[M] The Influence of Words [IC] {Ash & Drako}

[Ashen]

Between the road and the rearview mirror, Celestynn didn't really have anywhere else to look. She was a little thankful for that. If her eyes weren't needed, they'd be jumping all over the place.
She was checking up on him at every red light, at every stop sign, at every straightaway, just to make sure he wasn't trying anything. For the most part, he seemed to be cooperating. She was a little surprised by how easy all of this was, but then, she did have a gun, and he couldn't even scream for help.

She did notice him shake his head. "You don't have a choice, Zivy." Zivy? Had she already started calling him by his new name? It felt foriegn on her tongue. It was a Polish name, sure, but not even the Polish language felt as foreign as this dead name coming from her. Ziven... Ziven had been dead for over a year.
But he was in her backseat now.
"You're going to join my family. And we'll go back to Mum, and we'll do family things together again. Doesn't that sound great?"
She sounded insane. Ridiculously insane. This wasn't her, this wasn't her at all. Where was the calm woman she'd grown up to be?
Dead. The old Celestynn was dead. She'd died with her brother, last year.

Welcome to Orange City.
So far Celly had made it to a whole other city without being caught. The tainted windows sure helped, and not too many people were out and about in these nobody towns. She was very grateful for that.
They were following the Floyd River, but pretty soon Celly would have to break from the way she came. Too many people would be on the roads and she didn't want to have to deal with them.
She was, however, running out of gas, so she had to detour to a gas station. "In my eagerness to get you home, I forgot to fill up on gas," she said with an obviously forced chuckle. "We'll only be a minute. I'm sure you're dying to meet Mum again, huh? She'll be really happy to see you. She's... She's missed you."
Talking to this stranger as if he were Ziven. Celestynn was only trying to get used to the idea, but she couldn't. She couldn't get used to this kidnapped stranger replacing her brother.

Once they arrived at the gas station Celestynn hesitated in front of the pump. "Do you want anything?" she asked Ben, looking at him only through the rearview mirror. "I uh, I guess you can't answer that. Do you wan't... a chocolate bar? I think I've seen you eat chocolate before, haven't I? Yeah, I'll get you a chocolate bar. I'll be right back." She locked the doors and put the child lock on so he couldn't unlock them if he tried, then disappeared into the gas station to go fetch the kid candy and fill up her car. After she'd paid and filled up her tank, she opened the back seat and took a seat next to Ben. Now, her face was totally visible.
Celestynn had big grey eyes and freckles lining both cheeks. A stray strand of dark brown hair fell over one eye. The rest was pulled back into a long ponytail that disappeared down her back. She had thin lips and a pointed chin, and all of her features were relatively small. She couldn't have been much older than twenty from the looks of it.
"Hey," she said in a very soft voice. "I, um, here's your, uh." She looked down at the Hershey bar in her hand. "Do you want me to feed you?" she asked, closing the door behind her. He couldn't move, he was strapped in. Besides, she had her gun in her pocket. She could threaten him with that. Only staff was onsite now; no one would hear him if they made a sound. She was safe enough.
But then Celly's eyes landed on his necklace. "What is," she said, but stopped herself. "Oh god. They're tracking you. No..." Her eyes seemed to get bigger as realization struck. "Nonono, pieprzyć*, we can't have..." She was quick to pull out that Beretta and point it right at him. "You will give that to me right now, and if you try to take this gun away from me, or anything stupid like that, I swear I will shoot."

*pieprzyć is Polish for fuck

[Drakonnas]

Ben was pouting, leaning his head against the window, trying with all his might to figure out some way out of this predicament. He had to do something. But what? He had already activated the homing beacon, and he was sure that, even now, the police were calling ahead, getting cops ready to intercept the vehicle. He was fighting back hard, and with everything he had. This woman was fucking insane. He was surprised that she even could think straight right now...

As they pulled into the gas station, Ben stared at her, accusatory eyes wondering just how fucked up this girl was. She was beyond crazy. Psychotic, and insane. He refused to answer her when she asked him if she should get anything. She wouldn't get the satisfaction from him. Besides, he'd had a large breakfast. He'd be fine for a little while.

For a little while. How did he knew that she wasn't going to just kill him when he didn't stop fighting back? How much longer did he have to live? She'd already proven to him that she could not be trusted. The very first thing she had promised, she had broken. He didn't believe anything she said. She was a filthy douchebag who deserved to rot in hell. He would not give her the satisfaction.

He didn't even acknowledge her when she came back, and taunted him, asking if she should feed him. He wasn't a baby. And that teasing wasn't doing anything. And then she noticed his necklace.

Ben's eyes grew wide with fear as she took it from him. No... that had been his last hope. His final, last ditch attempt to save himself. If she took that now, he'd be completely helpless. But... the damage had already been done... The police already knew exactly where he was right now, and they'd have everyone looking our for him.

As if on cue, an amber alert came on the radio, describing the kidnapping that had taken place, the type of car that she was in, the license plate of the car, who the kidnapper's victim was, and what the kidnapper was last seen wearing. That was wonderful, wonderful news. If the gas station's owners happened to hear that, then maybe there was still a chance! He looked out the window, and indeed, the owner of the station was looking out of her window at their car, and picked up the phone, looking alarmed.

Good. So they knew exactly where they were. Cops would be on the lookout for them. Ben felt an enormous wave of comfort wash over him as he saw this, and understood. He was going to be fine. He was going to be safe. They would rescue him.

[Ashen]

Celestynn started panicking. Her worst fear was coming to be and she had no idea what to do. She hopped into the front seat and started the car. She was speeding down the street in seconds, trying to get as far away from that gas station as possible.
They knew what to look for. She was screwed.
She was so screwed.

She tossed the necklace out of the window so they wouldn't be able to track her anymore. It would be impossible to find her; they were going from Le Mars, Iowa to Saint Cloud, Minnesota. They were looking for her in Iowa. She would be perfectly safe back home. They would never find her back home.

She looked in the rearview mirror at this boy who was ruining this moment that she had planned for what seemed like ages. He was screwing everything up and she could get into serious trouble for this. She shot him a look of rage, but kept her eyes on the road. She was on the lookout for cops. Celestynn Zyskowski, the girl who had practically grown up around cops, was suddenly terrified of them. This was ruining her life. This entire thing was ruining her picture perfect life.

Once she was back on Route 60 Celly sighed a bit. No one would call her out on the highway. No one would stop to notice her. She would be okay.
She nearly jumped a foot when her phone rang. She grabbed it from her pocket and looked over the name on her screen. Hesitating only a minute, she answered the call and put it on speaker so both hands could be on the wheel.
"Celly?"
"Hey," Celly responded, keeping her voice level. She was pretty good at acting calm under pressure, she was just thankful the girl on the other end couldn't see her hands.
"Okay, so, craziest thing."
Celly sort of grunted to tell the girl to go on. She kept one eye on the boy in the backseat.
"First of all, go check your street, or your garage. Is your car there?"
"Jess, I'm in my car."
"Is the license plate on?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"ACZ-501, right?"
"You still remember that?" Celestynn and her two best friends had memorized each other's license plates so they'd be easier to spot. Celly had been the last of the three to get her car, and for some reason, her license plate had been the hardest to remember for all three of them.
"Guess what? They're saying your SUV with that license plate number kidnapped some deaf kid or whatever. Like, crazy, right?"
Celestynn looked at Ben. "Totes crazy," she responded in a small voice. They were looking for her car. Her license plate.
"Oh wait, there's more," continued Jess. "It interrupted the radio. This long thing about a Benjamin whatever his last name was being kidnapped by this young girl that...actually, she kind of sounded like you..."
"Hey Jessie, I would love to chat, but I have to go. Call you later, okay?"
"Celestynn, what is going on?"
The girl looked up to see if Ben had caught her name, then turned back to the road. "Love you, Jess. Talk to you later." Celly hung up as a tear fell from her eye.

"You're ruining my life," she said to Ben a little while later. "But then, I guess we're even. If you had just...not done that. I have a record I need to maintain, you know. I've never so much as touched a bottle of alcohol before this. My record is pristine. And now this..." Her voice trailed. "We're going to forget about that, okay? I'll get rid of the car when we get home. I just hope, what with all of your surgeries, we can still afford a new car." Noticing the straight road with little cars, she turned around and stared at him. "I understand my kid brother is supposed to get me into trouble, Zivy, but come on. That was pushing it a little far, don't you think?" She turned back around. "You know, the chocolate is still there. I didn't poison it or anything, and I'll eat a piece if you don't believe me. I... I'm a pretty trustworthy person, I just... You have to understand I can't untie you right now. Not until we get home. I don't want you to run away. Mum would be broken, and I went through a lot just to bring you back to us."

[Drakonnas]

Ben smiled as she started panicking. That was exactly what he wanted. By starting to panic, the girl might very well make a fatal mistake, which would allow him to get away. The more he was able to make her scared, the better off he'd be. They got onto the highway, and Ben was suddenly growing uneasy... By now his parents would know that he had been taken, and were certainly doing everything in their power to get him back.

She took a phone call, and it seemed to be one of her friends. The girl, whoever she was, appeared to be hesitant to say anything. So her friends weren't aware that she was a kidnapper. Good to know. And then, he caught a hold of her name. Celestynn. He stored that piece of information away in his brain as well. This phone call that he heard bits and pieces of was very welcome news. It meant that wherever she lived had received the Amber Alert as well. In addition to that, they knew the license plate of the kidnapping car. Which meant they could track the car to its rightful owner. Celestynn. The cops would be waiting at her house for her if she tried to go home. This, Ben knew.

The car had to have been legally registered to her, or her family. And that meant that they knew where she lived, and could go talk to her family and friends. Ben was confident that he'd be rescued, and returned safely home relatively soon. He had to be. This would all be over soon enough, and he'd be back in his parent's arms quickly. He'd get away from this batshit crazy girl.

But then something else struck him. She was talking about all of his surgeries. What was that supposed to mean? Did she mean that they were going to put him through operations to change his appearance or something? That sounded like something out of a horror movie. No, surely she couldn't have meant that. She was probably talking about her brother who had apparently gone missing, or died, or something.

Ruining her life. Hah. That was a good one. He had lived a perfectly normal, happy life up until she had tried to kidnap him. Of course he wanted to ruin her life. He wanted to escape, and get back to his parents. He wanted to get away from this girl who should be put into a mental institution.

Ben chose to completely ignore what she had to say about the chocolate, and everything else. He simply chose not to respond. Maybe by getting her to realize that he wouldn't play along with her stupid game, he wasn't her brother, and never would be. Ben stuck out his tongue at her, and rested against the car window, trying to figure out where they were going.

His hands were starting to hurt. She had tied him up so tightly that he was starting to lose circulation to his hands. They felt a bit tingly... He tried to move to allow himself more room, but it was no use. He was good and stuck.

[Ashen]

The boy was ignoring her. She figured she deserved that, but he'd warm up to her soon. He would have to, being placed in her home.
But Celestynn kept talking. She had to, to fill the silence. Since the call from Jess, she didn't want to listen to the radio. She didn't want to hear that anyone was looking for her. So she spoke on about nothing in particular, whatever came to her mind. She spoke of the times she and Ziven had shared, and brought up memories, and after a while she sighed. She turned to face him again. "Look, kid," she said. "You probably think I'm crazy. And you're probably right. I don't believe you're Ziven. Zivy is dead, and has been dead for a year. I know that. But... We both need to get used to the fact that you'll replace him. And we'll go on living like it's always been this way. I don't want to. Trust me, I don't want to. But you can't really get what you want in life. So this is how things will be."
Celestynn being assertive. If she tried hard enough she could convince herself this was all a dream. It was just so farfetched, so far from the normal. But then, Celestynn's life didn't have a normal, not anymore.

They'd been driving in silence for a while before Celly let out a little sigh and started to hum. She sang to the tune of Spring Waltz for a bit, then stopped and looked at Ben. "Chopin," she said softly. "He's a beauteous composer, don't you think? He's definitely my favorite. Did you know he's from Poland?" She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel a bit, imagining the song in her head. "I know how you love classical music. I do, too. See? We'll get along great. Actually, I may have a tape or something here." She looked away from the highway to find a tape of a classical compilation. She found it in the glove compartment, but when she looked back to the road she noticed she had swerved a little to the next lane. A truck started honking at her. Startled, Celly straightened her car. The truck passed her and she leaned back in her seat, struggling to breathe. "Sorry," she said. "I'm a good driver, really I am. I passed my driving test on the first try. I'm just...not me, I guess."

After the near-accident, Celly put on the classical tape. A Mozart piece was the first to play. "Is this okay?" she asked him. "I really am trying to make this as comfortable as possible for you, considering the circumstances. I... I can try something else, if you'd like? Do you want Beethovan? I heard you playing one of his pieces before."

[Drakonnas]

Ben frowned, and completely ignored her. He didn't want to hear anything she had to say. He didn't want to listen to her voice, or hear anything she spoke about. He didn't care about her at all, and frankly, wanted her to go die in a hole, and rot. Ben glared out the window, his normally good natured attitude was nowhere in sight now. He was extremely angry, moody, and even depressed. She wasn't going to get her fantasy by simply dreaming. Especially not like this. It was perfectly okay to miss your dead sibling, but kidnapping someone to replace your dead sibling? That was fucking crazy.

And even if he wanted to communicate with her, there was now way he could. Not with his hands tied up. When she turned on the music, Ben had to work to stay angry. this was all a trick, he told himself. There was no way he could, or would, ever warm up to her. Not even if she treated him like a prince. If she truly wanted him happy, she'd take him back to his parents, apologize, and get help. He didn't want anything to do with her. Even if she was a music fan.

Ben recognized every one of the songs that came on, and yet he didn't feel any better. For the first time in his life, music didn't help. And that was a terrifying prospect. A few tears fell from his face as he thought of his parents, sick with worry... He wanted nothing more than to be back with them. How come this had to happen to him? How come the world had to be so cruel to a young boy who had done nothing wrong?

[Ashen]

Celly was giving up. The boy wanted nothing to do with her, and she guessed she'd be the same in his shoes. But what she'd done, she'd had to do it, all of it. He had to understand that. She needed him to understand that. She had to do this.
She just let the tape play, and when it had ended she played it again. She was mumbling to herself from time to time in another language, but for the most part, most of their drive was in silence.

Celly let out a small sigh of relief as she spotted a sign welcoming them to Saint Cloud, Minnesota. "Well, Ziven," she said. "We're nearly home."
They'd been in the car for nearly six hours. She'd taken many of the backroads to prevent being seen and what would have been a four and a half-hour drive took more than an hour more. But finally, she was back in Saint Cloud, and it would just be a few minutes until she got home.
"This is where you'll be living for the rest of your days," Celly explained. "Matka, Tatuś, and I moved here fourteen years ago. We did it to get rid of the group that killed Dziadek and Pra-dziadek.* You've never seen Poland, but Tatuś promised he'd take you one day. He's died, shortly after you did, so it looks like I'll have to take you instead." Even though she knew he didn't care, she explained certain stores they passed, the grade school she'd gone to, the Dairy Queen that sold the best ice cream ever. She kept talking about different places until she pulled onto her block and saw a cop car in front of her house.

She slowly approached her house and turned into her garage, where her mother's car was sitting. She parked the car and left Benjamin in the backseat, promising to be back in a few minutes. Then she turned off the car, turned out the lights, and started towards the cop cars.

"Celly?" the officer said when she approached.
"Officer Garby," Celestynn greeted. "Is everything okay? Where's my mum?"
"Your mother is fine," the officer replied. "We just got a call that you kidnapped some boy from Iowa. Do you know anything about this?"
"What?!" Celestynn said. She was great at faking incredulity, something she'd never have known if this hadn't come up. "That's ludicrous!"
"I know!" the officer said. "I think they might have gotten the license plate number wrong or something. You know, Cells, I love you like a daughter. We all do. And we were all really surprised when we got this call. You... You would never do something like this, right? They said the boy was mute, and he's fourteen. I know the wounds from your brother are still new, but you wouldn't..."
"Officer Garby, please," Celly said. She seemed to be near tears. "Why would I ever take a little boy from anyone? I know what it's like. I would never... I can't even imagine it, it's so awful. You've got the wrong girl. Please believe me, sir, you've got the wrong..." To her own surprise, she started crying. She looked really distraught now, and her story would be even easier to buy. She wasn't a very emotional girl, but here she was, crying in front of an officer that clearly didn't believe she was even capable of kidnapping anyone.
"Hey, Celly," he said softly, taking her into a hug. "I'm sorry I brought it all up. I'll go and tell them they've made a mistake. Look, I'll write right here, Celestynn was questioned, she's innocent. Okay?"
Celly hesitated. Icing on the cake, she decided to make him feel worse about having come here. "Do you... Do you think Ziven thinks about us?"
"That I don't know, Celly."
"Do you think my dad's watching me? I'm taking care of Mum as best I can. I really am. It's a lot of work, juggling normal life and having lost a brother and a... and a father. And I just hope they're both proud of me. I just don't know how to continue without them. It's so, so hard." She was putting on quite the show, choking on her own words. Tears were streaming down her face, now.
"Why don't you get some rest, Celly?" Officer Garby suggested. "I'll make sure this whole thing is cleared up and your name is clean, okay?"
"Officer?"
"What is it, Cells?"
"Make... Make sure you bring that boy home, please?"
"Of course, Celestynn. I'll try my best."

She waited until she couldn't see the police cars, and even after that she waited a few minutes more before heading in her home. "Matka," she called. "Mum?"
"Celestynn?" came a deeply accented Polish voice. "Where are you?"
"In the great room," she replied. "I brought you something."
Celestynn walked into her mother's bedroom, located between the great room and the kitchen. Her mother was laying on her bed in a shirt and her underwear. Her blonde hair was matted and her eyes had dark bags underneath of them. Someone might have thought the woman was on some serious drugs.
"What did you bring me?" she asked, sitting up.
"Ziven," Celly replied.S
he watched her mother's blue eyes light up. She mouthed the word What?
Celestynn nodded. "I brought him back, Matka," she said with a smile. "Do you want to see him? I'll be right back."

She went back to the garage and turned on a light. The boy couldn't have moved, so luckily, he was just in place. She sat next to him in the car. "Well," she said. "Welcome home. Ready to meet Mum?" Her eyes looked sad, sorry even. Silver lines ran from her eyes to the edges of her mouth. She looked a mess, like the mess she had become.
"Now Ziven, you need to promise not to try anything, okay?" She took out the Beretta that had not left her pocket. She motioned towards it, hoping he'd get the hint. She still wasn't scared to shoot.

*Polish for mother, daddy, grandad, and great-grandad, respectively

[Drakonnas]

Ben was in a really foul mood, and wanted nothing more than to beat her to a pulp, run away, and cry into his mother's shoulder. He was absolutely terrified. Scared out of his wits. But... as they pulled to a stop, he noticed that there was a cop car outside! Ben's mood lightened considerably. She'd get her Just Desserts, alright...

He looked a little bit confused as the girl went up to talk to the policeman. He could hear everything that was said. Rage filled him as the girl pretended to be innocent, giving the cop a sob story, and acting. The cop's duty would make him check for evidence, even if she pretended to be innocent. If she was innocent, there would be nothing to hide. He would have to come check. And when he did, there would be hell to pay. Oh yes.

But... the officer didn't check. He believed her, and even seemed to sympathize with the girl, even saying he'd clear her of all suspicions. Ben was filled with astonishment, which lead to rage as he realized what the policeman was doing. He was effectively preventing any chance of rescue. The ones who were there to help him were making things worse! Ben thrashed around in the car, trying to shake the car, make as much noise as possible so that the policeman might see or hear something. He thrashed around as violently as possible, but to no avail.

Ben watched as his kidnapper walked inside for a few minutes, and then came out. He was so filled with rage that he wanted to kill this girl. Beat her up, anything to get away. The calm and quiet boy, so turned by this occurrence, wanted to be violent. He wanted to get away. He was going to run. Any chance he got, he was out of there. He would find a chance. There wasn't any way that he couldn't, unless they kept him locked up in some basement for years. And if they wanted him as their brother, they wouldn't do that.

He could fake things, pretend to be happy, and when they let their guard down, he could make a run for it. Grab the gun, and run. That was possible. But... He'd probably resist a lot, and see if they would get tired of him and let him go. If that didn't work, he could try to trick them. Doing that wouldn't be too difficult, especially if they were as crazy as they seemed.

As she came back out, he gave her a look of the deepest loathing. He made it very clear that he wanted nothing more than to hurt her, and run away. He would try, too. At this point, he wasn't scared of being killed. Seeing as there was a small chance of him ever returning to his parents at this point... He didn't really care about living. Heck, death might even be preferable. He stuck his tongue out at her, and turned away from her. He wasn't gonna make things easy on her. Refusing to move, she'd have to literally drag him out of the car if she wanted anything.

[Ashen]

The boy clearly wasn't going to make it easy on her. With a sigh, Celestynn unbuckled him and dragged him out of her car. She continued to drag him into the house, muttering things to herself. This boy was causing her a lot of trouble, trouble she'd never be able to get herself out of.

When she got inside she locked the door behind her. She released her tight grip on the boy's arm and stared at her. "I want to explain something to you," she said evenly. "There are knives in this house, and a screwdriver or two, and a bunch of other things that you could probably use to kill me. In the time it'll take you to stab me to death, I could have killed you five times over with my gun. As you probably saw, we don't have too many neighbors. These houses are far apart, the lady next door is deaf, the people across the street are in Mexico for a month, and the couple next door isn't home most of the day. No one will hear the gunshot. And another thing? Just try an call the cops. You can't sign to them over the phone, and the entire police district is friends with us, which is now really starting to have its perks. There isn't any way you can get out. Do you understand?"

She wasn't expecting an answer from the boy so she turned away, walking back into her mother's room. "Matka," she called. "Come to the kitchen."
When the older woman stumbled into the room, her eyes immediately locked on the young boy's. "Ziven?" she said, her accent now distorting the word. She said a few things in Polish and ran up to him. She pulled him into a hug he couldn't have escaped even if he tried. When she pulled away, her smile took up her entire face. "Ziven, Ziven, moje dziecko, Ziven," she said. Tears were now streaming down her face. She held up her fragile hands and signed the words in sign language, We missed you.

Celestynn was waiting to see how the boy would react. He proved no safety hazard, not right now, but she couldn't help but be paranoid. What if he tried to kill them anyway? What she said about the gun being faster than the knife was true, but she didn't want anyone to die. So she just wordlessly watched the interaction between mother and son, boy and stranger.

[Drakonnas]

Ben stared at the girl with a great scowl on his face. Her threat was idle, and didn't scare him at all. He could easily kill her while she slept, and run. He didn't care at all if she shot him. It would be better than continuing to be a prisoner in here. But he wasn't going to try and get himself killed. He was simply going to try and escape. He didn't care how he did it, but he would escape. That much he knew. There would, or could, be no giving up.

As the other woman came out, and tried to suffocate him with a hug, he tried to push her away, tried to escape the grasp in which he felt himself trapped by. As she let go, and spoke something that he didn't understand, he was surprised that she knew sign language. He quickly started communicating. "I'm not your son." He said, a desperate look on his face. "This... horrible woman kidnapped me. My name is Benjamin, and I lived in Le Mars, Iowa, until she took me at gunpoint. You have to let me go, you have to call the police, and help me... I don't want to be here. I don't want to be part of your crazy family. Let me go!"

He didn't think anything would happen. He seriously doubted that she would be well enough to even see that. Would she really think that her son, dead for a year, would suddenly come back? Benjamin was looking around, trying to find out what was going on. He needed some sort of escape plan. He looked for all the exits, looked for anything that could be used as a weapon... He had to get out of there. And if he could just get to the police's place... or someone. Anyone. He could call for help.