"C'mon Kisara, don't fall behind," yelled Joey. I sighed at his impatience and ran to catch up with him. Yugi, Tea, and Tristan did the same and soon we were all in a tight group.
I don't even know how I made friends with these guys, but I'm glad I did. I met the gang a few weeks ago in college and now I'm one of them. They have been so kind to me when other people shun me. My white hair and pale skin makes me the prime target for bullies. I've gotten used to the bullies, I've learned to tune them out but there is a time when I can't stand it. One day, when some bullies were messing with me, Joey came and helped me out. That was the day that I made my first friends.
"Joey you don't have to be so impatient," said Tea, "We'll get to the shop."
"Ya but I wanna duel now," whined Joey. I laughed at his immaturity, I was used to it now. I still wonder how that boy made it out of high school.
"Just wait," said Yugi. "And be a little quieter, we don't want to disturb the neighborhood."
"Alright, sorry Yug," replied Joey.
I could tell that Yugi was about to say something when we heard a large crash come from one of the houses. We all jerked our heads toward the origin of the sound, which was a medium-sized brown house. From the outside, the house looked totally abandoned, its windows boarded and the yard was overgrown. We couldn't see any light coming from the house and it made us wonder who would be in there.
"Did you guys hear that," asked Joey who was already on his way towards the house.
"Of course we heard it," retorted Tristan. "Why are we going toward the crash?"
"Someone might be hurt," I stated. Yugi nodded and he followed Joey towards the house. When we tried to open the door, we found that it was locked.
"Just our luck," growled. I was about to suggest something, but then Joey kicked the door open forcefully.
"Good job Joey, now people will think that were breaking in," said Tea sarcastically while rolling her eyes.
The inside of the house didn't look any better than the outside. I could see many discarded bottles and trash everywhere. All of the furniture was either upturned or ripped beyond repair and there was an unbearable smell in the house. Even though outside was warm, the house was very cold and I could almost see my breath.
We were about to walk farther into the house when we saw a man walk around a corner. He had a very angry look on his face and his cheeks were a bright red. I could tell that the man was very drunk.
"GET OUT OF HERE," yelled the man. His words were slurred together so it was difficult to understand him. He tried to run at us, but he was really tipsy and he didn't get far. Joey stood in front of us and when the man came close, he punched him in the jaw. The man gasped in shock and fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Good, now we can look around," said Joey as he walked over the man and farther into the house. It was funny watching him walk around the bottles and furniture.
"Joey wait, we can't just snoop around," said Tea as she grabbed Joey's arms.
"Don't worry Tea, the guy's out cold," replied Joey as he pulled his arm away from Tea. He walked toward one of the doors and opened it. Behind it was a pair of stone stairs that led down to the basement, or at least that's what I think. As we walked down the stairs, our footsteps bounced off the wall and echoed. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we were horrified with what we saw.
I was very dark down there but we could still see a man sitting in the back of the room. It was a very depressing sight to see. His head hung over his chest and his hair went down far past his nose, a sign that it hadn't been cut for a long time. Even though he was sitting, I could still tell that the man was very tall. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his black pants were old and tattered. He was so skinny that I saw nearly everyone of his ribs, but I could still see his muscles. The basement felt colder than the rest of the house and I could see the man shivering. One of his arms was handcuffed to a pipe that was sticking out of the wall beside him.
When we entered the room, the man shifted a bit, the handcuffs clinking, and lifted his head slightly. His hair slid around and I could see his eyes. They were a deep, dark blue and they showed much pain. I saw something spark in his eyes, but he hung his head again before I could really tell what it was.
"Oh my god," I heard Tea whisper beside me as she covered her mouth with her hands.
"Hey are you alright?" asked Joey. The man just sat there and didn't respond. I could see him moving his fingers, but he said nothing.
We walked closer to him to get a better look at him. As we neared him, he started shifting around. I could tell that he was very uncomfortable with our presence.
"Are you Ok sir," I asked and just like before, he said nothing, he just started curling his fingers again.
"I'm gonna look around and see if I can find something about this guy," said Joey as he walked away from us and headed towards the only door in the basement, other than the door at the top of the stairs.
"I'll come to," said Yugi. Tristan said the same and they followed him into the other room, leaving Tea and me to watch over the man.
"I think I'll go help them if you don't mind Kisara," said Tea uncomfortable. I could tell that she didn't want to look at the man. He looked so miserable and it looked like she was about to cry.
"We don't need two people watching him, you go," I replied. I saw the relief in her eyes as she went to the room that the others went into.
I looked back over to the man and walked over to his side. I kneeled down beside him and I saw him stiffen. He was obviously very uncomfortable with me there but I didn't move away. I raised my hand and brushed his cheek. As soon as I did, he jerked his head away and leaned away from me. I pulled my hand away and he stopped leaning to the side. I could see his eyes peering at me from under his bangs and they were filled with hate. I guess he doesn't like being touched. It probably stems from being abused in this place and I felt sorry for him.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," I said in a very soothing voice. He seemed to believe me and his eyes softened a bit, but they were still alert. I heard the clinking of metal as he moved his chained hand around.
"Do you know where the key is," I asked. He said nothing but he looked up at the stairs. His eyes grew hard again as he looked up at the door at the top of the stairs and I guessed where the keys were located.
"That man up there has it?" I asked just to make sure that's what he meant. He nodded and I stood up from where I was kneeling. While I was walking, I could tell that the man was watching me intently. When I reached the front of the house, I found the man in the same place where we left him. I proceeded to search him and I found the keys in one of his pockets.
When I went back down to the basement, the man was sitting in the same awkward position as he was before, but his head wasn't hanging anymore. His eyes were locked onto me as I walked toward him.
"I found it," I said, holding the key up triumphantly. He said nothing in response, but I was used to that now.
I walked over to him and kneeled down beside him. I grabbed his chained hand, which was very cold, and I unlocked the handcuffs. He stiffened at the contact, but he didn't pull his hand away. Maybe he's getting used to me, or at least I hope he is.
"There, you're free," I announced. I pulled the handcuffs of his arm and he started rubbing his wrist with his other hand. I looked at his face and I saw that he was looking straight at me, his eyes full of gratitude.
Once again, I lifted my hand and placed it on his cheek, but this time he didn't shrink away. I felt him tense up, but he didn't look mad. His face was just as cold as his hands were, maybe even colder. I moved some of his hair from his cheeks and I saw claw marks on them. That's probably why he didn't like being touched.
"Do you want me to get you something?" I asked in a soft voice. He nodded and lifted his hand. He moved his hand around and it almost looked like he was writing. It took me a minute, but I eventually got it.
"You want pen and paper?" I asked. He nodded and I went to find what he wanted. I found a pen lying around and a wrinkled piece of paper near it. I took it back to him and set the paper in beside him. He took the pen from my hand and started writing down something on the paper and then handed it to me.
Go into the room that the others went into and find a brown notebook. It should be under the bed.
"Alright, I'll find it," I said as I stood up and walked toward the room. When I entered, I saw the others and they were all in a little circle looking at something.
"Hey, what are you guys looking at," I asked. None of them saw me walk in so they jumped when I talked.
"Kisara you scared us!" exclaimed Tea who was looking at me with wide eyes.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to," I replied apologetically. "So what are you guys looking at?"
"It's some sort of journal," said Tea as she held up a brown notebook. When I saw it, I remembered the reason I came into the room in the first place.
"Where did you find that?" I asked.
"It was under the bed," answered Tea. She handed it to me and said, "Here, read the first entry, it's really interesting. We think that the man out there must have written it.
I nodded as I took the book from her and opened it to the first page. I noticed that the handwriting was just as neat as the note the man wrote for me.
Why has this happened to me? Why am I here in the first place? Why am I even asking myself this, it doesn't matter anymore. Well, at least I found this notebook, now I can write about my irritation.
It doesn't matter now, I'm stuck. Who ever did this to me obviously knew what he was doing. This basement is sound proof and I can't get out, he locks the door behind him and puts something heavy in front of it.
What did I do to deserve this? That question keeps popping up in my head. I know I've done some bad things, but should I suffer this much? The man tries to break my will, but it won't work. He makes it unbearably cold down here when I do something he doesn't like, but that won't break me.
This horrible man is probably happy to know that he's making more then one person suffer. My brother is probably heartbroken right now. Even through my suffering, I still think about him everyday. Is he alright? I hate knowing that he's taken my place. I never wanted him to be in the same situation I was, I wanted him to keep his innocence, but that failed terribly.
I don't know how long it's been since I was kidnapped, but I know it's been a long time. I'm starting to lose all hope about ever getting out of here alive. Well, at least I have my thoughts or I would definitely lose my mind.
"This man has been through so much," I said after reading the entry.
"Yeah, and the other entries we read are just like that one," said Joey.
"Can I borrow this for a bit, he asked me to bring this to him," I said as picked up a blanket that was lying on the ground. The man was probably cold so he would probably appreciate this.
"He talked?" asked Yugi.
I shook my head and replied, "No, he wrote it down."
"Oh," replied Yugi. I walked out of the room with the others following me. I saw the man in the same place as he was before, even though he was unchained and could move around freely.
"Here," I said as I handed him the notebook, as well as the blanket. He took them both with shaking hands and draped the blanket over his body. He opened the notebook and started flipping through the pages. He stopped at one of the pages and folded the corner in before flipping to another page. He found the page that he was looking for and handed me the notebook. He looked at me and I could tell that he wanted me to read the pages he marked. I stared at the pages for a second before reading the pages out loud.
It seems that man wants my suffering to become infinite. He tortures me for the fun of it and I'm almost at the breaking point. It's gone so far that I refuse to talk. He would hit me if I said something he didn't like, so I just won't say anything from now on. I promised myself that I wouldn't break, but that was before all of this.
I want to go home so badly. I miss my brother. I want to know that he is safe and not in danger. I remember how he was taken away from me all those times, but now I'm the one that's been taken. I think about him everyday and every night. It's so painful, but I can't get him out of my mind.
I finished reading the first journal entry and I turned to the other. No one talked so I started reading it with no interruptions.
Why does it that when I try to fix something, it just backfires? I tried to fix some of my problems by not talking, but now I just created a new one. Now, I can't even talk to myself. I try but no words will form, not even a noise will come out. This development just makes my life even worse. I guess the only good thing that comes from this is that the man will never hear me talk again, but neither will I. At least I have this notebook, or I would most likely lose myself completely. A part of me has already disappeared, but I won't let that man win, he will never break me.
"That's it," I said as I finished reading and closed the notebook. I looked around at my friends' faces and they all had a distraught look.
"So that's why he won't talk," said Joey.
I was about to respond when I heard someone call from the top of the stairs.
"Hello, is anyone down there, this is the police."
"Yes, we are down here," I called up to them. The others looked a little confused, and so was I, but I didn't question it, I was glad that help had arrived. I heard the footsteps as they came down the stairs and when they came into sight, there were only two of them, both of them men.
"How did you guys know that something was wrong in this house?" asked Joey before the officers could ask us any questions. I could tell that the officers were a bit annoyed at his impatience, but they answered us anyway.
"We got a call from the neighbor's about a large crash coming from this house, so we came to investigate. My name is Officer Winters and this is Officer McKnight.
"That's why we came in," replied Yugi. He told the officers what had happened when we entered the house and they assured us that the man that attacked us had been taken already. Yugi was about to tell him about the man beside me, but I interrupted him.
"This man needs help," I said, my voice full of anxiety. I was really worried for the man and he need help immediately.
The police looked beside me and saw the man sitting against the wall in the same submissive position he was in when we first saw him. He had the blanket over top of him, but he was still shivering harshly. The officers had a look of horror on their face as they walked over to him. The man lifted his head as they neared him and he visibly stiffened. They noticed this and they stopped walking toward him.
"Was this man here when you entered the house," asked Officer Winters.
"Yes, he was chained to the wall, but I freed him," I answered.
"I see, this man must have been kidnapped," said Officer Mcknight.
"We could have guessed that, but do you know who this man is," Tea asked questioningly.
"We don't have any recent reports on kidnappings, but there was one that made years ago, but it was abandoned not to long ago. This man maybe who we're looking for, but the only way we can be sure is if we look at his back. If this is the man, then he should have a cross-shaped scar on his left shoulder."
They moved closer to the man, but he started shifting around uncomfortably again. As soon as the officer placed a hand on him, he jerked away and leaned as far away as he could without lying on the ground. He glared at them with a look of pure contempt. He probably didn't know that they were trying to help him, he must have tuned out everything they had said to us.
"Sir please let us see your back," pleaded Officer Winters, but the man still leaned away and looked at the Officer with hard eyes. The Officer sighed and looked at us for help.
"Come on, you need to stand up," I said to the man. He gave me a look of trust and I saw what I interpreted as a slightly nod. I placed a hand on his cold chest, but he didn't stiffen as I helped him to his feet. I could see surprised looks on everyone's faces, but I didn't really pay attention to them because the man wasn't very steady on feet so I had to help him keep balance.
"Can you see the scar?" asked Winters. He was looking at me intently and waited for my answer.
I shifted myself so that I could look on his back. It was difficult to see in the bad lighting of the room, but I could still see the unique scar on his shoulder, and it wasn't the only one he had. I nodded to the officer and he immediately took out his cell phone.
"This is Winters," he said into the phone, "Call Mr. Kaiba immediately and tell him that his brother has been found."
