Kidnapped

I try to open my eyes, but they are red, sore and stinging like crazy. Despite the pain, I still force them open. Once I manage to open them, I am dazed and shaking with terror. My eyes dart everywhere looking for some kind of clue that might tell me where I am. Despite my blurry vision, I see rows of train seats in front of me.

I am on a train, and I do not know why I am here.

I don't remember boarding this train. The last thing that I remember is sleeping in my bed after a party last night.

"Was I drunk?" I ask myself.

I might have been; I was at a party last night and we did drink a lot of alcohol.

I try to move my hands, but they don't move and they hurt badly when I try to move them. I look down at them, and to my horror, they are tied up with razor-sharp wire.

"What the fuck is going on?" I ask out loud.

I wish I had never asked that question as I feel a sharp hand slap my face.

"Be quiet," a male voice commands me sharply.

I sit in silence. I do not move, and I do not breathe.

I have no ticket on me, so it isn't possible that I and my friends are on a day trip.

I suddenly realize that none of my friends is on this train anyway.

I try to wake up, but I feel drugged and out of my mind. I feel sick and dehydrated, and my whole body hurts. I can just make out that I am still in my pyjamas.

"Why would I be on my train in my pyjamas?" I ask myself quietly.

"The conductor is dead!" I hear a male voice say.

"He better be, or I'll blow your brains out. This train is worth millions, and when we are finished; it will be mine," another voice says followed by a sarcastic laugh.

My dad drives these trains. He owns the company which is called Trains Incorporated. The company is a multi-million pound business in the U.K. There have been many people trying to steal the company from my dad.

I suddenly realize that I've been kidnapped, straight from my bed.

The question is, where is my dad?

If the conductor is dead, then who is taking control of this train?

Fear clouds my brain, and to my disappointment, the drugs are starting to wear off.

I wish they wouldn't. I could face this nightmare better if I were drugged up to the eyeballs.

A burly man with scruffy hair and a thick beard stands in front of me. His breath smells pungent with all the alcohol he has drunk.

"Are you alright lurve?" he slurs at me, winking. He then jabs my face.

"Don't worry. Maybe you'll make it out alive when your dad hands the company to us," he responds with a smirk, and then he walks off.

I must have fallen asleep because when I awake, I see that I have been moved to the back of the train. I am in an isolated, dark carriage and I can't see a thing.

"Awake darling?" A male voice asks me.

"This won't hurt. All you have to do is tell me where your dad keeps the money in his office," the same male voice tells me.

I clamp my mouth tightly shut.

There is no way I am going to tell this jerk anything, even if I die. This is my dad, and I must do anything I can to protect him and his company.

I feel a sharp steel hot knife scrape the side of my face. The knife burns like white-hot liquid running down my face. I feel a trickle of blood run down my delicate skin. I bite my lip so hard that I make it bleed.

I refuse to scream for these jerks!

The train is moving triple times faster and out of control. It feels like the railway is breaking underneath me, and it violently jerks as it slips on and off the tracks. There is nobody controlling the direction, as the conductor is dead and the evil bastards are too busy watching me.

"Are you going to speak yet love?"

The man suddenly decides to ask me a question. I have been silent for almost an hour, despite the fact that my skin is being sliced to the bone.

I still choose silence.

The man rips a sharp steel blade across my stomach and I feel as though my insides will fall out. I feel the tears rolling down my cheeks, though I still say nothing.

"Aaaw, we will give you a break for ten minutes, but don't worry we will be back," alcohol breath whispers into my ears, then leaves me alone.

I feel a wave of nausea coming on, but I don't care.

I need to get off this train and save my dad. By now, I am praying that he is alive.

My brain can't even comprehend what might have happened to him.

I try to wriggle violently in an attempt to free myself from the horrible razor-sharp wire that is wrapped around my hands.

It's no use, and it violently tares my skin further.

A light starts to flash above me, and despite not being able to see well in it; I take advantage and strain my eyes in order to see if there are any tools around me. I notice a sharp silver piece of metal sticking out of the worn-out fabric on my seat directly next to me. I force myself to shuffle on my backside, despite the pain that wreaks havoc through my body as I try to move. I manage to get close to it. Taking a deep breath and preparing myself for the white-hot heat that is going to burn through the whole of my hands and wrists; I grit my teeth and sear the wire hard, pulling it down onto the sharp point of the metal. It works and my hands are free, though not without pain.

I keel over, bending forward onto my knees crying silent tears as the white heat from the pain burns through both my hands and wrists, making them feel like they are on fire.

"The man will be back in a minute. I have to move now!" I whisper to myself.

I manage to force myself up and out of my seat, despite the severe pain that curses through my flesh and bones. I have to limp, but I manage to get to the entrance of the train. I press the door push, but the door refuses to open.

"Damn!" I shout out loud by accident.

I suddenly hear footsteps behind me as the burly man attempts to confront me. I manage to stick a foot out and trip him up, leaving him at the bottom of the three steps leading to the door. This gives me time to move to the next door.

"You fucking bitch!" the man shouts at me.

I ignore his slurs.

I attempt to limp faster, even though my ankles now feel painfully bruised and swollen.

I wonder where my dad is...

It is becoming increasingly difficult to balance on this train which is bounding up and down the steep slopes off the tracks. I feel every movement beneath my feet. Suddenly we are thrown down a very steep slope at a very fast pace.

I jerk backwards and I fall over.

An unfamiliar man crouches over me. He has more wires and a gun in his hand. I did martial arts at school, so I can defend myself. However, the pain in my left leg is too painful to move by itself.

Nevertheless, I use my hands to give my foot leverage and I boot the man straight in the face, knocking the gun out of his hands.

The man falls to the floor holding his face, and the gun skids over to me. I pick it up. I manage to jump onto my feet, though it makes my toes feel like they have been crushed by a bulldozer. I point the gun directly at the man.

"DO NOT MOVE!" I scream at him.

"WHY AM I ON THIS TRAIN AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I shout at the man.

There is no reply.

The train crashes into something that feels like a bridge, throwing me back violently. Suddenly all the lights go out and the train is now darker than the carriage that I was held hostage in. Sparks fly everywhere, and I have to dodge them as I move.

"WE HAVE TO GET THE FUCK OF THIS TRAIN!" I shout as loud as I can.

The men just snigger.

They don't care whether we make it off this train alive. They only care about getting what they want.

I am determined not to let them.

I have to feel my way frantically through the seats and down the corridors of each carriage on the train. There is no lighting and I cannot see a thing. Suddenly I feel dragged from behind by extra heavy hands of a man. My feet scrape painfully across the ground as I am pulled backwards by my hair.

"I will find you daddy," I whisper to myself as I throw a big painful headbutt to the mans jaw.

I manage to force the man to let go of my hair.

I hear a phone ringing in the direction of the conductors seat. It lets off just enough light to enable me to see a little, so I follow its direction. Trying hard not to scream as the dead body of the conductor scrapes my arm; I pick up the phone and check who is calling.

Andrew Basilton

My dad!

Sobbing frantically, I answer the phone.

"He, hello?" I ask through the never ending sobs.

"Rachel, my darling. Are you ok?" A voice answers.

I don't really know what to say, so I just say,

"I am still on the train."

My dad tells me that he knows, and he is on the way to collect me.

I am not sure that I will see him again, but I can't tell him that.

He is my dad.

I decide to wait for him.

The guys who kidnapped me are very quiet. There is no movement on the train. I find a torch in the pocket of the dead conductor and I switch it on.

They are either dead or sleeping.

Suddenly the train starts moving all by itself. It somehow managed to free itself from whatever it crashed into, and even more confusing;

It is moving normally, even though nobody seems to be controlling it.

I check the conductors seat, but nobody is there; not even the body of the conductor is there.

The train seems to be going nowhere at all, so I take a seat and just wait and see where it takes me. While the train is still moving, my dad and ten police officers jump on the train, even though they came out of nowhere.

"Don't worry love, we'll get you home then we will clear up this mess," my dad tells me.

Where the hell is home? Does home even exist anymore?