Prologue:

Aila:

Ever since I met John, we've been best friends. We met each other at four years old and I'm turning nineteen in July. We've been friends for fourteen years! That's crazy.

John has been the only best friend I've ever had. I've never had any other, and I wouldn't want any other. Now this isn't the same case for John. He has many other friends, but he chooses to hang out with me the most. He's taken me to every single prom we've had, only as friends though, not as like a date. And I'm fine with that. I like just being friends with him, and only friends.

Many people mistake us for boyfriend and girlfriend, but we quickly correct them.

Johns' a great friend and I don't know what I'd do without him.

John:

Aila was my first-ever real best friend, so she's really my one priority. She's funny, kind, beautiful, generous... she's everything a man could ever want.

I asked her every prom to go with me, and she always said, "As friends, right?" And me thinking; Should I say yes or no? I couldn't decide. I always wanted to say no and ask her if she would be my date, but every time, I got worried that she'd think I was weird for saying that, so I always said yes.

I've watched Aila grow up, basically her whole life. I wish I could watch it all over again, but you can't turn back time.

When Aila turns nineteen, I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend, and when I do, I really hope she says yes.

Chapter 1:

Aila

"Hey, Mom, I'm going to see John at the library. I'm just going to be there a couple of hours." "Okay. Just be back home for dinner." "I will. Bye!"

I didn't see John's car when I arrived at the library. I walked over to the library's front door, then someone shouted," Boo!" I screamed in terror. John started laughing. I just stood there in silence giving him a stern, annoyed look. "Oh, come on, you gotta admit it was funny," said John, still chuckling. "No, it wasn't. I almost passed out!" "No, you didn't. I think you're just being dramatic." "Ha! Sure," said Aila. "Just wait until I scare you! Then we'll see who's being dramatic." "Like that's ever gonna happen," said John. "Oh, just wait and see," I said. "I'm gonna get you

real good."

"John, I don't know if I can memorize all of this for the test on Wednesday," I say, uncertain. "I'll most likely fail." "Aila, don't say that. You're going to do great," John said trying to encourage me. I smile. John always disagreed when I would talk about me thinking I was going to fail. That's one of the highlights I like most about John. He always encourages me when I think I'm going to fail.

"Okay," I said, "I'm not going to fail. I'm just not going to do super good." "That's somewhat better," said John, still unsatisfied. "Do you want to go get a coffee?" I asked. "Just to take a break from schoolwork." "Yeah, I'm fine with whatever you want to do," answered John. "But do you really want to? Because we don't have to go if you don't want to," I say. "Yes, I want to go," reasured John. "Okay. Let's go," I say.

Chapter 2:

John

Everything Aila does is done gracefully and beautifully. Even just walking! The way her face lights up when you talk about animals is just so cute, especially when she starts talking about her favorite type of dog. Golden retriever puppies.

Aila has no idea how much I like her and that I want her to be my girlfriend and possibly wife. She's just so amazing in every way and I want her to be mine. I just wish I wasn't so afraid of asking her to be my girlfriend. Maybe I'll ask her when we get to the coffee shop.

"What do you want?" I asked. "I'm gonna get a hazelnut expresso, but I can pay for it."

"No, I'll pay for it," I say. "John, I can pay for it myself, you don't have to waste your money." "But it's not wasting if you going to drink it," I respond. "John," Aila complained. "Hi there, what can I get for ya?" asked the cashier. "One hazelnut expresso and one lungo, please." "Okay, that'll be $6.24," said the cashier. Aila went to hand her debit card to the cashier, but I was quicker and I gave mine first.

"John!" Aila whined. I chuckle. Aila gives me her cute, annoyed little look. "Oh, come on," I say, "it's literally three-dollar coffee." "Yeah! Three-dollar coffee that I can pay for!" Aila said. I smiled, and after a little while, Aila started smiling, too.

We enjoyed the rest of the day together until Aila had to go home because she told her mom she would be home for dinner. So I drove us back to the library where Aila's car was, then we said goodbye, and Aila left the library parking lot.

Chapter 3:

Aila

"I'm gonna go to the park," I say. "I've been needing some fresh air." "Okay," said Mom. I walked out the front door only to see John waiting for me. "What are you doing here?" I ask. "Your Mom said you might need some company and that you'd probably be going to the park today," answered John. "Oh, did she," I say looking through our window to see Mom staring out. Then she quickly closed the curtains pretending like she was never there. I gave a tiny laugh.

When we arrived, John and I walked around the entire park talking the whole time. We stopped by the swing set and talked some more. Then John said he had to go grab something.

While I was waiting, someone suddenly put a black bag over my head. I screamed for help, and I heard John shout, "Hey! Get your hands off of her!" I was thrown over the person's shoulders and was kidnapped. I was terrified until the black bag was taken off of my head, and I found myself in John's arms.

John set me down, and we both started running in the opposite direction of the kidnapper. I look behind and see the person lying on the dirty ground moaning in pain.

More people start running after us, so of course, we run away from them. We came to an alleyway and were trapped. There was no way out. John and I both turn around and see people with guns blocking our only way to escape. Someone came through all the guards and said, "Aila, we've been searching for you for a while. Now we finally got you." The guards started coming in closer, cornering us. John gets in front of me

to protect me.

One of the guards tried to push him out of the way, but he stood his ground. They even pointed their guns at him. Still, he did not move. The man, who somehow knew my name, tilted his head toward John, and four guards charged at him all at once, pushing him away. John tried to fight back, but all four of the guards were too strong for him to break free. The mysterious man walked up to me and said, "You are so beautiful." Then I felt a sharp needle injected into my arm. I immediately fell to the ground drugged with a sleeping drug. The last thing I saw and heard was John screaming my name and trying even harder to break free.

Chapter: 4

John

Aila fell to the ground as soon as the man injected the needle into her arm. I tried even harder to fight back, but they would not let me go. The man motioned the guards to let me go, and when they did, I immediately went over to Aila. "What did you do to her?!" I ask as angry as ever. "She'll be fine. She's gonna wake up in a couple of hours so we better get a move on people before she does," said the man. "Oh, and take the boy as well." I was then shoved into a car separate from Aila.

The man got into the car I was in and sat right next to me. I wanted to attack him, but there was a guard with a gun sitting in the back as well, so I couldn't risk it. Not if I wanted to try and rescue Aila so we could escape.

"So what's your name, boy?" asked the man. "What are you doing with Aila?" I ask. "Oh my gosh, will you stop worrying about her? She'll be fine! Now what's your name?" "John," I answered. "Ah. Very nice name," responded the man. "So what's yours?" I asked. "I, John, am Doctor Perly. Not very well known but will soon be because of my discovery!" "What discovery?" I ask, curious. "Now I can't tell you what the discovery is. All I can tell you is that it has to do with Aila." "I swear if you hurt her an any way I'll-" "Now, now. No need to be so protective," said Dr. Perly, cutting me off, "I'm just going to do a few experiments with her and it'll all be done."

I didn't know if I could believe Dr. Perly or not, so I decided not to. He's a random guy who kidnapped Aila and me, and I don't know what the heck he's going to do to Aila, so I decided to keep my distance. I only hope that they're not doing anything harmful to Aila right now.

Chapter: 5

Aila

"Finally," said the man, "you're awake!" "Who are you? What am I doing here? Is John okay?" I ask. "Oh, right, I forgot, you still don't know me. I'm Dr. Perly and you're here because you have something that I need. And John is fine. He's in a different room right now." "What do you want with me?" I ask. "Nothing you should or need to know right now," answered Dr. Perly. "Uh, yes right now because I think I need to know what your planning to do with me." "Just don't worry about it. You'll be fine," reassured Dr. Perly. I knew I couldn't trust him and I know John didn't trust him either. John!

"Why is John here?" I asked. "Is he okay. What are you doing to him?" "Hey, hey, now, calm down. I already told you, John is fine. We're

not planning to do anything with him."

"Then why is he here?" I ask. "Because we just wanted him. We're not going to do anything with him."

"You know John will find a way to get out of here." "Sure," said Dr. Perly. "I mean it," I say. "When John does, he'll go straight to the police and tell them where I am, and you'll all end up in jail."

Dr. Perly chuckled. "Think what you wanna think, Aila, but we both know the truth; you guys aren't ever escaping, and you know it." "Think what you wanna think doctor because we are getting out, and when we do, you all will be sentenced to ten years of prison."

Chapter 6:

John

"John," said someone who works for Dr. Perly, "Dr. Perly says you can see her now." I immediately got out of my chair and the person took me to Aila.

"Aila, are you okay, did they hurt you in any way?" I ask. "No," she responded, "just a few blood tests." I sighed with relief. I didn't even know why, but I did anyway.

We sat in silence for a long while until she finally spoke again. "How long do you think they'll keep us here?" "I don't know," I said honestly. "But I do know that we're getting out of here. I promise. "I know we will," said Aila, smiling. "You always find a way."

Aila believes in me. I can't let her down. I will find a way out of this

place; I just hope it's soon.

Chapter 7:

Aila

"Alright, Aila," said Dr. Perly, "now that all the blood tests are done, we can finally begin the real work." I shivered at the thought. I didn't know what he was going to do to me.

He gave me a shot and I began to feel sleepy. Next thing I knew my eyelids were shut and I was fast asleep.

When I woke up, I saw John sitting in a chair beside me; he looked tired. When he saw that I was awake, he rushed to my side and asked if I was okay. I told him I was fine.

"What did they do to you?" he asked. "I don't know," I answer, "I was asleep the whole time." He nodded his head.

 I looked around to see if anyone was there (no one was) so that's when I whispered, "Have you found a way out yet?" "I think so," he whispered back, "It seems like our only option." I nod. "When do you think we'll leave?" I ask. "Possibly in three days," John answered.

I smiled. We're finally getting out of here!

Chapter 8:

John

As I was escorted away from Aila's room, I saw the exit door that we were escaping out of. The only problem is you needed a code to get out, which doesn't really make any sense because you only use codes to get into places, but I guess they didn't want us escaping so they put a code to get out. I just need to get that code... but how?
When I got back to my room, I started brainstorming on how to get the code. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I'll have to be very sneaky for this plan to work, but I'm sneaky, right?

I left my room and started walking to the exit where we would make our escape, thankfully someone was there going to do the code. As I was about to say something, someone asked, "Hey what was the code again?"

"Oh, it's 907723," said the person doing the code. "Okay, thanks, I keep forgetting." "Maybe you should write it down somewhere." "I would, but then one of those kids would find out and escape." "True, true," answered the person doing the code.

Well, that was easy. Now I just have to wait until midnight and me and Aila can make our escape.

Chapter 9:

Aila

It was 12:03 in the morning and I felt sooner lightly shaking me awake saying, "Aila. Aila wake up!" "What?" I say. "C'mon we have to go now," said John. "What?" I say again. "We're leaving," he replied. "Now!" I say. "Yes, now 'cause now is the best time. So come on!" I immediately got out of bed and followed John.

As we quietly walked down the hallway, we heard voices and immediately hid.

"How was today's test?" asked someone. "They were good," answered Dr. Perly. "We're getting closer and closer to achieving our goal. Well, my goal." "Glad to hear," said the person and then left.

John and I did;t come out of hiding until Dr. Perly's office light was