~Two~

**Implies mature themes**

Damien's p.o.v.

  Beep...Beep...Beep...I slammed my hand on the irritating alarm clock that squealed at me. 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday...yeah not normally something I'm conscious for, but I was dying with curiosity over the infamous mystery of Aspen Marks. And according to her, watching the news was the only way to hear the truth (if I could keep myself awake for it).

    Rubbing my face and groaning, I forced myself out of bed and to the bathroom. I washed my face with cold water to wake up more, did the usual morning routine: shave, pee, brush teeth etc... then went downstairs and plopped down in front of the T.V. Taking a bite out of my pop tart, I flipped it onto channel 7, growing more exciting and alert. The theme music began. I groaned at how irritating and loud it sounded that early, but as soon as Aspen walked on, I didn't care.

    Chestnut colored waves of hair fell in her face. Her shoulders were slightly hunched; I could tell she really didn't want to be there. She put on a brave face though and sat down in one of this high chairs as the host warmly welcomed her. Subtly, she moved the red fabric of her dress to cover her knees and her eyes never strayed from her twiddling thumbs in her lap. Why in the world did she look so uncomfortable?

   "Good morning everyone and thank you for tuning in to Channel 7 morning news at 9:00. I'm Amber Palone." A small applause sounded for the perky blond morning show hostess before she continued. "I'm here today with recently found kidnapping victim Aspen Marks." My eyes nearly popped out of my sockets as Aspen gave a tight lipped smile and waved in confirmation. K-kidnapped? No, that had to be impossible. I must have fallen back asleep and dreamed this. Slightly freaking out, I slapped my face a few times until, cursing loudly, I accepted this was reality. Manning up, I forced my attention back to the monitor.

    "We've been lucky enough to receive police video footage of the morning they found Ms. Marks. Younger viewers are advised to look away as this tape is graphic."

    All color drained from Aspen's face. "W-what? No one told me that-" but the rolling video cut her off.

    The lighting was dim as a team of police crept cautiously toward a white-stone one story house. It looked like a typical suburban house in a normal, quiet neighborhood which kind of added to the surrealism of this all. A few swat men dressed in black peered in the windows, guns at the ready. After a moment, the chief barked an order and they broke in the door and charged in. The interior was pitch black save for the glow of their flash lights. Men kicked in every door and searched every room until they finally found her in the basement. I gasped at the sight of her.

    Aspen's wrists were ties to a disgusting bed's head board. Her blue eyes were large and vacant and her breath came in shallow, quick spurts. She only had a dirty bra and underwear on. Blood stained the sheets making my imagination go wild of what might have been done to the poor girl. I nearly gagged.

   When a cop went to cut the ropes she screamed in sheer terror and started hyperventilating. Here eyes went in and out of focus. The girl on the screen couldn't have been Aspen; she was too scared, to disconnected from reality. Her scream sounded like a possessed woman's, not at all like the normal girl I sat by in science!

    The police man freeing her whispered polite, comforting words but everyone watching saw she couldn't hear them. A burly officer scooped her up in his arms. 

    Instantly she started screaming with a frail, scratchy voice, "No! No not again! P-please no no no!" Her voice faded into low, pleading whines as the cop rushed her to a ready ambulance.

    The video cut off there. My eyes automatically to Aspen to see how she'd react. Her expression was guarded with a gaze hard as stone. No longer was she twiddling her thumbs, instead digging her nails into her palm.

    "Ms. Marks was found one week ago. And I hear you've already returned to school, yes?" Amber Palone asked, turning to face Aspen who gave a small nod in response. "So what was the most difficult part about re-entering normal life?"

    Aspen gave a wry smile that didn't touch her eyes. "Well I dropped a few pounds so we wore out my poor mom's credit card on jeans."   Miss Perky-Morning-Sunshine laughed politely and patted Aspen's shoulder. Aspen stiffened immediately  and squeezed her eyes shut. Something was wrong.

    Without thinking, I jumped off the couch, grabbed the keys to my old pick up truck and hopped in my car to drive to studio 6.

Reviews

[Pax]

this is a clear view of what had happened to her... i like how this progress into a big storyline... probable cases of rape, abduction or even torture... a dark reality.. as far as i see it... i didn't see any problems... great story.

[Skye]

:o poor Aspen! Though it was short, I enjoyed (as much as you can enjoy) the chapter. Hopefully you'll update again soon? :)

[Lost in Wonderland]

thanks! I was going to make it longer but I just wanted to get a chapter down haha, and I'll probably change back to Aspen's point of view:P

[Skye]

Lovely! I can't wait :)

[Moniba]

Whoa... Nice plot. You've given the words a nice flow, nothing seems out of place. Looking forward to more!

[Lost in Wonderland]

thanks:)
God bless

[Lost in Wonderland]

chapter three is up in case you're interested:)