My eyes opened slowly, to meet the darkness. I squeezed my eyes, confused. Everywhere was dark, and the placed looked different. I looked at everywhere, stretching my eyes due to the lack of light. I realized I wasn't in my room. Behind me, my hands were strongly tied tightly with something like a rope. My head ached painfully. I must have hit it somewhere very hard. How did I get here? I wondered. Panick took over. I struggled to untie myself but to no avail.
I was on the ground of a dimly lit room. I decided to scream if anyone could hear me.
"Hello, it's any one here," I shouted loudly.
Silence.
The sound of small footsteps caught my attention. I listened further to realize someone was walking towards the room, slowly humming to a tune.
The door opened slightly, and a man in black stepped in. He wasn't wearing any mask on his face, which terrified me the more. If he didn't bother hiding his face, it meant he had no intentions of letting me go.
"You've awakened," he said in a low voice finally.
"Why am I here?" I asked terrifiedly.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he took up a chair and sat in front of me.
“Your boss owes me money. A lot of money.
"Since he’s hiding, you're my hostage till he pays”, he began.
I stared at him cluelessly. “I have no idea about that,” I said.
“You don’t have to.” He leaned forward.
“All you have to do is call him and tell him what’s going to happen if he doesn’t pay.”
My phone was already on the table beside him. He must have taken it from my bag.
I hesitated for some seconds, then asked. “If I do that… will you let me go?”
He smiled wickedly at me, then said ”maybe.”
He removed the rope from my hands and stood close to me, pointing a gun at me.
"Dial the number" he simply said.
Quietly, I dialed my boss' number, my hands shaking all through. It rang several times. No answer.
“Voicemail,” I said quietly.
“Drop a message,” he said.
I tried not to sound too distressed as I was right now.
“Sir… please call me back. "It’s urgent.” I hung up before I could say more.
The man yelled. “That's not enough.”
I shifted a bit, frightened. He began pacing slowly.
“Don't try to play smart with me, and if you even think of running, I'll end you”, he said in a menacing tone and left.
I nodded. My mind was far too gone already, thinking of various ways to escape this goddamn place. The window in the corner was too high and too small. The room was basically empty except for some old pile of wood kept at one corner.
An hour passed without a call. The man in front of me pacing back and forth, became more and more impatient. It finally rang. He quickly answered it.
“Hello?” My boss’s voice was cautious.
The man spoke first. “You owe me. Two hundred thousand and you have 12 hours to make the payment”
There was silence on the line. Then my boss’s voice came back, tighter.
“I don’t know who you are, but—”
The man cut him off. “Don’t play stupid. If I don’t hear from you in the next twelve hours, she dies, and I’ll come for your son this time around.”
The next few hours passed quickly. I had to leave this place. I didn't trust my boss to save me. He had tied back my hands with the rope. Very tightly this time around. My eyes kept moving to the lock on the door and then back to the keys he carried in his pockets.
Soon my chance came. He left the room. I sprung up immediately, searching around for anything I could find. My eyes landed on a small broken mirror lying on the ground. I managed to kick it with my legs back to the position I was sitting in, then sat back on the same spot on the floor again, pretending to be so tired. Slowly, I rubbed it against the rope tied to my hands until it began losing gradually.
It was night when the phone buzzed again. He read the message, and immediately threw the phone harshly on the ground.
“He’s not paying,” he yelled, staring angrily at me.
I flinched a little. “Whhh... "What happens now?” I asked in between stammers.
“That depends,” he said, bringing out the gun from his pocket.
I swallowed hard and started to pull at the rope faster this time while I watched him pace back and forth, thinking about his next step.
Finally, the rope snapped. My hands were now free.
But I haven’t moved yet. If I rushed, I might lose my chance.
He turned his back to me for some minutes, making another phone call, and that was my opportunity.
I grabbed one of the broken woods closest to me and swung it forward with all my strength. It hit his back and arms, sending the phone and gun he held to the floor.
He fell to the ground, shouting in pain. I went straight to his pocket and dragged the keys out. Then ran towards the door. He moved forward, catching my sleeve in the process, but I turned around and kicked him in his balls. He stumbled backwards, crying in pain while I put the right key into the lock.
The door flew open. I ran so fast I could hardly feel my legs. I stopped running for breath when I was sure I was on the street where they were people. The air was cold causing me to shiver a little.
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I quickly stopped a moving vehicle. The driver’s eyes grew large when he saw me. “Are you alright?” he asked.
“Police,” I managed to say in between breaths. “Take me to the police.”
I entered the car quickly and we drove off. I glanced back to see my captor still watching. He remained at the door of the abandoned building, watching from afar. He looked so enraged. I sat back down on the car seat and breathed slowly as the car moved further away from that place. I finally felt somehow safe.
