind.
Home.
Daniel started wandering, looking for his home. His mind was muddled, and his entire body hurt, but the confusion weighing on his brain almost numbed the pain. Heavy breaths whistled out of his mouth as he sighed, inhaled, and sighed again, grateful for the air without the chance of it being stolen when hands wrapped around his throat.
Something crinkled under Daniel's foot, and he picked it up.
HAVE YOU SEEN ME? was typed across the top, and below that was his name, picture, and information.
"Daniel," he read, as though having forgotten his name until now. "Have you seen me?"
Daniel continued walking, the paper crumpled in his fist. He vaguely heard a sound from behind him, a rumbling sound, but he didn't turn around.
A hand grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around, and Daniel's breath hitched as he came face to face with a police officer.
A gentle hand uncurled Daniel's fist and took the poster, staring from the picture to the boy and back.
"Daniel," the officer realized, his mouth open and closing like a fish.
"Daniel," the boy repeated, prodding himself in the chest. "Have you seen me?"
"Daniel!" A familiar voice cried, and his mom leaned over his hospital bed.
"Daniel," his dad reiterated, joining her at his bed side.
"Daniel!" Georgie squealed, crawling onto the bed.
Daniel stared blankly at them.
"Daniel?" His mother murmured, confused by his lack of reaction.
"Have you seen me?" Daniel muttered.
"It'll take him a while to come out of his shock, but once he does, we'll get him some help," the doctor told his parents.
"Have you seen me?" Daniel repeated.
The doctor and his family stared at him, sadly, wondering what the poor boy had gone through in the seventeen days he'd been missing.
"Have you seen me?" Daniel murmured.
A few miles away, Daniel's kidnapper gazed at a short, elderly man and held out his hand.
"I did it. I broke the kid. If he's lucky, he'll get help and recover, but it should give you the time you need. Now pay up."
The elderly man rested the strap of a duffle bag in the kidnapper's hand, and the abductor grinned at seeing thousands of dollars within the bag.
"Now, if I may ask, why did you want me to kidnap the kid?" The kidnapper asked.
Herman Plunkett grinned. "Oh, trust me. I have my reasons."
I actually rather liked how this was written (although it was hard for me to write, due to the subject). I hope you liked the story as well! Please leave a review! Thanks for reading! Bye!