Chapter 78

Stella

The night wind feels nice and gentle against my skin. My bag bumps against my hip, bouncing back and forth with my laptop inside. The moon hangs low in the night sky and it is big and yellow, a warm and welcoming sight while I make my way home.

Adrian’s new project was launched today. I helped oversee some of the security aspects of it, making sure that the firewall remained in place just in case any of his competitors or hackers with no good intentions tried to break through. It was a long day, one that I decided to take out at a nearby cafe that is a short walking distance from my apartment, and I am ready to fall asleep and give into the fogginess of my brain.

I can no longer look at numbers on a screen or remain under the harsh lighting of the cafe. All I want to do is to get into bed with a cup of warm tea and maybe, just maybe, listen to music while I fall asleep. My eyes hurt and I need to stay away from all kinds of lighting so I don’t wake up with a headache tomorrow.

Just as I reach the front of my apartment, a black and unmarked van screeches up beside the sidewalk. I gasp and clutch my bag to my chest, trying to make myself look as invisible as possible as I head towards my apartment’s lobby doors. Men in black masks and black clothing jump out of the van.

I turn away and reach for the door just to feel hands grab my sides, yanking me away. I cry out for help, my cries going unnoticed since it is almost the dead of night.

I turn and wiggle my body in their arms, trying so hard to escape from their touch, but my efforts are in vain as I am thrown into the back of the van. Tears fall down my face and a black hood is placed over my head. My whole body feels so disoriented as the van door slams shut, my vision now completely black.

“Where are you taking me?” I stammer, trying to get the words out and to try and get as much information as possible.

There is no response. The van lurches forward as it merges back into the empty street road, barreling down the streets. It doesn’t stop, only making sharp and quick turns that throws me around in the back of the van.

My head slams against the metal wall and it immediately begins to throb. A loud sob comes from my body, my hands and legs and arms trembling as pain courses throughout my body.

I cannot see but I can hear the men in the back of the van laugh and snicker at me. They speak in hushed voices and the ringing my ears makes their words hard to hear. It shouldn’t be too hard to guess what it is that they have to say though, their words are probably mocking and derogatory about my hopeless plight to escape.

I roll onto my back when the van comes to a sudden stop. I do not move and instead make my body as much of dead weight as I can possibly make it, not wanting it to be easy for them to move me.

The van doors open and they grab my ankles, dragging me out of the van and over one of their shoulders. I wish I can fight back against them, to punch or kick myself away from them, but my body is so close to giving out on me. I am just too damn weak to fight.

Tears continue to flow down my cheeks. I listen as they weave me through a series of rooms and doors, their footsteps loud and echoing across the large building. They walk me up the stairs and push inside another room, setting me down onto an ice cold metal chair.

“Please…let me go…” I quietly plead with the man who fastens a string of rope around my wrists. His touch is harsh and the rope burns into my skin as he tightens it.

“Not in a million years, sweetheart,” the man chuckles. He pats my cheek before removing the hood fro my head.

The room is dark and grimy. There is mold growing in the corner of the room where a floodlight is aimed. There is a table to the side of me and on top of it sits a bottle of water and a few scraps of food.

My stomach growls at the sight. My mouth is so impossibly dry and it feels like I have not eaten in ages. I roll my head back and stare at the ceiling, seeing even more black and green dots that are scattered across the material.

This place has to be abandoned. Probably an old warehouse or factory that has been taken over by the gangs of the city. Sebastian told me about these places, that they find shelter in here before they do all of the dirty work they were hired to do.

I guess I am a part of their job now. I hope that this isn’t the end of my story. I wish that there is more for me past this instead of being the end of a chapter in someone else’s story.

“Hello?” I ask aloud, my voice hoarse. There is no response. “Hello?!” I ask louder this time, my hands fighting against the rope.

“Stella?” a familiar voice calls out. My ears perk up at the sound. “Stella? Is that really you?”

“Clara?” I breathe out, shocked that she is also here in this situation with me. I would have never expected it but at the same time I can’t help but wonder who she pissed off this time to get us into this mess.

“Stella! I’ve been here for hours. They’re so cruel,” Clara cries out.

“It’ll be okay, Clara,” I respond, scooting my chair closer in the direction of her voice.

Clara sounds like she is down the hall, maybe even a few rooms down from me. I do not know just how big the place is, but I can only assume that we were put next to each other for a specific purpose.

What purpose that is? Well, I don’t know just yet.

“We’ll get out of here soon enough. You have to remain calm, though, okay? Can you do that for me?” I ask, desperately trying to form a plan inside of my head.

“Yes!” Clara cries out.

“Okay good,” I nodded my head and look around the room. “We need to work together to get out of here, Clara. I know…I know that we are not on the best of terms but we are each other’s biggest ally and hope to get out of here.”

I pause. Clara remains silent. I close my eyes and can feel my hands trembling from behind me. My foot taps against the ground, the sound filling in the silence.

“Do you think we can work together to get out of here?”

“Yes!” Clara responds and my heart begins to feel a sliver of hope that things will turn out to be okay.