After about ten minutes I started to feel drowsy. I looked over at Jess and Lisa. Lisa was nearly asleep, but Jess looked wide-awake. A minute later, I was nearly asleep. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was trying so hard not to go to sleep, but I couldn't help it. My eyes closed and I fell off to sleep.

"Get off me, freak!" I screamed at him.

"I said, I'm sorry Courtney. I… He… he threatened my family I couldn't deal with it. I am…"

"Shut up James. You're not the one who needs to apologize. If it's anyone that needs to apologize, it's me an' I ain't gonna." George interrupted.

James, I recognized the name from somewhere I just couldn't think of where. I pondered on it for a minute but then realized it didn't matter because he had still help kidnap me.

"What did we do? What did she do?" Jess asked. When she had said 'she', Jess nodded her head over to me.

"Well, She bit me, and as for you, well you're famous and I can get a lot of money over this."

"So what if she bit you? And is that all I am, we are, to you? Just a way to get money. Think of Christina, what do you think she would think of you doing this. "

"She BIT me and it hurt. Yes that is all you are to me. What would Christina care anyway? I don't care about you, that much, any more, any of you, especially her." He glanced over in my direction.

"She has already forgiven you for last time. Christina still…" Lisa put in her say.

"Oh boo-hoo. Poor little baby. Did you want me to kiss it better?" Jess teased, interrupting Lisa. "She's just a girl, George. She's not even 15 yet."

I was getting really annoyed with Jess and George for referring to me as she all the time. It's not like I don't have a name.

"Hey. You two. Could you stop calling me 'she' I do have a name you know." I yelled as loud as I could. It wasn't very loud though; I didn't have enough energy to talk to loudly.

"Shut up. We're talking about you, not to you Butt out." George ordered.

I didn't listen though.

"But it is my business. You're talking about me."

"I said shut up. James put that gag back on." George barked.

"No! Please! I'll be quiet. I promise. I promise. Please!" I begged.

"I'm sorry, Courtney, I really am." James whispered in my ear. Then he roughly pulled the cloth into my mouth. Well he tried I wouldn't let it get through my teeth. He sighed.

"I didn't want to do this." He then slapped my face. I screamed out in pain. It was a sharp pain and it died quite quickly, but the second I opened my mouth the cloth went in and was done up quickly behind my head. I tried to shake the cloth off my head, but I couldn't. James tied the cloth really tight around my head.

"Please don't be scared, you don't… I don't want you to be scared." James whispered in my ear. He was leaning over my shoulders.

I just shook my head as if to say I'm not scared, but I had traitor tears that came running down my face. I tried to hold them back but once one left my eye, the rest came flowing down my face. It wasn't fair. Why was I here? Why did I have to get caught up in this? I just let the tears run down my face.

Jess's eyes were full of sympathy. I saw she was mouthing the word 'sorry'. I shook my head and looked away from her. She didn't need to know that I blamed her for this mess. I felt guilty for blaming her but I could think of any other excuse on how she knew George. I was so confused. All I wanted, all that was important to me, was to go home.

After about five more minutes of sitting in the chairs, we were taken back to the room with the beds in it. I was still really upset and confused about earlier and I couldn't understand what had just happened.

"Courtney. I'm… we're… I'm so sorry about before." Jess stuttered. I had never heard her stutter before. I looked up and stared at her. My eyes were big and puffy from crying. We just looked at each other in silence; her eyes pleading and mine were full of resentment. I didn't like the silence but I had convinced myself that I wouldn't talk to either of them unless they explained to me what was going on.

After what felt like a few minutes I looked away, scared of what my eyes were telling Jess. I turned to stare out the locked window, looking at all the free animals roaming out in the bush. I wished that I could join them out there, but I knew that I was stuck in this room full of this awkward silence.

"Courtney, please. Please forgive me. I would do anything to get you out of this mess. It's not your fault. Please this is entirely my fault. Don't blame Lisa or yourself. I feel so bad bring you, of all the girls there, on the stage, into this." Jess begged.

"What do you mean, me of all the girls on the stage?" I asked her.

"Courtney, I have a huge soft spot for you. You are so talented at performing; it looks like it just comes naturally to you. You have the most fun there. Everyone else concentrates to hard and it really looks like you don't. You just enjoy the moment."

"Oh, Wow. Thanks" I was really shocked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I mean Jess from The Veronicas was complementing little old me like this. I turned to look into her eyes again, just to see if she actually meant it. It looked like she did. "Well there is no place I would rather be than be here with both of you. I am now your Biggest Fan!" I added.

The girls burst out with laughter, like it was the funniest thing that they had ever heard.

"Look Courtney, I think it's about time we explained what the hell is going on here. How we know George and what he is talking about." Lisa stated with a more serious look on her face.

"Umm, yeah I think so to." I prompted.

"Well… Um… I don't know where to start." Lisa began.

"Umm… Beginning maybe. Or what I would really like to know… Well how you know this George guy?" I prompted with a question them.

"It's a long story…" Jess replied.

"Well we do have time." I joked.

"Yes, I do suppose we do have plenty of that." Lisa laughed back at my joke and without any more of an invitation we all burst into an easy, shallow laugh. It felt good to laugh all the worries off. It felt like a huge weight had been taken off of my shoulders.

"Ok, now we have had our laugh it's time to get back to business. Can you please explain how you know George? It is really starting to bug me. How did you guys know his name? The fact you guys, or Christina, weren't surprised when he pulled out the… g… g…the thing? How could you manage staying so cool around the thing?" I couldn't get my mouth around the word; I couldn't say the word 'gun' after it had been held, pointing at my head earlier that morning.

"Well we met Christina and her husband at the time back when we were younger about thirteen, when we lived in Queensland. Our parents became quite close to Christina. Mum loved her like a sister and we started calling her Aunty Christina. She and her husband, we were like family. Aunty Christina and Uncle George." Jess paused; she shivered at the last part.

"Wait, you mean George, as in the one out there?" I demanded.

Lisa and Jess looked at each other and just nodded.

"A couple of years later, Christina and George broke up. It affected our family deeply, as we were close to both of them. Christina took of to Perth, where she stayed with her mum and dad. Mum kept trying to convince her to come back up, but Christina didn't want to. She said she just needed a bit of space. I mean I don't blame her, it was a pretty messy break up." Lisa continued.

"One day, George came over. He… He was in a bad mood… a really bad mood. He started yelling and screaming at Mum. Dad was out in the garage, when he heard George. Dad came running up into the house. Lisa and I were already standing in the kitchen with Mum when he came in. When George saw Dad coming in, he got really mad. I mean really, really mad. It was scary. He was so mad that he grabbed a knife from the knife block that was sitting on the bench in the corner…" Jess carried on. Lisa was by Jess's side at this time. Her arm was around Jess's shoulder. Jess was shaking. Water was coming down her face. Jess was crying. The first time I had ever seen her break down crying. What ever was coming next was big.

"Well, George grabbed the knife and he grabbed Jess around the waist and held the knife at her throat, threatening to kill her unless Dad and I went away. Dad agreed and told me to follow. But when I didn't Dad picked me up and carried me out. I was screaming and I cried out for Jess, not wanting to leave her. Dad took me down to the garage and called the police. Then we heard Mum and Jess scream. I started running up the stairs when dad caught my arm and didn't let go. I heard someone stomping down the stairs.

As I ran to Dad, he quickly hung up the phone and slipped it into his pocket. George came down the stairs with the knife. There was blood on it. I screamed on horror as I knew that the blood was my sisters." Lisa paused. She was in a daze. She wasn't with us. I mean she was there, breathing and still alive, but her mind was miles away. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was in shock.

"That's when the police came. They were shouting asking us where we were. However we couldn't say anything because George still had the knife. He was pointing it at Dad and me. Dad held me tight, but that couldn't stop me shaking. I was so scared.

The police came in; they had their guns held out in front of them. The first officer stop on the bottom step. He looked at Dad and me and then he looked at George and the knife. He looked back at me and stared.

'You have to help my sister!' I yelled at him. He just kept looking at me.

'Help! Jess. Please. In the kitchen.' George pushed the knife closer to dad and me." Lisa was shaking all over as she paused, letting me grasp everything she had just said. "The officers held their guns at George, telling him to put down the knife. Eventually he did. I collapsed on the floor and cried. Mum came running down the stairs and held me tight. She had said that George had stabbed Jess and she was on her way to the hospital. Dad, Mum and I were also taken down to the hospital to be checked over by a doctor."

"When they were allowed to come in and see me, I was lying there on the bed. I had a huge bandage around my waist. That was where George had stabbed me." Jess lifted her shirt up to the bottom of her rib cage. There was a huge scar in the left side of her stomach. "I was stuck in hospital for a few weeks but eventually I was allowed to go home. That day I realized that you should take everyday as it comes and not take anything for granted. The doctors said I would never be able to perform on stage again, but look at me now." Jess concluded. "What's wrong? Have I upset you somehow?" She added. This was the first time that I realize that I had tears running down my face.

"No. No. It's nothing you've said. I just didn't realize your relationship with George was so… So… So difficult. Is that why you were so surprised when you saw him at rehearsals?" I suddenly recalled.

"Yeah. We were really surprised. For that crazy stunt he pulled about seven years ago, he got 25 years without parol. So yes we were surprised. We didn't want him back in our lives so soon." Jess explained

"Well I can see why now."

"Yeah, talk about freaky. I bet Christina feels pretty bad about this though. She was just starting to get over the last time." Lisa added.

"I think so too." Jess agreed.

"Hey thanks for telling me. I feel kinda special now." I said quietly.

"Hey Courtney don't mention it. It kinda feels good to tell someone about it." Lisa and Jess replied together.

"I love it when you guys do that." I smiled.

'Yeah. It's a twin thing. We can read each other's mind. Like right now Jess is quite hungry." Lisa giggled. Right on queue Jess stomach growled at her. We all fell about laughing.

Just then George and two other guys came into the room.

"Well I'm glad you both remember your Uncle George." George snickered

"How could we forget you?" Jess muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Lisa and me to hear. Lisa and I giggled for a second, but then realized George was staring at us. We stopped immediately.

"What is so funny, girls? Did I miss the joke?" George queried.

"No. You are the joke." I informed him, immediately regretting it.

George marched over to where I was sitting and grabbed the collar of my shirt. He lifted me of the bed with one hand and drew the other back.

SLAP!! George hit me across the face. As I screamed I felt one man, who was standing by George, grab my arms and tie them together behind me. At the same time, the other man tied up my feet. Once they were done, they stood back. George dropped me. I fell on to the floor in a heap. I couldn't move. My head was spinning. I looked up to see George standing over me.

"George. Please don't. Not to her. Please put that away." Jess pleaded. "Don't. Don't hurt her. Please Don't!"

"What does it matter to you anyway? At least you don't have to go through it again." George quizzed her.

"George, please. I don't want you to hurt anyone. I don't want anyone to get hurt. Please George. Just put that away."

George just looked at her. He shook his head and smiled. He had an evil grin on his face. For the first time I saw what he was holding. I was a knife. I began to try and move away from him, but I couldn't.

"Please George. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Even though I did mean it. "I was being very silly and immature." Not really. "Please just put the knife away. You can do that can't you?" I pleaded with him.

That made him stop and think. I don't think he thought I was brave enough to talk to him so calmly.

"I will put this away, for now, but not before I do this." Before I knew it, George grabbed my collar and lifted me up. He then scraped the knife across my throat, not pressing hard enough to leave a scar. He did it just simply to draw a little bit of blood. I was very careful not to move. I knew I meant very little to him, I was just an extra, an addition that he didn't need. He wouldn't care if he had killed me. So I was very, very careful.

When he was done, he wiped the knife on my shirt to clean it from my blood and he put it back in its case and that in his pocket. Following that, he left the room. My hand and feet were still tied together.

Jess and Lisa ran over. It looked like they had tears running down their faces. Lisa undid my hands, while Jess undid my feet.

Once they undid me, Lisa pulled out a tissue.

"What are you doing? It's just a little cut." I said as I tried to pull away.

"Jess! ONLY LITTLE!! It's massive. You are really bleeding." Lisa declared.

I had to trust her; there was something in her voice. I still tried to wriggle away, but I felt Jess grab hold of my arms and pin me down. I didn't feel up to struggling with her, so I just lay down and closed my eyes.

* * *

I must have passed out; because when I opened my eyes it was dark. There was a dim light coming in under the closed door. I saw Jess and Lisa were on their beds, asleep. They were tied up again. I went to rub my eyes but couldn't. I screamed. I was so lost. Jess's eyes flung open.

"Shhhh, Courtney, Everything all right. I promise." Jess whispered, with her eyes on the door.

"Oh My Gosh. I'm so sorry. I completely forgot what happened. I was scared."

"Its ok. Just please don't do it again. Hopefully its not to late."

"HAHAHA!!!!! Well hope again." This huge voice boomed from the other side of the room.

Jess tried to struggle to wriggle out of the rope. George came in to thumping into the room. As I screamed, it woke up Lisa. She was in shock.

"What's happened? George! What are you doing? George no. Don't do it. You don't want to. It wont do anything any good!" Lisa begged, almost in tears.

I turned away from her to look for George. I didn't have to look hard. I looked up to see George. He had something in his hand. I couldn't quite see it.

Lisa and Jess could. I knew that it was bad. They started screaming. Lisa burst out into tears. Jess was comforting Lisa and begging to George.

I couldn't do anything, so I just sat there and counted quietly to myself. I concentrated on my breathing; I didn't want to pass out. I had stopped listening to Jess begging with George. Stopped listening to Lisa crying. Time went really slowly in the silence. I tried to tune back in, but I couldn't. It was like a nightmare. A nightmare that I couldn't wake from.

I can't remember what happened next, it is like a missing part of my memory. I remember everything else, well almost everything, except for this dark moment it is really scary.