Chapter 2

A sense of dread washes over my body as we make our way to the waiting room. Nurses rush back and forth in this all too familiar scene. Mom seats us down, tells us she will be back in a bit, and quickly scrambles out the door. We wait and wait sometimes pacing each others steps, occasionally glancing back to a tearful family and a nurse, or a doctor. She after ages comes back in, face red, eyes swollen, and my heart sinks.

"Mom what is going on? Would you please tell me what is going on? You haven't said a word since you picked us up from school." She only glances at me whilst pacing. Her hands are fidgeting in front of her with eyes fixed on the ground.

The doctor and some nurses finally walk in their faces look sad. It feels an eternity before anyone speaks. Aaron looks blankly onward and mom stops dead in her tracks, staring intently at them. "Donnie Thornberry" the doctor begins "has sustained large amounts of blood loss and has severe amounts of internal bleeding. We don't know if he will make it through the night. We tried everything to save him but the outcome looks grim. He took a severe beating from his girlfriend. There is nothing more we can do. It would take a miracle to save him now."

They leave to give us a few moments to process what was just said, saying something like they will be back in a few minutes so we can see him and say goodbyes?

Aaron only blinks and remains silent. All the air has been sucked out of my lungs and the ICU waiting room starts spinning. Through blurred vision a silhouette of mom going into fits of hysteria, shouting for the whole world to hear, that losing dad, and that she should have stopped Donnie from moving in with his girlfriend. It is just too much to handle.

I have to get out of here, and next thing I realize I am darting out of the waiting room, wiping my red stinging eyes as I go. I don't bother to look back where I hear mom screaming after me, while Aaron snaps out of his trance, and follows me out. I don't care. I just keep running. Everyone's faces blur while I push and shove to get out of this place.

"Cassie! Cassie! Stop… please… just…stop…" my brother breaths through his sentence while still pursuing me.

I hit a fire exit and the blaring of sirens start. I keep running. Losing two loved ones just a month apart is too much to handle. I have no sense of direction. I can't go home so I start running in what I hope is the opposite direction, hoping I will get run over by a bus.

There are three dark figures up ahead. My heart starts pounding harder, while my breath gets shorter and shorter. The middle figure points something in my direction, but before I can figure out what the heck is going on, a sharp pain in my right side engulfs my whole body and I collapse as everything goes dark.

I awake to sounds of pounding and shouts of anger. What happened? I adjust my weight a little to the right and a sharp pain shoots across my right thigh, creeping up my side causing me to cry out. I grab for my leg and discover a pool of blood underneath. I pull my hand away from my leg with oozy red blood dripping to the floor. In perfect circles it collects, flowing towards the door. My heart pounds harder as I hear commotion somewhere in the far corner of the room. Holding my breath and doing my best to not cry out from the pain, I squint and see a figure in this dimly lit room.

"Who are you?" I say in the quietest tone I have ever used. It moves again and moans. That voice sounds awfully familiar. As I rack through my brain, who could this be, it stands up. I let out a gasp realizing it is my brother, Aaron.

"Aaron!" I wobble over to him carefully navigating the boxes that have collected. "What happened? I don't know where I am."

"All I know is that they threw us in this room, on a boat, headed to a remote location, a few hundred miles away."

"What! But…but…but…"

"Shh…shh," He shoves a hand over my mouth peering towards the door.

I use my own hands to shove his away. "Don't shush me," I put my hands on my hips glaring at him.

"Hey shut up in there you little brats!" Someone bangs on the door screaming.

"Be quiet Cassie. I don't know what these guys are capable of." He put his hands on my shoulders digging in deep.

Listening to all the commotion nearby caused me to swallow back a sob. We listened to their creepy conversation just outside the door.

"Why do we need these kids anyways? They are nothing but a headache. And that little girl, does she never shut up?"

"Because Phil, they are our ticket to ruling England. Do you know who they are?"

"Uh…I forgot."

"They are the Thornberry kids, with their father dead, their mother will pay anything to get them back. Just as long as she thinks they are safe."

Their maniacal laughter grows faint as they walk off.

"A…Aaron I'm sc…scared." I shake uncontrollably into his arms.

"It's ok. Everything will be okay. We will get out of this. I don't know how, but we will."

"How can you be so sure? We are locked in this room leading to who the heck knows where! As if our lives aren't already turned upside down, now we have this!" The waves roar outside smashing into the boat, knocking us off our feet. I yelp in pain as my thigh gets the blunt of the force.

"Cassie! Calm down you really need to be quiet these men are not kind," Aaron moves his hands up and down as tears stream down my face.

"And why are you all calm you got kidnapped too. What, were you planning on getting us taken away from mom or something?"

"Cassie, stop it. This is not helping. Just trust me."

"I said be quiet in there! You would not want me to come in there!" One of the men yells from down the hall.

I bury my face in my hands, sobbing, while the taste of dry blood mixes with tears. "Why, Aaron, why, why is everything going wrong? What if Donnie does die? What if we die? What will happen to Mom?"

He remains silent but his eyes tell a different story. I can tell he is trying to think up excuses, he finally falls to the floor, watching out the small window nearby.

The wind blows stronger rocking the boat violently. The men out in the hall grunt, shouting inaudibly. Commotion increases with passing minutes, and it is like they all but forget about us. There is something mentioned about abandoning ship.

Sudden silence.

Wind and waves smash into the boat breaking the window and part of the wall. I try to grab Aaron as he is pushed against the wall, but the force knocks me over. No matter how hard I try I just can't reach him. Boxes flow into the ocean, while I try desperately to grab on. I lose grip of a box and reach for Aaron's extended arm. I grab it. Success! Moments later another box swirls between us breaking the chain, and we are pushed in different directions out of the boat.

"Cassie!"

It is the end of the world, I know it is. Violent waves at least 40 feet high are crashing all around me. I can't see my brother and his shouting grows faint. Surges of fear jump up and down my tingling spine. It takes all my strength to stay above water, and I watch in the general direction of where I last heard Aaron. I try to call back to him but it is of no use. I drift and drift away from the sinking ship.