Hi, my names Rob, I'm a boy and I have a question for you.
Do you like books? Because I do, and that's exactly why I'm here right now.
All I did was read a book and win a stupid competition.
You see I'm gagged, tied up in the back of a van driving to God knows where.
I heard the things that kidnapped me saying something about California and School.
What, my kidnappers want me to learn? Heck no.
And as it's gonna be a long drive I might as well start from the beginning.
It all started two weeks ago:
"Hey, look at this," I called over to my best friend Shaun.
He looked around from my laptop and walked to me. He read the magazines article I was tapping my finger at.
"So what? It's a competition about that stupid series you read isn't it? Maximum Ride,"
I glared at him before throwing the magazine down on the sofa. Furious with him.
"Let's put this straight Maximum Ride is the best!"
He looked shocked at how I'd reacted, before shaking his head and tsking.
"Rob, don't you understand? It's a book, a story; everyone has their own opinion,"
"Shut – up" I stated at him simply.
The main prize was a back-ground part in the Maximum Ride movie.
I narrowed my eyes on the rest of the prize, and thought about the other parts of which it included, a PS3 and first looks at the next books.
You know what? I took up on the idea. All I had to do was design my own Maximum Ride character.
I'll give you the details:
Gender: I for certain had wanted it to be a: boy
Name: I thought about this part for a while and decided to base it on the colour of his wings, Red, Red wing: Rewin
Age: 13
Height: 5, 2
Powers: Apart from flying: x ray vision
Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: blue/ brown/green
Personality: I wonder why the magazine editors couldn't do this part to make it "perfect" to their standards: Somewhat quiet sometimes and rather loud other, can state the obvious, loves being first, active, likes to keep moving, can't stay in same place.
Extras: Depending on his mood his eyes change colours. His wings are red.
Well I also drew a picture of him.
The next day I sent it off to "James Patterson" (although I believe he had assistants to do his letters.)
Plus Shaun made a bet that if I won he'd give me £20.
One week later James Patterson and a TV crew had visited me saying how I had won his competition. I can tell you that probably one of the best moments of my life.
When I told Shaun about how'd won my wicked prizes he hung up on me sounding very angry at him-self for getting it wrong.
I got £20 off him!
Well my life seemed great for another week.
As all of a sudden everybody I met who was a Maximum Ride fan knew me.
Also my bedroom was kitted out with cool Maximum Ride stuff.
I wish it could have lasted as I was now one of the most popular kids in my class.
But of course it couldn't last.
One day after school I saw rather large "birds" fly overhead my school. I stared in disbelief at the birds "They're a freakin' characters in a book" I had told myself, "it can't be the flock," they were fictional I had thought.
Obviously I was Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.
The only problem about the "birds" was that they dropped something out of the sky and it drifted down to the ground in front of me.
It was a piece of paper and a feather.
The feather was brown and white and the note was written on a rather tattered piece of paper with a logo in the upper right corner.
The logo was somehow familiar, and now when I had thought of it, I'd saw it on toothbrushes, TVs, furniture.
The note read.
"Move, run-away, fight, it's your choice Rob, but remember you have 5 days until they come. You had your warning and if you get caught I'm not gonna come get you, got it? Oh and one more thing that competition junk was a cover for the white coat's real plan. – Max"
"PS- Go into hiding or something when you get away. The by-half plan kills.
I have to admit I didn't take the note seriously but it shook me and (big bonus) when I'd went home that evening I looked over my shoulder the whole way. I thought it had been a prank or something stupid in the end.
DO I ever get tired of being wrong? No, but it can be damn annoying.
5 days later some men show up at my house and start enquiring about me.
Where I am and my background history.
I was listening to them while hiding in a bush in my front garden. But I made a major mistake. I shuffled in the bush.
All of a sudden one of the men's faces started changing and morphing.
His mouth and nose grew into a snout Then his feet and hands grew fur.
My eyes widened in horror, Erasers.
Just like the warning.
My dreams were real.
They were meant to be characters in a book.
It sniffed a bit and then looked right at my hiding spot.
It's cold almost dead looking eyes watching me, I didn't stink that bad now did I?
Then that was when something in my head snapped, and I ran, behind me I heard growling and shouts of sheer pleasure.
Well I had known in the books that Erasers were horrible creatures, but I didn't think they'd have this much fun hunting me while I was running through streets.
I ran, with the smell of the stinky, hot, wolfs breath of the erasers on the back of my neck.
I yelled at the top of my lungs for help.
Of course help would be too much for me and eventually one jumped onto my back.
It digged it's claws into my back.
Oh, and I screamed a lot.
They dragged me back to my road, walking a little further from my house till they got a white van.
"You know if you give up now we'll be easy on the ropes," one of them said with a grin which looked like it was too big for its mouth.
I kicked him in the chest, but he didn't flinch.
He simply punched me in the head, knocking me out almost instantly.
But the last word I said as the blackness flooded my vision was "you Idiot."
When I woke up I was lying on the floor of the van feeling sick and my head hurting like insert rude word of choice here.
They'd dressed me in ropes and duct tape while I was asleep.
Oh and the Eraser was right, he'd done the ropes hard on my wrist.
As I lied on the floor blood sweeped out from where he'd hit me.
I felt like crap.
I thought about my home and my family and how I'd probably not see them again.
Then I realised something which made my insides turn to jelly and my face turn white.
They were gonna experiment on me and judging by the books I'd probably die horribly or only live for a few horrible days.
Just then something moved in the corners of my eyes, I swung my head round to see someone move out of the shadows, Shaun.
God no.
"Hello Rob," he said while watching me intently, I stared, unable to think. "Lost for words, are we?" he asked mockingly.
I tried to swallow my emotions like Max had done but found it too hard and ended up crying.
He grinned and then started changing, and he laughed at me when he saw the fear in my eyes. I can still hear that laughter in my head to this very day.
"Let's get this show, on the road!" He yelled with a smirk on his big ugly mug.