Love in the wrong place, Christina Ramey [early reader chapter books TXT] 📗

Chapter One
I never wanted to fall in love. Well, I did but not with him. Maybe if we had met at a different place I would have considered dating him. But we didn’t and you can’t choose who you fall in love with because, well, it just happens.


It all started on a cool July night. I was looking for a place to steal some food. Soon I came upon a fruit vender who was putting things up. When the guy turned his back I grabbed an apple and slipped into my pocket.
As I started back to the alley where I had been sleeping I felt someone following me. I didn’t hear any footsteps or any sound, I just had a feeling like someone was following me. I looked back and saw two guys a couple of feet behind me. I started to jog. I looked behind me to see if they had stopped but they just stated running. I broke out into a sprint.
My feet hit the pavement hard as I ran. I looked around and saw that they weren’t following me anymore. Good, I thought. Maybe they had gotten tired of following me. I hope they had because I didn’t want to run any more. I really wished I knew why they were following me, but I didn’t. I slowed my pace to a jog. Bad mistake; out of nowhere, somebody tackled me to the ground.
I tried to get up. But the person on top of me was holding me down with all his strength.
“Now, now, just stay still and we won’t hurt you…too much,” a deep voice said into my ear.
I panicked and screamed. Who was this guy and what did he want with me? What had I done to him?
The guys had clamped over my mouth and muffled my screams. His hand tasted like dirt and sweat. I twisted in his arms and tried to break free of his grip, but he was too strong. I began to cry. All I wanted was to go home, even though I had no home.
“Stop that,” somebody said from above me. “You know you’re not supposed to hurt her, yet. Matt is going to be mad if you do anything to her without his permission.”
“Shut up, Kyle. How do you know Matt hasn’t told me to do something?”
“I know he wouldn’t tell you to do anything, Ryan. He doesn’t trust you that much.”
The guy on top of me, Ryan, sighed and stood up. I layed there for a minute, gasping for air, and then I jumped up and tried to run. Ryan jumped in front of me. I slammed into his chest and all the air in my lungs was forced out.
“We aren’t going to let you leave. You have to come with us,” the guy, Kyle, said, laughing.
I looked around, mentally kicking myself for slowing down. I should have kept running. I should have known they hadn’t stopped pursuing me. I was so stupid.
The guys stared at me like they were trying to decide what to do with me. Then one of them sighed.
“Well,” Kyle said slowly, “We could give her the sleeping shot.”
“I don’t think the dose is strong enough,” Ryan said.
“What do you want us to do? Blindfold her? She can’t hear or see where we’re going.”
“Fine, give her the shot! But if she wakes up before we get there it’s your fault.”
“We could give her two shots.”
“That might be too much.”
“No it won’t.”
I looked at each of them, “What are you talking about?” I asked.
They looked at me. Ryan laughed.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he said.
Kyle lunged for me. He had something in his hand that pierced my neck. I cried out in pain when it broke through my skin, injecting some kind of liquid. Then, before I could do anything or move another thing pierced my neck. My eyes became heavy and all of the noise began to fade away until there was nothing.
  


I woke up in a small room. When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was blinding white light. It took me a few minutes before I could see properly. When I could, I sat up and looked around. The room was small. The only thing in the room was the bed I was on and a small bedside table. The only thing on the table was a notebook.
I picked it up and began looking through it. On every page there was a name of a girl on it and it told what they looked like. Who were these girl’s? Why were their names in this notebook?
I flipped to the back of the book to see if my name was in there, and there on a clean sheet of paper was my name and information about me.

“Elizabeth Wes, age: 17
How long Ryan and Kyle’s been following her: 3 months
She’s tall with long black hair and brown eyes. She’ll be very pretty once she takes a shower and gets some new clothes which I’ll provide.
She’s homeless with no friends. She stays at the same place every night, steals food.
A little violent
Today, July 26, Ryan and Kyle chased her down an alley where they cornered her. They gave her two doses of the sleeping medicine (idiots) and brought her back here. She’ll be out for a while.

Date: July 26
Time: 12:31 a.m.”

The notebook fell from my hands and landed on the floor with a dull thud. They had been following me for three months. Three months!!! What did they want with me? What did they do to the girls that were in the notebook? Did they kill them?
Suddenly I heard a movement in the hallway and saw the doorknob begin to turn. I stared at it in horror. Were they coming to kill me? The door opened slowly and Ryan looked in.
When he saw that I was a wake he smiled.
“Hey,” he said softly.
I didn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said softly, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I didn’t say anything. I just backed away slowly and fell onto the bed. As I fell Ryan rushed over to me.
“A-a-are you ok?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“I really meant it when I said I was sorry. The only reason I had Kyle give you two shots was because if you had woken up while we were bringing you here
Matt might have killed you. He doesn’t want anybody we take to know how to get to this place.”
“What do you want with me?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“I can’t tell you. Matt would hurt me and you if I said anything.”
“How did you find out all of that information about me?”
Ryan looked at me confused, “What information?”
I pointed to the notebook that was still on the floor. “The information that’s in that notebook.”
“Well…um… I don’t know where Matt found that information. He knows a lot of stuff about people, but he never tells us where he gets it.”
I shook my head. This whole situation was weird and creepy. I didn’t know anything and I didn’t like that. I had to find something out.
“Ryan, could you tell me anything?” I asked, wondering why I felt like I could trust this guy.
Ryan looked at me for a while before he sighed, “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “but I can’t tell you anything without getting us both in trouble.”
I shook my head and fought back the tears I knew would start falling as soon as he left. “It’s OK.”
“Well, I came in here to tell you that you can take a shower now. Well, you have to take it now. There are some new clothes in the bathroom and whatever else you might need.”
“Okay.”
As soon as the bathroom door shut behind me and I began to take my shower, the tears started falling.
  

When I was cleaned up, Ryan led me into a dining room type place. It wasn’t really a dining room, but that’s what he said it was. There was a small table in the middle of the room with about six chairs around it. There was another small table in the corner with a laptop on it. That was about everything in the room except a stereo and a small TV that looked like it hadn’t been used for a while.
“Just answer everything Matt asks you,” Ryan said. “Don’t talk unless he asks you a question or says something to you.”
“Will you be in here?” I asked, quietly, hoping he would be. I felt oddly comfortable around him. It almost felt like I knew him from somewhere but I couldn’t remember where.
He smiled and shook his head, “Yeah, I’ll be in here.”
While we waited for Kyle and the mysterious Matt, I studied him. Ryan had jet black hair that was messy and a little long. His eyes were a weird brown/green color. He was tall and lean, but he wasn’t super skinny. He was built with a lot of muscle, but he wasn’t built as big as a body builder. He was cute; in other words, I would probably date him if we hadn’t met the way we had, but I don’t know.
“Elizabeth, promise me you won’t say anything to make Matt mad,” Ryan whispered.
“Why would I promise you that?” I asked even though I wanted to say yes.
“Because I don’t want you to get killed. If you make Matt mad he’ll kill you. I’ve seen it happen before.”
“Ok, I promise I won’t. Ryan-” I started but stopped.
He looked at me, his weird brown green eyes staring into mine.
“What?” he asked.
“Why are you here? I mean why are you taking girls off the street and bringing them here? You don’t seem like the type of person who does that stuff.”
Before he could answer Kyle walked in with a tall guy that looked to be about a year older them him. I let myself jump to the conclusion that it was Matt.
“Elizabeth! I’m so glad to see that you’re a wake and well. You look so much better now that you’ve had a bath. How do you feel?” he asked.
“I feel fine, Sir.” I said quietly.
“Please call me Matt.” He said in a voice that rang with authority.
I shook my head to afraid to speak. Matt sat down and told Kyle to order two pizzas. Then he turned to me.
“How are you?” he asked, reaching over and brushing my hair out of my face. I flinched away from his hand.
“Fine, just fine,” I mumbled.
“You don’t feel sick or anything?”
“Nope, why would I feel sick?”
“These two idiots,” he waved a hand towards Kyle and Ryan, “gave you two doses of sleeping medicine. It could have made you sick. I’m glad you’re not.”
“Hey!” Ryan yelled. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Then why did you give Elizabeth two doses of sleeping medicine?”
“Because I thought, I mean, we thought that one dose wouldn’t be strong enough for her. She’s very strong.”
“Two doses could have made her sick or, worse, killed her.”
I sat there and looked Matt then Ryan. Ryan looked like he was going to hit Matt. His face was red and his hands were shaking. After a few minutes, though, he