Anthology

The Pick-up Truck

Once upon a lonely highway, a young girl discovered herself dressed in a sparkly, midnight blue, ballgown and completely confused. She looked from left to right trying to figure out why she was here.

"Where did I come from?" she thought.

"Who am I?" she wondered.

Suddenly, out of the moonlit night, the sound of horse hooves and wooden wheels, grinding on the pavement alerted her that she was not going to be alone for long.

"Over here!" She yelled, hoping to get the attention of what she assumed was a carriage.

Jewel encrusted harness twinkled in the star light as the speeding carriage grew closer and closer. Finally, it arrived and as she was about to go in, someone from behind her put their hand on her mouth and put her in the back of a pick-up truck.

Kicking was useless as the ballgown tangled around her legs, and she felt the sequins and beads embroidered into the bodice of her dress bit into her back as strong arms pinned her to the side of the truck and they blindfolded her. She tried to scream but was stopped by a gag put over her mouth. Then she saw stars and everything went black.

Why is this happening to me? She mentally screamed, as tears stung her eyes. And then she looked behind her and realized that she could see again.

Two sets of dark eyes reflected the truck lights as they watched her closely. Next, the truck began to move backwards and she saw that they were pulling into an abandoned warehouse. The truck jerked to a stop, and the girl found herself blinded yet again, but by a bright light dangling above her. As her eyes adjusted, she finally was able to see that the eyes belonged to two men. One was tall, well muscled, and smiled shyly as he kept his seat across from her on the side of the truck. The other scowled fiercely down at her, and his biceps bulged when he crossed his arms over his impressively large chest. No one moved, as the girl was shocked to discover she felt no fear over the strange circumstance she was in.

"We have been waiting a long time to be able to do this, Princess Annabelle." The scowling man said.

Suddenly, it all made since to her. She must have been trying to run away from them and hit her head on the pavement. They caught up with her, and put her in the back of the pick-up truck. She felt a prickle up her spine at the thought of it.

"Your majesty, I have to ask," the muscle man said cautiously, as he slid down to sit in the bed of the pick-up truck, "we were told that you had been warned of your brother's plans to kidnap you. Granted, we would have taken you after your birthday ball, but you made our job so much easier by running off by yourself. Why did you run?"

Annabelle's eyebrows pinched together as she tried to remember.

"I have no idea." she admitted, as she rubbed the bruise on the side of her forehead.

"Well, well, well sister." the deep voice of Annabelle's brother echoed off the cement walls of the warehouse.

Fear crawled across her skin like billions of ants. That voice instantly brought back her memories of what must have been only hours ago.

Hidden in the secret passageway, behind the thrown room, she had listened into a conversation that had changed her life. She peered through a hole in the secret passageway, and saw her brother talk to a man with black hair, olive skin, blue eyes, a tank top. ripped jeans, and tattoos running all the way up his arm.

"Father thinks I'm a fool, and I don't know what he's doing." Annabelle's brother Austin, sneered at the tank top guy. "I know he doesn't think that I'm ready, but there's no way he will give the crown to my snot nosed little sister." He hacked some spit in his mouth, and the spat onto some weeds. "Over my dead body!"

"Sir," began the man, "what am I-"

"Kyle, please don't interrupt me." Austin snapped.

He continued to pace around the room.

"I've got it," he said, "tomorrow at midnight, after my sister's eighteenth birthday ball, we will capture her, erase her memory, and send her to another country."

Annabelle shook her head, she'd always known her father was cautious and super suspicious of Austin, but never did she think she was being considered for the throne.

They began to propose where to send her off to.

"How about Timbuktoo! No.... Japan! No... Canada! No Chile- wait I've got it," a grin spread across his face, "a remote island off the coast of Russia."

"Great idea," Kyle said, "but where does my gang come in?"

"That's simple, you will capture Anabelle and get any information you can out of her before you wipe her memory." he stated.

Annabelle gasped.


Hope you liked this short story!