Stolen (1)

Chapter Four

I look at each of them in turn. There are two boys and one other girl. The girl has dark brown hair cut really short, almost down to the scalp. She gives me a death stare. The boys have dark hair in buzz cuts. One of them looks at me with fear in his eyes, while the other one gives me an easy smile.
The girl speaks first. "Hopper, I sincerely hope you're telling the truth and this IS the last one, because I swear to god, if you force anyone else through this insanity, I'll slit your throat."
Hopper pulls his taser out and waves it threateningly. "Whoa there, sweetheart. Remember what I can do to you." She quiets down, and Hopper smiles. "Now. Introduce yourselves to this nice lady here."
The boy who looks scared speaks. "I- I'm Denver." His voice is almost a whisper.
Next is the boy who smiles. "Welcome. My name is Caine." He steps forward and shakes my hand.
Hopper looks pointedly at the girl. She rolls her eyes and puts on a cheesy smile. "Hey there, sister! Welcome to the Exciting Funhouse of Fun! I'm Minnie!" She drops the smile and crosses her arms.
"Thank you." Hopper nudges me a bit farther into the room and backs out into the hallway. As he shuts the door, he calls, "You guys have one hour in here to get to know each other before it's time for Minnie's session." With that, he closes and locks the door.
As soon as the door is shut, Minnie darts forward and grabs my arm. She pulls me down and we sit on the floor together.
"What was that fo-" I begin, but she shushes me.
"Shut up!" she hisses. Then she composes herself. "How long have you been here?"
"Uh..." I stammer. "Since 7:00 last night, I think. So that's... 12 hours."
Minnie nods curtly. "It's time you know what he'll really do to you." She clears her throat. "He probably fed you some crap about doing 'experiments' on us, right? Well, he's wrong. It's pure torture. Meant to turn our brains to shit. Constant loud noises, bright colors, flashing lights - it drives even the strongest person insane. I've been here for almost a month already, with 'sessions' twice a week for 3 hours at a time. That's 6 hours a week for 4 weeks - 24 hours of torture so far. He's brought in one person every week since I got here. Caine, then Denver, and now you. And I can assure you, if you don't resist with all your brainpower, you'll be completely crazy after one session."
I shake my head. "Well, I'll resist, okay? But I might not even stay here until my session at 5, because my family has definitely got people out searching for me, and they'll almost certainly find me by then."
Minnie let out a dry chuckle. "No, they won't. You know how big of a deal this place is out there - respected, trusted, and admired. No one will even consider for one second the fact that this professional, trustworthy facility has kidnapped a kid from the streets and is torturing them." She pauses for effect. "But even if the thought crossed their mind that you're here, I can guarantee you that nobody is looking for you."
"What?" My blood runs cold. "Why?"
"Because they think they've already found you. Didn't you wonder what they were doing to you while you were out? They scanned your body and 3D-printed an exact replica of it using their fancy high-tech equipment." She watches my face begin to crumple in despair. "Yep - all it took was that copy, a knife, and a sample of your blood-" she motions toward the gauze wrapped around my finger that I'd just brushed off before. "-and your parents lose all hope and plan your funeral."
I shove my face into the padded floor and scream. When I lift my head up, I narrow my eyes at Minnie. "How do you know all this?"
She shrugs. "They give us newspapers to read while we're waiting for our sessions. It wasn't hard to piece together the story."
We're interrupted by the door opening. Hopper strides in and grabs Denver, Caine, and I, and drags us out of the room. Minnie gives me a sad look as we leave. "Wish me luck!" she calls, as the door clicks closed.
I press my face up against the glass, but I can't see anything. Hopper watches me.
"Do you want to see what's happening to your friend in there?" he asks, amusement playing on his face.
I reluctantly nod, and he takes me to a room. Computers and monitors are everywhere. One big one stands out. I run over to it and study the screen. It shows the room in which Minnie is. Strobe lights pulse, sending waves of colored light flashing down on her body. The screen on the wall plays high-pitched noises. They sting my ears when played over the speakers from here, and I can tell that Minnie is in immense pain. She writhes on the floor.
Hopper grabs my shoulders and turns me around. "Enough of that, Bella." He steers me toward my room, and enters the code and swipes his card.
"Don't," I hiss, "call me Bella. Only my parents can do that."
He feigns surprise. "Oh, honey," he says, handing me a newspaper. "Your parents think you're dead." Then he leaves the room, and the door clicks locked.
I scan the article and tears stream down my cheeks as I realize Minnie was telling the truth - my parents have lost all hope. I curl up in the corner and lean my head against the wall, sobbing.
My first day here and he's broken me already. I'm never going to escape with my sanity.