CHAPTER FOUR
I COULD NOT STOP FROM TREMBLING AS MR. CRUISE leaned forward in his chair and gestured to the other man. "Knot, take her away," he said silkily. "I have more important business to tend to." he added, turning his dark eyes to his papers on his desk.
Knot grabbed me under my arms, lifting me off the brown rugged ground. "Frostwater, if you make a peep about this to anyone, you're dead." he snarled, his last words sending a icy chill spiraling down my spine.
"You c-cant," I stammered, "I'm only a child-"
"Only a child who knows too much." Knot spat, shoving me into a cold, concrete prison cell and slamming the door with a bang. Then he fastened the lock onto the bars, gave me a death glare, and hurried away with the keys hooked onto his blue plaid shirt.
I was too tired to call out of help; no one would hear me anyway. I glanced around, spotted a hard bed in the corner of the jail room, and made a bee-line for it, sinking into its musky-smelling covers, and drifted off into a deep slumber, my dreams black and terrifying.
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And, so, the lessons to brainwash me began. Mr. Cruise wanted me to forget everything about myself so that he could use me for his will. "Your name is Emily Strikeson Cruise," he would say. "And you are my daughter. Who are you?" And I would always reply, "I am Emily Strikeson Cruise, and I am your daughter." But I didn't believe those words. I always repeated to myself at night, "You are Vennasa Frostwater, and you are not Mr. Cruise's daughter." This way, I could trick Mr. Cruise into thinking I believed what I said while I kept my sanity, my name, and my life.
One day, he called me. "Emily," he said, his voice echoing into the room where he had allowed me to live. I gritted my teeth as I heard him utter my 'adopted' name from his desk in the main hall. "Emily, I have a mission for you."
I walked slowly out of my 'bedroom', which had a pink plush rug and a softer, blanketed bed, and strided to Mr. Cruise. I rocked on the balls of my feet and folded my hands behind my back. "Yes, Dad?" I said happily, despising the perkiness in my voice.
"I need you to go out for me," he said simply.
A shiver gripped me from head to toe. I knew why he was sending me out of the house-to kidnap another child. Some innocent young person who had no idea what I was going to do. Some innocent young person who would probably never see their family again.
