Chapter 1 Running. Fast. A salty smell blowing throughout the air. Hair blowing in my face. The wind letting out long, loud whistles. A girl yelling my name. Footsteps thundering behind me. A sudden sharp pain in my ankle. Blood dribbling down onto my foot. A loud bang. A scream. Everything goes silent. "Esme!" A voice shouted. "Get ready for school!" The voice continued. I instantly sat up, panting for breath. My head was banging along with my pounding heart. I grabbed my phone and switched it on. It read '8.35'. School started at 9.15, I was going to be late...again. "ESME!" It was my Mum. "Dressed- now!!!!!". "Ok!" I yelled. I wandered down the stairs, reading the dreaded texts that lay in front of me. 3 new messages. Message 1- Hey, are you coming to school today or are you to scared that we'll steal your phone again?! WIMP! Love Molly x Message 2- Hello lovely, how are you. I can't wait until you come to visit me and Grandpa. Lots of love, Grannie x Message 3- Meet me and the girls at the library or else. Molly x Molly Lester, the most beautiful, skinny and rich girl in the world. My no 1 enemy. She lives in a massive mansion with all the latest gadgets. She wears a different outfit everyday and is constantly shopping. On top of all that, she still has the time to annoy me. "Right, you are going without breakfast - it's 9.10!" Mum declared. I stumbled out the house, my bag slouched over my shoulder. I mumbled bye and walked along the street. The Library was at the end of the road. I tiptoed passed the library, my hands trembling. Molly wasn't there!!! Yes! "OI, ESME WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING?" A mischievous voice giggled. I spun around to see Molly and her three followers. A sly grin slid across her face as she whispered something to the girl next to her. "Esme, give us your phone!" The girl ordered. I stood, frozen to the ground. I wanted to run away and cry, but my arm mechanically reached for my phone and gave it to Molly. NOOO!! All four girls burst out laughing and ran away up the street. With MY phone. By the time I got to school I was ten minutes late. I walked into my first class. Maths. Oh, just great. The teacher turned to face me as I opened the door. "And where have you been?" She enquired. "Umm," I started "Oh, Esme I never knew you were that religious!" A voice came out of the class. The whole class smirked. "Silence!" The teacher ordered. "Well Esme? I'm waiting!". "Sorry," I stammered, and hurried to a seat. Lunch break was the worst part of the day. I sat down with my lunch and bit into my ham roll. "Hey Esme! If you want your phone back meet us at the school gates at 13:15. Oh, and don't be late because we all know how good you are at that don't we girls?" Molly exclaimed. "Yeah Esme, don't be late!" The girls chorused. 13:15 I stood beside the bin, twitching my hands. I chewed on my lip, making it burst. " Hey Esme! You are actually here on time!" Molly exaggerated. "Ummm... yeah ,I guess so," That was me. "Anyway, your phone," she began "All you have to do is steal £10 from the head teacher!" She announced. "Or... You could just buy it of of me,". Laughter filled the air as I realised almost all of the first years had come to watch. Tears were prickling my eyes, I could feel my face burning with humiliation. I had to get away. I pushed my way out of the circle and sprinted out of school. I turned a quick left, down an alleyway, cut across a wrecked park and stopped running. My lungs were burning, me panting for breath. I sat down on the pavement and curled up into a ball. Tears trickled down my flushed cheeks as I heard the laughter of the first years over and over again. I wiped my cheeks and stared around me. It was a dirty estate, with a row of scabby houses each with at least one window boarded up. In one of the houses there was a broken swing, covered in cobwebs. There were faded pictures of flowers on the wood. Suddenly, the door swung open and a small women stormed out of the door. She had greasy blonde hair wearing a loose jumper with a juice stain on it. She looked along the street then walked back into the house. I stood up and walked over to the the garden fence. The grass would be up to my hips, it was so long. Dandelions were mixed in with all the other weeds scattered over the garden. Footsteps. Running towards me. A rough hand covering my mouth. My wrists tightly bound together. Dizzy. Everything spinning around and around. The world starting to evaporate. Me lying on the floor. Chapter 2 I slowly opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the bright light on the grim ceiling above me. Sitting up I saw I wasn't the only one in the small room. I young girl- about seven was still... Well hopefully sleeping. I crawled over to her and stared at her chest. Yes, it was moving so she was breathing. I let out a long sigh and stood up. The room was a small square with some furniture in it. To my left there was a large wardrobe that took up most of the wall. To my right was an old wooden door, with a metal padlock. In front of me was a tiny window, not even big enough to stick my head through. I wandered over to it and peeked outside. My view was of the exact same estate I had been looking at a little while ago. And I was in the house that owned the broken swing with cobwebs on it with the faded pictures of flowers. "Who are you?" A shy voice startled me. I slowly turned around to see the seven year old walking towards me. She gave a loud sniff and tears dribbled down from her eyes. "Please don't hurt me again...PLEASE!" She howled. "Umm, I won't hurt you but could you please tell me what has happened?" I stared at her large brown eyes. She wiped her eyes and began to tell the story. "Three years ago, a kind couple and their child bought this house. It has roses climbing up the walls, all the windows were there and this was a lovely estate. They bought a piece of land and made it into a beautiful park. Then, one day a rough family moved to the estate. They picked all the flowers out of the park and smashed lots of windows. They ruined the estate in about 3 months. Then one day the Mother of the family set fire to our... This house. Only the child survived. It took ages for them to recover the damage to this house, but they eventually finished. The mean family took me...I mean the child and forced her to live with them. The end!" She finished. The room suddenly fell very quiet. "You mean you are the child?" I managed to say. She glanced away from me and quickly nodded. "I'm so sorry!" I replied apologetically. I sat down beside her and gave her a hug. She sobbed loudly into my shoulder until she realised I had been hugging her for about thirty minutes. "Sorry," she murmured. A lock turned in the door and it squeaked open. A tall dark figure stood at the door, with a Molly grin slid onto his thin pale face. Rose, who was the the seven year old, gasped as the tall man drew out a gun. Chapter 3 "Move!" He ordered. Rose and I exchanged worried glances and stood up. "This way!" He pointed us to the door. We slowly walked to the door. He led us down a twirl of stairs which led us to an old kitchen. It was obviously never used, as there was dust in all the pots and pans. He signalled us to go through the door. He pushed me in and slammed the door. "At least we're together," I started. No reply. I turned around to see that I was talking to myself. "Rrrroooosssseee?". A loud scream pierced through the air. "ROSE!!! ARE YOU OK??? ROSE!!!" I screamed. I hit the door making as much noise as possible. SILENCE. "Shhhh!!!" A low voice hissed. "She is just part of their trap, don't bother!" A boy, about 13 edged his way out of his hiding place. He had dark brown hair swished to the side. His face was dirty but looked kind. "Wwwhhhooo are yyou?" I slowly spoke. "Eh, Jasper," "What do you want?" I suddenly asked He stared at me, his eyes confused. "Excuse me?" "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I repeated. "Well, I needed to tell you that you that , well you are in lots of danger!" I giggled. Did he really think I didn't know that? I have been kidnapped, been threatened by a gun and he didn't think I knew I was in danger! He must of saw my face. "No, The seven year old girl gasped as the man pulled out a gun... Chapter 3