I start to rethink my entire life as I fear I am going to face death! Going back 40 seconds ago, I woke up after a strange man grabbed me and I started to scream in fear. The man grabbed my shirt revealing a birthmark shaped like a flower on my collar.
"Perfect," the man said.
"Let me go," I tell him as I kick and punch. The man doesn't respond, he just continues to drag me. Am I going to die? I don't even have a girlfriend yet! What is he going to do to me? Ideas start to spiral in my head thinking of what could happen next. I bite him and he flinches, but it is not enough to get him to let go of my hand.
"If you don't stop moving I will cut your head off." The man exclaimed as he pulled out a pocket knife and I am sure he couldn't cut my head with it, so I bit him again. This time he lets go and I start to run, but he grabs my collar before I can run farther.
"This time I will strangle you if you don't comply with me, got it?"
"Ugh…yes."
We walked until we headed to the port where the man took his lamp and swung it three times like it was going to do something. Then, a boat started to appear. I fell onto the floor in shock.
"Ho-w-w did you do that?" I stammer. The man never answered as we got onto the boat and there were more people on it. A man walked to us and said, "Oliver, you got the boy right?"
"Yes Jackson, the boy did put up a fight at first, but now I got him." The man called Oliver said as he shoved me to Jackson.
The man named Jackson bent down to face me and asked me, "Your name is Jack, correct?"
"What are you planning to do with me?" I replied with a furious tone. The man didn't seem to care about my question and dragged me with him down the boat into a room where you could see there were more children in a cell. Jackson threw me into the cell and glared at me saying not to cause trouble.
I wanted to scream, but knowing no one would listen to me I stayed silent and tears started to fall from my eyes. The girl beside me looked at me and said, "You are ugly when you cry."
"Shut up! Who are you?" I ask in a mad tone while my eyes are bright red.
"Ok, rude first of all. My name is Hazel, now tell me yours." She replied in a sassy tone.
"You are the one who insulted me first and why would I need to tell you my name?" I replied.
"Have your parents never told you when someone introduces themselves, introduce yourself?" Hazel said in a questioning tone. I was furious when she asked me that. My parents died of a plague and I was working in a stable. I didn't tell her of course.
"Well, my name is Jack and do you know why we are here?" I asked while I rubbed my eyes.
"Why would I know, I am in the same position. Have some common sense." Hazel replied. I stare at her in disbelief.
Just then the boat rocked and it felt like the boat hit the land. I wanted to see the outside, but there was no window in the room, only a light bulb that flickers every 2 minutes. The man who took me, Oliver, came into the room with a disgusted face.
"Alright children, follow me and if you try to escape, you will feel immense pain," Oliver said with a serious tone. The lock was unlocked and we all followed out in a line. The land was surrounded with black sand and many other boats were coming toward the island. Black smoke surrounds the area and you can see more children like us entering the factory in front of us. Once we entered the factory, a man was waiting for us beside a boy who looked around fourteen years old.
"Children, you are now working for us." The man explained, "We have some rules here. First, no complaining as I don't want to hear a single whine coming from your mouth. Our second rule is to be grateful for everything we give you. Appreciated everything! Last but not least is no escaping. Understood!"
"Understood!" The boy beside him said. He looks frightened and has many scars on his legs and bruises everywhere.
"Watch the demonstration of how to make a shoe. It will only happen once, so watch carefully!" He said in a deep and loud tone that could burst my eardrums. I didn't understand why he thought we could learn everything in just one demonstration. I watch carefully remembering every move the boy made. After the demonstration was over, I wondered why they thought we as children could remember every move the boy made.
"Um-m-m… Can we see it again?" A girl beside me asked.
"NO! You will remember it perfectly fine!" The man shouted, "Now, follow me to get changed into your uniform!" We followed him into a different room and he handed out the uniform we had to wear. They were dusty, dirty, and smelly. The worst part was that they had us change on the spot with no privacy. I'm sure that few of the men were looking at the girl and not in a good way. As I try to avoid looking at the others, many of us have a flower print on our collar. After changing, the men lead us to the station where many other children look older making shoes.
"Listen lambkins, get to a table and start working!" A man screams. Everyone scrambled to get to one and I got one right beside Hazel. The materials were all around the table and as soon as I picked them up, I immediately remembered every step and finished making a pair of shoes in 5 minutes.
A man with a whip in front of me had a whip in his hand and shouted, "Your goal is to make at least 50 pairs by the end of the day, if not done by then you will be.." CRACK! The whip made a really loud sound and I could see from everyone's eyes. No one wanted to be hit.
By nighttime rolls around, I have made at least 100 pairs. I have never worked that fast before in my life! New older kids seem to come in and so the same man who had the whip said, "New group already? Everyone stops working, a new shift is happening, follow Oliver." We all march to a new building and as we enter, everyone can see there are more kids in the same situation as us.
"This is your new sleeping arrangement," Oliver says, "Make yourselves at home, and warning, I suggest you try not to get sick." Oliver turns and walks away. I found a place to sit and try to go to sleep, but with a bunch of kids coughing and sneezing I couldn't. Hazel was right beside me, so I decided to try to talk to her.
"Hey Hazel, are you awake?" I asked.
"What do you want? I am trying to go to sleep." She sneered and I ignored the angry tone, "Do you think we will live like this forever now?"
"Well, I don't know. Even if the police try to find us I am pretty sure they won't be able to." Hazel replied, "You saw how the boat appeared, it was just like magic."
"Do you have a flower print on your shoulder?" I asked, "Can I see it?"
"Are you a pervert? No way am I letting you look at my body." Hazel strangely looked at me.
"NO!" I yelled in a whisper, "When we were changing, I noticed the people around us had a flower print on our bodies. I think that how they chose who to take"
"Wait… That makes sense. I have a flower birthmark on my collar." Hazel replied, "We shouldn't think of this any longer though. I am not sure when we will get another break like this." She was right, when they called us to work again I swear to god they made us work for at least 10 hours with no breaks and the food was just a stable loaf of bread. The nights were freezing and many kids surrounding us were getting sick. When a sick kid faints, they would be hit with the whip until they woke up and if they didn't wake up, they would be dragged out of the room never to be seen again.
I have gotten close to Hazel these past few days. Well, not many people around us enjoy talking to one another. We mostly talk about why they would kidnap kids with flower prints on them and not any random kid. One of our reasons (Hazel) is that we have some sort of ability that makes us different from others, but I think they just like kids with flower prints on them.
We were working in the factory and I had made about 70 shoes already. My eyes were slowly closing, but I tried my best to keep them open. Until I fainted and when I woke up on a floor where I could see a huge fireplace in front of me. Corpse surrounds me as I realize what they do to kids they drag away.
"Well, well, well! Look at who just finally decided to wake up!" Oliver appeared behind me.
"W-What ar-r-e you plan-in-g to do?" I stutter over my words. Oliver did not answer as he took my collar and was about to throw me in the fire until I bit his hand. I pushed him into the fireplace and his hair caught on fire as with his clothes. I sprinted out of the room as fast as I could, but he was chasing after me and the fire started to spread to the building.
"AHHHHHH!" Oliver screamed, "Get back in here yo-u-u, Satan spawn!!" With no one to block my path, I ran to the working station and took some matches to start a fire which worked. Oliver ran into the room and started to panic even more as he yelled, "Fire! Fire! Fire! Everyone got out of the building."
Chaos ensued as both adults and children came running out of the building. I found a boat that would fit two and Hazel started to run towards me, "Come on Hazel, get on the boat!"
"I am running as fast as I can!" Hazel said out of breath as she got on and we started to paddle away.
"Where are we going?" Hazel asked.
"No clue, just away from there," I replied.
"So, you pretty much killed everyone on the island, so both of us can escape." Hazel pointed out with an annoyed tone.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"YES"
"NO"
"YE…." BOOM!
We hear thunder, and rain is starting to fall. I fear the boat will not last long in the middle of the ocean.
I looked at Hazel to say something, but she said, "Oh! You better not try to confess your feelings to 'BOOM!' me in this thunderstorm!"
"NO! Why do you think I would do that?" I replied in an irritated voice. Rain started to get onto my eyes as my vision blurred.
" I'm sorry! I read way too many romance books when I was younger," Hazel said.
"I was going to say, whatever happened in this storm-" Hazel cut me off, "This is a confession."
"NO, IT IS NOT! I SAYING WHATEVER HAPPENED IN THIS STORM I HOPE WE WILL BE ALRIGHT!" I yelled. My ears could not hear what Hazel was trying to say. The boat slowly starts to let water in and we fall into the water. I hope we do not drown.