The Betrayal

One

Billy

After leaving the restaurant, I walked Shauna home, and as usual, it took me long to bid her goodnight. We stayed on the bench at  her porch for a while, and she sat on my lap.

We were kissing when we saw the kitchen lights flicker from inside her house. Shauna let go a nervous giggle and got up, hoping no one would  come out. 

Reluctantly, I looked at my watch. It was almost eleven thirty.

"Gotta get going, it's late and still have a long way to go."

"Why don't you take a cab? It may rain, and remember we're going to the lake tomorrow." As usual, Shauna was too cautious.

I hesitated  for a moment, but decided I would have enough  time  to arrive home before it started to rain.

"No, don't worry, I feel like walking. See you tomorrow at ten , okay? Love you!"

 "Love you more."

I kissed Shauna goodbye and started walking home. It was early October, and the warm night was inviting for a walk. 

As I was getting closer to my street, about midnight, I heard footsteps behind me, and turned around, startled. A man in his late forties was going the same way I was. I didn't pay him much attention and kept walking, willing to get home as soon as possible.

Near my house, there was a car parked, a dark blue Pontiac, and another man was standing beside it, smoking.  He wore a white coat, and had a scar crossing his left cheek. His eyes, dark and cold, seemed to dig into me.

I turned around again, and the man behind me gave me a creepy  smile.

 I had a strange feeling, and wished I had taken a cab as Shauna had suggested.

The man by the car got up as I walked by his side, and called me. 

"You must be Billy, right? We were wanting  to meet you." His voice was low, almost like a whisper, and yet it sounded menacing.

"What?"

The other man grabbed me, but I pushed him aside to get rid of him, and sped up to  get to my house.

 The man by the car blocked my way. I was between both of them, and had no where to turn.

"No need to hurry, kid. We just wanna talk for a while."

"Who the hell are you?" My legs started to shake, but I managed to act as if I wasn't as scared as I actually was.

"Hasn't your father taught you how to behave? This is not the way to talk to old family friends."

"Listen, if you want money, I can give you all I have." I took my wallet and gave them some dollars.

'Very touching, kid. But tell me something, why should we accept just some crumbs when we can get the whole bread loaf?"

"Wait...what?" 

 It all happened unbelievably fast, not giving me the chance to react. The man who had been following me put a bandana around  my mouth and gagged me. I tried to cry for help, but all my attempts  died in my throat.. My only hope was that any of my neighbours went out of their house...

"Quick, tie him and get him in the trunk." The man in white handed some rope to the other one. 

They pushed me over the hood of the car,  and tied tightly my hands behind my back. One of the men opened the trunk, and they locked me in it . A moment later, the car took off. I kept wondering who and why had kidn*pped me...and didn't even dare to think what were they going to do to me. My heart rate was running high, and I found it hard to breathe. 

About half an hour or so later, the car finally stopped, and after a short while someone opened the trunk. I was roughly pulled out of the trunk and pushed into a nearby house. I had time to give a quick look at the place I was in. It was a garage, wide enough for two cars. Both of them had the trunk open, so it made no sense trying to remember the plate. I was kind of  disoriented and sick after being locked in the trunk for such a long time, and felt it hard to keep balance.

"Goddammit, move!"

They pushed me to a room, in the low floor of the house. It was empty,  with no furniture but a mattress and a chair. There was a beam in the middle of the room, and a small window in the ceiling.

Before locking me there , my kidnapper removed my gag. I took a deep breath and faced him as he walked to the door.

" What do you want from me? Why...?"

"You'll know it when the time comes. Till then, you'd better behave."

"No...wait!! Let me go, please!"

He said nothing else, just left and closed the room from the outside, and switched the light off. Sitting on the mattress, I tried to find a meaning to all that. Surely it was a bloody mistake and they'd let me go when they knew they had taken the wrong guy. 

My head was in a turmoil. What if they hadn't gone wrong, after all ? I was just an average eighteen guy, about to start college, and had never been in a mess. My ma was a simple housewife and my oldman was a cop. 

A cop. That could be a clue. Would that be a revenge against him? Maybe some of the perps he had arrested wanted a payback against my father, and had taken me to get it. Well, they wouldn't have it that easy...It was just a matter of time before my oldman found me.

I got up slowly and walked all along the room, guided by the moonlight coming through the window. I tried fear didn't win the battle, but it looked like it had. What if my family didn't find me, after all? What if those men intended to kill me? Finally,  I laid down on the mattress and fell asleep, but I woke up several times, scared as a rabbit facing a wolf. I hoped I'd hear a noise or something that let me know where I was, but wherever they had taken me, seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. All I could hear was silence.

That unbearable silence surrounding me got broken by some footsteps and the door being opened. The man with the white coat came in. Now, he was wearing white trousers and shirt.

"Breakfast time, kid." He left a small tray on the mattress. There was a cup of coffee and some biscuits.

"Why did you bring me here? This is a revenge against my father, right?"

He let out a laugh. And it was a scary, bitter one. I felt a cold sweat running through my spine.

"Smart guy you are, huh? But you ask too many questions, and I guess you know what happened to the curious cat, don't you? Don't worry, it will only take two or three days before you know it all, someone will come and tell you. Till then, just consider yourself our very special guest."

He said nothing more about why had they taken me, or who was involved in it. It must be something about my oldman's job, maybe someone he had arrested and wanted revenge. But last thing he had said, " someone will come and tell you..." The leader of that gang, probably... And then, what? After those two or three days, what would they do to me?

"Are you going to...to kill me?"

"Don't be stupid! No, we won't kill you. I told ya, we've been asked to take care of you, and we will. Just as long you behave, that is..."

"How long will I stay here?" I had to find out something else about what should I have to face.

"Oh, it depends on.... It can be a week, a month...who knows? In the meantime, stop asking stupid questions, try to behave and we won't hurt you. No one will hear you, so you'd better not shout or anything. Come, let me show you this is just business." He took a knife and untied my wrists. I rubbed them, trying to soften them after such a long time tied.

"We'll let you talk to your family later. But remember to behave, we'll be listening. Don't even think of giving them a clue on where we are, capisce?"

Capisce. One of them, at least, was italian. Or maybe he had used that expression to make me think he was....

He left the room, and I took a sip of coffee. There had to be a way to let my father know where I was, when they let me talk to my family. I wondered if he would know about that " someone" who would come to explain  everything to me....I hadn't the slightest clue about who could he be.

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A/N Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed the story, please vote and comment...both are appreciated ¡