kidn*pped BY A GANG
1417 Words
The more I saw him smile, I got more terrified. I actually thought I had been able to finally escape Harrison and his cohorts. What was the now?
I planned to scream so hard immediately we got close to the police checkpoint.
But just as we were getting near, the Uber swerved into a quick left, tearing through the road.
"HELP!" I screamed so hard my lungs ached. "Help! I'm being kidn*pped!" My screams were useless as the road was close to empty. I grabbed the driver by the head, clawing my fingers into his eyes. But this only made the car twirl dangerously on the road.
"You wanna get us killed?" he shouted, laughing hard. I discovered I was dealing with a psychopath. "Well, I'd love to die!" he added as the steering wheel danced crazily in his hand.
Then I let go and leaned back on my seat. The skin beside his eyes was bleeding. His face was knotted in a scowl that could only belong to a demon.
"You tried to kill me, right?" he said, wiping at the blood with his hand.
"Where are you taking me to?" I tried again. Tears had begun to gather in my eyes. I couldn't believe I had leapt from pan to fire. "Who are too walking with?"
He kept driving. "You don't expect me to answer that, do you?" he growled.
There was a silence in the car, before I whispered. "Please let me go. I can give you money if that's what you want. Please."
He shook his head and laughed again. "You have no f*****g idea who's behind this wheel, do you? Well, you'll get to know, pretty soon."
And just then, the car came to a stop. It was a quiet, dark place which reminded me of an underground asylum. I was sure we were about twenty miles away from Harrison's house.
"Get down," he snapped, killing the engine.
He wasn't afraid that I would run away? Well, here was his domain, but then, he had no right to belittle me...
Quietly, I climbed down the car whilst he was still pulling his seatbelt off of him. I was about to leap off into the darkness when I crashed into a bulky, smoking man. One of his eyes was an empty black hole where an eyeball had been.
"Nice try, b***h," his growled. "Get into the van."
I fell on my knees, my hands stretched forth in desperate plea. The tears now flowed freely from my eyes.
"Please, sirs, please spare my life," I whimpered. "I am just a poor girl from a poor home. I have nothing to offer. My father is—"
"Shut the f**k up and get into the van!" the one-eyed man shouted again. The Uber driver pulled me up and dragged me towards the van. Never had I been so close to evil men — except Harrison's guards that day.
Was Smitty behind this? I wondered. Why had he forced me to leave so quickly? A cloud of regret and confusion enveloped me. I shivered in the cold as they dragged me towards the van. I was thrown into the back and the door slammed shut. The first thing I saw was the darkness. Then the stench. The van reeked of stale of blood and sweat. Was there a body there with me?
I swallowed hard as the van got moving. My stomach growled and I realized I hadn't had anything to eat since that morning. I tired to look around, to adjust my eyes to the darkness. But it was just too intense.
I gave up and leaned on the steel wall and closed my eyes.
I tried not to regret running away from Harrison's house. I tried to force myself that it was the best decision I had taken. But as I was being driven in a strange van to an unknown destination, I realized how much of an i***t I was.
I should have stayed back, I thought.
I heard a countering voice in my head. Loud. "Stayed back and been a dirty slave in the hands of a man who doesn't care about you? He isn't even going to look for you. If he was eating when the news of your escape was broken to him, he wouldn't stop chewing his food and drinking his wine. So, quit the stupid thoughts and find a way to save yourself!"
That was something weird about me: I had an aggressive inner voice. But most times, it said the truth.
I touched my belly, feeling the slight bulge of it. I marveled once again that I had a baby growing in me. Harrison's baby.
"Would he come after you?" I whispered at my belly. And just then, a fresh stream of tears dropped ran my cheeks. I opened my eyes again. The van had stopped.
The door was opened and the Uber driver shoved me out. With the little light from the moon seeping through a tree, I could see marks where my long fingernails had dug into his skin.
"You'll pay dearly for these wounds on my face," he grunted as he dragged me towards the one eyed man. "I promise you."
"What is your name?" the one eyed man asked me.
I was about to spill my name when I caught myself. If I gave them a wrong name, they might be confused and let me go.
"My name is Alisha," I said. I looked up fo his face. He was almost as tall as Harrison. His singlet was dirty and torn in many places. His muscles glowed with incessant sweat.
"Your name is Alisha?" he asked.
I swallowed before I said, "Yes, sir."
Before I knew what was happening, his heavy hand struck my face. I saw a flash of light in my eyes, followed by a bolt of pain on my cheeks. I staggered, but was caught and pushed forward by the Uber driver. I didn't scream. Maybe because I had somehow gotten used to been slapped.
"Do you think I asked your name because I don't know?" the man said, calmly. Then he repeated his question. "What is your name?"
"V... Veronica," I stammered. There was the taste of blood in my mouth. "I'm sorry for lying to you." Being Harrison's slave had taught me to be submissive, even though I was maltreated.
I looked around for a gun on their hands. There was none. If I had seen one, if have ridges towards it and shot myself in the head. That way, all these suffering and pain would be over.
"Now, listen up," he continued. "I know who you are, and you might know me, too. Or not. I am putting on a realistic face mask, so this thing you see here -" he tugged at his chin - "isn't my real face. So, you'll never know who I am. And my voice too is changed. I am taking you to a hidden place, untraceable by any tracker device. Then I shall place a phone before you, and you speak to your master, Harrison. If he agrees to pay the ransome, I'll set you free. But you must go back to him. If he doesn't agree, I'll do whatever I want to you. And then send you out to the streets, where I know you can't survive this night alone. That is if you survive the night with me first..."
Even as he spoke, I knew he was telling the truth about the street. Not even a garbage cat could survive such a place. There seemed to be unseen forces waiting to sap the life away from you once you were alone.
The Uber driver pulled me up and we descended down underground stairs. At a point, a blindfold was placed over my eyes.
We had entered a room, and I was aware that we weren't alone anymore. Some other people were seated here. But they were very quiet. Why was I blindfolded? Were these people related to Harrison? Or Smitty?
I was pulled down to an iron seat. It was too quiet around me, as though they feared I might detect who they were by the sounds of their breathing.
"I am calling Harrison now," the one eyed man's voice said. And then I heard a dialing tone on a table in front of me.
I waited breathlessly for the voice of the man who would decide my destiny.
- Writer
