Arianna's POV ~

I glanced ahead as I walked. We were walking along side the road as it started to get dark out. The sun was setting, and it was absolutely breathtaking. It was a mixture of pink and orange, brilliant and beautiful. It was a great way to end an amazing night.

"Ari, are you listening," Lindsey asked with a smile. Lindsey was my best friend, and had been since seventh grade. She came off as really rude and full of herself, but she was really fun once you got to know her. Her parents weren't around much, and my parents were happy to have her.

"She was staring at the sunset, again!" Maddie said laughing. I gave her a small shove and she laughed again. Maddie was probably the funniest of the group, she could make anyone laugh.

"It's not my fault the sky is so pretty!" I exclaimed laughing.

I looked around at my best friends. Lindsey and Maddie were mocking me. Leah and Olivia, the more quiet ones were giggling at the other twos actions.

This had been one of the best nights of my life. Our parents had each let us take their credit cards into the city to just have a girls night out. We were four weeks into junior year of high school, and I was already ready for summer break. We went to our favorite cafe, went to the mall and shopped for hours, and then got manicures and pedicures. I laughed so much my stomach hurt.

"So why do you think all of our parents let us use their credit cards? They have to be planning something!" Leah said.

"I was thinking the same thing Leah! Maybe we share a brain! Gasp! We could be twins!" Maddie shouted.

"Tone it down Mads!" Olivia said attempting to look stern, but failing. She broke into a fit of laughter.

"Did you just say gasp?" I asked with a laugh.

"Oh shut up," she said trying to hide her smile.

As she said that, a huge van covered in lawn stickers came down chugging down the street. It showed down as it got near us.

"Hey girls, what are you doing out here? It's getting pretty late." A younger man asked us as the van rolled to a stop. I couldn't see the driver, or if anyone else was in the car, but I had a bad feeling about this.

We all glanced at each other before Lindsey spoke up. "Just walking home sir."

She's being polite, which is not like her. She must be getting the same feeling I am. Something was wrong.

"How about my friend and I take you girls home. It's getting pretty dark, and you never know who might be out there."

"That's alright,  my house is just up the street and we are all headed there," Olivia spoke up, "But thank you for the offer."

"Get in the back of the van girls, it's not safe."

"No really it's-" Maddie started to say, but he cut her off.

"I said, get in the van girls." As he said this, he brought a gun up to where we could see it. Leah let out a small gasp.

"Well, get to it!" He barked.

Something wasn't right. Why would he just tell us to get in, seeing as we could easily run the other way. The van only opened from the back. Would he have the driver run us over if we tried to run? Would the drive do it?

So many thoughts rushed through my head all at once. I quickly scanned the area, seeing if there was anywhere we could go, or anyone we could scream to. But there wasn't a person in sight. I glanced back up to the man. I could tell he was getting anxious, and I wasn't about to get shot or let any of my friends get shot, so I grabbed Lindsey's and Leah's hands, who were closest, and started to walk towards the back of the van. 

"Maddie, Olivia, come on. This man said he would take us home, and aren't you tired of walking?" I asked, making sure he could hear me. Everyone stared at me in complete shock.

"Ari, what are you doing?!" Olivia hissed.

"We can probably jump out of the back of the van before he gets far. Would you rather get scraped up, or shot?!"

Just as I started moving again, I heard the back doors click open. Two men that could easily take us down got out and stood next to the van. I'm going to call them "I hate you" and "I hate you #2".

"Listen ladies, you can get in voluntarily, or I can my friends back there help you in. And I don't think you will want the help." The man up front said.

"There's no way they can get all five of us. Who's fastest? Leah, it's probably you, since you did track. When I say go, take off as fast as you can towards those houses and call the police. The rest of us will swarm the two guys, and hopefully distract them long enough for you to get a head start before anyone can chase you." I whispered in a hurry.  Everyone shook their head yes except Leah.

I could see the tears coming to her eyes and gave her a hard look "Leah, you have to!"

She gave a small nod and rubbed her eyes quickly.

"Go!"

Leah took off and the rest of us ran towards the men. What I wasn't expecting was another one to jump from the back of the car and take off after Leah.  Looks like there's an "I hate you #3".

"Run Leah! Run!"

I yelled just as one of the men grabbed me and literally threw me into the van. The rest of the girls came in shortly after me.

Olivia had tears running down her face, Maddie looked absolutely terrified, and Lindsey had a smug look on her face. I was confused, until I saw I hate you #2 come in with a bloody nose. Both of the men began zip-tying our hands together. Lindsey tried to fight against them, but they simple held her down and dealt with her wrists as if she wasn't squirming around at all.

"I've got to say, I've never been taken home in zip ties before." Maddie called out loudly.  We heard a door slam shut and all of us jumped.

"Well, I'd love to be the first to do so." The man from the front said smiling cruelly. "Since you'll be going home with me, you might as well know my name. I'm Tyler, but to you, I'm Sir. Understood? Good."

"Got her boss." I hate you #3 said coming in with Leah over his shoulder.  She was beating her fists into his back, but he acted like nothing was happening. They tied her wrists and sat her next to me. We were all lined up, backs against a wall, when they closed the doors and the van began driving away.

Tyler took a step closer to us, and then just stared at us. He stared intently at each of us, inspecting our faces. He waved I hate you #1 and # 2 over. They held something in their hands that I couldn't see. All of a sudden, he spun back around to face us.

"There's only five!" He yelled. I jumped, not expecting him to yell.

"Alright, we need another one. Actually, it might be easier. We just find one to suit the color left over." He stood in front of Maddie, and looked her over once more.

"Orange." Was all he said before he moved on to Lindsey. As he stared at Lindsey, the I hate you triplets grabbed Maddie and put something around her neck. I squinted to see what it was, and and inhaled sharply. It was an orange collar! They started moving her to the other side of the van, and that's when I noted the cages. They looked like dog cages, but for the biggest dogs ever. There were six, three over three, and each had a ribbon tied to the front. Red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple. They put Maddie in the one with an orange ribbon.

I looked back over to Lindsey to see that  Tyler seemed to have made a decision.

"Green."

And then he moved on to Olivia. The triplets did the same thing to her, but with green things.

"Blue." Tyler called out before they even got Lindsey in the cage.

He came and stood in front of me as they took Olivia. He glanced back to the cages, and back to me. He gave a small sigh and moved to Leah. I tilted my head slightly. Why didn't he assign me a color?

"Red."

He came back to me. I couldn't see Leah, but I assumed the same thing was happening to her.

Tyler suddenly smiled, and said happily "Purple."

"Why are you so happy all of the sudden?" I asked. I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth. I hadn't really meant to ask that, but now I did so it's too late.

"You see Purple, since you are purple, your the special one. Purple is my favorite color. Purple is the special one. You, my dear. You are the special one." He said practically bouncing on his feet.

The triplets came and put a purple collar around my neck. Then I was put in a cage. Olivia and Lindsey were on either side of me, and the cage directly below me was empty.

"Let's Go find Yellow. Make sure these girls get to sleep." Tyler said with a meaningful look and knocked on the front of the van. It slowed to a stop, and he jumped out. A few seconds later, I heard the passenger door shut. I felt horrible for the girl who would be assigned yellow.

I started to push against the cage, thinking I would get out, but there was a lock on it.

"Sorry, your not getting out. Aha I'm not sorry." #1 said chuckling as he walked away.

"We are going to be okay guys. We'll be okay." I said quietly to the girls. As I said that, the men came over with a box.

"I'm going to unlock your cage and give you an injection, if you try to fight it I will make sure your asleep by punching you repeatedly. Understood?" #3 asked Olivia and she nodded. "Give me your arm." She did as she was told and received the injection in her upper arm. He did the same to each of us.

Just as it started kicking in, I heard Maddie say "I love you guys."

"Same," Leah whispered.

"Me too." Olivia said shakily.

"Ditto." Lindsey muttered.

"Agreed." I added.

~•~

Aha sorry that sucked

It's finally up!

I promise the next chapters will be better.

The next part will probably be about the cover contest I will be holding.

Maybe tell your friends about the contest/book?

I love you all!!

~ Maria