The conditions Daisy faced for us and those women were extremely bad. The next morning, I woke up with the hope of finding something for the investigation. Arnold was my target. He was one of the replacements for the taken. He was an arrogant man to say the least but he was my only hope to find something since I couldn't be out there in the field, investigating.
"Hey man. What have you been up to?", I casually asked Arnold. I felt dumb immediately after I said it. "Do I know you?" he asked, in a very irritated tone. "Well, everyone knows you, Arnold. That is what's important. You are one of the replacements, right?" On hearing my words, Arnold immediately lifted me by my collar. "What did you call me? Who gave you the right to say that word around here? You are so dead kid." He was screaming. I sarcastically replied, "first of all, we are the same age 'kid'. I don't need permission to say what everyone is thinking. You are a replacement. It is just a fact. The question is, what do they have of you that is so important, or is it a who?"
Arnold's grip loosened as he dragged me by the collar to the corner of the room. He said, "listen man. I don't know who you are or what you want and frankly speaking, I don't wish to know either. The words you are saying could be over heard by anyone and I could get in a lot of trouble. Please just mind your own business. I am not going to ask you nicely again. You will suffer if anything were to happen to me."
"Are you afraid of professor Henry? Don't worry he won't hear us. He is deaf to our problems anyway. The warden is far away. Be honest with me now or else I will start screaming and cause a scene. Who do they have?" I know I was using Arnold's weakness against him but I had no choice. In order to catch a villain, sometimes you are forced to become one. I had to be the devil in Arnold's story in order to be a savior in mine. I could tell by Arnold's expression that he wasn't too thrilled to see me there. Honestly, I thought he was going to punch me really hard in the face. I was prepared to suffer a few punches in order to help in this investigation. I hated being a sitting duck. I wanted to help my friends find those women. After a moment of silence and inspection of the surrounding, Arnold finally said something. "I can't risk telling you anything. I am sorry. Please don't do this. I won't bully you; I promise. I won't even bully your friends. Which one of these losers is your friend? I promise to leave them alone."
"I think that's my problem, Arnold. I had friends. You replaced them. You and your other bully-friends replaced my friends. I want to find them. I know they have someone you love. I know it for sure. This façade of evil is not going to fool me. I can tell you things. I can tell you what happens to the people who get taken. I can tell you what might be happening to your family, only if you promise to help me too."
"We didn't choose this life. None of us did. We didn't plan or plot to replace your friends. Our families were taken. Our sisters, girlfriends, mothers; all taken. We were asked to be mean to the rest of you and never let anyone talk about the kidnappings. We were asked to divert minds. Every time a girl interrupted our mission, she got taken. We tried our best to stop them, we scared everyone but some of them were unphased and had to suffer like our families. I don't even know who it was that I replaced. None of us know anything. We are even forced to clean up evidence. Some of us like this life. We are all divided by our beliefs. Some of us think this is for the better because we get to be mean and rude without facing many consequences but the truth is, we face a lot. I have no friends. I don't consider the other replacements my friends. This is the first time I am having a conversation with an actual person without being afraid of the hate they must have for me. I know you hate me but I didn't choose this. You have to believe me. you have to stop investigating into this or else your family will be taken as well."
I said, "It is too late Arnold. Everyone has been taken. My mother, she is dead. She was killed by these monsters. I have been orphaned. I would hate to see it happen to any of you. You must join me. You must help me figure this out. Don't worry, none of the authorities have to find out. We will do it all in secret. We have to save all these women before they are all driven insane."
Arnold interrupted, "insane? What do you mean? Why will they be driven insane? Are they doing something to them? Are the women being hurt?"
I replied, "yes, they are being tortured. You have a lot to catch up on, that is if you decide to join me. I know we have nothing right now but together, we might find something. I know we don't even know each other and you might think we have no trust but trust can be built. You might think we have nothing in common but we have both been hurt by the monsters behind this plan. There is so much you need to know but only if you help me too. Tell me Arnold, will you help me get to the bottom of this? Will you help me find our families?"
Arnold nodded his head. I had managed to recruit a member to my investigating team.