I sat on my bed at North Carolina University. It’s my sophomore year here and I really like it. I had just finished an essay about my opinion on the United States economy. It was 2:00 a.m. and my roommate wasn’t back from the party yet. I specifically remembered Holli telling me she’d be home by mid-night. I continued to wait when I eventually nodded off.

I awoke with a start when I heard a knock at the door. I got up drowsy and disoriented to answer it. I grabbed for the door and pulled it open. There was a dark figure standing right outside. I saw a dim smile on his face that was shadowed by a hood. I took in a deep breath ready scream, but he was to quick, he lunged towards me. He hit me in the back of my head with brute force knocking me out instantly.

I woke to screaming: I had no idea where I was and what time it was. I was bound by my hands and feet with a paper bag over my head. I twisted my body hoping I could catch a glimpse of something. Dim light shined through the fibers of the bag. I could see two men. One was driving the truck; the other was sitting in the passenger seat holding a gun. Again I heard the scream. I tried to distinguish where it was coming from. The man in the passenger seat turned and looked at me. He then began to talk to someone in Spanish. I heard a man speak from behind me. It fell silent. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. Again everything went black.

“Wake up! Hey, wake up!” A boy about my age was screaming in my face. My eyes fluttered open. They wondered for a second and then they came to a stop on the most stunning man I have ever seen. He had long curly blonde hair that just barely covered his eyes. His shirt was off which revealed the most defined muscles. His arms looked as if someone had carved the muscles into them. His abs appeared to pierce through his stomach. I wondered if I might be dead. Then reality came crashing down on me. As I began to sit up I felt a very large pain in the back of my head. “You’re in pain aren’t you?” I nodded my head slowly. “Go back to sleep, you’ll need it if we are going to escape.”
I slowly began to wakeup. I hoped it was all a dream. I took a moment to check my surroundings: I was in a dark room; slivers of light were coming through small cracks in the wall. The boy I had encountered earlier was lying a few feet away from me, breathing heavily. I inched my way towards him. He rolled over on his side revealing a large scar on his left side just below his ribs. It was pink and red, and it looked a rough. I wondered what he had been doing for something like that to happen. His eyes shot open. I stumbled backwards startled. He pulled on his shirt that was lying beside him moments ago. “What are you doing? You should have woken me earlier!” He said angrily.
“Sorry, I didn’t?” I struggled to say.
“I don’t care we just need to get out of here. They will kill us!” He warned. My mouth dropped. How can I die at the age of twenty? I’m too young. He stared at me as if he could hear the rapid firing of words in my head. He rolled his eyes and began searching for our escape route. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“What’s wrong?” I asked confused.
“Shh, be quiet. There’s someone coming.” He said urgently. Sure enough, I could hear the leaves and twigs crunching under the feet of someone. We waited for what seemed like forever. It was quiet now. We both sighed in relief, when suddenly there was a loud banging noise. The door flew open. Four men barged in with rifles in hand.
“Come with us!” A dark skinned man with short black hair and browns eyes yelled. He had an accent like the men in the truck, making it very hard to understand him.
They bound us by our hands and led us out of the room. It was very bright outside. The sun was baking down on my skin. The area looked like some sort of a military camp. Little housing areas were scattered along the land. The men led us through a gate and on to a trail amongst the trees.

We had been walking for hours. I wondered where they were taking us. Then I realized that I hadn’t learned the boy’s name yet. I drifted closer to him. He glanced over at me, his blue eyes brightening when he saw me.
“Do you have any idea where they are taking us?” I asked with anxiety in my voice.
“No clue.” He smiled at me playfully.
“You know I haven’t earned the pleasure of learning your name”. I said with a smirk.
“You first.” He said annoyingly but I kind of liked it.
“Aber.”
“You know, my girlfriend’s name is Aber.” I stared at him disappointed.
“Oh, that’s cool.” I could feel my face drop.
“I’m just messing with you. I have never had a girlfriend!” He said with a beautiful smile that showed off his perfect white teeth. I thought to myself, how someone so gorgeous, never could have had a girlfriend.
“By the way, the name’s Jake.” I was beginning to like him. We stared at each other for a while when we both noticed that the men had stopped right in front of a large cave carved into the mountainside. It was pitch black and I could barely see a few inches in.
“You two go in first!” Two men said in unison. They both turned and smiled at each other. Jake and I looked at each other, both wondering whether to venture any further.
“Now!” They were getting angry so we continued forward.

We entered the mouth of the cave. A light flickered on behind us revealing blood stained walls. There were numerous claw marks dug into them, easily three inches deep. I put one foot forward. A loud crunching noise filled the cave. I glanced down worried of what I might find; as the light cast an eerie shadow on the floor, I could see thousands of bones scattered all along the cold damp cave floor. Jake pulled me close to him, our bodie's touching. He bent down and kissed me. I wanted it to last foreever. He started to pull away, but I held him tighter, not wanting to let go. After the most amazing minute of my life I let him go, pushing him away softly. We linked fingers and faced forward, braving what might happen next.