Aaron Cyrus March 7th,20XX

I woke up to a sharp pain in my head and a painful chafing on my wrists and ankles. Someone had tied me up.

“He isn’t dead, is he?”

“Of course not! I used a higher dosage than you recommended, but it wouldn’t have been nearly enough to kill anyone.”

That was Sam’s voice.

I didn’t know why I’d expected him to run off right after doing this to me but hearing his voice made an intense sense of rage cut through the fog that clouded my mind.

Drugging me was one thing, but he had the nerve to stick around after?

Where was I even?

I tried to force my eyes open, but they felt heavy and resisted the action.

Giving up on my eyes, I turned to my other senses. My shoulders screaming in pain as I pushed my hands closer to the ground. It was cool and rough, but it was familiar. There was a draft that occasionally messed with my hair, and it carried the scent of the sea on it.

We were by the sea, and judging by the rough but hard surface I could feel, we were in the caves.

Let’s see, my house was about twenty minutes from here. An old man regularly scanned the caves before High tide to make sure no one got stuck and drowned, but who knew if he was still alive?

I didn’t know how long I’d been out but judging by how heavy and stiff my body felt, it had probably been a few hours.

The groggy feeling slightly receded, and I finally forced my eyes open. It was dark, but enough light streamed into the cave to show me outlines of the people that had kidnapped me. I saw another five figures tied up against the wall. They looked in awful shape, but at least they’d been pushed up against the wall and not left on the floor like I was.

The light was slightly pinkish and displayed the last remnants of the night. The way it refracted and danced against the dark walls of the cave would have been beautiful if not for the scenario I saw it in.

Aside from the two that held a whole conversation in front of me, I could hear another individual ruffling around behind me. I couldn’t tell if they were kidnappers or fellow victims, and I couldn’t turn around to check.

I trained my eyes on a small rock a distance away and used my powers to levitate it.

My stomach sank as it stayed in place for an uncomfortably long time, but slowly and steadily, it rose into the air and wobbled in place. Sweat beaded into my eyes from the effort, and I could feel nausea bay and wave in my throat.

Before I could stop it, a heavy exhale pushed past my lips, and the sound of my heavy breathing made the two standing figures look in my direction.

“Finally awake, sleeping beauty?”

It was an unfamiliar voice, but it elicited as much anger as Sam’s did. Since they’d noticed it, I gave up faking unconsciousness and pulled myself up to a seated position.

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The two looked at me with malicious smiles as I tried to coordinate my body and use my bound limbs to leave the ground.

It was dark, so I had a hard time making out their expressions, but from the small step that Sam took back, I knew he was taken back. In fact, he somewhat looked… scared.

Wasn’t that ridiculous? Fearing someone he’d drugged and kidnapped.

“What the hell? You aren’t supposed to be up yet! You really are a beast!”

His voice wobbled as he cracked the joke and contributed to the sorry picture he painted of himself. He continuously looked toward the larger figure and slowly stepped away from them, showing the chain of power.

So that was the actual perpetrator.

But why?

“What do you guys want?”

“Wow, I’m a bit hurt, Aaron. Couldn’t you sound a bit more betrayed? Or upset? Sounding like you didn’t expect any better from me hurts my feelings a little.”

He jumped around as he taunted me, and the malice he’d barely hidden before came out in full force. I’d ignored it for the past few nights, and nostalgia had clouded my judgement, but it wasn’t like I was that disappointed in him.

Going as far as drugging me was out of my expectations, but if anyone out of my ex-friend group went that far, it would be him.

I suddenly remembered why I’d stopped contacting him as soon as I’d moved up to the big city.

We’d both been tennis players and had been pretty evenly matched. Or no, he’d been slightly better than I was at a point. But he’d messed up in the showcase match, and the scout had chosen me instead.

I’d felt bad back then, but I’d wanted out of this small town so badly that I’d taken the opportunity. It wasn’t like I owed it to him to give up the opportunity, but I understood why he was angry at me.

It had been so long, though; I thought he’d gotten over it, but obviously, he was still bitter. I’d hoped he’d be able to settle for a few nights of fun on my dollar. But this… this was ridiculous.

Just lifting a stone had tired me out so much I could barely catch my breath. There wasn’t much I could do until I could catch a second wind except figure out what they’d wanted to do with me. There was no way it would stop here if they’d already come this far.

Having realized that I would not play along with his partner’s ridiculous circus act, the bigger figure stepped forward and I could barely make out his face. It looked somewhat familiar, but who knew if I actually knew him or if it was just a side effect of living in a small town.

“Honestly, it’s not personal. I asked Sam if he knew any people who could take part in a running testing trial. I only mentioned that it would be nice if I could get an athlete, but who knew he could get the great Aaron Cyrus.”

He brought out a briefcase I’d somehow failed to notice until now and set it on the floor beside me.

“Sam here exaggerates a lot, but who knew he was being serious about your tolerance! After an entire night of drinking and a healthy dose of ketamine, you still woke up so quickly! Absolutely incredible.”

The briefcase split open, and each side hit the floor with a bang that echoed around the otherwise silent space.

From the little I could make out, I could see a few vials of a clear substance and a syringe bag. There were band-aids and other medical supplies in there, but the vials worried me the most.

So that was what Sam wanted to do.

I didn’t bother trying to negotiate with him since I knew there wouldn’t be any point. Instead, I focused on gathering my strength. At this point, I could crush the two of them into bones, but I needed some more time to convince myself that it wasn’t worth it.

As he chose a vial and loaded a syringe, Sam walked over to us and crouched beside the psychopath.

“How long did you say this would stay in his system? You can take as much blood as you want, but I’ll need it to read in his system when I take him down to the station.”

“It registered in the machines for about three days after I put it into others, but for him, it’ll likely clear up in a day or two. Don’t worry, I’ll give him over before that. It’s a pity, if he wasn’t such a high-profile person, he’d be great as a sampler.”

Alcohol was about the only legal non-prescription drug allowed, and usage of anything else would lead to heavy punishment. That went double for public figures like me.

I didn’t know what they wanted to inject into me, but I doubted it was anything innocent.

“Now, just stay still. I’d hate to miss.”

I took one last breath and made sure I wouldn’t go too far.

I wasn’t in a blind rage like I’d been before, but I was plenty angry. I didn’t put it aside or put myself above the emotion, but this time I embraced it.

I wouldn’t go too far, but I just couldn’t be the bigger person in this situation.