Taken Read online

  Taken

  Book One of The Taken Series

  Sarah Jayne Harry

  Independently published by Sarah Jayne Harry using Amazon KDP.

  Copyright © 2019 by Sarah Jayne Harry. All Rights Reserved.

  The right of Sarah Jayne Harry to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the copyright, designs and patent act 1988.

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, events or incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book is registered with the Copyright House Directory.

  First Edition

  ASIN: B07V4X4XTL

  Cover Source: Alexander Krivitskiy | Pexels.com

  Contents

  Title Page

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Epilogue

  The End

  Also by Sarah Jayne Harry

  About the Author

  For Mum

  Tayla Robinson, 16 years old, is on her way home late one night when she notices someone following her. After a string of sightings from a distance, the mysterious man finally catches up with her.

  Now, taken away from her home and family, Tayla must find a way to escape her prison before she is lost to them forever.

  Then, a year after being reunited with her loved ones, history comes back to repeat itself in the form of one man with an obsession for the young girl.

  Can Tayla overcome a second encounter and finally put an end to the madness plaguing her life?

  PROLOGUE

  It’s dark, wet and freezing and the soles of my feet are raw from running barefoot across the forest floor. My body is exhausted but I can’t stop. I can’t let them catch me.

  I have been running for what feels like 30 minutes, although it could be longer. There’s still no sign of a road anywhere nearby, there’s not even a hiking trail in sight. I shouldn’t be surprised really, Dante wouldn’t keep his precious ‘merchandise’ anywhere near civilisation, less risk of someone stumbling across his ‘business’.

  My breath comes in short, deep bursts as I run as fast as my legs will go. I am surrounded by nothing but large, haunting trees. I hide behind a particularly wide tree and try to catch my breath for a minute, the thick leaves of the trees hiding me in near darkness despite the blazing sun overhead.

  I look myself over for any serious injuries. My body is covered in bruises and dirt, there are some day-old cuts and some scratches from the struggle of my escape. I have a large wound on the left side of my stomach that I got from one of the guards during the escape. I place my hands over the hole to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, ripping a strip of fabric from my dress, I wrap it tightly around my waist, then focus on my breathing.

  With my eyes squeezed shut, I try to imagine what life back home is like. Are my parents still looking for me? Does my boyfriend still wait for me to come back to him? Has my best friend found a new bestie? I have lost track of how long I’ve been away from them. Almost four months, I think.

  The sound of a twig snapping brings me back to attention. I look into the trees and can’t see anyone, with one last breath I take off running. I can hear the footsteps of the men chasing me, the shouts as they shout to one another, they’re close. I only go a few more steps before the sound of a gun being loaded stops me in my tracks.

  “Don’t take another step, Tayla.” comes a voice from behind, I look around and find myself surrounded by dark figures, all of who are pointing their guns at me.

  I slowly turn to face him and find myself looking down the business end of his gun. I meet his eyes briefly before I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head and then the world goes black.

  My last thought, I only hope they’ll kill me quickly.

  CHAPTER 1

  The bell rings to signal the end of yet another school day. History was my last lesson of the day and as I quickly pack my books into my bag, my best friend, who's standing at the door to the classroom, yells at me to hurry up, she's almost bouncing in her shoes waiting for me.

  Karen Miller has been my best friend since we were toddlers. We live just around the corner from each other so we basically grew up attached at the hip. With short, dark hair in a bob, big, brown eyes, a slim figure and a lightly tanned complexion, most people at school call her boring, a plain Jane, but she's anything but. The reason why we stayed such good friends is because we both enjoy mostly the same things, the only difference is, Karen travels a lot, she has been everywhere, from Paris to New York and Japan and all over the States. Me, on the other hand, I have only dreamt about going places, I've never even been out of our small hometown of Newquay, Cornwall, a beautiful coastal town nestled on the south west of Britain, where it's mostly warm all year round and with only a handful of shops to enjoy.

  I laugh and swing my bag onto my shoulder and hurry over to her. I can't blame her for being chirpy, it's Friday and that only means one thing. Party!

  Lacy Donaway, the most popular girl in school is having yet another party, she has one almost every Friday, her parents are loaded and they are never home, work keeps them away so they try to make up for it by giving Lacy whatever she wants. Tonight's party is different though. It's almost the end of our last school year, only one month to go and then we leave, and in a few months, we go to college, I can't wait. A few days ago, I got my letter saying I got into my first choice, I'm going to be attending King’s College in London where I'll be doing three years studying Geography and Environmental Studies. I picked London because truthfully, I want to fly the nest, I don't want to leave the country though, like others. It was also my birthday last month, I just turned 16, so it’s the perfect opportunity to go out into the world on my own. Tonight, is for celebrating.

  "Tayla, I swear to god, if you don't move your feet then I'm going to ditch you and go to this party with Megan." Karen interrupts my thoughts. I give her a knowing smirk and we both burst out laughing. We both know she's bluffing, she wouldn't go anywhere with Megan.

  Megan is our other friend, if you could call her that. We took pity on her when she was being bullied last year and we never hang out, we don’t even have any of the same classes together. We say hi and talk briefly during lunch but that's it. She is kind of weird, with her Goth look and weird 'rituals' she does, involving magic and voodoo. Numerous times she has gone around ‘cursing’ anyone who bullies her.

  "OK, you know I wouldn't but please hurry up. We have to start getting ready for tonight." she says as she drags me across the car park and towards the busses like the ground is on fire.

  I look back at the plain,
red-bricked building that's too small for its students, glad to have two days before I go back. It's just after 3 pm on a Friday and the party doesn't kick off until 7:30 pm. There is plenty of time to get ready.

  Once we get a seat at the back of the bus, I look at my best friend, she's acting giddy and nervous. "Alright, what's going on? Why are you so riled up about this party?" I ask her.

  She bites her lip, she does that when she doesn't want to say anything. She sighs and looks around to make sure nobody is listening, then she leans closer, "I heard that Tommy is going to be at this party tonight." she looks at me and waits expectantly. Tommy is the guy she has had a crush on since forever. He's one of the popular kids at school but he doesn't care much about the parties or school events and he never shows up for any of them.

  I raise a brow at her, "Are you sure? You know he never comes to these things, why would he come to this one today?"

  She shrugs in return before answering, "I don't know, but I heard Lacy tell Georgia that he's definitely coming." she smiles shyly and I know she's lost in her own thoughts, trying to picture a number of scenarios that could happen tonight where Tommy notices her.

  I shake my head and chuckle then sit back in my seat, "We’ll see." I say, more to myself than Karen. We spend the rest of the bus ride talking about school gossip.

  ✽✽✽

  We get off the bus half an hour later and walk down the long road leading to home. When we get near my house, I see a figure sitting on the wall of my small garden and fail to hide a wide grin. Karen nudges me and makes kissing noises, "Say hi to lover boy for me." she laughs before crossing the road and making her way toward her house, telling me to call her later.

  As I approach my gate, the grin on my face gets bigger as the boy on my wall jumps to his feet and plants a soft kiss on my lips. I will never get tired of that. "Hey beautiful." Josh says to me as we walk towards my front door.

  Joshua Hewitt, my boyfriend. We have known each other since childhood, always running around together and staying at each other’s houses. It was really no surprise to anyone when feelings began to develop between us. With his short, light hair and deep blue eyes the colour of the sky and the body of a god, I would have been crazy if I didn't find him attractive.

  We say a quick hello to my mum and dad who are lounging on the sofa and grab a few snacks from the kitchen before heading upstairs.

  It takes about an hour to finish what little homework we have and then we are lying on the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, laughing about some jokes Josh heard from his friends. With my head tucked into his neck, I get a whiff of his lynx body spray, he smells amazing.

  Josh and I have been dating for almost a year and we couldn't be happier. I know everyone says that childhood/school relationships never work out but I disagree. I honestly can't see myself being with anyone else. Josh is perfect in every way and he's who I want to spend the rest of my life with.

  "Are you going to the party later?" I ask, watching as he gently rubs circles on my wrist.

  "I don't know yet, depends on whether I have to babysit the monsters or not." he chuckles and turns to face me.

  Mark and Michael, his 10-year-old twin brothers, have to be the most adorable little humans on the entire planet, they are little angels around everyone except Josh, then they are full of mischief and like to play pranks on him, some of which, like the marker drawings on his face, are hilarious, he once walked around with a moustache on his face for a couple hours before anyone mentioned it to him.

  I grin and look up at him, "Well, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun either way." I laugh to myself as he grimaces, which makes me laugh harder.

  "Sure, you say that but you don't know what they're going to do to me today. Next time you see me, I could have one eyebrow or another drawing on my face or something." he looks at me for a moment, then he leans over and his lips are finally on mine. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him closer. "I wish I could just stay here with you." he murmurs against my lips. I wish we could stay like this too.

  A few minutes later and we pull apart. With another quick kiss, which ended way too soon for my liking, he lets me go and gets to his feet, he's heading towards the door when he turns and notices my pout, "I'll see you later." he laughs, "If I can’t make it to the party I’ll text you, OK?" he says.

  I smile as I look over at him, "I hope to see you later." I tell him before he disappears down the stairs. I hear him say goodbye to my parents and then the front door opens and closes.

  I look at the clock on my bedside table. 5:55 pm. I groan and get up, Karen will be here in an hour so we can head to Lacy's. I grab a towel from the cupboard at the top of the stairs and head towards the shower.

  CHAPTER 2

  Standing in front of the large mirror, I look at the outfits I had picked out to wear for the party. A short, dark blue skirt with a light blue sequin cami or the more practical black skinny jeans with a dark grey flowing top and my leather jacket. I know which one Karen wants me to wear, but it's cold out and it's only a high school party, not a fashion show.

  I am just putting on my black, calf high, flat boots, being 5’7 I don't wear heels all that often, when I hear the doorbell ring, I hear Mum answering it and moments later, footsteps bound up the stairs.

  "What are you wearing?" my best friend says as she stands in the frame of the door.

  I laugh at the look on her face and take a moment to look her over. "You look good." I tell her, and she does, with her own black skirt and dark grey cami top, which leaves nothing to the imagination and her very high looking black boots.

  She harrumphs and sighs, "Why aren't you wearing the skirt?" she pouts. I tell her I don't want to freeze to death, unlike her, she doesn’t even have jacket.

  I look at myself once more in the mirror; my blonde hair flows down to the middle of my back and falls around my shoulders defining my diamond shaped face, I add a little hairspray to add more volume to last the night and apply a little lip gloss to my lips, the only makeup I wear. My large, green eyes sparkle as I think of how much fun we'll have tonight. I then grab my jacket and head downstairs with Karen in tow. With a quick goodbye to my parents, they tell me to be safe and home by midnight, then we’re out the door.

  We walk down a few streets and across the field. Sometimes I really wish we knew someone who could drive. It's a cold night for an early May evening in Newquay, normally, temperatures only go as low as ten degrees but tonight, it feels like it’s much lower. I can see my breath as I breathe and I thank god that I decided to wear jeans and a jacket after all.

  I look over at Karen and try not to laugh, her arms are tightly wrapped around her body and I swear her teeth are almost chattering, "Are you sure you don't want to go back and change?" I ask her.

  She looks at me and puts on a brave face and shakes her head, "No, I'll be fine once we get inside." I offer her my jacket but she refuses, instead we walk a bit faster, we still have at least ten minutes before we get to Lacy's.

  We are only a couple of streets away from Lacy's house now. It's a hard house to miss. It's huge. It’s a white brick mansion with pillars along the front and blue shutters covering the windows. It sits on a high cliff top overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean. Her parents had bought the land and built it especially for the view.

  We finally get to the bottom of the long steps that lead up to the house. Already I can hear the music thumping in the night. People all around us are making their way up the cliff.

  As I step inside the door, my face breaks into a pleasant smile. I'm not much of a partier but I go to them all with Karen, who is now rubbing her arms in an attempt to generate some heat. Yelling a wave of hellos and how are yous to my classmates, we head to the kitchen. I can't help but feel like this is going to be a great night.

  ✽✽✽

  With a red cup in my hand, half full of whatever fancy beer Lacy got, she would never do the cheap stuff, I'm on the makeshift dancefloor jumping around to the deafening
music, ‘Wake Me Up’ by Avicii plays over the speakers and everyone is crushed against one another as we dance to the beat.

  Karen is off to my left trying to get close to Tommy, who is on the other side of the room. I smirk as I watch her getting closer, then my eyes scan the rest of the crowd. Almost immediately, another drink is pushed into my hand, I quickly throw it back, the alcohol burning my throat, and the music continues.

  When the last dance song ends and a slow one takes its place, I take the time to get another beer from the kitchen, telling myself it will be my last one. This will be my, fourth? I can't go home drunk. I'll be grounded all weekend; my parents know I drink of course but the rule is ‘no getting drunk until I’m older'. I take a minute and sit on one of the stools dotted around the kitchen and relax for a minute. Lacy has ordered some boxes of pizza, which are sitting on the counter, I grab a slice and chew on it so I have something to do.

  My body is covered in a thin layer of sweat from dancing and I'm slowly getting a headache. We have been here for almost two hours now and there's no sign of Josh, I check my phone in case I missed a call or message. Nothing.

  An hour later, I step off the dance floor and find a seat on one of the sofas. My head is pounding now and I just want to sleep. Karen falls into the empty seat next to me and her head falls on my shoulder.

  "I danced with Tommy." she says with glee.

  "I know, I saw." I laugh at her love-struck face, she has it bad. She purposely stood in front of Tommy, pretending not to know he was there, and danced rather seductively. He had been checking her out every now and again before he decided to dance with her. I check my phone again for any messages, still nothing. Why hasn’t Josh text me back? It’s just after 10 pm and I wonder if Karen would kill me if I left early. My head is thumping now from the bass of the music and my eyes feel heavy.