Come Closer

Chapter 3

Four people were standing up, in some sort of a meeting room. Two of them were just observing the scene in front of them, forming their opinions in their heads, before commenting. The other two stayed face to face, arms crossed, clearly showing their disagreement with each other.

“We can’t put her there. I know her.” The one with the brown hair said.

“James, try to understand. She saw what happened there. We can’t let her go” the other, named Ryan, said.

“But how can I? I can’t do that!” James said, with a slight rise in his tone.

“And why is that?” Ryan asked, in a calm manner, so not to make James angry.

“Well….” James hesitated and sighed. “You know why” he mumbled looking down.

“James! Get over her! How many we all have said this, huh? This is not good for you” Ryan said.

James just continued to look down, shifting his weight on his one foot to the other.

“Ryan, spare him. This i***t doesn’t get what you’re saying” Adrian joined the conversation. Then decided Noah, who had been silent for the whole time, to solve the issue once and for all. He stepped forward, and placed his hands on the table, leaning towards others. “Then how about this; we don’t put her in the cell, but keep her with us?”

James looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows. The raised hand of Noah halted the question coming out from his mouth. “We make her stay here, with us, in this mansion, and none of us have to worry about her or getting the word spread.”

Adrian gasped dramatically and put his arm around Noah’s neck. “You’re a genius!” he exclaimed.

“And a handsome one at that” James said, a smirk forming on his lips.

“We love your brain honey. And you too” Adrian added the last sentence with a mischievous glint in his eyes, clearly knowing that they were going to have to listen to a rant from Noah. Ryan could no longer hold her laughter and made a snorting sound in his feeble attempt to keep an straight face, when he saw Noah’s ‘I’m going to explode’ face.

And that was all took for Noah to get started. “Let me teach you a lesson you hideous cockroaches! Always getting under my skin! You should be grateful that this genius is your friend! I deserve to be bowed at! Yet you underestimate this god in front of you….” And there he went on with his rambling, with which he started whenever the others teased him.

///////////////

‘Why do I have a head?’ Lyena thought as she felt a terrible headache as soon as she woke up. Groaning, she got out of the bed she had been in, and walked to her bathroom. She got surprised when she collided with a wall. “What on earth!” she mumbled as she opened her squinting eyes. ‘s**t!’ She thought as she realized that she was neither in her room, nor at her home.

She sprinted towards the door, and tried to open it, her headache long forgotten. As she had expected, it was locked. Turning around, she saw the windows, and then opened them. The cold wind hit her face, making her shiver. She looked down, and instantly regretted the idea of jumping out of the window to escape, as she saw that she was several floors up from the ground. Groaning, she started pacing back and forth, trying to think of a way to get herself out. She sat on the bed and ruffled her hair as she didn’t have any idea.

Lyena sprung from the bed as she heard the door opening. ‘I know that I don’t believe in you much but, please God, just this once, help me’ she prayed to the ones up above, as a brown haired man came in. Her eyes were widened in fear, and her heart rate was increasing rapidly.

“Hello! How are you?” James smiled. ‘What the f**k?’ Lyena thought. She stayed silent as she anything coming to her mind other than curses.

James took a step towards her, making Lyena gulp and make her hands into fists and bringing them up, ready to beat him. “Woah! Woah! Hold on there” James said, as she showed his palms in front of him, to indicate that he meant no harm. “Hey, don’t you remember me?” He asked.

Lyena studied him for a moment and she wasn’t sure whether she knew him or not. He seemed familiar, but she couldn’t put a finger on where exactly she had seen him. So she frowned.

“It’s me, James!” he said.

“James who?” Lyena asked.

“We were classmates. At our high school.”

Now that he mentioned it, Lyena remembered. The brunet, who was at the back of her class. The silent and mysterious boy she sometimes talked with. She remembered that he was a nice boy. “Thank God! At least I know him” She mumbled and relaxed. “What am I doing here?” she asked.

“Well,…technically, you’re kidn*pped” James said, scratching the back of his neck.

“You mother fucker! Why did you bring me here?” Lyena shouted.

James gasped. “Wow! You’ve changed. It wasn’t my fault, my men did it!” He added, as he saw Lyena taking a threatening step towards him.

“You better let me go or else I’m going to BEAT THE s**t OUT OF YOU!” Lyena released her anger with a scream.

James covered his ears with his hands. “Lower your voice, will you? I’ll explain everything” he said and gestured Lyena to sit, as he took a seat on the bed.

“So,…you’re basically saying that they will keep me here and the reason I’m not being put in a cell is that we know each other?” Lyena asked, as she digested the information James had provided her with. James nodded in reply. “But James, I won’t tell anyone about this. Please tell them to let me go.”

“You know that won’t happen, Lyena”

What about my sister? She must be worried”.

“I’m sorry Lyena. Your sister has filed a complaint to the police. If you were to be found now, or the complaint to be withdrawn, the investigators will suspect you both. It won’t be good for you both. And you know that there are many cases of disappearances and not one of them has been closed. Do you think the police will let you go about your day freely?”

Lyena sighed. The mafias and gangsters have taken the control of the country. Of course, they won’t show their faces in the daylight. Their invisible hands were controlling the Government and its officers as if they were puppets. Fear has been an aspect of daily life, and people have accustomed to it. The police would be willing to take actions, if they were not the regular bribees. But, the witnesses or the victims weren’t.

Police means trouble, and trouble attracts danger. With danger, there come the secret gangs and punishments and tortures. This is the famous secret of the country. So it is better to shut the mouths and be silent and live, than facing a slow death.

She sighed. “She probably won’t worry for long anyways.”