In Search of..
prart 1
by Beth Horowitz

So there I was, driving way over the speed limit on dark highways I'd never been on before. And I couldn't help but think about who my real parents were.

"Do they know about me? Why aren't they looking for me? Does the woman that raised me love me? I can't help but feel relieved, I admit it, this all explains why she was never really physical with me, why she never hugged me or kissed me or told me she was proud of me. I'm relieved to know that the reason she never did love me was because I was never her child."

But the thoughts about my parents kept coming back. And about the people I was dealing with. I really don't know anything about them, and they obviously aren't the nicest people in the world if they took me from my parents and kept my twin in such a place. I didn't remember much about the Centre, all I really remember is not feeling safe, and always having men in dark suits bringing me everywhere, nobody was ever nice or kind or gentle.

Well, actually, there was that one weird guy that was always in the air vents. He was kind of nice, freaky, but nice, in a weird way. He would always bring me Cracker Jacks and the only thing he ever said was 'daughter scared'. But I didn't mind, it was nice to not have someone around that was a 'darky' as I called them. It's weird that now that I sit down and think about it that I remember all of this.. And then I saw my exit and my mind was on where I would spend the night.

 - MEANWHILE - AT THE CENTRE

"Thank you for calling us Laura, yes we'll make sure Cathy is taken care of and we'll try to get her back to you as soon as we can. You did the right thing.. No Laura it's not your fault she found out about the Centre. Everything will be just fine.. Yes.. Okay.. Yes.. I understand.. Bye Laura." Raines sighed heavily and motioned for his personal sweeper Willie.

"Why do we hire such air-heads to take care of such precious merchandise? Make sure it's Laura who's 'taken care of', and do it before she rethinks calling us and calls the FBI."

He then placed another call, this one to Mr. Parker.

"It's in the stars John. We don't need to send for the girl next year, the adoptive mother just called, it seems as though she's coming to us. Yeah I know. She should be near Blue Cove soon. I'll have the sweepers checking all of the local hotels. Yes, I'll alert you when we get her. I understand that it's top secret Parker, I ran this operation with you, remember? I have to go alert the sweepers, I'll keep you updated, I promise, bye."

"Willie.." He wheezed, he hadn't had this much excitement in a while. "You and your men check every hotel, motel, inn, anyplace the girl might spend the night. Keep me informed, I'm going to make sure her room is ready."

 - Motel 6 - Blue Cove, Delaware

I was really relieved to finally get off the road and to rest. I had been driving for what seemed like eternity. And truth be told, no matter how much my past and family were on my mind, somewhere in the back was the fear my mother called the police and reported her car stolen and me missing. I checked in and the minute I got into my room I passed out on the bed, shoes and all.

My fears about the police soon came to pass. About an hour after I passed out I heard pounding on my door "OPEN UP! CATHERINE WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, OPEN UP AND WE WON'T HURT YOU!" I padded over to the door groggily, but my heart was racing and my mind was going over how I could get myself out of this. I decided to play the dumb teenage girl approach. I opened the door to a tall black (and kind of handsome) guy in a dark suit looking very angry.

"Yes?"

"I've been called by your mother to take you home, get your bag, we're leaving."

"Who are you?" I asked, kind of confused by the fact I didn't open the door to a tall black angry looking policeman.

"I was called by your mother Catherine, get your things."

"My mother.. you mean the one that lied to me for 16 years? I'm going to pass returning there thank you very much, now if you don't mind, I'm going back to bed." And with that brave statement I tried to close the door, but his foot stopped me from getting back to bed.

He grabbed something behind his back under his belt, at first I was confused as to what he could be grabbing, and that confusion cost me my freedom. He grabbed two objects from behind his belt, handcuffs and a gun. Now I knew, no matter how angry "my mother" (I'll call her Laura from now on, to save the confusion) was she wouldn't send someone to handcuff me and drag me off by gun point. I was frozen with fear, my mind was saying "SCREAM! SCREAM LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SCREAMED BEFORE!"

But when I opened my mouth a squeak came out, and then silence. He grabbed my arm, spun me around, and handcuffed me and led me out of the room with a gun at my back, leaned over and whispered "You scream, you die, don't make these people suspicious."

He told one of the other men that were with him, funny how I didn't notice them before, to grab anything that looked like it belonged to me, and to bring us back to the Centre.

An alarm went off in my mind when he said the Centre. Fear flooded me, even though I came here looking for the Centre I wanted to find it on my terms, and not be dragged there handcuffed and by gunpoint. No, this wasn't the way I pictured, not by a long shot.

***

The car ride to the Centre seems very hazy to me now, just lights flashing past the windows. The car was dark and big, that's really all I remember. In my mind, this is what happened. He shoved me in the car and lights went by the window, and then.. Well actually I don't even remember getting out of the car. Next thing I remember I'm in a small room with a cot and a light bulb at the ceiling. I was sprawled on the ground, and when I sat up and got my bearings I panicked. What normal person wouldn't?

I sprang up and went to the door, pounding and screaming to let me out. Then they hyperventilating began, I crawled back to the bed, curled up in a ball and struggled to breathe. And when that was over I sat up, swung my legs over the bed, and looked around.

This entire process, from me waking up on the ground to me calm enough to take in my surroundings, probably took about an hour. So there I was, sitting on the bed, looking all around me for an escape, and thinking about why I didn't remember anything from the car to here. And the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. Drugged. That big guy must've drugged me. Bastard. And from there I thought about how to get out of this place.

"No windows. That big door with two men in dark suits standing outside it. Those won't work." I thought on, there must be something I rationalized.

"What about that vent? That guy I remember always got around in those vents. Maybe I'll go through there. Wait, what am I thinking, so I can die like a rat in that enclosed space? No thanks. I'm trapped, and nobody knows I'm here, and the ones that do want to keep me here. I don't see how I'm going to make it out of here alive."

With that thought, the man in the vents came bursting through the vent. Angelo. That's his name, Angelo.

I ran to him and hugged him like I've never hugged anyone before. I knew I was safe with him for some reason, and I wasn't about to let go of him, because I knew he was my only chance to getting out of here alive.

He was confused by the hug, as if he hadn't gotten one in a long time. He didn't know what to do and he too, seemed scared. I pulled back and looked at him. Same as I had remembered.

"Daughter scared." He had said, yes, he was the same as I had remembered.

"Yes Angelo I'm very scared, can you get me out of here?"

He grabbed my hand and helped me into the vent, and he pulled the grate back on the vent and took the lead. We zig zagged and made our way through those shafts for what seemed like eternity, neither of us saying anything. I was too scared, and he seemed as though he was concentrating. We finally came upon another grate and in the room it looked in on was the big man that took me from the motel room, that felt like a long time ago.

He was talking to a sickly-looking man with an oxygen tank. The smaller man was giving orders to the tall man.

"Willie, go get the girl, I want to start the breeding process at once. Now I can finally restart the Pretender project, this is all falling into place perfectly."

"Yes Mr. Raines."

Now the men had names. The one that kidnapped me was named Willie, and the one with the tank that seemed as though he ordered it was Mr. Raines. Mr. Raines.. Why does that name seem so familiar?

Oh my god. The fax. I pulled it out of my back pocket and looked at the name that was signed. Dr. William Raines. Mr. Raines is the doctor that wrote that fax. I didn't have much time to mull over that however, because Angelo started moving again.

We didn't crawl around as much as we had before, thank god, because my hands were starting to bleed and my back was aching. We came to a large opening, and there was a box in the middle of it.

There were small discs, they almost looked like mini-CDs, but they had dates on the front. Angelo rummaged through the box and took out a folder with a few small discs and paper inside. He put them behind his back under his belt, that seems to be a choice hiding place around here. We crawled and crawled, and we seemed to be going upward. We stopped for a minute, he looked through a vent and then moved on so I could see through it, and the vent led into a room.

Angelo took the folder out, tapped on it, and pointed into the room. I didn't understand what he was saying but he had begun to move again. I looked into the room again quickly, and before I got moving after Angelo again I saw a woman, she was beautiful, in a short skirt and high heels, yelling at a bald quivering man. And then I went after Angelo again, we stopped not long after that, and he kicked through a vent and jumped out, and then helped me climb down.

We were in a tunnel. He walked me down to the end of it and started climbing a ladder through another tunnel going upwards. We were climbing for what felt like forever. My feet and hands were really starting to hurt, and considering my hands were still in need of some pampering after our trip through the vents, I was very ready to get out off this ladder. I looked up and was surprised at what I saw. All the other times I had looked up on our journey up the ladder I had either seen Angelo’s butt or pitch darkness, but this time I saw a ray of light.

Angelo unlocked some sort of hatch and the tunnel we were climbing through became filled with light. He climbed out, helped me out, and closed the hatch from the outside. From the outside it looked like a closed well. We stood there and waited, for what, I had no idea. I was too busy to think of that however, as I was blowing on my hands and wiping the blood on my jeans. We stood there for about 10 minutes, and then a motorized scooter came off a dirt road that led to the well. A man got off the scooter, took off his helmit and said, “Hey Angelo.”

Angelo gave the man the folder, and he put it behind his belt as well.

"That really is the place to put things these days." I said.

The man asked me what I had said, and noticing the urgency of the situation I just told him to forget it.

Then Angelo spoke to me, he turned, put his hand on my shoulder, and said "Daughter safe."

Then the man, he's pretty cute, held out his hand and said, "Hi my name is Jarod, Angelo told me you might need some help." With that he handed me a helmet and we got on his bike and started down the winding dirt path leading away from the Centre. I looked over my shoulder long enough to see Angelo getting back into the well-like entrance to the tunnel.
 
 
 

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