I don't know how long we crawled through those vents. Time didn't matter in this place. It was like a vacuum. You almost felt like if you would scream no one would hear you, the sound wouldn't escape your mouth.

When she suddenly stopped in front of a vent grate the light illuminated her eyes. A soft brown with green flecks. It was the first time I had seen her eyes and somehow I knew that it was a moment that I should remember forever.

Then as she shifted I saw the light expose deep black and blue marks on her face. I reacted at the sight by reaching out to her face and turning her towards me. The small amount of light that shined in from the grate allowed me to see her battered face. I'll never forget the way her eyes shined with the tears she was holding back. I had caused her pain from holding her face so I could look at her. I moved my hand away and just stared at her. I sucked in my breath as I scanned her body.

She was nothing more then skin and bones. I didn't see one piece of flesh that wasn't bruised or bleeding.

"What did they do to you?" I asked with a choked voice.

She chuckled without humor.

"The better question would be what didn't they do." She said.

All I remember is looking at her and realizing that she was just a girl. Not even a teenager yet. But the way she talked, and moved made her seem older. It was only when I looked into those eyes did I realize that maybe age didn't really mean anything; because in her eyes I could see a million nightmares that she had gone through.

They held so much pain. As if she had lived a thousand lifetimes in the short time she had truly lived. A shiver ran up my spine at the thought.

A thousand lives...meant a thousand deaths.

That was what I felt when looking into her eyes.

The pain of a thousand deaths. Sometimes I still see it in her eyes. Dark eyes that hold soo much horror that it almost seems impossible that she can contain it all. Then there are times when she is tired when the world slips away as she enters sleep…….when her eyes are bottle green.

Green is my favorite color. It reminds me of her.

Then a noise came from the room that the light was coming from.

She moved as fast as she could and grabbed my hand pulling me behind her. Before I knew it we entered a cross section of the vent system. She then let go of my hand.

Soon light filled the space and I could see her clearly then.

I just stared at her in shock. She was riddled with scars and blood. Bruises made up her body where one would think flesh was.

"Stop looking at me like that!" She growled out at me.

I blinked and shook my head to clear away my thoughts. I looked over so as not to look at her and found a small group of pillows and a blanket.

"I sleep here sometimes…………when I manage to get away without them seeing me." She answered me.

I nodded my head. It made perfect sense...especially with all of the bruises that covered her body.

" So why did you bring me here when you said you were going to show me where I am." I asked as I turned to look at her again.

And then she gave me this smile. I swear that I felt my heart stop for a second and then double in speed. She had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

"I didn't lie if that's what your implying. I show you later." She said with the smile returning to her face.

It shocked me the way her smile affected me. It was unsettling for me. I was much older then she was and for some reason a little voice in the back of my mind was telling me to forget her age...she was more mature then most of the girls I knew anyway.

Then her smile turned into a frown once more. I think her face hurt too much to smile for a long time...otherwise I would have sworn that she would be the type of person that always seemed to smile.

But then she looked at me with these sad begging eyes. It confused me to see her looking at me like that. I didn't know why...but I would soon find out.

"Tell me about yourself." She said in a whisper.

It was my turn to smile.

"I thought you said you could see in my mind." I said as a huge grin split across my face as she smirked.

"I have a feeling you and me are good at bickering at each other." She said as she shook her head and looked away from me.

We stayed up their god knows how long...talking about anything and everything. She was witty, funny, and intelligent. At one point she had challanged me to a game of thumb war...telling me that she would put me in my place. That being beat by a girl would deflate the ego that she claimed I had.

And there we were laughing as she tried wrestled me with her entire body trying to pin down my thumb when suddenly I noticed her eyes were staring into mine and she had stopped laughing.

I fell into those eyes and before I knew it I had turned what I had thought to be the start to a great friendship into something much more.

It all happened soo fast.

It wasn't until she was lying beside me with the blanket covering her body that I realized what I had truely done. I had taken her virginity. I lied beside her staring at her face and contemplated what had happened. My conclusion was unnerving and made me angry. But it was the only logical answer. She had planned this.

Don't get me wrong I didn't regret it...I just couldn't believe that a person could use you like that.

Then I remembered the way she kissed me. As if she somehow was in love with me...and she didn't even know me. I had never been with a woman...but I knew with the way guys talked in the Air Force that casual sex was usually frantic and not emotional. But what had transpired between me and this person beside me was tender, loving.

When she woke up her eyelids slowly blinked open to have her see me looking at her. Even though I knew what she had done I slowly lowered my lips to hers and gave her a kiss that betrayed the anger I felt.

She snuggled in my arms and his her eyes from me by lying her head on my chest.

"I know you already have figured out that I used you." She said in a soft voice as she drew a patter on my chest as she spoke.

"I want you to know that I didn't do it to hurt you." She said softly.

"Then why did you do it?" I asked in a strong voice. It was odd. I had never heard my voice soo deep. It was though what happened how somehow changed me.

She pulled away from me then and looked me in the eyes.

"I never want you to know why." She said with a face that was completely serious.

With that she removed the sheet and began to get back into her clothes. And as she put on the first peice of clothing I saw her wincing.

My mind hadn't thought about her injured body or the affects of what we did would have on her. My blood hadn't necessarily been running tobrain. The moment had been sudden and spontaneous. I hadn't thought about what I was actually doing...which was odd with me. I always thought everything out.

"Are you okay? Did...Did I hurt you?" I asked almost in shame. I looked at her feet. Never did I want to hear that I had actually hurt her. It was my first time...and I didn't have experience...

She laughed and I looked up into her eyes. She had a smile on her face.

"At first it hurt but um...thats to be expected." She said and we both blushed.

"But after it...it...(she looked down with the blush still in her cheeks) it was the most intense thing I've ever felt." She said and then looked up at me with a small smile.

I smiled back.

All I could think was THANK GOD!

Her smile slowly faded and then she tossed my clothes at me while she turned around to fix herself.

"Take this duct all the way down and then take the second left. Keep going until you get to the end. It should lead you to the hallway with the elevators. Take the elevators up until the lobby. Walk out the doors and don't look back." She said as she continued to dress herself with her back to me.

My mouth had fallen open. She actually knew how to escape and was telling me how. That little voice in my head spoke again and asked a very important question. If she knows how to escape...why hasn't she escaped?

"Why haven't you escaped if you know how?" I asked bluntly.

Her movements slowed and she answered.

"Because I can't. They'll kill my brothers and sisters." She said in a small voice.

A chill went up my spine.

"You could take them..."

"I can't get to them. If I tried they would kill me and them...just for having tried." She said as she whipped around with tears running down her face. She wiped them away and sniffled.

"I have to stay. They'll kill them if I don't." She stated. There was no doubt in her voice. Only certainty. It was the first time I had fully understood the true evil that this prison was.

"I have to get back. They'll be looking for me soon." She said as she looked away from me. Then she shifted one of the pillows and handed me a white coat that had apparently been hidden under them.

"Wear this. If anyone asks your helping Mr Raines and if they really want to question someone to question him. They'll leave you alone and they won't bother asking Mr. Raines." She said as she began to fix the pillows and blanket as I began to dress myself. I didn't question her.

"You don't have much time. An hour window to make an escape. You have to leave now." She said as she began to make her way down the tunnel next to us.

"Wait!" I said as my arm whipped out and grabbed her tattered pants.

She turned and looked at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. For a second I forgot what I was about to say.

"I don't even know your name." I whispered.

She looked down for a minute then back up at me.

"My dad called me Amanda." She whispered.

I smiled.

"It's a beautiful name." I said. I was about to tell her my name when she placed her hand over my mouth.

"I know James." She said with a small smirk.

I was shocked. I never told her my name.

"Go! Before anyone finds out your gone."

And with that I watched her crawl down the vent. I shook myself and began to crawl down the vent that she had told me. I had been crawling for maybe fifteen minutes when I came to the second left in the vent. I looked down the long vent and then back the way I came.

For some reason something was telling me to go back...to go find her. To help her and her brothers and sisters get out of this place. Then there was a part of me saying to get the hell out while I could. That's when her eyes flashed infront of my eyes. The way she had laughed and smiled with me.

Turning around I went back to where we had been. I was a little disoriented but I remembered which way she had went. That's when I heard the scream.

Seconds had passed before I reacted. I crawled down the vent as fast as I could. My hands and knees hurt by the way I was moving so fast. I actually managed to cut up my hands. But the sound of the scream made me react. All I could think about was that the scream was coming from her. That she needed me. As I drew closer the screams became louder.

1 minute.

If I had told her to stay with me one more minute, she wouldn't have had to go through what she had. If I had turned back one minute before I could have prevented it.

Just as I reached where I thought the screams to be coming from, my heart stopped, my anger flared.

I watched as he pulled himself off of Amanda and straighten his clothing. Clothing that looked like the one's I had woken up in.

Amanda cried and rolled herself into a small ball as her body trembled and she sobbed. I would have jumped out and killed the son of a bitch with my bare hands if it weren't for the men that came to cuff him. Men with guns tucked beneath their jackets.

"Well...you've taken what you wanted. Now give us what we want." A very familiar voice said. The same voice that had asked me about my blood type. It was him.

That's when I heard the man laugh.

"If only he knew what I was doing to his sims he would kill me. Now if he finds out what I did to his daughter...I don't think torture would be quite the word to describe what he would do to me."

"Quit stalling Alex...hand over the sim." A raspy voice said abrubtly.

My eyes squinted as I watched the man turn slightly to retrieve a small disk. I burned the image of his face and name into my mind. I would kill this man. There was no doubt in my mind.

His life would end in my hands.

"Here's the disk.(Chuckling) It was worth the payment."

Then all of them left the room...except...

I had looked back over to Amanda only then. She was staring up at me with tears streaming down her face. It's that look that haunts me now. A look that was more heartwrenching then the one I had seen on her face. It was also the shame that shone from her eyes.

Then she looked away from me and if possible tried to make herself into an even smaller ball.

I just slumped back in the vent as the tears traveled down my face. Realization slapping me in the face.

She had been raped. And I hadn't been there to stop him.

She had known that this would happen...and she had still not escaped with me. Using me to forego more pain. Helping me to escape and be tortured herself.

I will never forgive myself for my stupidity. For leaving her behind when I could have stayed with her a little longer. For all the wrong decisions I had made. For trading her life for mine.

For actually falling in love with her.

I had fallen in love with a stranger. Someone that I had met but a few hours ago. I was in love with her.

I was bound to her that day. She would forever be a part of me. But even now...after all this time...I don't know if she loves me in return.