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We shape ourselves
to fit this world
and by the world, we
are shaped again.

Lotus Freya LeGrande // 20



We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between good and bad is the choice of the cause.

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Something was about to happen that day, and Lotus could sense it. It was already raining in the morning, and she hated that, because it'd totally ruin her hair. Not that she had to walk far, only a few hundred meters from her apartment to the bus-stop, but it was far enough to completely ruin her look. Lotus was a girl that loved spending time in front of the mirror. She liked experimenting with make-up and hair, and always made sure it matched her outfit. She wasn't really the 'simple' girl, a little mysterious, but although most people won't expect it, there hid another person inside her. When she was at school she liked to surround herself with people like her, which turned out to be the 'nerd group'. She didn't mind, though. She loved her friends. And Lotus was a really smart girl. In fact, she was the best student in math class, and the professor had high hopes for her. However, Lotus didn't really figure out yet if that was what she wanted to do. She liked solving problems, but she didn't really see a future in it.
She looked up when she heard hear phone ring. It was Olivia, who always took the same bus asking why she wasn't there yet. Lotus cursed softly, why was she late? She was never late! She put on her jacket and quickly locked the door behind her, when she ran towards the bus-stop. Her hair was already a mess before she got there, but what was even worse is that she saw the bus riding away in front of her. Great, now she had to walk to school if she didn't want to miss first class. Rather annoyed she walked towards university, if she took some short cuts it wouldn't be that far, but her look for today was totally ruined.
Why walking through two high buildings she suddenly felt unease, as if she was followed. Almost unnoticed she looked over her shoulder, and saw two men walking behind her in a weird pace. Although she wasn't scared easily, this kind off creeped her out. Mostly because she was alone here. She started walking faster, but she felt the presence of the two men even coming closer. Again she turned around, but that was a mistake, as she saw the two men coming at her. She yelled, but before she knew it they had her arms behind her back and her face against the while. She wined softly out of fear. What was this for? Were they going to hurt her? Why? She tried to fight back, but it only hurt herself more. Not many seconds later they put a blindfold for her eyes and let her inhale some weird smelling gass. Lotus knew something was up, it scared her more than anything, but she felt her muscles turn weak, and slowly felt down on her knees. In her mind, she was still fighting it, but her body gave up and everything turned black.

@HarryStyles 

When a day starts with bad news anyone would think that day would be a bad day. When a day starts with good news, it would only be obvious to think that that day will be a good day. But when a day starts with no news at all, how could anyone ever know what kind of day was coming? It were questions like these that were written in Lincoln's little notebook. The type of questions that he would think of after waking up from a dream in the middle of the night.
Today was a day that started with good news. Lincoln had just woken up when he went to check his email and saw that he got a reply from the firm where he applied for an internship. His technical science teacher had set him up for a meeting with the boss and apparently it went really well 'cause he got accepted for the internship. It was an understatement to say Lincoln was good with science and engineering. He had a good pair of hands and could make a parachute from a pillow, some dentall floss and two paperclips. He wasn't smart with books, not even a bit. But his hands were his true power. Which was why he was so interested in inventing things. He didn't need books to make a spinningwheel out of an old bycicle and some needles. He just had an eye for seeing things that could belong together.
So the day had started with good news, that could only mean that day was going to be a good day, right? Wrong. Immediately after leaving his small appartment to go to college he remembered he forgot his keys right when he closed the door behind himself. A little bumbed about that accident he started to walk towards the bus stop. Luckily for him he didn't miss his bus, but instead his bus arrived with a flat tire, and was unable to keep driving. Lincoln had to walk to school.
Now he didn't mind walking, not at all. And his school wasn't that far, only ten minutes. But Lincoln had engineering as his first class and he really did want to be there. He knew that if he was late he wouldn't be allowed into the classroom and miss his favorite class of all. The now very annoyed Lincoln didn't stop for a second and started walking to school immediately. His path to college wasn't a long path, but it was a weird path. He first had to make his way over a bridge and then he had to go though a lot of narrow alleys. Lincoln was quite a strong guy, he wasn't big, but he was tall, so he never really worried about dangerous people in hallways. They would be stupid to try and harm him, especially now while he was so invested in getting to college on time.
This was why he didn't give a flying duck when he was walking towards two bigger guys who were also walking in the alley, only in the opposite direction from Lincoln. The boy couldn't care less about the men walking towards him, looking like they were strong enough to kill someone with their pinky. He didn't care, not until they were standing across from eachother and they didn't let Lincoln pass. Now he wasn't the type of guy to go and pick a fight with two strangers, but Link was in a hurry, and he was already annoyed. But before he could even do anything one of the men had him pushed up against a wall, his hands behind his back and his cheek scraping the bricks. He tried his best getting out of their grip, putting in all of his strength but it was all for nothing. The other guy put a blindfold in front of his eyes, Lincoln was screaming for help now, but his screams were soon stopped by a patch drained in chloroform that was placed infront of his mouth, forcing him to breath in the gas. Lincoln knew this wasn't normal, he knew this wasn't some random kidnapping. But he didn't have much time to think about this because before he knew his sight went black and his limbs went numb. Though his mind was awake, his body was barely alive.

@mysteryland 

Lotus was considered lucky to be born into a rich family. Her dad owned an insurance company specialized in property insurance. He had worked his way up throughout the years. Before that, he had always worked hard, and studied a lot in order to achieve his goal. It was fate that brought him and his wife together, otherwise he would never have met this beautiful woman from the fashion world. Her mom designed clothes and worked for well-known brands. It was her passion, Lotus couldn't imagine her doing something else. It turned out Lotus inherited something of both; she had the brains like her father but also eye for fashion, like her mother.
She didn't really see her parents often, though. They were both hard working and did a lot of business trips. Her dad learned her that hard working would get you somewhere, but her mom also said that doing what you want to do was important too. How easy to say, when you already achieved what you wanted, when you already made all the money to live the rest of your life without having to worry. Lotus didn't really find out yet what she wanted to do anyway. Until now she was just doing what she was good at; math, solving problems, to get straight A's in college and make her parents proud.
Her parents were the first ones she thought off when she opened her eyes again. She couldn't see properly yet. It was too bright in the room, it hurt her eyes. She blinked a few times to get used to the light, before pulling herself up. She groaned softly, her muscles hurt and her head too. She remembered the fight, the kidnapping, but nothing else of what had happened. This set up seemed way too much if the guys would release her for a ransom. Would her parents know she was taken? Would the kidnappers have contacted them, and asked them for money already?
After a few minutes of unanswered thoughts, Lotus started to observe the room. She was placed on a thin mattress, but when she looked across the room she saw another guy. He looked about the same age as her, under the same conditions. This raised even more questions. She didn't know who he was, she had never seen him before. Then why were they here, together? She stared at his body for a few seconds, then looked away. She wasn't even sure if he was still alive, as chloroform could kill a person easily. His breathing was weak, or not there at all. She was too scared to find out.
Afraid to get noticed, she started crying softly. Never had she been so afraid. Afraid of what was coming, of finding out the reason she was here. It was worse than the pain she felt in her body. A few minutes past, nothing happened. Then she noticed they took away her bag. She felt in her pockets, but as she expected her phone wasn't there. Chewing gum, lipstick, nothing useful that would save her now. She thought about all the possible reasons why she was here, but none of them made sense. She wanted to scream for help, but who would hear her? Who would come? No doubt she didn't want those kidnappers in this room. She wanted a weapon to defend herself if needed, but her pockets were empty and so was the room. Again she looked over to the guy, asking herself if she should check if he was alive. Maybe he could give her at least some answers.
After a while, she decided to do it, and slowly crawled over to the other side of the room. Her heart was beating almost twice as fast now. She put her fingers around his pulse, his heart rate was weak, but he was definitely alive. She sighed of relieve. At least she wasn't alone in this.
She backed off a bit and put her arms around her legs, thinking of what else she could do. Most probably wait until he wakes up, she thought. She lifted her head and stared at the ceiling, and it was then she saw a camera pointing at them. They were watching her. She froze in her position. What did that mean?



@HarryStyles 

A headache had never felt that bad before. Lincoln had trouvke opening his eyes because of the pounding headache he had. While this day had started off with probably the best news he had ever had in his life, it started to look like this was going to be one of the worst days. As Lincoln carefully tried to open his eyes he closed them back immediately, almost being blinded by the bright light shining into his eyes. He opened them up again, carefully, expecting himself to be in his bed, not remembering that what happened this morning was in fact not a dream. That was until his eyes had gotten used to the light and he actually saw that he wasn’t in his room at all. Parts of his memory came back. From what he thought was a dream had actually happened. He got kidnapped, Lincoln just didn’t understand why. 
When he thought about it, like in the movies, people only got kidnapped to be used as a sex toy or to get money out of their family. Now Lincoln didn’t come from a very rich family, he used to live in a trailorpark home and was now living in a tiny shitty apartment with two roommates whom were also his best friends. So the only reason he could ever imagine getting kidnapped because of was for his body. And that scared him. But he pushed that feeling away, not wanting to think of what could be the case. That would only freak him out more than he already was. 
He placed his hands next to his body, ready to push himself up when his headache started getting worse. He could feel the thin, uncomfortable mattress underneath his hands squish down as he tried to push himself up, but he couldn’t. Lincoln didnmt react very nicely to chloroform, he already knew that because of an incident that happened when he was just a little boy and he had to get surgery on vacation in India. They still used chloroform as anesthesia there back then and he had a terrible reaction to it. Seemed like the same thing was happening now, just less bad.
Not willing to give up just yet Lincoln took a deep, sharp breath as he started pushing himself up again, and believe it or not, but he was actually able to push himself into a sitting position. This was when he decided to examine the room. He looked around until his eyes laid down on a girl who was sitting on the same kind of mattress, all the way on the other side of the room. She was crying. Lincoln only got more and more confused by all of this. They hadn’t just taken him but also a girl? And why was she crying? Okay maybe that last bit was obvious, he felt like he could cry too, but he didn’t. 
Carefully he tried to push himself off of the mattress and stood up. He felt a bit dizzy but tried to ignore that. “You alright there?” It was a stupid question because no, obviously she was not alright. But he couldn’t help but ask it anyway. 

@mysteryland 

It took a while, but it happened; the other guy woke up too. With watery eyes she managed to look up to him and got quiet for a moment. Obviously, she wasn't alright, but it was rather a rhetorical question. ''Do you know why we are here?'' She answered, sounding quite rude. Quickly she wiped her tears away, she didn't want him to see her cry, she didn't want to seem weak in front of others in general. Plus the fact that it might ruin her make-up, if it wasn't completely ruined already when she was taken. She didn't know though, but even better that way.
For a moment she looked at the guy, he didn't seem like he was going to harm her, which made her feel a bit more comfortable. But then again, she still questioned who he was, and why they were both here. She didn't really expect a clarifying answer on her question either, since it seemed they both got here the same way.
''I am sorry,'' she apologized. ''I didn't meant to be rude. I assume you don't know either why we are here. I am Lotus, by the way.'' A weak smile appeared on her face when she introduced herself. Maybe it was better if they started of good. Maybe they could work together on getting out of here. She wasn't the kind of person to sit and wait what happens. Although she didn't know what the people who got them here wanted from them, she felt almost sure it couldn't be any good, and for that reason she rather worked on an escape before it was too late.

@HarryStyles 

The answer she gave him wasn’t exactly the answer he expected, but he could understand her question. He was also wondering where they were and if she might have known where they were. Now it was obvious to Lincoln that this girl didn’t know anything either. He kind of hated the feeling of being so clueless, he was so used of knowing almost everything that being clueless almost felt like he was helpless and he didn’t want to be helpless at all. Not even the slightest. “No I’m sorry,” Lincoln told her softly. If he was honest he didn’t even know if he wanted to know why they were here. He just wanted to know how to get out and go home. He then realised that he had no idea how long they had been unconscious for. He realised that this could either be a very long time or maybe like an hour. Lincoln knew that it depended on the amount of chloroform you used, but the least amount could still knock you out for quite a while. He also knew that they couldn’t have put too much of the stuff on it, that could’ve easily killed the two of them. But Lincoln did realise that they could’ve kept applying chloroform to their mouths once they started to wake up again, so that they woukd stay out for longer without having the bigger risk of them dying. That would mean that they could literally be a country durther, although he doubted that that was the case. 

Lotus was glad that the guy who introduced himself as Lincoln had the same idea on this mind, which was escaping. A little smile appeared on her face. Through everything, this kind off gave her a small amount of hope, hope to get out. Lotus managed to stand up as well, and felt in her pockets. Not that she had an idea what to do with her tools earlier, but maybe Lincoln knew. She opened her hands to him but still the same; chewing gum, lipstick, one single hair tie and dust. ''I doubt this is useful,'' she said, thinking about what in the world she could do with this. Another time she checked her pockets, as if something useful would magically appear, but there wasn't anything else.
She sighed softly and started thinking. ''There is something else you should know,'' she remembered then and she nodded to one of the upper corners. ''They are watching us.'' She thought about what that meant. Would they come in if they knew they woke up? But then they would have done it already. Could they possibly hear them, too? She frowned, and looked away from the camera. She didn't like the idea that they were spying on them.
She took another look around the room, trying to think of other helpful things. The room was quite simple. Other than two thin mattresses, there wasn't really anything else. There were no windows. She walked towards the door, but of course it was locked. ''Can't we just kick it open?'' She wondered. She wouldn't even have the strength to do it, so she didn't want to try. She doubted it, too, it was too easy.
She also started thinking what was behind the door. What if they got out of this room, what would they do then? What if they were waiting for them on the other side? It scared her, but staying in this room scared her as well. It comforted her that she wasn't alone, though, but still, they couldn't possibly stand up against those two men who had taken her earlier that day. If this was still the same day. She had no idea of what time it was and how long they had been unconscious. Would they have taken them far? It came to her mind that they might as well have woken up in whole another country, and what would they do then? The idea started creeping her out more and more, and she decided to let go of her fears. It wouldn't help them to escape, in fact, she needed to start thinking of a plan.

@HarryStyles 

Lincoln looked up when she showed him the things she had in her pocket. A wide grin immediately appeared on his face, it was perfect. “Are you kidding me? They’re almost exactly what I need,” Lincoln said happily, as if her items where the main key to their escape. As if her things would make a teleportation machine and could teleport them back home. Sadly, it wasn’t all that easy. But the things she had were very usefull and Lincoln started to get more hope to actually escape this room. Although he didn’t know what they would find outside this room. Lincoln wasn’t a great fighter but he could be if he tried his best, so if there were people outside of the room, waiting for them to get out, he could possibly fight them. But only if it was really neccessary. 
He looked up when she told him this entirely unexpected and unfortunate news. “They’re watching us?” He looked up at the corner she nodded at and noticed the camera. “Fuck.” That was obviously not part of Lincoln’s escaping plan. He wondered why they were watching them. They could’ve already seen the items Lincoln and Lotus had, so why did they not come inside to take the items away from them? Lincoln didn’t understand. “Then why aren’t they coming in?” He asked out loud, even though he didn’t expect her to know the answer. He didn’t know the answer either, and it was pissing him off. 
Lincoln followed Lotus with his eyes as she started walking towards the door. “Sadly I don’t think that’s possible. Unless you have super human strength,” Lincoln mumbled, a weak smile playing on his face even though this was a shitty situation and definitely not one anyone dhould be smiling in. 
Lincoln sat down on the grond and placed all the items he had in front of him. He even took the paperclips off of his belt and placed them with the other things. He stared down at the items, thinking about what he could do with them. He took one of the coins and held it in his hand. “You won’t happen to be able to tell me what kind of lock is placed on the door, could you?

@mysteryland 

Lotus handed the things she had in her pockets over to Lincoln. She didn’t have a clue what to do with it, but she was glad he seemed happy with it. If he was going to make something useful out of that, she would be more than happy to help. Those were items she usually carried within her pocket. In her bag she would have had even more small items that could’ve been helpful in this situation, but then again, of course they took it away from her. They must have thought these small things were helpless, like she thought herself as well until a moment ago.
She studied the door lock and smiled silly because of his joke. “I left my superpowers at home, sadly, didn’t think I would get kidnapped today,” she replied. Despite the conditions, she was still able to be optimistic, a characteristic that was vulnerable right now. She looked over her shoulder and saw Lincoln placing the items in front of him. The fact he was possibly able to make something useful out of it, made her already think he was a genius. “Is it useful? What is your plan?” She asked curiously, although she didn’t want to disturb his concentration. If she herself was working on some difficult task, she didn’t like to be disturbed either. Nevertheless, she wanted to be of his help, and was more than happy to examine the door lock, although it wasn’t really her speciality. She walked over to the door and stared at it. “I am sorry, I have no idea. But maybe you can get these screws out with one of the coins, to get a closer look?” It could be a first step to break the lock, and to open the door. Hopeful she looked over her shoulder to Lincoln.
Lotus actually never imagined herself in this situation. Why would she? At one point in her life her father suggested she needed to learn a fighting sport, as self defense. You never know when you would need it, he said, but it just wasn’t her thing. She tried, and gave up. Now she regretted it, but only a little. Could she have fought back, that moment they took her? Could she have saved herself from those guys? She doubted it. Any other skill might come in handy now, and Lincoln seemed to own it. Who was this guy? Was he somehow related to her, why otherwise were they both here? Although she really wanted to ask, she didn’t. They had all the time to get to know each other once they got out. Now was not the time for tea talk, getting out was more important.

@HarryStyles 

Lincoln couldnMt help but laugh softly at her response. He loved that even though they were in a shitty situation they could still keep it light. There was no unnecessary tension which would distract them from getting out. There was no tension at all and Lincoln couldn’t be happier about that. It really helped him to be able to think clearly, which was very handy in a situation like this. “Well that’s disappointing, shouldn’t you be ready to get kidnapped every day?” If you thoight about it it was quite obvious, but who would wake up in the morning thinking about all the things they might need just in case they got kidnapped? Lincoln didn’t think anyone would actually be able to live a happy normal life like that. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if you worried about such things everyday. But maybe it would’ve been useful, maybe then these guys wouldn’t have taken him, or her. He shook his head, as if shaking his head meant shaking the thoughts away. It didn’t really help, but at least he tried? 
Lincoln stared down at the items again, wondering about all the options he had with these little amount of very unusual items. To the regular eye they were probably no help at all, but Lincoln wasn’t the usual eye. He had a way of looking at things, seeing them in multiple ways and finding a way to use them. The usual eye would look at a clock and see the time, Lincoln would look at a clock and see all the things that were used to make it. All the wires he knew were on the inside. Just everything. “I think I might be able to make a lockpick out of the paperclip and lipstick bottle,” he told her when she asked. Lincoln wasn’t used saying his ideas out loud, but he did notice how it actually helped him think better. “The gum can be used to find out what the inside of the lock looks like so I know how to shape the lockpick,” he then told her, now basically brainstorming aloud. Softly Lincoln bit down on his lip, taking in her idea and nodding immediately. “That’s very clever,” he smiled, taking the coins into his hand and getting up from the floor. He kneeled back down again infront of the door and tried every coin he had to unscrew the screws. Luckily for him, one of the screws actually fit and he was able to unscrew all of them. He took off the housing and got a closer look of the lock, immediately knowing which kind it was, this wasn’t because he was smart, not at all, it was just a coincidence that his apartment recently got new locks and they were the exact same kind. “Looks like we’ll be able to break out of here, Lotus.”

@mysteryland 

Lotus smiled because of his reply. Being ready to get kidnapped wasn’t probably going to help her. This didn’t seem like a random kidnap, everything was way too set up.
She listened to his idea to make a lockpick with the tools they had and smiled hopeful. “That’s wonderful, I wouldn’t have thought of that,” she said honestly. Lotus was smart, but she wasn’t handy. She did have eye for some things, for detail, but this was out of her league. “I’m glad my lipstick can be of use. It was expensive though, you owe me one.” She joked. She loved make-up, but she didn’t add value to certain make-up tools like this lipstick. Otherwise she wouldn’t have left it in her jacket, but keep it safely at home. Just like the other make-up thingys she always kept with her in her bag because you know, it might be of use any time of the day. Just in case. That it was expensive wasn’t really a thing for her either. She was lucky that her parents were able to support her financially. College was expensive, her own apartment was too, and certainly her living style. She had a side job though, to make some money of herself as well. And once she got a job, she was willing to pay it all back to her parents, although they didn’t need it really.
While Lincoln worked on unscrewing the housing of the key lock, Lotus stepped back and gave another look at the camera. She didn’t feel good about the fact they were watching them. Once they knew they were breaking out successfully, of course they would do something to hold them back. Now that they were putting things together and working on breaking the door open, it wasn’t a surprise anymore they were trying, but if and when they succeeded, she rather kept hidden. “Maybe we should do something about the camera, too. They know we are trying to break out, but they don’t have to know if we succeed, you know... Just in case...” Never underestimate the element of surprise. She looked through the room, but nothing heavy or sharp could possibly break the camera or the lens. They could try and cover the lens, though. The mattresses were too thick in this case, but they could put her scarf over it. She wanted to tell Lincoln about this, but once he succeeded to unscrew the housing she was a bit distracted. “That’s great!” She said, even more hopeful than before. She gave a quick look at the lock, not that she understood any of it, but she was more than happy Lincoln did.
”Maybe we can put my scarf over the camera lens, and then work on the lockpick.” She suggested.

@HarryStyles 

Lincoln kept his look on the lock, trying to figure out exactly how he was going to do this. He knew how to pick a lock, it was easy and especially this kind, but it did take some time, it wasn't like in the movies where he would just go in with a pin for one second and suddenly the door would be unlocked. Of course it would be great if lockpicking worked that way, but it really didn't. It was a process that had to be thought out and could take a bit, no longer than a few minutes though, especially with the experience that Lincoln has. Not that he often broke into doors, but he did have some experience with lock picking. Like old diaries or music boxes that he found on his attic. Or all those times where he forgot his keys inside and had to break into his own house or car. He had experience, just no illegal experience.
Lincoln looked up at Lotus when she proposed that and nodded. "Sounds good," he agreed. Covering up the lens so that they couldn't see what the two were doing was a great idea. That way they could never know when the two were about to break out. Maybe it took them hours, maybe just a few minutes. Only Lotus and Lincoln would know. 
After she finished putting her scarf on the lens Lincoln returned to looking at the items and the lock. "Could you chew this up for me?" He asked as he gave Lotus the gum. He then turned back to the lipstick and the paperclip. He swirled out the entirety of the lipstick and got it out of the sort of tube, emptying the entire thing with the paperclip, using it as a spoon.

@mysteryland