The door slammed shut, loudly. I flinched; sitting with my hands and feet cuffed in the basement and counted the footsteps. He wasn't alone, my heart sank.

It was always worse if he wasn't alone.

I heard a voice I didn't recognise and it took me a second to realise the footsteps weren't as heavy as I was used to. I stared in surprise at the big, ruthless metal door I had tried to escape from countless times. I'd lost track of how many days I'd been here, it had to be over a year and never had I heard his footsteps sound like that. Hope flared up in me for the first time in a year.

The footsteps stopped at the door and the voices became more distinguishable. I leaned forward to try and hear more clearly but, the chain that was attached to both me and the wall, stopped me. I heard as someone began to open the gigantic latch on the door that was only accessible from the outside, of course.

The heavy door opened an inch and, as usual, my eyes got blinded by the light and I had to squint unable to see.

"Oh god…Sue, there's a girl in here," I heard a man's voice say. My heart beat accelerated and I felt my eyes widened. They found me! They found me! I felt myself begin to grin, madly. My eyes adjusted to the light and I recognised two police officers looking at me in horror. I desperately tried to claw my way towards them, I could only think about getting out of this basement. The only place I had been, in over a year.

The woman, Sue gasped and ran towards me, her eyes were clouded by tears, "Get her free, Jim. Get her free!" She repeated hysterically as she put her hands on my cheeks, "It's alright, you're alright now," She told me as tears ran down her face. I had run out of tears, months ago.

Jim pulled the chain that attached me to the wall several tries and managed to get it free, taking a chunk of the wall with it, "Just get her out of here," He said helping me stand up but, my legs couldn't support me. I growled, annoyed with myself. The only thing, I had to do was stand up but, I was too pathetic to even do that.

Sue lifted me into her arms which wasn't hard considering that I hadn't been fed at all this month, "You're ok now, you're safe with me," She repeated the line over and over, carrying me up the basement stairs. I ignored what she was saying and craned my head eagerly to see anything but, that blood and urine splattered room.

"Just relax," Sue said but, I felt as though I should be telling her that. I'd never been happier in my life, "Can you tell me your name?" She finally managed to ask.

"Clar-" My throat closed up, it wasn't used to speech, I had barely made a sound in the last few months. We were finally up the stairs and I looked around in confusion. The house looked perfectly normal. There were no indications of the man who I knew and saw every day.

"Clar?" Sue frowned as she carried me through the house. I shook my head, trying to show her that, that wasn't my name, "Look, let's just get you to complete safety and then we can talk,"

She walked outside and inside I rejoiced. Thankfully, it was dark outside so my eyes weren't completely blinded. I grinned wildly, looking around. Behind us, Jim was exciting the house and talking to someone on his phone. I could breathe clean air; I could see into the distance, I could almost taste the normalness in the air. I missed it soo much, a normal night.

Somehow I managed to produce a few tears and the woman almost began sobbing, "It's alright, don't cry. You're alright now," Sue said frantically, I wanted to tell her I was crying out of joy but, I couldn't speak. She put me into a cop car and my heart rejoiced, wildly jumping around in my stomach.

She got in next to me as Jim got into the driver's seat. Sue clutched my hand tightly. If I were normal, it would have hurt but, it was nothing compared to…

I looked around one final time and spotted something in the corner of my vision. A man, the man, him. My heart felt as though it has been stabbed ten times simultaneously. I felt myself start to hyperventilate. As the car pulled away, I saw him gesture slicing his neck open and I knew what it meant: 'Tell anyone about me and I'll find you'.

Jace's POV

I rubbed my eyes, and glanced over at the redhead next to me in the bed. I didn't even know her name. I only chose her because of her hair colour, red, as usual. Of course, she was nothing like her. But, then again, no one was.

Stop it Jace! She's gone, forget about her! This was the daily battle I had with my brain, it was never resolved. I stood up and stretched, hoping that the girl would be gone by tomorrow. I heard a police siren as a car drove past on the street but, ignored it.

School was starting next week, it was my last year but, I couldn't bring myself to think about it. She and I had made plans back before she went missing to do all these things during our last year and now the thought of it is depressing.

Stumbling through the dark, I made my way to the living room and switched the TV on. I wasn't going to sleep anyway. I flicked through the channels and found nothing so put the news on, not really watching.

I watched it for what seemed like hours until I began to feel myself fall asleep. Just on the verge of unconsciousness, I saw a flash of red on the news and then fell asleep.