Stranded

Chapter 1: Abduction

"You know, sometimes I feel well and vital in the world, and sometimes I just feel so distressed I want to pull my hair out by the roots. "

-Sharon Stone

~OOO~

The loud thumping in her ears made her have the urge to start dancing immediately but she held back and walked past the security guard with her ID in hand, she jumped back into reality once her friends tugged her back to reality. It was finally a weekend. A break from the cold hard life destroyer known as College. "Come on, Ebony!" She blinked her bright blue eyes and followed after her friend who tugged her along, holding onto her arm.

"I'm moving! I'm moving. Don't kill me."

"You sound nervous, Eb. Why?"

"Well, lets see Veronicka. I'm wearing clothing that I'm not used to, I've never been to a club, and I've never drunk anything alcoholic in my life."

She turned her a thousand lashed eyes towards her petite ginger haired friend. It was pin straight and she didn't even have to toy with it. While on the other hand, Ebony had long hair that reached to the beginning of her buttocks, it was slightly wavy but unbelievably black. Of course there was no such hair color as black unless dyed, but Ebony's hair was a very, very, very dark brown. It was even hard to see the brown tint in the sunlight much less without it. Veronicka had a pear shaped body while Ebony had a little bunched up at the top and then completely straightened out below that, a few curves at the waist but other than that, she was a stick.

"Oh stop your moaning and groaning."

"I will moan and groan when I want to, Miss Boss-a-lot."

"Neyh!" Veronicka gestured her distress by sticking her tongue out at her close college friend. They had been friends ever since the 8th grade.

Ebony closed her eyes and mirrored the gesture and folded her arms across her bosom. Obviously showing her hard headedness.

Veronicka and Ebony turned to their other friends as they found a spot in the corner of the club that was free. Her ginger haired friend smiled at them and then gestured her thumb at Ebony, "Me and Eb are going to go to the bathroom for a sec, we'll be back!"

The girls shouted out over the music and then turned to themselves, gesturing to the other two best friends their ok. Veronicka turned to Ebony and pulled her along by the crook of her elbow towards the bathroom. Ebony furrowed her eyebrows and then watched as they seemed to be immediately headed towards a bar. She sighed heavily and tugged raggedly on Veronicka's hair, "The bathroom's to the left, addict."

"Oh…finnne. I didn't think you were serious."

"When am I never serious?"

"True."

They took a sharp left and then pushed on the open flap door to the women's bathroom. To be honest, it was quite elegant for a club bathroom. Usually there would be a thousand women in here, puking their hearts out.

"What an utter surprise."

"Say something, Eb?"

"Nope."

Veronicka glared at her for a second before turning towards the mirror and tugging at her shirt that was beginning to hang a little to low..exposing some cleavage..not that it wasn't in the first place. Ebony took the time to scan the bathroom once over. It's floors were shiny, the open stall doors exposed the squeaky clean toilets and the mirrors in front of them had amazing carvings and elegance to them. It made anyone who looked into them feel beautiful. Though, in Ebony's opinion, she didn't need anymore beauty. She was already too much of that….so said her fellow persons. Many times in her life, especially when she was growing up, people had passed by her, gawking at her Arabian beauty. She would always be complimented on her sharp features, the angled eyebrows, strangely pale skin, and her unusual big blue eyes. Her lips took the shape of a slightly thick red bow and her cheekbones slightly protruded out high on her face. Her eyebrows were thick at the beginning and thinned out towards the arched ends, making her young features look much more youthful.

"What's wrong, Ebony?"

"Oh. Nothing, just thinking."

"You think too much."

"Is that bad?"

"Sometimes thinking doesn't do much."

"Then what does, all wise one?"

"Surely not sarcasm."

"…"

"Act."

Ebony furrowed her eyebrows and then turned towards the mirror once more, she stared down at her slightly exposed midriff. She was wearing a borrowed shirt from Veronicka. At the posterior, the ends hung below her buttocks and in the front they were right at her navel. The shirt had "Freedom" written in black on a bright red background and there were no sleeves. Along with that she was wearing black tight skinny jeans and black combat boots. Surely, if she was in Saudi Arabia right now, she would probably have been yelled at by her parents and grounded for the rest of life…but that was when Ebony decided that she wanted to study abroad, she wanted more options and she wanted to learn much more, all of her life..she had wanted to experience the US and after countless arguments and deals…her Father had finally let her. She had the money, her father was a partner of an important pharmaceutical company that shaped many lives. Abstergo. The two countries were sort of nearby, but her father still had to fly and stay in Italy in order to communicate with them. Sometimes Oovoo wasn't enough. She sighed and tugged a few strands of hair out of her face, then she just ended up tousling it to the side. Then her mind went back to home. It wasn't like many of the women over there now didn't wear the stuff she was wearing, they did indeed. But her parents just wanted to protect her and she couldn't stop them from doing that…they were her parents after all. For being a Saudi Arabian, she wasn't actually a Muslim. In fact, quite the opposite, she was a Christian.

Suddenly, Veronicka slapped her forearm and then dramatically held her other arm out.

"Ouch!"

"Can't you smell it?!"

"WHAT?"

"The smelly smell, the smell of all smells."

"I am going to flush your head down the toilet any second now."

"The smell of desperate NY boys."

They stared at each other and then chuckled before shaking their heads and then walking out of the mysteriously clean bathroom. As they walked, they had to shout out above the booming music that seemed to vibrate through their blood vessels..shaking up every organ. After a while, Ebony had the need to clamp her hands over her ears. Soon they met up with the group of girls they came with and began dancing together, hopping around to the music. Straying from the grinding couples that were near the middle of the dance floor. Honestly, Veronicka and Ebony found that to be a little to disturbing to the public eye. After a while of dancing around, Veronicka tugged on Ebony's arm and helped her course through the maze of millions of sweating people.

Veronicka plopped Ebony down in a chair and hopped up onto one herself. It was cute seeing Veronicka attempting that, Ebony had no problem for she was at least the height of 5 feet and 6 inches while her little petite friend was only 4 feet and 8 inches. Not even 5 feet…and you know what they say about girls, they seemed to stop growing at the age of 16 years. Ebony was glad that she at least grew out…somewhat. She still had a few babyish features, like her youthful looking face, those little things would never leave her though. The 22 year old female groaned at Veronicka as she attempted to catch a bartender's attention.

"Really? If you can't walk after this, don't come crying to me."

"It's just one drink."

"Oh. One drink huh, I'll be the judge of that."

"Whatever, Ebony."

Ebony pouted at her close friend and then her eyes strayed from the fire colored red head to the millions and millions of bottles behind the counter on the shelves. She seriously wondered how much money these people wasted in order to keep themselves sated and "happy". Ebony was barely listening to her now babbling friend as she ordered a drink, her focus was on her family back in Saudi and how much they must miss her right now. It wasn't easy to communicate with them over Oovoo but she managed to talk with her Mother and Father almost every weekend. Speaking of which, if it wasn't too late for Ebony, she wanted to see if she could contact her parents. Then she pouted and suddenly began thinking about the time differences…'What if they're still asleep. It's probably really early over there right now.' She didn't seem to see the snapping fingers in her face until Veronicka yelled in her ear over the music that had seemed to trance the young college student.

Ebony blinked her big eyes a few times and looked up from the marbleized counter to find a young handsome man. She saw his quirky smirk and then raised her eyebrows.

"What?"

He stared at her for a moment, examining those cold and calculating eyes that seemed to throw him in the dead of Winter. "I said, what drink would you like?"

His voice was a little husky, but she could sense some fun and lightheadedness in it, as if he was a part time comedian along with being a bartender. His milk chocolate eyes went from her to Veronicka who was busy gorging on her drink to even care. His hair seemed to be a little matted, as if he wore a hood all day long..but then again, there didn't seem to be a lot of that light brown hair on his crown of a head. His slightly arched eyebrows raised once more and he cocked his head to the side. "Just get me a water." She finally answered him, stopping the suspense from killing herself, he finally smirked at her and turned around. Grabbing a clean glass and pouring out some water for her from an icy cold jug.

"Are you this quiet? Or observant?"

A tint of dusty pink blush overlapped her cheeks and she quickly took the glass of water he handed to her, she sipped on it while looking down and looked back up to find him waiting for an answer. Ebony narrowed her eyes at him and shrugged.

"I guess." She stared straight into his eyes and then without realizing it, they shifted down to his lips. Was that a scar or a birthmark? She shrugged it off and then looked over at Veronicka to find the girl literally drooling over the man in front of them. Then Veronicka slung an arm around Ebony's shoulders and smirked at the man, "Ebony's ALWAYS like that. It's best to not get attached to her, if you know what I mean?" Veronicka winked at the man and he lightheartedly chuckled out. Ebony snapped her head towards Veronicka to find that she had already finished 4 glasses. Her eyes widened and she removed the slung arm from around her shoulders.

"Ok. Veronicka, I think you've drunk quite enough."

"I've only drunk one glass."

"Really? Care to tell me why there are FOUR in front of you?"

The bartender stared from Ebony to Veronicka with an amused glance, he was enjoying himself, wasn't he? She'd have to take care of him later. Veronicka's eyebrows furrowed and she stared down with a look of bewilderment.

"Wow! Would you look at that!"

"Veronicka."

"Ok. I'm sorry, I got carried away. Here's your money, cutie." She dug through her purse and pulled out the exact amount for four glasses. Then she threw it on the counter and clutched her stomach with worry.

"Oh..oh god Veronicka. You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh, no. It's not that, I'm a bit hungry, I think I'll go over to the salad bar. Jeez, Eb, you worry too much." With a loud laugh, Veronicka left the bartender and her close friend to go to the salad bar.

Ebony sighed with relief and then turned to her water finding that it was only half empty. She gulped it down and then gently set it back onto the table. Ebony dug through her purse and pulled out her phone, it was late…but not that late for the 22 year old female. She could feel the eyes of the bartender boring into her very frame. She sighed and then looked up with an annoyed expression.

"If you have something to say, I would speak up now."

"Ebony, huh? Is that your real name, or just a little nickname?"

"It's my real name."

"That's a very pretty name." He looked up from his little glass cleaning session and grinned at her, she perked her eyebrows and nodded slightly.

"Thank you."

There was a moment of silence and she got up along with her purse and began to walk away after she threw some money on the counter when he whistled towards her direction.

"My name's Desmond, by the way."

Ebony smirked and stopped in her tracks, she turned around to give him an amused side glance and put a hand on her hips, "I don't recall asking for it, but thanks." He smirked in her direction and she swayed off after he gave her a wink.

"I saw you getting cozy with that bartender, Ebony."

"Cozy?"

"I saw the way he looked at your body. He was obviously interested."

"Sorry, but I'm not the type to hook up with someone I just met. That's just…disturbing." She was sure she had offended most of the girls that had come with Veronicka and herself but she didn't care as she shrugged away and stared at Veronicka who was chewing away on her small plate of salad.

"What was his name, though?" When of the girls asked, Ebony looked up with a slight smile to show that she was actually approachable.

"Desmond."

There was seriously a round of dreamy sighs coming from the girls and she had to hold back a slightly disgusted look, suddenly the tapping of a microphone perked up her attention and she turned around in her seat to stare at a tall man with a nose pierce, he smiled out at the over crowded nightclub and waved a hand around to grab everyone's attention.

"Hey! How's everyone doing tonight?!"

There was applause and woots coming from every direction and he nodded his head, obviously taking the hint.

"Alright, alright. Calm down, we don't want anyone barfing in here. So, we do this thing…well, I'm pretty sure that all you regular costumers know what I'm talking about…but for all you newbies out there. We have a dance competition every night at this exact time, now I bet you guys are wondering that the bartenders and waiters are just your normal average men and women but if I may say…you people are actually very wrong indeed. For there are a select few workers at this humble abode that have the talent and skill and are willing to go up against anyone who challenges them. Now that I'm done with all these introductions. Let's see which one of our workers has the balls tonight." There was a loud drumming from the nightclubbers and workers and then they all began chanting out one name she didn't think she would hear ever again. "Desmond! Desmond! Desmond!" Those words kept thumping into her head, sooner or later she was going to have to get some ear plugs.

Ebony's lips twitched into a slight amused grin as she saw the spotlight shine on Desmond as he jumped up onto the bar counter and waved his arms up, demanding even more attention until finally the crowd was screaming and whistling. "Alright! Desmond, looks like you've been kicking ass 3 days in a row! I've got to say, you're on the roll!" There was a devilish smile pasted onto Desmond's face as he used a chair as leverage to clobber down towards the dance floor. Veronicka and the other girls were throwing their arms up into the air and screaming at the top of their lungs, Ebony couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Alright, now that we've got Dancer #1, who will be his opponent? Come on! There has to be someone out there with the guts!"

Veronicka suddenly turned towards Ebony and forcefully pulled the helpless woman's arm up in the air and began waving it around like a madman. The blood drained from Ebony's already un-pigmented face and she tried to pull her arm away from her best friend.

"Are you CRAZY?!"

"No! Come on! Ebony, you're an amazing dancer! I don't know anyone who can dance as good as you!"

Veronicka and Ebony had been apart of a dance crew when they were in 8th grade all the way through their first year of college; through her experience, Ebony had learned ballet, belly dancing, and mainly free style alongside with Veronicka. Veronicka had quit and so had Ebony, but she always took the time in her day to go out and dance in one of the many dance studios and clubs available. Though, this was her first time in this nightclub, she was nervous for she was definitely a newbie to this place, there was NO way in hell that she was going to go up there and dance. And definitely not with that handsome bartender!

"Ohhhh! I see we have a taker! Come on up here so that we can take a good look at ya!"

Ebony firmly planted her bottom to her seat and there was no way that she was going to get up without a fight. Soon her friends were yanking her up by the arms and pushing her towards the dance floor while other people from the crowds encouraged her and gently pushed her towards the stage. The man with the nose pierce smiled down at her and held out a hand. She could feel the heat emitting from her cheeks, it was almost feverishly hot, enough to scorch her in fact. She gently placed her hand in his and he gently pulled her up on stage with her eyes slowly scanning the crowd. She swallowed a tight knot in her throat and was completely oblivious to the fact that there was a microphone under her chin. She furrowed her eyebrows as the words tumbled out of the speaker's mouth. He seemed to be speaking another language from her point of view. Was she really that nervous?

"What?"

There was a rumble of laughter that shook her up enough to bring her back to her senses.

"I asked what your name was." The man gave her a dazzling white toothed smile.

Ebony swallowed another lump before smiling shyly and scanning the crowd, "Ebony."

"Wow. That is some name." There were a few loud whistles from the crowd until one particular man screamed out at the top of his lungs.

"I'D DO YOU!"

Her face immediately flustered even pinker before she couldn't help but let out a loud laugh along with the crowd before her. She didn't know if the man said it to make her feel better, but she had to admit, at least the crowd wasn't rude or crazy.

"Aw. Look at her, she's so flabbergasted. Anyway, on to the show. You seem like you know what you're doing..how long have you been dancing?"

"Ever since the 8th grade."

There were a few more loud hollers and the man looked down at her with wide eyes before turning towards Desmond who had an arrogant smile plastered all over his face.

"Woah! Desmond, it looks like you've met your match."

He lowered the microphone under the Desmond's chin, they were of the same tall height, "We'll see."

Another round of hollering before the man hopped off of stage and queued the lights and music. She jolted a bit to seeing the dramatic changes but quickly adapted once she recognized the song that was now beginning, the information began quickly scrolling through her head as she watched Desmond closely. 'Album: 8bit Heart. Released: This year, 2010. Song: Super Psycho Love. Artist: Simon Curtis.' She breathed in and out once she knew she was relaxed, the best part was that this song had a nice beat and tempo to it. Soon they began circling each other and suddenly he broke out into a few small moves. She watched with interest and then smirked when he pointed his finger her way. She matched him in moves and beat him at pace. He nodded his head with amusement and then they circled each other again before he broke out into another long line of free styles. She interrupted him and they both danced until they felt their sweat drops beat against the dance floor. At one point, they had gotten so close, she swore she could feel his breath on her.

All of a sudden, he pulled her in by the waist and gripped her right thigh, pulling it up, then he dipped her real low and pulled her up slowly before they began dancing in a wave of distress and heart pounding aches as the beat grew faster and faster. They ended standing only inches away from their faces, they could feel the labored panting from each other as the music stopped and the crowd cheered wildly. Ebony realized that neither had pulled away and decided to do so first before it grew awkward. She stood a few feet away from him and waved shyly at the crowd who was screaming deafeningly at her and Desmond. The spokesperson galloped up to the stage and raised both of their arms up into the air. "I gotta say, that was some dancing. Best we've seen in years, Desmond. You seriously met your match. It was definitely a tie!"

Ebony walked out of the bathroom only to smack head first into Desmond's chest. She immediately backed away and begged for forgiveness.

"I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright."

"Phew, for a second there, I actually thought I hurt you."

"You did some great dancing back there."

Ebony looked up to find him smiling at her, she smiled back awkwardly and tousled up her hair to the side, "Thanks. So did you." With that said, she began to walk away, fully aware that his eyes trailed after her sashaying figure.

"Will I see you anytime soon?"

She turned to give him a side glance before smirking and walking away completely. Ebony met up with her friends yet again after freshening up a bit and then picked up her purse off of the table, Veronicka stared up at her with a shocked expression.

"You're leaving so soon?!"

"It's 1 in the morning, V."

"Oh. Right. If you are, you aren't leaving without a goodbye hug." Ebony smiled and hugged her best friend before nodding and waving kindly at the other girls who acknowledged their gesture.

"I'll see you at the dorm?"

Ebony nodded and then turned around, heading towards the exit.

~OOO~

Ebony pulled out her phone and immediately began to quickly strut ahead, she was tired and in need of a lot of sleep. Friday nights were especially tiring, even after classes. But the girls decided that it was time to do something fun so Ebony decided to not be the party popper and jumped along. Weill Cornell Medical College wasn't that far on foot from here, she would get there….sooner or later. She mumbled lyrics under breath and couldn't help but adding a few steps along with her walking pace. Soon she was dancing over cracks on the side walks and sashaying to the beat in her head. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a strange noise behind her..as if someone ran past her. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up on their ends and a strange chill ran down her spine. She quickly turned around to find nothing…nothing at all. Maybe it was the chill in the air. Who was she kidding? It was June 2010, there was no chill in the air surprisingly.

Ebony decided to pick up her pace once again when she heard the strange noise yet again. She turned around just in time to see a strange figure standing at least 30 feet away from her. She couldn't tell who or what is was but some type of alarm in her head told her to get the hell out of there. She felt her eyes widen and then suddenly she turned around again only to smack into another obstacle in her way. She fell down to the ground on her back and and winced as the concrete connected with her back. Ebony sat up and gasped as she saw the figure loom over her. She could clearly see white coats and dark shadows but no faces..it was a little too dark to see anything…what made it worse was the fact that their faces were covered up. A startled cry escaped her as she decided to bolt down the street, she rounded a corner and turned to see that no one was there. She cocked her head to the side in full confusion and gripped her head. Wondering if Desmond had mixed some kind of alcohol into her drink. Then she continued to walk with her head down until finally, she felt something hard smash into the back of her head. Tiny red dots exploded into her vision and she collapsed onto the hard concrete ground. Footsteps shuffled all around her but she was a little to incoherent to hear all the mumbling around here. Everything was jumbled and confusing.

There she opened her eyes, her hearing completely distorted and so was her vision. She felt something strange trickling down her neck and finally began smelling the metallic smell of blood…her blood. She was bleeding from the hard impact of whatever was lobbed at the back of her head. She cursed whoever thought it was funny to attack someone innocent at the dead of night. She was pushed over onto her back. Her closing eyes scanned the group of white coated people who stood over her and nodded their heads, occasionally their voices raised. What did they want with her, did she do something wrong? Suddenly, something was clamped over her nose and mouth, she found the strength to claw at the mysterious person's hand…only then did she realize that it was a cloth smothered in some sort of strange smell that was slowly slipping her into unconsciousness. Damn them for drugging her. Damn them all. The last thing she saw was a ring with a red cross on it.