Stolen: Part One: Chapter One Stolen

"I love my mommy, no mater how hard you try to get rid of her you can’t! I won’t let you! I hate you! You said you loved us, but you don’t!" Courtney screamed with as much hatred as a little eight year old could possible imagine up.

Daron had taken her to one of his friend’s house that Molly did not know about. He had the door and the two windows of the small room under lock key. He had been trying to convince her that taking her away was for her own good and that her mom was wrong. Of course, Courtney knew it was the other way around.

Daron raised his hand in frustration then calmly let it fall at his side. He then spoke so politely that you would think that he was telling the truth, "Courtney, you’re right. I don’t love them I love you. I’ve always loved you."

"Stop it! I know you don’t love me so just throw away the act!" Courtney spat.

"Fine Courtney I tried to be nice. I tried to make it easy, but seems how you won’t corroborate you’ll just have to be one of the bad girls. Such a pity to, I thought you’d turn out to be one of the best," Daron spoke with an evil tongue

"I don’t belong here!" Courtney shouted.

"You do now so there is someone I would like you to meet."

A woman around the age of 25 came into the room and sat down on the black leather chair by the window. She was a tall, beautiful Burnett, which was a spoiled rotten Daron’s girl. She was wearing a diamond- circle necklace, belly ring, bracelet and a lot of make-up. Her clothes were where the strangest, but most beautiful clothes that Courtney had seen.

Daron grabbed Courtney by the arm and pulled her towards the woman, "This is Martha Banks. She is going to be your new mommy. You are to treat us with respect and if you don’t you will get a harsh punishment. Mind you, there are favorites when good but all inappropriate acts have equal punishments."

Those were the last and only words of warning Courtney had before she was put to work. She was to work in a factory that Martha owned. Courtney was surprised to find about a thousand other kids being forced by only about one-hundred screaming adults holding whips. She also found out that Daron was thirty instead of twenty-one like her mother had believed.

*

"Okay Courtney gets to work on them boxes," Daron ordered.

Courtney had to move boxes from one truck to another about twenty yards away. She weighed fifty two pounds and could barely lift them. A boy a year older than her came over and offered to help her. "Need some help?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you," Courtney smiled.

Matt held one side as Courtney held the other side. They worked together to carry the boxes making small talk the entire time. They found out each others names and compared their stories. His name was Matt. Matt had been taken away from his dad by Martha when he was six. He had hated Daron ever since.

"So what does dad," Courtney paused, "I mean, Daron mean by there are favorites when good?"

"Oh, that just means that if he likes you, you don’t have to do as much work. I’m an in-between. What are you?" Matt explained.

"I’m a bad girl," Courtney criticized.

Matt pulled her arms down and pinned them at her side, "That’s not something to joke about. If you’re bad you get whipped, beat, extra work, and sometimes even starved. Maybe even killed,"

Courtney gulped and started thinking of ways to get back on Daron’s good side. Not because she wanted to but because she did not want the consequences of being a "bad girl". "Oh."

All of the sudden Matt shot off. At first she did not know why but then she heard a man calling to her to get back to work. He went to hit her with the whip but Daron stepped in the way. He screamed, "First day you know the rules! Now get out of here!" He then turned to Courtney and gave her a look of disappointment, "Next time you will get whipped!"

"Sorry Daddy Daron," Courtney sucked up.

Daron got a hint of a smile and whispered, "It’s okay now get back to work."

As soon as Daron was out of sight Matt bolted back. He looked at Courtney in disbelief. His confusion made his icy blue eyes less sparkled. "How did you get him to say that it’s okay, and without yelling it? And the smile?"

"I called him," Courtney took a deep breath then said ashamed as she hung her head to let her hair hide her face, "I called him Daddy Daron."

"What!" Matt was confused.

"That’s what I called him before I knew he was like this. I had a feeling that it would give me some plus points. Trust me I would have given anything to kick him where it counts," Courtney laughed.

"Oh," Matt laughed with her.

The rest of the day Courtney and Matt snuck a few words in here and there, but otherwise Courtney just kept to moving the boxes. There were about one thousand in each truck and Courtney emptied a whole truck. That was a new record for someone on their first day.

Courtney was trying everything in her will to get on the good side of Daron’s "Slaves" as you could call them. Courtney had a wild idea that if she did exactly as she was told and broke every record by so much that no one could ever break them again, then maybe, just maybe, Daron might let her go back home to her mom and Melinda. It would take some time but at least with that plan Courtney would not be there forever.

*

Courtney was fourteen and in her fifth year at the factory. Every day there seemed to be more work to be done and not half enough people to do it. Of course the boxes did not seem as heavy now that she was older. Most of the kids where whipped because they were not working fast enough. Courtney and Matt were two of those unlucky ones.

They worked fast but it was never good enough for Daron. He hated that Courtney had broken 357 records out of 673. She was emptying three trucks a day, and then cleaning up at noon while everyone was out eating their slop. Daron hated that she was doing a worse job. Every chance he had he would tie her up and whip her, beat her, whatever he could think of. He hated Matt even more. Every chance he had he would have Matt thrown in the hole.

Daron never let Courtney out of his sight unless he absolutely had to. He would not let her speak or communicate with anyone. When he could blame her for something he did and he made sure she was double punished. Even when it was not her fault he made it her fault just to humiliate her.

One day Courtney had been working all day and she was becoming exhausted. She was carrying a box to load it in a truck when someone bumped into her. It was the guard Yensid. The box flew in the air and fail on him. Daron happened to be in the work area at the time and sprinted over to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Courtney!" Daron’s facial expression was that of the devil.

Courtney jerked her head up, "I didn’t do anything. He ran into me."

Grabbing her arm Daron bent it in such a way that she fell to her knees. He dragged her to the center of the working area where the whipping post was located. He synced her to it. Yensid handed him his whip.

"Listen and watch her pain." Daron lectured as he held up the double spiked whip. "She is not punished because of her doings but because of her words. She has spoken a lie to me and now she will be punished!"

The whip lashed across Courtney’s back. Guards held chins and arms, making the others watch. Matt pushed his way through the group and looked on in horror as he saw who was being punished. Courtney screamed out in pain as the whip shredded her shirt and pierced her skin. The double spikes increased the pain. With every sound she made Matt winced and another tear fell.

The pain was unbearable. All Courtney could hear was her mother’s voice whispering gently in her ear that she was going to make it. She thought she heard Matt calling out but could not make out the words. As the whip lashed across her back one last time she wondered why it had been so short.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Matt was calling out with a broken voice

Daron stepped away from Courtney and looked at Matt with hatred, "Oh, so you want it to stop. Well, then I guess it’s your turn."

Matt’s blue eyes became the deep pits of the ocean, cold and dark. He proceeded towards Daron with fear that only Courtney could recognize. Matt untied her and stood by the post, "Well?"

Filled with anger as if his head were going to slingshot off, Daron yanked Courtney up by her hair and threw her to the ground below Matt. He pushed his foot into her back and held her there while he slammed Matt into the post and bound the rope around him. He dug his foot deeper between her shoulder blades and began to crack the whip over Matt’s back.

Courtney’s eyes looked on in sadness and hatred. The lashing carried on forever it seemed. She could do nothing but lie there and watch. If she reacted in any way shape or form Matt would have done nothing for her.