Captured

A Coonzitz Novel

Chapter 1

There is a darkness that gathers,

I feel cold, so cold

"Amy, we're going to be late!" Anthony Coonzitz yelled after honking the horn half a dozen times from his brother's van. Brandon Coonzitz elbowed him back into his seat with a disapproving look.

"A proper gentleman would go to the door," he said sagely.

"We aren't dating," Anthony said quickly, unconvincingly. Clearing his throat uncomfortably he yelled once again, "Jeremy doesn't like to be kept waiting, Amy!"

"Right," Brandon muttered under his breath. It partially annoyed him that he was the one forced to give them a ride, but with their parents on a trip and him being the only one with a driver's license he was in charge of getting his little brother from point A to point B; or in this case point A to point B to point C: home, soon to be girlfriend's home, and then the arcade. This was definitely not going to be his favorite Friday night.

"The simple mind of a sixteen-year-old," Brandon breathed.

"Ah, the simple mind of a seventeen-year-old," Anthony breathed back overdramatically.

"Ah, the simple minds of the Coonzitzs brothers," Amy Catherine said, smiling at them from the open driver's side window. The two of them looked alike; similar facial features were clearly defined as they turned their heads in surprise at her sudden appearance. Their hair was collectively brown with silver highlights, however Brandon had side burns and shorter tamed spiked hair, whereas his younger brother kept his hair long and in untamed spikes that went every which way on his head. Their eyes on the other hand were the same, wide and bright, dark brown that beckoned those that stared into them to guess their secrets.

"Hello, Amy," Brandon said shaking his head at both of their comments.

She smiled at him and said, "Driving the massive van again, eh?" Brandon snorted softly, his parents had had the audacity to take his car and leave him with the van. She then looked at Anthony expectantly, but he was too busy staring at her. He knew that she had always been beautiful, but today she looked even more radiant. She had cut her sunny blonde hair recently and it was now not much longer than his; it fell in straight layers around her face. His eyes met hers, they matched the vibrant blue of her blouse and her lips, those utterly gorgeous lips, seemed a bit darker than usual; at the moment he could only find himself starting in awe of her.

"Are you alright, Anthony?" Amy asked as she tilted her head to look at him, noting the way he suddenly blushed as he got caught gawking.

"Hey," he said stupidly with a nod of his head. Brandon frowned and quickly elbowed him in the ribs, as Amy went around to the other side of the van to get in.

"Ouch!" Anthony hissed. "What?" Brandon gave him a meaningful stare and Anthony sighed in exasperation, it seemed more than just his group of friends was determined to get him and Amy together, not that he hated the idea, he just didn't want their help. With that thought in mind he hopped out of the van to open the door for Amy and to join her in the middle seat.

Brandon shifted the van into gear as his two passengers buckled their seat belts. "Now remind me where I'm going."

"It's right before the highway we take on our way to school," Amy said before Anthony could sputter, he had a knack at forgetting directions or making simple things complicated as he tended to think way outside the box.

"Isn't that where that new arcade is?" Brandon asked cautiously. The grand opening was tonight, not only that, but on the same night there was a basketball game at a stadium that wasn't too far away from the arcade's location, which just meant that it might take forever for them to get there. He could imagine the traffic now, and exactly how many people would cut him off on the way. He glared at his brother through the mirror, tempted to turn the van around and just go home. "Is there a reason you didn't mention this before hand, Anthony?" His voice dripped with menace as he wanted to strangle his brother.

"Yep, I didn't want you saying no," Anthony said honestly with a bright smile, "Sorry, ole chum."

There wasn't much he could say to his blunt honesty. "Maybe I'll just leave them stranded and make them walk home," Brandon muttered under his breath. Amy's ears twitched at that, though she knew that he had not actually meant it. She wondered if Anthony had heard him.

He obviously had when Anthony smiled at her and asked, "Isn't he cute when he's angry?" Amy's jaw dropped in disbelief and laughter somehow forced its way up her throat even though she tried to hold it in for Brandon's benefit. They were definitely brothers; no one could question it with their similar personalities.

"I don't think you should be insulting the person willing to drive us from place to place, Anthony," Amy said through her laughter.

"Yeah, Anthony, quit insulting me," Brandon said dryly.

But Anthony wasn't listening, as he faintly heard a song he loved on the radio. "Brandon, crank it up." Brandon knew better than to not listen; the world always seemed to stop when Anthony found music he wanted to sing. And truly it wasn't something Brandon minded; Anthony was an unbelievable singer and had often been asked to do shows, though lately it seemed like he was avoiding being on any stage bigger than that of a school production.

It was Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" that quickly filled the van with its uplifting melody. And perhaps it helped them move through traffic much easier because there was a beat to follow.

As the song ended the three of them fell silent as they caught sight of the arcade; they all flinched at the coloring. In an instant Amy whipped out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Not only were the lights too bright for her abnormally sensitive eyes, but they were marginally horrendous shades of orange and green; one thing was for sure the arcade would attract plenty of attention.

Just as Brandon had predicted the place was packed, but the reason traffic was so backed up was only partially due to the arcade grand opening and the basketball game; it seemed that someone had had the brilliant idea of attempting to turn in front of a semi. From what they could see the other car escaped unscathed, but the semi that had swerved to avoid the car and had rolled onto its side, blocking nearly all traffic lanes. Brandon let his head fall on the steering wheel in utter defeat, but the action quickly proved to be a bad idea as it made the horn go off, startlingly him and causing the cars around him to honk back angrily.

"I think we should just get out here," Anthony said as he whistled under his breath at the crowd. "Guess we really should have expected this, something always goes wrong on a grand opening."

"Ya think," Brandon said sarcastically as he searched for a way for him to turn around and get out of the mess Anthony had gotten him into.

"What time am I picking you guys up," Brandon sighed; it looked like he would just have to wait for his opportunity to escape.

"Arcade closes at eleven thirty, so anytime around there is fine. Hopefully all of this will be cleared up by then," Anthony said as he opened the sliding door. "Thanks again for the ride, Brandon." Brandon snorted at him and then made a waving gesture to get them out of his hair as quickly as possible. Taking the hint, Amy hopped out and shut the door behind her. The two of them waved at Brandon as they weaved their way through the practically frozen traffic to get to the arcade.

"Anthony! Amy! Over here!" Jeremy Towerely yelled at them over the blaring music coming from the closed arcade door behind him. He ran down the stairs to meet them, his fading black-back-to-blonde hair blowing every which way as the hot summer wind swirled around him. "You're twenty minutes late and we're hungry."

"Sorry, but you can't really blame us," Amy said as she looked back at the snaking lanes of traffic that seemed to go on forever.

"Especially when he didn't get here until five minutes ago," a pair of voices said coming up from behind him. They both slung an arm around his shoulders one on each side of him, "In't that right Jeremy?"

"Well, erm, that is…aren't these lights pretty," Jeremy sputtered. They raised their eyebrows in unison and looked to Anthony and Amy.

"He wasn't saying that when we first got here; if we recall correctly his exact words were "that arcade is ugly"," the two of them said laughingly.

Will and Peter Chase were identical twin brothers that tended to either finish each other's sentences or talk at the exact same moment. They stood at equal heights and had the same hazelnut brown curly hair that barely fell down to their shoulders; their eyes, however, were a different story. To help people tell them apart Will had recently began wearing green colored contact lenses, though it seemed sometimes they tended to switch the contacts amongst each other in order to trick their classmates and their teachers.

"Will, Peter, let's be nice to Jeremy it isn't his fault that the designers chose such…interesting colors," Anthony said making a choking noise to get the sentence out. Jeremy felt his ears turn red at their teasing, but they luckily couldn't see it because his ears were covered by his hair.

The twins and Jeremy had been friends since the first day of kindergarten when Jeremy had told them that they looked nothing alike…and then followed it up by marking Peter's forehead with the letter "P" for Peter with a permanent marker; it hadn't gone over well with their teacher and they ended up sitting inside for recess.

"You guys are a real riot. And wait until you see the inside," Jeremy snorted as he pushed them off of his shoulders in partial disgust.

"What happened to Kelsey, boys?" Amy asked almost hopefully as she took off her sunglasses, she preferred to see in color rather than grayscale. Kelsey Nikkles was Jeremy's girlfriend that none of them (except for Jeremy) really liked, but they put up with her for Jeremy's sake. She tended to be rude and gossipy, not to mention the fact that Amy had always felt that Kelsey was going to betray Jeremy at any given moment.

"She's back saving our table; no one would dare mess with her with the kind of glares she gives anyone who angers her. You wouldn't believe what people will do to snatch a table in there," Will said shuddering. He walked away from them still shaking as he tried to brush the memory off to go back to the table.

Peter leaned close to Anthony and whispered, "He lost our first table. Some big jocks came out of nowhere and just sat down at the table he was occupying. They didn't even say a word, they just glared at him and Will left willingly." Anthony laughed silently at that; Will always seemed to have the bad luck between the two of them.

"Would you come on already!" Jeremy called from the door; he and Amy had apparently gone ahead of them.

"We're coming, Jeremy!" Peter yelled. "He is seriously the most impatient of people, he wasn't like this before junior high, I swear." He muttered under his breath before racing up the stairs with Anthony right behind him.

When they opened the door Anthony had the sudden urge to take a step back; the coloring from the outside was nowhere near as heinous as the ones on the inside. Lime green and tangerine orange still dominated the area, but what really had his stomach turning was the sunny yellow carpet. Someone needed to seriously shoot the guy who picked out the colors. And that was when he heard the music; he practically gagged. Whoever the DJ was needed to get with the times for in the background he heard the distinct signature of classical music and despite the point that he loved classical music; in an arcade setting it was depressing.

They quickly spotted Will who was waving his hands back and forth to get their attention. Peter shook his head at his brother, but just the same he got a look of joy on his face and then waved back enthusiastically; the twins were definitely two of a kind.

As Amy laughed silently to herself at their antics she felt a shiver go through her and instantly froze. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Anthony do the same thing; Peter and Jeremy brushed by him, oblivious to him stopping as they seemed to be having some sort of a loud discussion. Amy searched, but could not find the cause of the shiver. She knew someone was definitely watching her; it was a feeling she knew all too well and a feeling she absolutely loathed. She glanced at Anthony, who was also searching the crowd and she frowned; it was odd that he was acting as if he had had the same feeling.

But then her eyes happened to meet the person that was causing her to feel uncomfortable; he was sitting calmly at a table all to himself staring directly at her, completely unabashed about doing so. His icy blue eyes seemed to seep into her, making her feel as if all of her secrets were suddenly exposed to him. His hair was dark chocolate that was shorter in the front than in the back; he wouldn't be as intimidating if no one could see the coldness in his eyes. He was seemingly pale and skinny looking as if he very rarely went out during the day. The only part of him moving were his fingers, which were busily typing away at a laptop, though it didn't seem he was paying any attention to whatever he was typing.

She watched in fascination as his pupils suddenly, and unnaturally, dilated; he almost looked as if he was possessed by a demon. And that was when she felt a tickling sensation in the back of her mind. She stiffened as he tried to intrude upon her thoughts, but by doing so she felt a flash of his, which, in theory, wasn't supposed to happen. They both pulled back in surprise and waited for the other to try again.

Anthony broke the connection between them by stepping in front of Amy in an almost protective motion. It was a mistake; the guy took it as a challenge and he half smiled, shooting a feeling of ice down Anthony's back. Anthony glared at him, tempting him to try anything. His half smile quickly turned smug; he didn't believe Anthony to be any sort of threat to him. Anthony took one step toward him, but then caught himself; he wasn't that person anymore and he hadn't been for a long time.

"Come on, Amy." Anthony took her arm and led her to their table. But Amy was transfixed by him; as they walked she couldn't stop looking back at him. There was just something about his face that she recognized, but she couldn't place exactly where she knew him from.

When they got to their table more than half of the pizza that their friends had ordered was already gone. But they didn't even glance at the food; their minds were behind them standing there watching warily for the cold-eyed teen to make his move. They didn't even notice the collective frowns that Jeremy, Will, and Peter were giving them.

Kelsey, on the other hand, couldn't just sit by quietly and leave them be, her green eyes narrowed at the prospect and her long blonde hair bounced slightly in her excitement. Anthony could tell by the incandescent glint in her eye that said she lived to see the crumbling trouble that was their lives. No doubt she was already thinking of the stories she would be texting to people later tonight about them. He nearly groaned out loud at the thought.

"You two have a fight?" She asked them. They both looked at her grimly, but didn't bother to answer her question; helping her make gossip was not a good idea.

"Why don't we go and play some games, while Amy and Anthony eat," Peter said as he grabbed Will's arm and Jeremy's leading them away from the table. A slow smile began to spread across Kelsey's face at the idea of being alone with them to pester them as she pleased, but before she could finish Peter popped back in. "Kelsey, let's go." He grabbed her arm and gently began to drag her away.

"But-" she began to protest. Peter whispered something to her that neither of them bothered to try hearing. Kelsey gave him an angry look and pulled her arm out of his hold forcefully. She practically ran to catch up with Jeremy.

Amy and Anthony stared after them and then turned to look at each other. Anthony absently grabbed a piece of pizza and started chewing tiny bites nervously. He looked up at Amy to see her staring at the back of the person's head who had made them freeze.

He cleared his throat to get her attention, "Do you know him?" Her frown deepened as she thought about it further.

"I…I don't know," Amy said sadly.

"Seems like a hard person to forget." She agreed with him, but that didn't help her remember the guy. She had stopped questioning the gaps in her memories months ago, gaps that she hadn't told anyone about. Then again it wasn't as if she could tell anyone, they would just think she were mad. The idea of being isolated was worse than having the memory loss.

A reflection of dancing light that came from behind Anthony caught her interest. Silver eyes slightly covered by orange tinted sunglasses looked back at her, a soft grin on his face. He winked at her and then raised a finger to his lips in a gesture to keep silent; his cranberry red-hair bouncing slightly at the gesture. She scowled at him. What was he trying to hide from—Anthony? She thought dubiously.

"Is something wrong, Amy?" Anthony asked, gaining her attention.

"There are just some real strange people here at the arcade," she pointed behind him to get him to look. He turned his head and glanced back, but saw nothing and no one particularly odd. She frowned as she too looked past him; the red-head had gone just as quickly as he had come.

Anthony didn't believe she was lying; the arcade seemed to be attracting something heinous in the people and as he looked around he found himself grimacing at the thought of finding himself more involved than he ever wanted to be. "I think it might be best if we go and join the others," he said softly, his eyes darted, looking suspiciously at everyone that gave a momentary glance his way. But as soon as his eyes found Jeremy he fell from his view point and crashed to the floor.

"That's not good." Anthony stood as he caught sight of Kelsey in a heated discussion with the blue-eyed stranger a moment later, who may or may not have tripped Jeremy. Without giving it a second thought he walked past Amy, determined to get Kelsey away from the strange guy. Amy followed quickly after; perhaps if she heard his voice she would remember where she knew him from, but she didn't really count on it; not one of her missing memories had even faintly come back.