Leo's POV:

My head was pounding. It felt like someone was repeatedly smashing a hammer against my skull. Something on my chest was burning me. God, the pain was unbearable. It felt like someone grabbed fir and dropped it on my chest.

It was hard to breathe because of the pain.

Something in the distance made a loud clanking noise. My mind was dragged back into reality, and I snapped my eyes open as fast as I physically could. In the room, someone was setting something down on a metal tray. That explains the noise I heard.

What it doesn't explain is who the person is or where I am.

I looked around and saw that my feet and hands were tied to a chair. The searing pain on my chest caught my attention again. There, on the middle of my chest, was a big red x. It was around the size of my hand, maybe a little smaller.

All the memories came flooding back. I was kidnapped and the person in the corner has been torturing me.

"Ah, you're finally awake. I've been waiting for you to wake up." My eyes connected with their's and a jolt of familiarity shot through my body. Okay, now I'm 100% sure I've seen their eyes somewhere before.

It had to have been at school.

"Since you lasted longer than I expected you, I will let you have a small drink of water, but no food. You did pass out after all," they said.

They walked up to me with the metal tray in their hands. On it was a small shot glass of water. They grabbed it and put it up against my lips.

My mouth opened and I greedily drank in the water. This was the best water I have ever tasted.

Sadly, my pure bliss didn't last long. The water was gone in a flash. It wasn't nearly enough to keep me from being thirsty. Not even 5 seconds later, my mouth and throat were already longing for the water.

"I have decided to be nice and give you one shot glass of water a day, if you are good and listen to what I say," they said.

He wasn't being nice at all by keeping me here, but at least he would give me water, no matter how small the amount.

"How long are you planning on keeping me here?" I asked. I know I'm not supposed to ask questions, but I need to know.

I could be dead by the time someone found me.

"I said no questions!" The next thing I knew, there was a fist coming towards me and a force that whipped my head back. My body was thrown to the floor from the force of the punch. That was definitely going to leave a mark.

The person titled the chair back up and looked me dead in the eyes and said "It's none of your business how long you will be here. All you have to worry about is listening to me." The metallic taste of blood was building in my mouth.

I spit it out on the floor next to me when the person wasn't looking.

They had walked back over to the table and was fiddling with something, but I couldn't tell what because their body was blocking my view.

---

I woke up and I could barely feel the let side of my jaw. Damn, whoever this is is really strong. Strong enough to knock me to the ground with one punch.

By now, my body was littered in bruises. It's only been a couple hours since he gave me the water, but my body is giving out on me.

I can feel my insides drying up. My tongue is like sandpaper and my throat is drier than the Sahara desert. My eyes are getting droopy. With every passing minute, it gets harder and harder to stay awake.

I barely have any energy left. I don't know how long I've been here and I don't know how long I will be here. All I know is that I need to hang on until someone finds me and rescues me.

When I was little I used to be obsessed with watching survival shows and random videos I found on YouTube. I watched them religiously everyday after school. I picked up a few things from watching those videos. One of them being that humans go go 3 weeks without food and only 3 days without water.

So if they couldn't find me within three weeks, and my kidnapper didn't feed me, I would most likely be dead by the time they found me.

Okay, I'm being a tad dramatic, but can you blame me? I've been kidnapped and tortured so of course my mind isn't in its normal state.

The only thing I'm thinking about is my family. What will happen to them if I die? My sister would be devastated. My father would probably break down and not be able to do anything. I wonder if they will move to France if I die.

No, I can't think like this. Just because they haven't found me yet doesn't me they won't eventually find me. I have to stay positive. Plus, there's no guarantee that I'm going to die. Who knows, maybe they will find me before then.

Suddenly, the best smell in the world drifted into my nose. A Freddie's burger and fries meal. I haven't been there in too long and my mouth was watering at the smell. Of course, my stomach started to growl immediately.

After all I am being starved.

A few seconds later my kidnapper walked in with a bag in his hand. He grabbed a random chair on his way in to the room that I was in and set it down in front of me. He then proceeded to plop down in front of the chair and slowly eat his burger in front of my face, never once breaking eye contact with me.

When he heard my stomach growl he had the nerve to start laughing. "Oh your hungry huh? Well guess what, you aren't getting any of this. You're a disgusting person and I hate you. You ruined my chances with Athena. You don't deserve any of this food."

I was so close to just begging him for just one fry but my last shred of dignity and pride was holding me back from doing that.

I refuse to lose my dignity because someone made me beg for food.

It's not the most important thing right now, but I need something to hold onto.

---

Athena's POV

It's been 2 weeks since anyone's seen Leo.

Two agonizing, long weeks.

I haven't been able to focus in school. My mind has been elsewhere. They put out a missing persons alert for him and even a reward for anyone with information about his whereabouts, but so far nothing's turned up.

The police have been searching high and low non-stop since he went missing, but they don't have a single lead. They did find his car on a road somewhere a couple miles out of town, but nothing else.

Anything that would help the police identify where he went or where he was headed when he was taken was gone.

I should've broken it off with him earlier. This whole thing is my fault. If I cut him out of my life, then none of this would've happened. He would still be here laughing, and goofing off in class. The only person I knew that had a grudge against him was my stalker.

Speaking of my stalker, he hasn't sent me any messages since Leo went missing which was a little odd. If they did take him you think they would want to gloat about it, not hide it.

Even though the police have been searching everywhere, they keep coming up empty handed so I think they are going to call off the search soon. For all they know he could've ran away, but I don't think that's the case and neither do they.

If he was running away, he would've taken clothes and other essentials with. But he didn't. Everything is still perfectly in place in his room.

A my phone buzzed in my back pocket. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was my dad. I raised my hand and asked the teacher "Can I please take this call? It's important." She nodded her head and I rushed out of the room.

"Hello?" I asked hopefully. I know it's wrong to get my hopes up, but I can't help it. Somewhere inside me I know that I will see Leo again and I'm hoping this is the phone call that tells me I'm correct.

"I'm so sorry Athena."

My heart stopped.

"What do you mean 'you're sorry'?" This can't be happening. I'm going to see him again, right?

"The police just called and informed me that they are calling off the search. I'm sorry."

It felt like my whole world was just ripped out from under my feet. They can't do that. The police haven't found him yet. They can't call off the search until they find him.

"They can't do that. They haven't found him yet. What if they were super close to finding him and they just give up all of a sudden? He'll never be found if thy give up!" I exclaimed. I was furious. This wasn't fair to me and his family.

"I'm sorry sweetie, there's nothing I can do about it. The police are in charge. I can't exactly go against them. I'm sorry. If there was anything I could do, trust me, I would've done it already. I know this isn't fair but I promise you he will come back."

I knew my dad was trying to calm me down but it wasn't working. By this point, my eyes were welling with tears and my heart felt like it was going to burst. My worst nightmare has come true.

Well, not exactly my worst nightmare, but still pretty damn close.

I did not go through the pain of rejecting Leo and breaking his heart just for him to get kidnapped. It was the exact opposite. I did all that to stop him from getting hurt. Now look at what I've done.

It's my fault he''s gone and I may never see him again.

I realized something as I slid down the wall onto the floor, clutching my phone to my chest. The reason why I am so worried about him is because of one thing. One emotion.

Love.

---

Leo's POV

I've been gone for two weeks and honestly, at this point I don't think I'm ever going to see my family again. I might be being a tad bit dramatic, but I can't help it. How else am I supposed to act when a crazy man kidnapped me and has been holding me hostage in a dark room tied to a chair?

Call me crazy, but with each passing day the person looks more and more familiar. It's been bugging me ever since I got kidnapped. The car that was driving towards me was familiar as well. I swear I've seen it somewhere before.

It's like that one time I had a bug bite on my hand but I couldn't actually feel the bite so I kept itching until my hand bled. Only after the wound scabbed over did I discover where the bite was.

My point is is that maybe I'll have to do whatever it takes to uncover this person's identity. It can't be too hard, can it?

A musty smell filled the room and I scrunched up my nose in disgust. I quickly realized that it was just me. I've been wearing the same clothes for 2 weeks and have been bleeding and sweating.

It didn't exactly smell good.

I looked down at my wrists and tried to figure out a way I could escape. I could always try to break my thumb like they did in the movies, but that would be extremely painful.

I leaned down, and using my teeth, tried to pick of the rope. After struggling for a few minutes, I realized that it was going to happen. I needed something sharper, pointier.

The rusty knife.

I glanced over at it and saw that it was still sitting on the table. There was no way for me to reach. I would have to wait until the guy came back and try and trick him into bringing the knife close to me.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. As soon as I thought that, the guy appeared in the doorway.

"You know," I started, a plan forming in my head," My wrists are loose and I could easily slip them out of the rope they are tied down with." I knew that would get him.

Wouldn't want his precious torture toy to escape now would we?

"What!" He shouted. My ear physically hurt from how loud he shouted. His voice shook the room, I swear. "Impossible. I tied those things myself."

Just as I suspected he would, the guy came over and inspected the knots. "What are you-" Before he could finish his sentence, I reeled my head forward and slammed it into his.

He fell to the floor and cradled his forehead.

Take that asshole!

Without even thinking twice, the guy took off the mask he was wearing to check his face.

That's when I finally recognized those eyes.

Teddy.

-----

When will Leo be rescued? What will happen with Teddy? Will Athena find out who her stalker is?

Sorry it took me so long to update. School started and I've been busy with newspaper and volleyball. Once volleyball is over, I will have more free time.

Also, sorry for the POV switching so much. I felt it was needed to show what both the characters were thinking. I have edited this chapter before posting it so if you see any mistakes just ignore them.

Once the whole book is done I will go back and edit the chapters.

There is only a couple chapters left and I promise that Leo will be rescued before the last chapter, but I'm not going to say when.

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