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********************Taken********************
She was 16 when they moved into the house across the street.
Her hair flame red, her skin pale, her eyes bright green and those freckles... She was a total knockout.
It was just her and her father, Charlie Swan, an Irish man.
Her name sounded to me like heaven: Bella Swan ... I checked her name... It means Devoted to God... see? Like close to heaven.
She ended up in my class so we had two years in school together before we would probably choose a different college.
I saw her walking to school that first day, so I offered her a ride. Ever since that day we rode together and sat together in school at lunch break and in class if possible.
We became great friends, nothing more... but I loved her anyway.
Never not once did we notice the creep watching her, but he noticed us. Later we would find out he had been watching her since day one.
I still get angry at myself for it. If one of us had seen him, maybe nothing would have happened.
You know that question 'What if?' Yeah, ever since the day he took her I have been playing that guessing game.
It was a typical Summer evening. Bella just turned 18 three weeks earlier.
I wasn't home that day, I was at my Summer job, saving for college.
Her dad was fishing with my dad and my mom was home.
Bella had the day off and for what we now know stayed at home.
Twilight had arrived and Bella had talked on the phone with her dad about what they should eat for dinner.
Next thing we know, Bella was gone.
Her purse, her wallet, her phone, her ID… All her important stuff were still at home.
In the garden was her chair with a book next to it, abandoned.
Lemonade was on the counter in the kitchen, waiting for the sugar to be put in, and her glasses were the table.
All that was missing was her.
The door to the garden stood open showing no traces of a struggle or a break in, just an eerie quietness.
Charlie came home at 8 pm. Just like always and thought she might be with my mom. Ours was a neighborhood where you could leave your door open and go visit next door without having to be worried. You didn't need to lock your door at night.
That has changed since that day, no more trust, no more peace...
At 8:30 pm. Charlie called my mom, asking to send Bella home for dinner only to find out she was not there.
He checked the house again, thinking maybe he had missed her or even overlooked a note saying that she had gone out.
When he didn't find one, he called me at my work asking if I knew where Bella could be.
Nobody had seen Bella since that morning.
A hour later we all sat at the table, cops questioning us about Bella and her life.
A missing persons case was filed, posters were made and a huge search party was organized.
In spite of all our efforts there was no clue about where Bella could be.
The police thought it was strange too and sent out an alert nation wide.
We didn't sleep that night, nor the following night.
Bella had just vanished into thin air.
Charlie was a shell of the person he once was.
So was I.
Two weeks had come and gone, but there was no sign of Bella.
My mom made me go back to school after the first week.
I was there physically but my mind wandered off. Questions kept running through my mind: Bella where are you? Are you alright? Did they hurt you? So many questions, so little answers.
I lost a lot of weight, I couldn't eat or sleep well knowing she was out there somewhere but not knowing what was happening to her.
Everywhere I looked I saw her face, heard her laugh, caught her scent.
If I closed my eyes at night she was the one I saw, only to wake up in sweat and panic. Where could she be?
********************Taken********************
Dear me,
How can I tell you how I feel, I have no clue if it is daytime or nighttime. I have no window and only a light in this room.
It is cold and it smells.
I woke up here, a chain connects me to the wall.
There is a bed, a toilet and a sort of shower.
I get one meal every so many hours.
The person who holds me here doesn't talk or shows his face.
For now I haven't been harmed, but I can feel it coming, like it is in the air.
Please help me through this.
I miss my dad, Edward the boy who secretly stole my heart.
He lives across the street from me.
I miss his parents, they are so sweet to me and my dad.
Oh no... I can hear him coming...
********************Taken********************
The police came to the house again, Charlie wanted us with him.
They had nothing new. They have done what they can, but there isn't much to go on.
The person who took Bella didn't leave any clues so it seems to be going cold.
I got mad, angry at the world. Bella vanished a month ago and they can't help us anymore.
Charlie just cried. Do you know how hard it is to watch a grown man cry? His heart is pulled out of his chest and then burned to ash.
He still isn't able to work, his boss told him to come back in two weeks or else he needs to find a new job.
The world is hard.
Time goes by, we stand still.
I miss you Bella, we all miss you. Be safe please. Come home.
********************Taken********************
I feel awful, my body hurts. I am black and blue and I think he broke my wrist.
What did I do to deserve this?
I can't cry anymore, I know it won't help and I lose fluids because of it..
My food and water supply is low..
I know it could be worse...
I only get beatings, but for how long? I don't know...
Do they still search for me? Did they give up hope?
Do they miss me as much as I miss them?
Did he hurt them too? Oh Please let them be safe!
********************Taken********************
It has been three months now and I am beginning to lose hope.. Will I ever see her again?
If I ever see her again, I will tell her how much I love her.
How much I missed her, her laugh, her eyes, her touch, her smell...just her.
The police are still searching, but with only a few detectives.
At school the other kids are getting back to normal life. How do they do that?
Kids are back playing outside, the birds are singing their songs, but my heart has stopped beating.
I stopped breathing, it feels like I won't be able to breathe until she is back.
********************Taken********************
Help! Is there anybody out there?
I need help.
********************Taken********************
Yesterday the cops arrested a man, we don't know much more.
They told Charlie he was arrested and might know more about Bella.
Please let it be true.
It has been five months
They searched Charlie and Bella's neighbor's house.
It is sealed off.
We haven't seen him for a while now.
Is he the man they arrested?
The police called Charlie and asked him to come to the station.
My dad went with him while mom and I are waiting for them to come back.
Suddenly there are a lot of police cars and even an ambulance in the street.
My mom and I run outside.
They go back into the house from the neighbor.
What will they find?
What or who are they searching for?
********************Taken********************
It has been so long since James has brought me food and water.
I am so hungry and thirsty.
I can't stop shaking
I faint and wake up more frequently.
Please find me.
Please…
********************Taken********************
Then we hear lots of screaming.
The medics are summoned inside the house.
Please let it be Bella! Let her be alive!
My knees stop working and I fall on the street.
My mom sits next to me.
We cry, we hope, we even started praying. Hoping for our Bella.
The door opens and the medics come out, with a stretcher, and then I see her.
Bella! She looks so tiny.
I rush to her side, but I am stopped by a cop.
"Bella! Bella!" I scream. I cry.
"Is she alive? Tell me. Is she alright?" I beg.
I hold hope because it isn't a body bag.
My mom stands by the ambulance so I run to her.
She talks to the police officer. We can't ride with the ambulance, but he is willing to take us to the hospital. Dad and Charlie are being brought there also.
********************Taken********************
Dear me,
I hear them, my angels.
They let me know it is over.
They captured James and
they want to bring me to the hospital.
My dad will be there too.
He never stopped looking for me.
I can finally breath again.
I let go of my pain and let the darkness take me into his waiting arms.
********************Taken********************
We have been in the hospital for four days. Bella had been beaten and neglected,
but the bruises and broken bones will heal.
They don't know how she will recover mentally.
Today was the day I finally got to see her, she asked for me.
She looked so tiny, I cried, I held her hand, her eyes lost their shine. She looked like her spirit was broken.
Bella had lost her brightness.
I told her I loved her, that I never stopped looking for her and
that I will be there for her, always. I'll wait for her.
She smiled a very tiny smile, it filled my heart and made it beat again. There was still a sparkle of herself there.
She will survive, we will survive.
********************Taken********************
I am alive, I am free, I am safe.
I will heal, I will trust again, I will be 'me' again.
He told me he loves me, that he never stopped looking for me, he missed me.
He cried for me, he held my hand, he will wait for me.
I hope someday I can tell him I love him too. I'll fight this for him, I'll be strong again, I will!
********************Taken********************
The official report is shown to Charlie and dad today.
Not something that is usually done, but in this little town things are done differently sometimes.
James Watson, age 38
Confessed to kidnapping Bella Swan age 18, and held her hostage from April 18th till September 25th in the year 2014.
He kept her in a room under his house, which only had one entrance which was a handmade tunnel.
In that room he had placed a bed, a toilet and a shower.
Miss Swan was chained to the wall
He gave her water and food once a day.
He confessed to physical harming her by beating and kicking her all over her body.
Miss Swan sustained 4 broken bones ( - wrist, jaw, toe and finger), multiple bruises and was black and blue when she was rescued.
Her weight had dropped 15 pounds
Watson was heard by officer C. Laurent
C.L.: State your name please
J.W. : James Watson
C.L.: Today is September 22th 2014, correct?
J.W.: Correct
C.L.: You have been told your rights and declined your right of an attorney, correct?
J.W.: Correct
C.L.: Can you tell me your side of the story?
J.W.: Sure
I saw Bella ( miss Swan ) for the first time the day they (miss Swan and her Father Charlie Swan ) moved in next to me.
I watched her putting her stuff in her bedroom, across from my bedroom
She never saw me looking at her.
I was mesmerized from that very first moment, her beautiful red curling hair and pale skin.
From that day I followed her. I saw how she became friends with the boy from across the street and his parents. I saw how she dressed for school, dances, dates,…
I broke into her room when they were gone and read her diary, smelled her clothes, used her shampoo.
I stole a sweater. I slept with that sweater.
They never noticed.
After almost two years it wasn't enough anymore. I needed more. She was going to be leaving for college soon. I couldn't have her leave me, so I planned to keep her with me.
I dug a tunnel under my house with at the end a room. The sand I managed to get rid of at night. I would smuggle cement and whatever else I needed into my garage and built a cement covered room.
It took me four weeks to do all that.
I made sure there was a toilet and a shower. Let me tell you, plumbing will not be my new day job.
I also put in a bed and a chain; the chain fixed into the wall of course. I couldn't risk her getting out. I made sure there was an air supply and a camera.
Then I needed to make sure I would not be seen when I took her.
So I decided to make a connection with our power lines. I made a show of working in the garden, you know… new plants and stuff.
Then I cut the power line of the lights outside between our houses, 'by accident' of course.
Together with Charlie I made a temporary fix with his powerline
The next day when he was at work I connected my line with his and made sure that the lights worked again. He never checked it and was happy I fixed it so quickly.
Now I could turn out the lights and walk between our houses unseen.
The lights only go on when they detect movements, so they aren't shining all the time. They would never notice if they didn't work.
So while I was doing all this I made sure I learned her routine even better,
and Charlie's too.
I ordered some chloroform on the internet and was ready. All I had to do was wait for the right time. I was always on standby.
Then I saw my opportunity, on April 18th 2014.
Charlie left early to go fishing, the boy was working, and Bella had the day off,
so I waited till twilight and turned off the light.
Bella had been sunbathing all day while reading a novel.
She was inside in the kitchen and had left the door open. I just simply walked inside, talked with her and the moment she turned her back to me I grabbed her. Immediately I put a chloroform drenched tissue on her mouth and she was out like a light in seconds.
I never touched a thing inside the house, so the cops wouldn't find fingerprints or anything else. I had been very careful in executing my plan.
I threw her over my shoulder and walked back home and into my special created room where I laid her on the bed. I locked the chain on her ankle and tugged on it, making sure it was securely attached..
I turned on the lights, closed the door and went back into my normal routine.
That night I even helped search for her, fooling everybody. Everyone trusted me, which only helped my plans.
C.L.: So now you had her… What happened next?
J.W.: I watched her on screen and I brought her food and water.
When she slept I watched her sleeping in the room, I mixed some sleeping pills in her food to keep her relaxed.
After a few weeks I lost my job, they said I 'lost my focus and concentration' What a lousy excuse!
I was so angry I made her my punching bag. It wasn't my intention at first but after a while it felt so good hitting her. Just a way to release my anger.
It became a habit: when I got frustrated.. I would hit her.
Then after she fell asleep I would masturbate while watching her.
That was our routine till you arrested me.
C.L.: So you are saying you only watched and beat / kicked her, never anything else?
J.W.: Yes, that is what I am saying.
C.L.: Why?
J.W.: Why what?
C.L.: Why did you do it?
J.W.: I don't know, it was a need that overtook me.. I needed the presence of her beauty.
C.L: If we had not arrested you, would you ever have let her go? Or would you hurt her more.. maybe even raped her? Or murdered her?
J.W.: Probably both.
C.L.: OK, let's take a break.
********************Taken********************
It had been six months since Bella was rescued, she is going back to school now.
Her wounds have all healed physically, she is seeing a shrink for her other 'wounds'. I make sure she gets there and back home again.
Together with Charlie and my parents, one of us always is with her on the lookout just to be sure. She is still afraid of being alone.
I sleep in her room, with the door open. Charlie wasn't too pleased with this arrangement, but Bella wanted it so he relented.
Her trust in me is huge, she sometimes comes to my bed to snuggle with me. She even kissed me once; that was yesterday, Bella has even begun to smile again.
Charlie found a new job, which is one of the reasons I get to stay with Bella at night. None of us felt comfortable with the thought of her being alone at night, least of all Bella herself.
********************Taken********************
Dear me,
I am free, I feel free...almost
I am still afraid of being alone.
But Edward makes me feel stronger.
He sleeps in my room, so that I won't have to be afraid of the dark.
Dad found a new job, and when he is working I am at Edward's home or Edward is with me.
I kissed him when I snuggled with him in his bed. Sometimes I just need to feel his warmth and his strong arms around me.
I still haven't told him I love him but I think that it will happen soon. He is my safe haven.
I still have to tell him the whole story, but I am scared he will see me as broken when I do.
Now he still looks at me with love in his eyes, I am afraid that will change then.
I need to tell him, tell him he was the one who kept me sane. I fought for him.
********************Taken********************
It took her eight months to get the nerve to finally tell me everything.
I knew it was bad, but this was really bad.
I am so proud of her for telling me,
and as a bonus she told me she loves me. She made me so happy.
Ever since she told me, we have become closer to one other.
She hugs and kisses me at every opportunity and she seems more free from the fear that lingers in her mind.
Even Charlie seems to notice a difference in her being.
We both graduated high school, a half year early due to her kidnapping.
We will be going to college after the summer break. This gives us some free time to find an apartment near college and to buy all the things we need to fill it.
Yes, we are going to live together and yes, our parents think it is OK.
********************Taken********************
Yes, I told him everything and confessed my love for him.
It turns out to be the best thing ever.
We are closer than ever, going to live together and attend the same college too.
Our parents are ok with it.
I feel better, I can see more clearly and analyze my fear and work on it.
James has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
That too makes me feel safer. Now I know he can't come back after me.
I did go to the prison to talk to him, Edward was with me, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
James looked so small and not the animal he once was to me.
He cried and told me he was sorry.
I don't know if I can believe him but it helped me conquer the fear.
I will be fine, we will be fine.