CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: KIDNAPPED
1260 Words
William drove up the driveway and under the carport alongside the large apartment. The rain was gentle and calm, sputtering across his windshield. The car engine died out.
William let out a heavy sigh, dropping his forehead to his forearms on the steering wheel, his eyes wet with tears. Climbing down from the car, he took out an umbrella to shield himself from the rain as he staggered towards the front door of his apartment.
Struggling with the locks, he finally got the door to open. He entered the house and threw himself on the couch. His clothes were dripping wet. He’d never felt this devastated in his entire life. Felt as though a bigger part of him had been taken away by Elena’s death.
He resented everyone around him, especially Derik. He couldn’t quite understand where all this anger and sudden hatred for Derik was coming from. In his heart, he blamed him entirely for his wife’s death.
The noise from the wide-screen television washed over him, the screaming of the overhead fan, the whining of the heater—all overwhelming him with frustration and unrestrained rage.
Suddenly, his phone rang, and it frustrated him the more. He tossed the phone on the table—almost destroying the device, and then leaned back on the couch, allowing himself to relax. Closing his eyes, he was lost in deep thoughts.
Natasha had left home that morning hoping to meet her mother when she returned from school. His mind boggled as he rehearsed what he was going to say to her when she return, but his phone kept buzzing on the table. With a groan, he moved from the chair to check the ID, to see who kept calling him persistently.
Frank.
He wondered why Frank wouldn’t stop calling.
“Is there a problem?” he frowned after pressing the phone to his ear.
“Sir, I heard about what happened. Please accept my condolences,” he said, sympathetically.
William had to choke back his rage. He didn’t want anyone’s pity. It was condescending. “Frank, I thought you’re calling for something important.” he snapped a reply.
“It is.”
“Then get on with it.”
After a brief silence, Frank answered, “There has been a major problem at the taskforce. Mr Shade broke out of the laboratory moments ago, leaving behind two dead lab attendants. He is now running loose in the streets of Burnout. God knows where he is right now. As long as he is out there, lives are endangered.”
When Frank did not hear any response, he continued, “We were preparing him for the re-education procedure, and he just went out of control. The lab assistants that had tried to restrain him both lost their lives. Right now, we have an additional problem in our hands, and the mayor—”
William hung up before Frank could finish, turning off his phone and throwing it back on the table.
“Damn the mayor. Damn you all.” He lay back on the couch.
Harsh wind from the cold and rainy afternoon blew into the room as the door swung open. William turned and found—much to his dismay, Natasha standing in the doorway, hanging her bag pack over her shoulder.
Natasha had her long brown hair pulled up and tucked up inside a baseball cap. She blinked in surprise when she saw her dad sitting on the couch.
“Dad?” she called out. “You are home early today. You never come home this early.” Her eyebrows rose, and she leaped for joy when a realization struck her. “Wait, is mum back already?”
William stared blankly at her face. He almost wept at her excitement, but then struggled to hold back the tears.
Natasha observed his reaction—they were odd. Far from what she’d expected. Her smile slipped away. “Dad, what’s wrong?”
Natasha took a few paces towards him and stopped midway into the room. Her brows furrowed when something clicked. Heart pounding against her chest, she turned to ask, “Dad, where’s Mum?”
His spirits sank at the inevitable question, and he turned to look at her. He didn’t know what to say to her. The tears in his eyes made them glimmer. His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips were trembling.
“Honey, your mother… she is…. she’s gone,” he stuttered, trying to hold back the tears.
Tears spilled on her cheek, lips trembling, and face frozen in shock. Wrinkles creased her brows as William’s words burned in her ears. She tried to draw meaning from what he’d said—she’s gone? Was she dead, or had mother abandoned them? Natasha prayed it was the latter.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” There was a note of dismay in her voice.
Her question pierced his heart like an arrow. Then he looked away from her. He felt so ashamed seeing his daughter watch him cry. “Your mum… she is never coming back ever again. Her body was found this afternoon,” he babbled.
Gasping, Natasha covered her mouth. She let her bag fall from her shoulder. Then a silence, never heard before, slithered its way throughout the room. For a split second, she found it incredibly hard to believe that her mother was dead, but then she saw William’s tears. They were real. She’d never seen him cry. Not once.
Though the room was cold, she felt sweat breaking on her brow. This all felt like a terrible nightmare that she prayed to wake up from. She scrambled backward, towards the door and ran out of the house, into the rain.
“Natasha, wait!” William called out to her, but she just kept running.
Natasha ran into the garden. Her legs buckled, and she dropped onto the wet soil. Looking up at the dark, heavy sky pregnant with rain, she let out a shrill cry. Her voice echoed across. The veins in her neck rose as she screamed.
The rain fell squarely on her face as she looked towards the sky. Sadness clouded her features, and she expressed her pain in a shriek. Her dress was completely soaked in the rain.
Natasha let out her frustrations on the surrounding grass, pulling them from their roots. She soiled herself on the damp soil. Felt her heart ache as she cried. She hit the ground, screaming at the top of her voice.
“No! No! No! No!” she exclaimed, socking her hands on the damp soil. Her fingers were bruised.
Natasha felt a hand tap her shoulder.
“Dad, please go away! I want to be left alone,” she whined.
The hand clutched her shoulder—harder. Didn’t feel like her Dad’s. Slowly turning to look behind, she was stricken with horror when she saw a hooded, masked figure standing beside her, holding a shovel in one arm and placing the other on her shoulder.
Lightning cracked in the sky.
Her hair stood on end when she saw its eyes from the devilish waxen mask; they were fixed on her. The letter ‘C’ on its mask became visible under the flash, then all was dark again. The figure stared at her coldly from its mask.
She opened her mouth to scream for her dad to come, but the figure quickly slammed the shovel on her head, knocking her unconscious. She collapsed onto the wet soil.
The figure grabbed her foot and dragged her away.
- Writer
