ABDUCTED

CHAPTER 3

The men who were trying to push Raven inside the van didn't notice Mia standing several feet behind them in the pitch darkness. Mia had to do something. And something real quick. She had to save her sister. She observed that the men were all dressed in black. One of the men was a tall bald man with a tattoo of a human skull etched on his head. The second man was slightly shorter than the first one and had bulky arms and long dreadlocks that went past his shoulders. The third man had broad shoulders and an eyepatch on his right eye.

She knew that she would be no match for those men. She had to use her head and come up with a plan. She recalled that she saw cobbles and pebbles near the faulty streetlight. A plan was forming in her head.

She found the pebbles near the place she stood earlier and grabbed as many as she could and stuffed her pockets with them.

The van was in a space where many 3 feet wooden cases were stacked several feet high. Mia planned that she would throw the pebbles towards the wooden cases to create loud noises that would distract the men temporarily, giving her enough time to rescue Raven. If everything went well, both of them could getaway. Her plan was so amateurish, the chances of her idea being a success were zero. But she had to do something quickly. It was a do or die kind of a situation.

She threw a handful of pebbles at the wooden cases and stayed low. She held her breath and hoped they wouldn't notice her presence.

The men turned their heads towards the noise immediately. Mia saw Mr Tattoo head grunting at Mr Bulky arms and Mr Eye patch to check out the sound. Mia didn't expect only the two men to walk towards the cases. She wanted all three men to go down there. She hurled another handful of rocks at the two men as they reached the crates in such a way that it looked like the pebbles were thrown from above the wooden cases.

The two men howled in pain as the pebbles hit them. Mr Tattoo head, tired of their shenanigans decided to inspect the crates himself. He tied Raven's arms to the van's door handles. He gave her a menacing look when she whimpered as she struggled to free herself. "If you ever try to escape, I will personally hunt you down and kill you.", he warned. He left her and started walking towards the other two men.

Mia took this opportunity to save her sister and started taking baby steps towards Raven.

Raven's eyes darted back and forth between her sister and the men. Her vision was blurry due to the tears. She could feel her tears rolling down her tear-stained cheeks. She started breathing heavily and shut her eyes and prayed that her sister would reach her and that they could escape from these ugly men who were trying to abduct her.

Mia reached the spot where Raven was standing. Mia saw how frightened and frantic she looked. "Sh. Sh. I'm here. Don't worry. We will escape. I'm here. It's alright.", Mia cooed to Raven's ear as he embraced her tightly. Raven nodded her head vigorously, relieved that her sister was finally beside her and that they were going to break free.

Mia tried untying the ropes tied around Raven's wrists. The ropes were tightly wound around her wrists. Mia reached for her the rocks in her pocket and started using it as a makeshift knife and began cutting through the strands of the rope until Raven's hands were free.

"Common, we have to run away as swiftly and noiselessly as we can. Alright?", said Mia to Raven as she took Raven's hand. Raven nodded as she wiped her tears with her other hand and tried to calm herself.

Just as they were about to start moving, Mr Tattoo head saw them through the corner of his eyes and turned towards their direction. His eyes were wide with fury as he yelled, "Don't. Stop right there. Don't you move an inch. Otherwise, both will die right here." At this, the other two men turned towards Mia and Raven.

As Mia saw to her horror that the men had seen them trying to break free, her mind went blank. But she did not freeze. Her body's instincts took over; the next second Mia was sprinting towards the darkness tagging her sister along.

"Get them! Quick!" Mr Tattoo head yelled at his men. All three men started chasing the girls to catch them.

Mia and Raven ran as fast as they could. Mia could feel the cold winds against her bare legs and trembled but did not pause. She could feel the cramps in her legs. However, she knew that she had to ignore the pain and run fast.

As they reached the street light, Raven gasped as she saw the motorcycle and the guy she hung out with lying on the ground. But she did not stop and continued running. 

Mia identified the shady lane a few meters away from the street light as one of the shortcuts to her house. Even though it was a dark alley, she hoped that the men would lose them. The girls swerved in the direction of the lane. They welcomed the pitch blackness. The girls paused to catch their breath. Mia turned back to see if the men were still behind them. She noted that they couldn't see them due to the darkness. She noticed the face of Mr Tattoo head. His face was all scrunched up. He was furious and was raging like a mad bull, his hands fisted, ready to punch someone. Mia frightened by the way he was acting tugged Raven and continued to run before the men found them.

After about half an hour later, the girls reached the gates of their house. Both scaled the wall and jumped to the other side. They lost the men soon after they entered the dark lane. However, they still worried if the men would appear out of nowhere and kidnap them.

They sneaked back into the house noiselessly. They did not want to wake their dad up as they weren't ready for the conversation about their whereabouts.

Mia accompanied her sister to her bedroom. As they reached the door of Raven's room, Mia gave her sister a tight hug and told her, "Change your clothes and go to sleep. Don't overthink about what happened tonight. Let's talk about this tomorrow morning. Alright?" Raven nodded her head. As Mia was about to turn and head to her room, Raven hugged her and spoke for the first time since the incident. "Thank you, Mia." Mia returned her hug and kissed her hair, "I will always protect you no matter what Raven.", she murmured. They remained like that for a couple more seconds and let go of each other and returned to their respective rooms for the night.

Mia walked into her room. She switched on the lights as she closed the door soundlessly. Mia went and stood in front of the mirror. She gazed at herself. Her dress drenched with sweat hugged her body, her hair was a mess, her make up ruined. She proceeded to take a bath to cleanse and hopefully calm herself. She changed into her PJs after her bath and climbed on to her bed and lied down. Although her body was tired, her mind was alive with thoughts. She couldn't comprehend the incidents that happened in one night, Jake's behaviour with her and the three men who tried to abduct her sister. She had to speak to Nicki about Jake the next morning. She had to ask Raven about the incident that happened a couple of hours ago. She had a lot of questions for Raven. And she didn't know how to tell her dad about what just happened. He would ground them, but they had to inform him. She sighed in resignation, she needs to get some sleep. Her body required the rest. So she fell asleep hoping for a dreamless sleep.

Mia woke up to the sound of the wind chimes in front of the window in her room. The cold winds blew the hair from her face, her body shuddered. She got out of her bed, stretched, brushed her teeth and headed to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.

She filled a pot with water, turned the stove on and placed it for boiling. She added the tea leaves and waited for her tea to boil. She strained the tea leaves as she poured the tea to a cup. As she placed the pot in the sink, she felt something cold against her neck. The smell of rotten fish invaded her nostrils as she heard a masculine voice whisper," Don't make a noise unless you want your parents to wake up to the bloody mutilated body of their beautiful daughter."