It was just me and Tyler, we had lost the others. Whatever was chasing us wasn’t too far behind. We turned the corner I don’t know how long we have been running but it feels like it’s been hours.
“Do you even know what’s chasing us?” I asked Tyler out of breath.“I don’t know but I’d rather it not catches up with us.”I bent down and took the throwing knife at my ankle and handed it to Tyler.“Why are you giving this to me?”“If you see whatever is chasing us, stab it.”“Alright.”We kept running. We turned another corner and bumped into Sarah, Brad, and Katie“How are we going to get out of here?” Sarah asked.“We aren’t,” Katie said.“Don’t think that way,” I said.“Why not we have been in this maze forever,” Katie said.“We should follow the sun,” I said.“What good will that do?” Brad asked.The ground started shaking.“It will keep whatever that is away from us. Here.” I handed each of them a knife. I kept my two daggers strapped to my arm and my butterfly knife in my pocket.“Alright let’s keep moving,” I said.We move forward following the sun but midway through our journey the sun disappeared.“What happened?” Katie said.“I’m not sure but we should keep moving?” I said.“You’ve grown up Amanda,” Tyler said.“So, have you.”“Not like you have. You’re beautiful bold and a leader we could never work together, none of us were bold enough to lead so we split up. Now you’re the glue that keeps us together.”“Be quiet.”“What? I was just trying to be nice.”“I know and thank you. But listen.”We stayed quiet.“I don’t hear anything,” Brad said.“I know, stay close. It shouldn’t be this quiet.” I said.“What’s it like?” Sarah asked.“What’s what like?” I asked.“To be outside of all of this. What was it like before he took you?”“For me it was lonely. I didn’t have friends. People thought that I was weird. I had a few minor offenses in school. Nothing serious. But I guess it was better than this. I was able to live my life instead of fighting for it.”I’ve been in the man’s possession for six months. His name is Jonathan Pantelli. He used to be a doctor. In fact, he was the best doctor in our town. Eleven years ago, he and his wife were having an argument in their car and they weren’t paying attention and they were hit by a truck. His seven-year-old daughter was hospitalized and lost control of her legs. The two split up and Pantelli disappeared with his daughter. Then months later he kidnapped Sarah, Tyler, Brad, and Katie.Despite the longevity of my disappearance, I still have hope that they will find us.As for this maze, there is no light to guide out way through. We are surrounded by an unforgiving darkness.“Guys stop we can’t keep feeling our way through, you guys rest up and I’ll keep watch,” I said.“Are you sure Amanda?” Brad said.“Yeah.”I took my butterfly knife out knife out and started to twirl it.“Amanda.” Tyler said.“Yeah what’s up, Tyler?”I felt him sit next to me. I stopped twirling the knife.“Have you given up yet?” He asked.“Given up on what?”“On getting out of here are going home. He said that when we found the end we could go home.”“I have never given up and I won’t start now.”“Why?”“Because I give up I have nothing.”“Having nothing is not too bad.”“Maybe for you, but if I have nothing, that means I’m just some orphan girl in a maze with kids that were dead to the rest of the world.”“I’m sorry about your parents.”“It’s fine there’s nothing that can be done about that.”The ground started shaking as if a giant thing was walking.“Amanda?” Sarah said. “What was that?”“I don’t know stay close and stay alert.”There was another thud. Each thud got closer to our position. The sky started to light up and as soon as it was bright enough for us to see, we ran. I never looked back to see what was chasing us. It took about another ten minutes, but we managed to get out of the maze and into an open grassy area. While everyone else got themselves situated I studied our surroundings.It was weird. There were no animals or birds. There was no sound of nature there no bugs it was as if everything was dead. I walked over to a tree I touched it and it sent electricity through my veins.I fell backward.“Amanda!” Tyler caught me. “Hey, are you okay?”“I’m…. fine.” I said. My eyelids felt heavy.“Hey, hey open your eyes. Keeps your eyes open.” He shook me, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open.“Tyler is she dead?”“Let me see her!” Pantelli came out nowhere.“No, you get away from her.” Sarah slapped Pantelli across the cheek.He pushed her down.“Hey!” Brad helped Sarah back to her feet.“I’m a doctor. I can help her.” Pantelli picked up my limp body and carried me away.I woke up in a hospital bed but not in a hospital. I was in a room with yellow walls and a white ceiling. I was hooked up to a machine monitoring my heart beat. Pantelli was asleep next to me. I unplugged the machine and bolted out of the room and down the hallway. Then something caught my eye. There was a girl in a wheelchair. I looked at the television it was a video of me being shocked by the tree. The screen said next time on Survival will the children get out of the swamp alive without Amanda?I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Pantelli.“She’s a beautiful child, isn’t she?” Pantelli said.“So, you kidnapped us to entertain her?” I turned to him.“I first kidnapped the children, so they could be her friends. But, then I was inspired by the Hunger Games and I created this arena.”“Why didn’t you put her in school?”“Do you see her? They would taunt her for sure.”“The world is not as cruel as you think.”“Maybe.”“Daddy, do you think Amanda will be okay the next episode?” Chandler turned around. “Wait, she's here?”“Yeah.”“You didn’t say Amanda Thompson was coming to see me.”“It was a surprise.”“Does she know that you kidnapped us?” I asked.“No, and you better not tell her, or I’ll kill your boyfriend.” Pantelli looked sternly at me.“I won’t.”“I love how you brought the four of them together. You’re amazing.”“Thank you, Chandler. It’s hard but someone has to do it.”Chandler smiled. She was a beautiful young girl.“Daddy and Amanda have to go, baby, I’ll see you later.”“Alright.” Chandler said.We walked out of the room.“Thinking about running away weren’t you.”“Yes, until I saw myself on the tv screen. Is that all she does?”“No.”“What else does she do?”“She online games.”“Do you take her outside ever? Sitting there in front of the screen all day is killing her brain cells, and this is something you should know Doctor Pantelli.”“I don’t have time to take her outside.”“Why because you’re watching over five kids that don’t belong to you?”“Someone has to do it.”“Some was doing it until you kidnapped them and killed my parents.”“Fair point.” He shrugged.“All I’m saying is spend time with your daughter and let us go home.”“No, my daughter thinks that you are heroes.”“But what does she think of you?”“You do realize your life is in my hands.”“Do whatever you want with me. I’ll be your little toy, but you will not break me.”“I will, and when I do, you will love me.”It’s been months since I have seen Amanda. I know I should have stayed with her in that house. I was so stupid. Who knows what the man has been doing to her. Why was I so dumb? She left a trail, but it ended in an open meadow and then it stopped.“Do you have any leads at all?” I asked Josh. “All we know is that his name is Jonathan Pantelli.” Josh responded, “Have you gotten a hold of his wife?” “No, we have been focusing on finding Amanda.” “Don’t you think talking to his wife would get you closer to finding Amanda?” “It doesn’t’ seem as though she would be helpful, so we didn’t talk to her.” “Amanda was right you guys are idiots.” I walked away from them.” I found Pantelli’s wife online. I asked her to meet with me at noon at the café on seventh. She responded with sure. I guess if you want something done you must do it yourself. I left Mrs. Thompson’s house and walked to the café. It was a twenty minute walk. Mrs. Pantelli was sitting outside in the sitting ar
“Thank you Mrs. Archer for letting me stay at your house.” “No problem, you are bascially my grandson-in-law.”“Grandma.” I said.“He’s going to propose to you eventually.” “Grandma I just turned 19 can you hold on we are still young.” “You’ve been together for a year. No has heard from that man in a whole year. You guys are happy. We haven’t heard anything about Pantelli.” “Yes but now his apartment is full of water.” I said.“ Why don’t you move in your other grandmother’s house.” “I can’t.” I put my hand over my heart. “I’m not ready.” “When will you be ready. The government will take that house from you.” “I don’t know I just can’t move in there.” “Listen Mandy, I know you miss her but she is with you. You have her heart and all the love she have for you.” “I know.”“I know it’s been rough the past few years, but I promise it will get better.” I stayed silent.“Hey I know you lost a whole half of your self. But you can’t do this. You have to look past the
Tyler punched the wall. After doing that, he shook his fist in pain. We’re back in the lab.“We just got out here. I can’t believe we are back in here.” Tyler snarled. “He’s gonna kill your parents,” I said. “My parents might kill him,” Tyler said. I looked at Oliver. He looked at me. “He's going to kill all of us.” Oliver looked at us. I put my head down. He was right none of us were getting out of here alive. I sat my back against the glass. I thought about my parents. They died last year; and grandma, well, she gave me her heart. I can't die here; I won't die here. I was given this heart to live not to die in a box. I stood up and looked at both of them. “We are not dying here. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. I just got a new heart, and I would like to push it to its full capacity. We will get out of this alive, all of us.” “There won’t be anybody waiting for us or looking for us this time.”“Your parents will be looking for you. But even if no one looked for u
When I was a little girl, my friends and I would play in the woods behind my house. One day around six-thirty, we were playing hide and seek. I hid in the bush, which wasn’t my usual hiding spot. I waited there crouched down, but no one found me, and I never found them. I was alone in the dark, and it was so quiet that all I heard was the soft rustling of the wind in the trees. “Sarah Tyler, Brad, Katie?!” I looked around. “Where are you guys?”The bush in front of me started to shake. I was scared. Then a hand touched my shoulder. I screamed. “It’s okay Mandy,” My Dad picked me up. I was eight years old then. “Daddy, I can’t find Sarah, Tyler, Brad, or Katie.” I wrapped my chubby arms around his neck. “It’s alright. I’m sure their parents have found them already.” He turned and started to walk away. I saw a man come out of the bushes. I open my mouth to scream, but he put his finger to his lips, and I stayed silent. Daddy took me inside; we sat down at the table for dinner
I'm 18 years old now, and I wonder why he didn’t take me. The man in the woods could have easily taken me, maybe he was going to, and my father came right on time. I never told them about the man in the woods. Perhaps if I had screamed, I could have saved them. I was so stupid back then. I haven't seen Sarah, Tyler, Brad, or Katie, and ten years. Their parents kept looking up until about six years ago they said it was too hard I can only imagine how much it hurts.“Amanda, I hope you're getting ready for bed up there and not writing,” my mom said“I'm getting ready for bed,” I said. I put my pencil down in my book and put it to the side. I grabbed my onesie and put it on. I looked out my window; the man was there and the open grass at the edge of the woods.“Mom!” I screamed.“What?” Mom yelled. “The man. There's a man.” My mom came into the room; it looks out the window, “There's no one there.” “He was just there.” I looked out the window he was gone.“Amanda got to sle
The next few days were hard, Grandma stayed at our house. Grandpa wanted nothing to do with me. The doctor whose name was Oliver came around to help around the house. He brought me flowers and occasionally made dinner when Mom and I didn't want to cook. He hired someone to clean the blood out of my carpet in my room and the blood in the back of the car. The FBI is now involved and has been watching over our house 24/7 I haven't seen the man in a while. I hope he's gone forever. I went back to school even before the funeral I needed to distract myself with something it didn't help much. The entire school was glum, teachers and students apologized for my loss. My English teacher told me that she hopes they catch that son of a bitch. I said me too and kept my head down. The assistant principal gave me the key to my Dad's office “I’m so sorry Amanda.” Mr. Watson said. “Thank you,” I said. Most days I found myself in my Dad's office I was sitting at his desk and cry. The lights stayed
He set the house on fire and it’s moving toward the back where my room is. I dialed 911. “911 what’s your emergency.” “My name is Amanda Amara Thompson. I am 18 years old and my parents were killed by the man who kidnapped those four children ten years ago, and now he has set my house on fire to draw me out. By the time dispatch will get to my house the man will have me and my house will be nothing but rubble. Please find me. I’ll try to leave a trail to follow. Find Dr. Oliver Valero and tell him what happened. Send him and the rest of the family I have left away from this place.” “Ma’am we can help you. Dispatch will be there in five minutes.” “It’s too late.” I hung up. I haven’t thrown any of my knives and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know that I’m proficient in knife throwing and fighting with knives. I put on my boots and a sweatshirt to cover the daggers on my arms and the throwing knives at my ankles. I take a breath. I can’t kill him, yet I must save the others if
He set the house on fire and it’s moving toward the back where my room is. I dialed 911. “911 what’s your emergency.” “My name is Amanda Amara Thompson. I am 18 years old and my parents were killed by the man who kidnapped those four children ten years ago, and now he has set my house on fire to draw me out. By the time dispatch will get to my house the man will have me and my house will be nothing but rubble. Please find me. I’ll try to leave a trail to follow. Find Dr. Oliver Valero and tell him what happened. Send him and the rest of the family I have left away from this place.” “Ma’am we can help you. Dispatch will be there in five minutes.” “It’s too late.” I hung up. I haven’t thrown any of my knives and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know that I’m proficient in knife throwing and fighting with knives. I put on my boots and a sweatshirt to cover the daggers on my arms and the throwing knives at my ankles. I take a breath. I can’t kill him, yet I must save the others if