Mandy slowly walks home from Westminster High. She is the drama teacher there. She hums "Once Upon a December" from Anastasia, one of her favorite musicals. She loves the musical so much that she named her mousy brown cat Anya, the name Anastasia took on when she fell victim to amnesia. The theater kids at Westminster High would perform Anastasia in a month. It is quite exciting for Mandy.
Mandy is ten walking minutes away from her small home. Ten minutes away from holding Anya. Mandy turns down a street and hears a loud bang. She abruptly turns her head to find where they sound came from. A small section of this block is normally out of repair. The owner of the land doesn't seem to care, despite the city constantly coming after him for it. Normally, the land was empty. Despite the owner, Mr Kent, not using the property for anything, he is not afraid of prosecuting trespassers. Hardly anyone ever went on his land. But today seemed to be an exception.
Mandy sighs. Usually, the trespassers were new around there and didn't know any better. There have been multiple people Mandy has saved from the anger of Mr Kent by quickly getting them off of the property. Mandy assumes it is a similar situation she can handle. She quietly walks into the old building, noting how much it needed fixing. It did no use to Mr Kent. He couldn't rent it out, not when there are laws about what owners must have fixed for their renters. He really ought to either fix it up or sell it to someone who will.
Mandy listens for any sign of life. She hears some people talking downstairs, in the basement. Mandy starts to walk down the stairs, mentally preparing herself for the confrontation. She hopes they will listen to her and let her help them; it would be a nasty law suit if they were to be caught. Mandy hears faint footsteps near her.
"Don't move," a masculine voice says behind her. Mandy raises her arms in surrender and turns to the man behind her. She didn't know what she expected, probably just some kid fresh out of high school, trying to sound intimidating. Unfortunately for him, Mandy's father was a police officer. She could protect herself in a fist fight. But the man behind her is not who she expected.
She turns to find an arrow pointed at her chest. Her eyes widen in shock and fear. The man is in all black. He has short blonde hair and insanely bright blue eyes. Something about his eyes appears...off. It doesn't look natural. "What are you doing here?" the man asks. He sounds American.
"The owner, Mr Kent, he hates it when people trespass, I just wanted to warn you!" Mandy hurriedly says. "If he catches you, you'll be in for a nasty law suit you won't win!"
"This Kent person won't be a problem..., but you will."
Mandy begins to hyperventilate. She begins to grow slightly dizzy because of the inefficiency of her breathing. She thinks back to what her father taught her to do in a situation like this. While Mandy can hold her own in a fist fight, she doesn't know the first thing about fighting a man with a bow. She does what she deems the only logical thing, despite worrying what consequences it will have: she screams, her whole body shaking, backed against the wall.
Before she knew it, the archer was closer, with the arrow now poking Mandy's chest. Mandy stares at the arrow in fear. Well, that didn't help, she thinks.
"Bad move," the man says. Mandy closes her eyes and braces for impact from the arrow. Impact that never comes.
"Now, now, what do we have here?" a man that sounds English says. Mandy opens her eyes to see a man with long, black hair, in black and green leather standing nearby. He quickly makes note of every detail there is to Mandy's appearance.
"She almost walked right in on us," the American says.
"Did she now? Well, that's no reason to kill such a pretty little thing, Agent Barton." Immediately, the American pointed his bow away from Mandy. Her lip quivers as the English man comes closer to her. The man notices and smirks. "And what would you be doing here?"
"I, I came to, to warn you. Mr, Mr Kent hates tres, trespassers, and he, he prosecutes every, everyone that, that trespasses. I, I figured you did, didn't know so I, I came to tell you," Mandy stutters. This seems to amuse the man.
"Oh, your mortal laws do not bother me, but thank you for the gesture." Mortal laws? Mandy thinks. What is that supposed to mean? The two men simultaneously back up from Mandy, giving her some space. Enough space to run past them.
Too panicked to think straight, Mandy tries to run away from the two men and call the police on the nearest phone she could find. These two deserve to be prosecuted. They know the law and disregard it. Plus, they threatened her life. But before Mandy could go so much as a meter, she falls roughly to the ground. She moves her right hand to brush hair out of her face, but her left hand joins. Mandy looks at her hand in confusion to find it wrapped tightly in leather. Hurriedly trying to stand, Mandy discovers leather wrapped around her ankles as well. How on Earth did those get there? Before she can say anything, her mouth suddenly is full of a rough fabric. Mandy hurriedly flips from her stomach to her back, panicking. The Englishman looks down at her smugly as he walks toward her.
"I'd imagine you want to know how I did that. I may look like a mortal, but I sure as hel am not one." Mandy breathes unevenly as she tries to wrap her head around what the man just said. The man chuckles at her confusion. "Agent Barton, do we not have an empty room?"
"Yes, we do, sir," Agent Barton confirms. Mandy's chest is pounding in fear.
"Good. Our guest needs a room to herself, I daresay."
"Sir, what good is there in keeping her?"
"What good is there in killing her? We'll never know if she is useful if she is dead. And we certainly can't let you leave now, can we?" Mandy shakes violently as the man comes closer and bends down next to her. "Welcome to our little operation, my pretty." The man picks her up bridal style. Despite her kicking and muffled screaming, the man continues to carry her further into the building, Agent Barton following closely behind.
Mandy doesn't pay much attention to her surroundings, something her father would be very disappointed about. She is too busy trying to force herself away from her captor. Anyone they run into steps out of her captor's way or opens doors for him. None of them question her presence. The man walks into a dark room with creaking floorboards. The state of the room is disastrous. The walls are falling apart, and the door is barely on its hinges. Cobwebs cover the corners and water drips down from the ceiling in some places. Broken glass from a light bulb dusted certain areas of the floor and made the cobwebs glitter. Mandy's captor looks around the room in disgust.
"This room is more ghastly than I recalled. I'll have to find somewhere else for you. For now, though, you'll be staying here." He sets Mandy down gently on a dry, glass free area of the floor. He quickly turns and leaves her alone in the cold room. Mandy curls up for warmth. Her trembling body desperately tries to conserve heat. Warm, uncontrollable tears slip down her face silently. Oh, I never should have come down here! I've been kidnapped by maniacs just because I was dumb enough to try and help them. She continues to ruminate, which makes her feel worse.
The door opens and light creeps into the cold room. Her captor sits next to Mandy's trembling body. "Cold, is it? I've never been a good judge of temperature. I apologise for the discomfort." He pulls the cloth out of Mandy's mouth and tosses it aside. Mandy opens her mouth to speak, but her captor cuts her off. "No, you must eat before I'll consider allowing you to speak." He sets a plate down next to her. It's nothing elaborate, but more than the nothing Mandy had expected. "Go on, then. Eat. It's not poisoned." Mandy slowly eats as her captor continues to watch her. Tears continue to flow down Mandy's face. Her breathing is rapid and short. She figures her captor couldn't care less if she cried or not.
Her captor eyes her with deep concern. "Oh gods. I couldn't see with the poor lighting. I'm dreadfully sorry." Her captor scoops her into his arms, which causes Mandy to struggle against his hold. Unfortunately though, the man's hold is strong, yet gentle. He places her head on his chest and deftly wipes her tears away from her face. "Sh, breathe with my breathing. I wouldn't harm a single hair on your head." Mandy tries to hold her emotions in, but instead she loses control over them. Her body violently shakes and more tears fall. She desperately tries to break away from her captor. He holds her tightly against his chest and gently strokes her shoulder length hair in a calming way. He gently whispers to her, telling her to breathe. Slowly, Mandy begins to listen to him. She takes deep breaths with him and slowly calms down. She still trembles slightly, but her breathing evens and the tears come to a stop. He once again wipes tears from her face. Despite Mandy resisting him holding her, he continues to hold her against his chest.
"What do you want from me?" Mandy asks quietly in a shaky voice.
"Please just relax. I wouldn't dare hurt you. You need not be scared of me," he says. "At least try to relax and stay calm."
"Don't have too much hope for me then. I have a hard time relaxing normally."
Her captor uses his fingers to brush thick brown hair out of her face. "Hush, now, I won't hurt you." He continues to brush Mandy's silky hair. "What is your name? Now, I'll find out who you are one way or another. So you may as well tell me now, my dear."
Too tired to resist, Mandy yawns. "Mandy Rae Angelle."
"What a beautiful name, Mandy. What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a high school drama teacher."
"What is a high school?"
"A school for teenagers."
"And you teach the art of the theater?"
"Yes. Why do you want to know?"
"Curiosity. Now, I have one more thing I need from you." He makes sure Mandy's head is resting against his chest. "This appears to be very stressful to you, and it has drained you of your energy. Please, get some rest. You desperately need it." Mandy yawns again and her captor magically closes the door and makes a blanket appear around her. He gently hums a soft melody. The tune is unfamiliar, but is still beautiful. Mandy quickly falls into a deep slumber. Her captor was right in saying she had been drained of her energy. She had not felt this tired in a few months.
She shivers in her sleep, but hardly stirs when her captor carries her out of the room. She flinches slightly when she is exposed to more light. As she stirs, a few involuntary tears slip away as she shudders in a cold draft. Her captor smiles worriedly at her as he takes her to another area of Mr Kent's dilapidating building. While he had gently lulled his prize to sleep, Agent Barton had prepared another room for her, a room that is better suited for a guest. When he walks in, Agent Barton pulls blankets partially off the bed so Mandy can be placed on the soft mattress. Her captor sets her down and gently unwraps the leather from her wrists and ankles. He and Agent Barton cover her with the spare blankets Agent Barton had found. He leans over and gently wipes her tears away. The two men silently leave Mandy in the darkened room, careful to not wake her. Her captor asks one of his associates to stand guard over his prize, ordering him to not damage her in any way and to be respectful of her. When the man agrees, Mandy's captor leaves the building with Agent Barton. It is dark outside now. Her captor tells Agent Barton what they will do, and the two walk along the cool summer's road.
Mandy Angelle Daisy Ridley
Agent Barton Jeremy Renner
Mandy's Captor Tom Hiddleston
A/N
This book is under hiatus. Mandy is one of my role play OCs and I wamted to write a book for her. I should've waited until I finished one of my books, but I couldn't! I'll update when I can. Thanks for understanding!
Michelle