Author's Note: I'm so so so so so sorry that it's taken me so long to write this. I really am. Between school and a general lack of inspiration, it's been difficult to get this out.

I know, lame excuse. Feel free to scold/berate/yell at me.

Anya slowly opened her eyes. She felt…odd, like some foreign emotion had invaded her body.

It was a nice feeling, though. Almost a…peaceful feeling.

And suddenly she remembered what was causing it.

Anya quickly crawled out of Kendall's lap and looked him over. His blue plaid shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the bloodstained t -shirt underneath. His arms were covered in bruised, bloody welts—much like her own. He looked peaceful now, but earlier there had been a fear in his eyes that Anya had never seen before. It scared her.

Anya turned away and went to the corner, where the bucket of grimy water was sitting. She closed her eyes and took a drink, shuddering as the disgusting liquid slid down her throat.

Suddenly Anya felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She jumped and turned around to see Kendall standing behind her. He offered her a strained smile.

"Good morning," he said with a forced cheerfulness.

She smiled back at him. But before either of them could say another word, the door burst open behind them.

"Bon appétit," Ethan snarled, shoving what he considered to be food into the room.

Both teenagers turned around and stared at the disgusting slop. Moldy bread, rotten fruit, and a bottle of Coca-Cola made up their 'meal.'

Kendall's stomach growled. Sure, the food was gross, but he still needed to eat.

Behind him, Anya's eyes widened.

"Don't touch that!" she cried, grabbing him by the back of the shirt to keep him from getting closer.

"I know it's gross, Anya, but we have to eat," Kendall said, turning around to face her. He was startled to find that she had gone white as a sheet. "Anya?"

Anya was now staring off vacantly into space; Kendall could see the fear in her eyes.

"Anya?"

But Anya couldn't hear him. She wasn't in their prison anymore; no, she was in a different prison.


Anya had watched as Wayne and Ethan had inhaled a white powder from a Coca-Cola bottle. Anya had watched as they had gotten louder and happier with each snort. Anya had tried to exit the room, to hide somewhere until they fell asleep or passed out, but she had quickly been caught and taken back to her stepfather.

And now she was in a box.

Yes, a box. An extremely small, extremely dark box.

Anya wasn't sure how long she was in there. She had already lost feeling in her toes and her feet were tingling. She wanted nothing more than to be able to stand up and stretch her limbs. Or at least be able to move around a little.

Suddenly, the box started to move and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground, a bright light shining in her eyes forcing her to squint.

"What were you thinking?" Wayne yelled. Anya felt the sharp, familiar pain of a belt on her arm, causing her to cry out.

"Did you really think you could get away from me?" Wayne continued, continuing to beat her with the strip of leather, "Did you really think that? You stupid, stupid girl."

Anya soon stopped hearing Wayne's words. The only thing she knew was pain. So much pain…

Shhh.It'sok.It'sok.It'snotreal.Whateveryou'reseeingisn'treal.You'reok.Shhh.

Anya blinked, confused.

Shhh

Suddenly, Wayne was gone. The pain was gone. Everything was gone.

Except for Kendall.

Kendall was there. He was holding her in his lap, his arms wrapped around her comfortingly, protectively.

"Shhh. Everything's ok."

Anya found that tears were streaming down her face. Her heart was pounding. She could hardly catch her breath.

But it was ok. Everything was ok.

Anya raised a trembling hand to her face and wiped her tears away. Kendall looked down at her.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Anya drew a shaky breath and nodded.

Kendall hugged her tightly.

"You scared me," he whispered into her hair.

After a few moments, Kendall pulled away. He gently brushed Anya's hair out of the way and kissed the small white scar near her hairline.

Anya was instantly filled with a sense of happiness. All was right with the world. Everything was going to be ok.


James, Carlos, and Logan had been driving around LA for hours. They had been up just about every street and dead-end alley, of LA but no luck. There was absolutely no sign of Kendall or Anya.

"It's getting dark," James said, "We should probably—"

"NO!" Carlos said, his eyes glued to the window of Mrs. Knight's rented minivan, "We can't stop looking."
"Carlos…"

"NO!" Carlos turned to face them, his eyes glistening with unshed tears, "We can't give up."

James and Logan exchanged pained looks.

"We're not giving up. We're going back home so we can get some sleep to be ready to keep looking tomorrow," Logan said gently.

Carlos looked at his friends, anguish evident in his eyes.

"We'll find them, Carlos," James said, "I promise."


Forty-five minutes after it happened, Anya was still shaking from her flashback. After Anya had explained, to the best of her ability, what had caused her flashback Kendall had taken the Coke bottle and moved it to the corner. But the memory still continued to linger in her mind.

"I'm right here, Anya. I promise. Nothing will happen to you," Kendall told her repeatedly, his arm wrapped around her protectively.

Anya tried to calm herself down, but it just wasn't working. The memory kept lingering in her mind.

Suddenly, the door flew open. Ethan stormed in.

"Come on," he snarled at Kendall as he grabbed his arm and began to drag him toward the door.

"Let go of him!" Anya cried, trying to push Ethan away.

As soon as Anya's hands made contact with Ethan's back, he spun around and smacked her against the wall.

Anya cried out, her scrawny arms instinctively moving up to protect herself from any further blows.

"Keep your hands off her!" Kendall yelled.

"What're you gonna do about it if I don't?" Ethan asked him with a smirk.

Kendall looked at him, ready to offer a rebuttal, but nothing came.

Ethan was right. There was nothing he could do about it.

Ethan yanked Kendall's arm, a smirk on his face.

"Let's go."

Author's Note: So did anybody get what's in the Coca-Cola bottles? I feel like I didn't really make it all that clear…please tell me so I know if I need to clarify or not.

And who got Elevate? What's your favorite song(s)? I love Love Me Love Me and You're Not Alone. The rest are all a very close second. I love this album so much! I've literally been listening to it nonstop since Monday :)

And again, I'm really sorry that this took so long to write. I just don't have that many ideas for the first part of this story. I've got plenty of ideas for Part II, but that's not really helpful at the moment. And any suggestions would be most helpful.

And don't forget to review!