Chapter One
I never wanted to fall in love. Well, I did but not with him. Maybe if we had met at a different place I would have considered dating him. But we didn’t and you can’t choose who you fall in love with because, well, it just happens.


It all started on a cool July night. I was looking for a place to steal some food. Soon I came upon a fruit vender who was putting things up. When the guy turned his back I grabbed an apple and slipped into my pocket.
As I started back to the alley where I had been sleeping I felt someone following me. I didn’t hear any footsteps or any sound, I just had a feeling like someone was following me. I looked back and saw two guys a couple of feet behind me. I started to jog. I looked behind me to see if they had stopped but they just stated running. I broke out into a sprint.
My feet hit the pavement hard as I ran. I looked around and saw that they weren’t following me anymore. Good, I thought. Maybe they had gotten tired of following me. I hope they had because I didn’t want to run any more. I really wished I knew why they were following me, but I didn’t. I slowed my pace to a jog. Bad mistake; out of nowhere, somebody tackled me to the ground.
I tried to get up. But the person on top of me was holding me down with all his strength.
“Now, now, just stay still and we won’t hurt you…too much,” a deep voice said into my ear.
I panicked and screamed. Who was this guy and what did he want with me? What had I done to him?
The guys had clamped over my mouth and muffled my screams. His hand tasted like dirt and sweat. I twisted in his arms and tried to break free of his grip, but he was too strong. I began to cry. All I wanted was to go home, even though I had no home.
“Stop that,” somebody said from above me. “You know you’re not supposed to hurt her, yet. Matt is going to be mad if you do anything to her without his permission.”
“Shut up, Kyle. How do you know Matt hasn’t told me to do something?”
“I know he wouldn’t tell you to do anything, Ryan. He doesn’t trust you that much.”
The guy on top of me, Ryan, sighed and stood up. I layed there for a minute, gasping for air, and then I jumped up and tried to run. Ryan jumped in front of me. I slammed into his chest and all the air in my lungs was forced out.
“We aren’t going to let you leave. You have to come with us,” the guy, Kyle, said, laughing.
I looked around, mentally kicking myself for slowing down. I should have kept running. I should have known they hadn’t stopped pursuing me. I was so stupid.
The guys stared at me like they were trying to decide what to do with me. Then one of them sighed.
“Well,” Kyle said slowly, “We could give her the sleeping shot.”
“I don’t think the dose is strong enough,” Ryan said.
“What do you want us to do? Blindfold her? She can’t hear or see where we’re going.”
“Fine, give her the shot! But if she wakes up before we get there it’s your fault.”
“We could give her two shots.”
“That might be too much.”
“No it won’t.”
I looked at each of them, “What are you talking about?” I asked.
They looked at me. Ryan laughed.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he said.
Kyle lunged for me. He had something in his hand that pierced my neck. I cried out in pain when it broke through my skin, injecting some kind of liquid. Then, before I could do anything or move another thing pierced my neck. My eyes became heavy and all of the noise began to fade away until there was nothing.
  


I woke up in a small room. When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was blinding white light. It took me a few minutes before I could see properly. When I could, I sat up and looked around. The room was small. The only thing in the room was the bed I was on and a small bedside table. The only thing on the table was a notebook.
I picked it up and began looking through it. On every page there was a name of a girl on it and it told what they looked like. Who were these girl’s? Why were their names in this notebook?
I flipped to the back of the book to see if my name was in there, and there on a clean sheet of paper was my name and information about me.

“Elizabeth Wes, age: 17
How long Ryan and Kyle’s been following her: 3 months
She’s tall with long black hair and brown eyes. She’ll be very pretty once she takes a shower and gets some new clothes which I’ll provide.
She’s homeless with no friends. She stays at the same place every night, steals food.
A little violent
Today, July 26, Ryan and Kyle chased her down an alley where they cornered her. They gave her two doses of the sleeping medicine (idiots) and brought her back here. She’ll be out for a while.

Date: July 26
Time: 12:31 a.m.”

The notebook fell from my hands and landed on the floor with a dull thud. They had been following me for three months. Three months!!! What did they want with me? What did they do to the girls that were in the notebook? Did they kill them?
Suddenly I heard a movement in the hallway and saw the doorknob begin to turn. I stared at it in horror. Were they coming to kill me? The door opened slowly and Ryan looked in.
When he saw that I was a wake he smiled.
“Hey,” he said softly.
I didn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said softly, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I didn’t say anything. I just backed away slowly and fell onto the bed. As I fell Ryan rushed over to me.
“A-a-are you ok?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“I really meant it when I said I was sorry. The only reason I had Kyle give you two shots was because if you had woken up while we were bringing you here
Matt might have killed you. He doesn’t want anybody we take to know how to get to this place.”
“What do you want with me?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“I can’t tell you. Matt would hurt me and you if I said anything.”
“How did you find out all of that information about me?”
Ryan looked at me confused, “What information?”
I pointed to the notebook that was still on the floor. “The information that’s in that notebook.”
“Well…um… I don’t know where Matt found that information. He knows a lot of stuff about people, but he never tells us where he gets it.”
I shook my head. This whole situation was weird and creepy. I didn’t know anything and I didn’t like that. I had to find something out.
“Ryan, could you tell me anything?” I asked, wondering why I felt like I could trust this guy.
Ryan looked at me for a while before he sighed, “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “but I can’t tell you anything without getting us both in trouble.”
I shook my head and fought back the tears I knew would start falling as soon as he left. “It’s OK.”
“Well, I came in here to tell you that you can take a shower now. Well, you have to take it now. There are some new clothes in the bathroom and whatever else you might need.”
“Okay.”
As soon as the bathroom door shut behind me and I began to take my shower, the tears started falling.
  

When I was cleaned up, Ryan led me into a dining room type place. It wasn’t really a dining room, but that’s what he said it was. There was a small table in the middle of the room with about six chairs around it. There was another small table in the corner with a laptop on it. That was about everything in the room except a stereo and a small TV that looked like it hadn’t been used for a while.
“Just answer everything Matt asks you,” Ryan said. “Don’t talk unless he asks you a question or says something to you.”
“Will you be in here?” I asked, quietly, hoping he would be. I felt oddly comfortable around him. It almost felt like I knew him from somewhere but I couldn’t remember where.
He smiled and shook his head, “Yeah, I’ll be in here.”
While we waited for Kyle and the mysterious Matt, I studied him. Ryan had jet black hair that was messy and a little long. His eyes were a weird brown/green color. He was tall and lean, but he wasn’t super skinny. He was built with a lot of muscle, but he wasn’t built as big as a body builder. He was cute; in other words, I would probably date him if we hadn’t met the way we had, but I don’t know.
“Elizabeth, promise me you won’t say anything to make Matt mad,” Ryan whispered.
“Why would I promise you that?” I asked even though I wanted to say yes.
“Because I don’t want you to get killed. If you make Matt mad he’ll kill you. I’ve seen it happen before.”
“Ok, I promise I won’t. Ryan-” I started but stopped.
He looked at me, his weird brown green eyes staring into mine.
“What?” he asked.
“Why are you here? I mean why are you taking girls off the street and bringing them here? You don’t seem like the type of person who does that stuff.”
Before he could answer Kyle walked in with a tall guy that looked to be about a year older them him. I let myself jump to the conclusion that it was Matt.
“Elizabeth! I’m so glad to see that you’re a wake and well. You look so much better now that you’ve had a bath. How do you feel?” he asked.
“I feel fine, Sir.” I said quietly.
“Please call me Matt.” He said in a voice that rang with authority.
I shook my head to afraid to speak. Matt sat down and told Kyle to order two pizzas. Then he turned to me.
“How are you?” he asked, reaching over and brushing my hair out of my face. I flinched away from his hand.
“Fine, just fine,” I mumbled.
“You don’t feel sick or anything?”
“Nope, why would I feel sick?”
“These two idiots,” he waved a hand towards Kyle and Ryan, “gave you two doses of sleeping medicine. It could have made you sick. I’m glad you’re not.”
“Hey!” Ryan yelled. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Then why did you give Elizabeth two doses of sleeping medicine?”
“Because I thought, I mean, we thought that one dose wouldn’t be strong enough for her. She’s very strong.”
“Two doses could have made her sick or, worse, killed her.”
I sat there and looked Matt then Ryan. Ryan looked like he was going to hit Matt. His face was red and his hands were shaking. After a few minutes, though, he clamed down and shot a look at me that said everything was going to be OK. I hoped they would. I didn’t want to witness a fight.
“Take Elizabeth and shut her in her room. Now, Ryan.” Matt demand in a harsh voice.
“Come on,” Ryan said grabbing my arm, softly.
Ryan led me back to the room where I woke up at. When we got in the room he shut and locked the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“You looked pretty shaken when I got angry at Matt.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Ryan said, “Listen if you need anything just tell me and I’ll try to get it for you. OK?”
“Um…”
“Elizabeth I’m not trying to be mean or anything. I really mean it.”
“OK.”
Ryan looked at me for a moment like he wanted to say something else. Instead he smiled and walked out of my door. Only to turn around and come back in.
“What?” I asked.
“I forgot to say goodnight.”
“Oh, well, goodnight.”




Chapter Two


The next day I woke up to the sound of shouting. It was Ryan and Kyle.
“…go wake her up before Matt gets up and finds her still in bed!” Kyle yelled.
“She had a long night! She need’s to sleep!” Ryan yelled.
“Ryan you better go wake her up before I do, ’cause I won’t be nice!”
“Fine.”
I heard footsteps coming down the hall so I opened the door before Ryan could.
“You’re up,” he said, surprised.
“Um… yeah…I heard you and Kyle yelling at each other.”
“Sorry about that. That always happens when we get a new girl. It only last a couple of days.”
“So…what do you want?”
“I want you to get up. If Matt gets up and you’re not up he’ll get really mad.”
“OK, when do we eat breakfast?”
“When Matt gets up. He’ll probably be up in a few minutes.”
As soon as he said that Kyle rushed into the room.
“Dude, Ryan, Matt is getting up. So if you don’t want him to think you have the hot’s for Elizabeth I suggest you guys get into the dining room now.”
Ryan grabbed my hand and pulled me into the hallway, “Come on.”
We hurried down the hallway in a hurry to get to the dinning room before Matt. Ryan was a faster runner then me so he was practically dragging me behind him. We got to the dinning room in the seconds before Matt did. Ryan and I sat down and tried to look like we’d been there for a while.
“Anyone got breakfast down yet,” Matt demanded.
“I was just going out to get some donuts,” Kyle said.
“Well, hurry your ass up.”
I sat there and stared at Kyle. How could he let Matt talk to him like that? Kyle seemed so tough when he wasn’t around Matt. As soon as Kyle disappeared out the door Matt turned to me.
“Elizabeth I have a job for you.”
“OK, um… what is it?”
“I want you to work for me. You seem much tougher then the other girls Ryan and Kyle have tracked down. We could really use you. You could help us get the girls to trust us. So what do you say? We’ll you work for us?”
I stared at him then at Ryan. Ryan was smiling at me. When he saw me look at him he shook his head slightly. Then I looked at Matt who was staring at me and waiting for an answer.
I sighed and shook my head, “OK, I’ll do it.”
“Great, after breakfast Ryan will explain what we do.”
“OK,” I said looking at Ryan who was still smiling.
All through breakfast Ryan kept staring at me for reasons I couldn’t identify. As soon as breakfast ended Ryan grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the dinning room. As soon as we got into the hallway he placed his hand over my eyes.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“My room,” he said his mouth close to my ear.
“Why?”
“So I can explain what we do here.”
“OK.”
Ryan led me down a series of hallways with his hand over my eyes.
“Do you not want me to know where you’re room is?” I asked after a few minutes.
“You might try to hurt me when I’m asleep.” He joked.
“Ha ha ha, I wouldn’t do that.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?”
“I’m not.”
Then we stopped walking. I heard the sound of a doorknob turning. Then Ryan uncovered my eyes. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. When they did my mouth fell open in shock. His room was neat, everything had its own place. There was nothing on the floor and his bed and his bed was made. It didn’t look like a teenage guys-or any guys-room.
“Elizabeth are you OK?” Ryan asked looking at my mouth hanging wide open.
“Yeah, I’m just shocked to see your room so clean. I mean I’ve never seen anybody’s room so clean.”
I shook my head and went to sit on his bed.
“Are you going to tell me what it is you guys do?”
“Well, we pick up homeless girls off the street and we find them jobs.”
“What kinds of jobs?”
“I don’t know. Matt hasn’t told me and Kyle that. He says we don’t need to know, so I’m guessing that there not very nice jobs. Matt isn’t the type of person to give somebody a nice job. To be honest I was suppressed that he hired you. He never offers anybody a job, he choose it for them. You must be special or he knows something about you that you don’t even know.”
“I don’t know. Maybe he just likes me.”
“Maybe.”
  
The weeks went by slowly, people came and went. Everyday somebody came looking for Matt and wanting to know if he found somebody for a job that they had; the answer was always no. Ryan and Kyle were following this one girl. Her name was Susan Lloyds and she was nineteen years old. She was living in an apartment on 51st street. She only had a few friends but I still didn’t like the idea of Ryan following her.
For some reason I was always worried when Ryan went out to follow her. I was worried he wouldn’t come back and every time he walked through the door I let out a sigh of relief. It felt like I’d been holding my breath all day until he came back.
“Hey Elizabeth,” Ryan said walking into my room.
I smiled, “Hi, did you just get back?”
“Yeah, I don’t know why Matt is having us follow this girl. People will notice she’s missing. She’s not like you.”
I hit him on his arm, “What’s that suppose to mean?”
Ryan laughed, “All I was saying is you were homeless and nobody cared about you. Plus nobody would notice you being gone. With Susan, she’s got friends and family who will miss her.”
“I know. When are you going to bring her in?”
“Matt says we’re going to bring her in tomorrow, that’s where you come in.”
“Okay, what do I do?”
“You have to get Susan to trust us. Tell her lies and stuff because if you don’t Matt will get really mad and hurt you.”
“Oh.”
Ryan took my hand, “I don’t want you hurt.”
Before I could say anything footsteps came down the hall. Ryan pulled his hand from mine and went to lean against the wall.
“You just need to get her to trust us,” Ryan said as Matt walked in my room.
“Good you’re telling her what to do,” Matt said looking from me to Ryan.
Matt looked from Ryan and me with a confused look on his face. He looked at us for a few more minutes before shaking his head and walking out. When the door closed behind him Ryan let out a sigh of relief.
“That was close,” he whispered.
“What was?” I asked.
Ryan looked at me, “What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you just say something?”
“No.”
I looked at Ryan with a frown. I know he had said something but I didn’t hear what.
“Ryan I heard you say something I just don’t know what.”
Ryan smiled secretly, “I didn’t say anything you need to know.”
“Fine, what ever you say.”

Imprint

Publication Date: 11-16-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
This book is dedcated to my best friend in the whole world Cassidy Garrith who reads everything I write and whom I'm writing a novel with right now. It's also dedcated to my family who will never give up on me. I wouldn't be here if it weren't form them. And all of my other friends.