“Please, let Dahlia go! Take me instead!” Adria cried. Her fists rammed rhythmically against the bulletproof glass, getting her message across to the anonymous captor.

“I am afraid I cannot do that,” He answered, cinching the rope tighter around Dalia, confining her to the wooden chair.

Adria’s rhythmic banging increased in pace. “Yes you can! You know you can! I know there is still free will left in you! Please!”

The kidnapper reached into his pocket and got out a remote. Extending his hand out, he pointed it towards the large flat-screen TV in front of them. Dahlia’s frantic cries were muffled by the cloth gag choking her to silence. The years of planning to escape this so called “utopia” of technology had failed. The friends were going to run away, start a new life, at a place where the colorful beauty of nature put the brain rotting television shows to extinction.

They were going to be free.

The abductor flicked the TV on, and the screen displayed a swirling spiral of black and white, never ending. Dahlia shut her eyes tight, shielding herself from the image.

“Dahlia, don’t let screen get to you!” Tears spilled through Adria’s eyelids. The hope in her heart fell away as the seams keeping it together ripped away. “Dahlia!”

The capturer gripped Dahlia from her raven hair, forcing her eyes open with his free hand.

“No!”

Dahlia’s eyes caught onto the screen, allured towards the hypnotic monochrome swirl. Her pupils expanded, unable to look away. Drool streamed from her mouth, dripping off her chin as her struggling ceased.

“You see, Adria,” The captor said, “you are meant to be here. This is your home weather you like it or not!”

Adria shook her head, blocking his words from reaching her.

“You should enjoy your final moment now,” A smirk crossed his face. His fingers released his grip, letting Dahlia’s head sink to her chest,

“for you, my dear, are next.”