1 Chapter 1: Kidnapped

Ella crouched behind the white couch in her family's living room. The men in black were back. She scooted under the flap of fabric below it and peeked through the small crack in the cloth. Their first visit had been 2 weeks ago. Her mother's body had protected her from them, and she had seemed like an impenetrable shield. But Ella knew now that it was not so. A week later, they had come back. She remembered holding her breath throughout it all and thinking, Daddy, when is the game going to end? But it wasn't a game. They took her father that day. And today, they were back again. She was hiding under the folds of the couch as she listened to her mother's discussion with the intruders.

"Where is the girl?" The person had a knife to her throat. Ella gasped quietly. Her nine years of life weren't at all experienced in understanding. She wanted to defenestrate this person. "Defenestrate" was a word she had learned from her teacher, Ms. Campbell. It meant to throw someone out a window. She wasn't sure if she was using it correctly, but it was fun to say nonetheless. She turned back to the conversation.

"I told her to run. She's gone, you won't find her." This was the first time Ella had heard her mother lie. A flat out lie. Turned out she was a pretty good fibber.

"-you better not be lying. We'll burn the place down. Come on, move it," the invader was saying. Ella's eyes widened. Burn it? This place was her home. Ella's amazing mind was quickly at work devising a plan to get provisions and her things before the place caught fire. She had been called a prodigy before, by her teacher. She was a freshman in high school and was also in the gifted and talented program. She was the youngest in her class, as she was only 8 years old, and often had trouble carrying all her books in her backpack. But normally there was a group of girls who thought she was "cute" who helped her with her things in exchange for them doing her hair. And... Got it. Ella waited for the group of trespassers to exit the room and she crawled out from her hiding place. She silently reached for her bunny slippers. Ella slipped them on and walked quietly to the staircase. The staircase creaked at some parts, but overall Ella had memorized the loud areas for playing hide and seek with her parents. She successfully avoided the wooden cracks and made it to the top. Here there was a door before the hallway. It opened silently, thanks to her mom oiling the hinges the other day. She ran down the hall to her room. On the west side of the room, she had a window overlooking the courtyard and pool. This is where her dad kept all of his tools and also presumably where the kidnappers would be setting up their explosives and/or flame throwers. From looking at them, Ella could tell they were the kind of people who love extravagant plays. They would most likely have fireworks as well, and be monitoring all the phones in the house so anyone in there (herself) wouldn't be able to call the police. Ella peeked out the window. Bingo. They were down there putting gasoline on the threads of the explosives. Ella rushed into her bathroom and got out her handkerchief and robotic arm. She attached the arm to a pulley system she had created to pat her head in the morning to wake herself up. She attached the arm to the pulley and made sure it was working by pulling on the thread to close the fingers of the hand. Sure enough, they pinched together. Ella put the handkerchief in the hand and lowered her contraption down the side of the window. She carefully rubbed the gasoline off the threads and used her scissor attachment to cut up the explosives and disable them. She carefully did this to all the rest. When she finished, she hauled up her hand. That'll keep them busy for a while. Ella grabbed her backpack and shoved in her already prepared survival kit. It included 7 pairs of clothes, a few cans of tuna and peaches, and some heat and a packet of ramen. She also had some dried food and some hundred dollars she had been given in case of emergency. The kit also included a first aid kit and a swiss army knife. She excitedly walked towards the door only to pause as she heard voices coming from downstairs. She put an ear to the floor.

"All of our traps have been disabled," said one voice. It sounded sort of like a screech owl. Ella had researched screech owls. Screech owls or Megascops are typical owls belonging to the genus Megascops, with 23 living species known at present, but new ones are frequently recognized and unknown ones are still being discovered on a regular basis, especially in the Andes. They hoot, bark, and screech. This person's voice sounded so high and chirpy it could be mistaken for one of the birds if she or he weren't speaking english.

"Das mädchen ist irgendwo im Haus! Wir müssen sie nicht finden," said another. Ella scrunched up her face. Probably German? Ella had taken a German for beginners class back in 3rd grade. "Mädchen" meant "girl," and "haus" meant "house." So the were talking about her!

"If she is, she will get blown to bits in the next few minutes." This last person sounded so...grumpy. He just sounded so flat and annoyed. They think they can blow me up. That's sweet. Ella rolled her eyes and carefully pushed open her door. She snuck down the stairs only to come up short when the bottom of the spiral staircase creaked. Shoot. Ella looked around frantically. Her eyes landed on the two bars on the ceiling. She jumped up and grabbed on. She lay herself out flat threading her limbs through the bars. The person walked directly under her. She held her breath. He passed. Once he entered her parents room, Ella jumped down and winced as she found a soft thump.

"She's there! On the stairs!" Ella's eyes widened. Screech Owl was speaking. They knew she was there, no use hiding now. She ran down the stairs, not even bothering to step lightly. She ran swiftly towards the door, pausing only to step into her boots and glance back at Screech Owl. The woman even looked like an owl. Her nose was long and hooked and her shoulder blades were so sharp they looked like chicken wings. Ella rushed out the door.

"Come here darling, we won't hurt you," crooned Screech Owl. Yeah, nope. Ella kept running. Screech tried to follow but wasn't able to fit in the small hole leading under the fence. She'll have to go around, thought Ella.

"Bye, Screechy." Ella rushed down the sidewalk and out of sight. She kept an eye out for a good hiding place. There was a large oak tree outside of Ms. William's house. It had an enormous hollow in the truck, just big enough for Ella. She threw her rope up to one of the branches (She liked to call it a rope. But it was only a lot of string tied together). She climbed up and swung into the hole. Inside it was covered in leaves, making it a pretty comfy space. Ella searched around for a space to put down her bag. She shrugged it off in the corner of her space and took out her packet of nuts to munch on. I don't think the police would help me. Honestly, Ella, who do you think they would believe? A nine year old girl or a group of professional looking grownups? Ella laid back in her tree. They could probably convince the police to give her to them through adoption. So, the police were out of the question. And she didn't really have any friends since she went to a middle school and she herself should've been in elementary school still. And

Ms. Williams is a meanie. She would probably turn me into the police right away. Well, I'm on my own then. Ella gathered her stuff and jumped out of her hiding place. She had a debit card connected to her parent's bank accounts, which made her welcome at any hotel in the area. Money = Respect. Ella pulled out her phone and quickly booked a room at Hotel Belvedere.

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