Slowly trying to open his eyes, blinking to get the sleep out. Finally able to see, Alex found himself waking up in a cold, dark room. Immediately by looking around, he knew he had made a wrong turn sometime last night. The room was vaguely lit, there wasn’t enough light to make out objects. But the shadows weren’t the most comforting thing to see. One looked like a person dressed in baggy clothes, making it difficult to tell if it was a man or a woman. Alex felt an instant of cold chills run up and down his spine. This place gave him a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Body shivering, teeth chattering, he tried to get up only to notice that his hands were tied with rope behind the chair he was in.
“What the…what is this?” not expecting an answer, he jumped like a frog in the midst of his binding situation.
“It’s called rope,” said the voice, mockingly laughing under their breath. In the dead of night and in a silent warehouse, Alex could still hear them. He made a clear assumption that the voice had come from a woman.
“Well then why am I tied up? I didn’t do anything to you! I don’t even know who you are! HELP!” Alex squirmed in his chair trying to get free. Only to hear the strange woman laugh again. Her laugh was one that seemed to come from a doll with the pull cord in the back of it. Then suddenly, as if the woman was right behind him, he heard a SNAP! And his hands fell to his sides. Rubbing his wrists where the bind was the tightest, he raised his head to hopefully meet the gaze of the woman. Whomever she may be. At this point all Alex cared about was getting free.
“This is ridiculous.” Looking around quizzically, trying to see anything that might give him a clue to where he was, he dipped his head back into his lap, fear and sadness overwhelming him. He looked up once again to meet the eyes of the woman, knowing that it wouldn’t matter since he couldn’t see anything.
“Well then? Go ahead. Do whatever it is to me that would cause you to bring me here.” Knowing that as soon as he had finished his sentence, he shouldn’t have said anything.
“As you wish.” Said the woman. Then, seeming like there was more than one person there, all Alex felt was the startling, jab come across his face. Feeling the hot, sticky blood roll down his face in droplets, no sooner than he could blink, he passed out and became unconscious.

*4 hours earlier*

“Hey Alex!” called Xavier, running down the crowded downtown streets of New York.
“What up X? Where are you running off to now? Some chicks house no doubt, you player. I knew you had it in you.” Alex coined mockingly. He was always teasing Xavier like that. They had been best friends since middle school.
“Very funny. You know that’s not true.”
“It don’t matter. You can be anybody you want in THE BIG APPLE!” Alex exuberantly exclaimed.
Alex and Xavier had just recently moved to New York to go to college. Both of them were going to New York University. Alex got in on a football scholarship as the new freshmen quarterback. Xavier, on the other hand, was studying to become a professor at MIT. He was one of those kids who, if you give them any equation, they can figure it out. Alex and him had made a pretty good team all throughout high school.
“Man, I’m tired of walking. Why can’t we take a cab?” Xavier asked while walking to the street whistling for the next cab. Pulling on the hood of his jacket, Alex yanked him back. Not noticing that both of them were on the ice, Xavier fell, and then Alex right on top of him.
“Way to be that guy Alex. I think you broke my butt bone.”
“Well you broke my fall, so I guess we can call it even. Huh?” smirked Alex.
“Technically,” Xavier pulled himself off of the icy ground, brushing the snow off, “that doesn’t mean anything, because you fell on me.” Looking up, he froze still at what he saw. Suddenly everything moved on slow motion. It was the perfect meet cute. She walked past the window lit up with Christmas decorations. She had hair the color of wheat fields in the summer, and eyes the color of the Pacific Ocean. She was petite, about 5’2. Then, as if it was fate, her hat blew right off her head and over to Xavier’s feet.
“Hey!” she called, “Can you grab that for me please?” running over as fast as she could to catch it in time, but slowing to a walk as Xavier reached down to pick it up.
“Here you go,” he murmured. “Better hold onto that, the wind can get pretty testy.”
“Yeah, it can. Thanks. I really appreciate it, this is my favorite hat.”
“Sure, sure. I’m glad I could help,” he said smiling at her the whole time. “I’m Xavier.” Reaching out his hand to shake hers.
“Andy.” Shaking his hand, she noticed that he was surprisingly warm for not wearing any gloves.
“Well, since I’m going to be late in 10 minutes, I’ll let you guys go ahead and do whatever it is that your going to do. Just meet me at the warehouse.” Alex nodded towards Xavier, who didn’t notice at all since he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Andy. Alex smiled at Andy, who looked away from Xavier long enough just to give a quick smile back. Alex shook his head, laughing to himself as he walked away.
“So Andy, I know this great café right around the corner. I’m sure it’ll be nice and toasty in there. Care to join me?”
“I’d love to. It’s freezing out here.” She smiled at him. He held out his arm towards her and she wrapped hers around his as they walked to the café.
Andy noticed that Xavier wasn’t like most guys. Anybody could tell that almost right away. He was tall, about 6’3”. He had brown hair with natural blond highlights. His body type was lanky-looking in the winter jacket that he wore. But once they got inside the café, Andy noticed that he was very buff. However, that was not the thing that she was most attracted to, if his smile didn’t win her over, his eyes would’ve done the trick. They were like nothing she had ever seen. Amethyst in color, with what seemed to be a blue-ish haze on the rim. They were the most spectacular pair of eyes she had ever seen. Hours seem to have passed as they continued chatting over hot cocoa with marshmallows. Suddenly, Xavier remembered about what Alex had said. He looked at his watch. Alex was late. This wasn’t like him.
“Do you mind if we go? I just remembered that Alex wanted me to meet him.” Xavier tried to be as polite as he could. He hated the thought of not being able to spend time with her.
“Can I go with you? I enjoy talking to you.” She asked, hoping that the answer was yes.
“Sure, let’s grab a cab.” He smiled at the thought that she wanted to spend more time with him as well.
Once outside, Xavier called Alex, but didn’t get an answer.
“This isn’t like him, he always answers my calls.” He thought out loud.
“Here, I got the cab. Let’s go to that warehouse he mentioned. Do you remember the address?” Andy asked hurriedly.
“Yeah,” looking at the driver, “34th and Vine. And please hurry.”
“But there isn’t any buildings there. They tore them down a while ago.” She blurted out, quickly registering the panicked look on Xavier’s face. “But maybe, it was a building close by there.” She quickly said trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t seem to work.
*
*
*
Meanwhile, dragging Alex across the concrete, the strange woman laid him down beside the warehouse. Digging in her pockets, she pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Scribbling across the paper, she ripped it at the top and taped it to Alex’s chest. Refusing to move, he laid there on the damp ground. The woman muttered something in a foreign language and patted him on the head, then walked off. Whimpering, Alex couldn’t budge because of the cold. He was just hoping that someone would come soon to get him.
*
*
*
The cab pulled up to the empty lot. Andy was right, this place looked deserted. Xavier climbed out of the cab, and a gut feeling told him to shine a light down at the ground. A few feet ahead, he noticed drops of something. Andy stayed behind him and told the driver to stay there, that they would be back. Xavier bent down and noticed that the drops were fresh blood. Panicking now, he hurried to follow them, Andy close behind him. The drops led them to the side of a building, where Xavier noticed a dark, shadowy figure on the ground next to the building. He knew that it was Alex, that it was his body just lying there lifeless. Xavier ran up to him and turned Alex around to face him. Just slightly breathing, Xavier tried to get him to be conscious again. Andy, noticing the note on his chest, peeled it off and read it aloud.
“This isn’t over…we will find him.”
Andy looked at Xavier’s pain-stricken face.
“Come on, we ‘gotta get him to the hospital now.”

To Be Continued…