She always stayed in the library until 00:00 am, it never closed and she would rather distract herself with studying than being home. Her stepfather was abusive and she just didn’t understand why her mother still tolerated it.
She never even understood how she even fell in love with him from the very beginning, he brought nothing to the table.
Closing the book, her body had been overworked and she was exhausted. The library was dead silent, only her light was on before switching that off too. She turned on her phone's assistive light and walked towards the door. Putting her one shoulder bag on her shoulder. She was doing her second year in college, never getting anything less than a 95% in her school work, she was dedicated to good grades.
Her phone rang, it was her mother, she grabbed her phone and picked it up,
“ Yes, mother?”
“ When are you coming home Zhuri?” She said, sounding worried.
“ Don’t worry mom, I’m on my way to catch the bus. I was at the library, sorry I didn’t let you know.”
“ Okay sweetheart, see you back home.” Her mother said before dropping.
She shoved her phone in her bag and carried on walking. The streets were dead silent, she decided to plug in earphones and listen to some music while she walked to the bus stop.
There was only one bus stop which worked for 24hours. Listening to some R&B would relax her mind, imaging herself already chilling on her bed.
It was a Friday too, well Saturday since it was already 00:10 am. She’d have the whole weekend to relax from a whole week of hard work, and her stepfather was barely home on the weekends so she always looked forward to them.
She thought she heard a sound, taking out her earphones to listen, the road was completely silent. Putting her earphone back in her ears and walked. She loved how quiet the streets were at this time, even the atmosphere was fresh. During the day she always felt suffocated by all the people, this time though she felt like was the best time to be out.
Just then a black van drove past her, speeding. She took off her earphones and shoved them in her bag, noticing it reverse. She ran towards the nearest park and hid behind a rose bush. Her heart was racing.
Noticing 3 girls who seemed drunk, making a noise on the road, and giggling. A tall-looking man in a black suit walked over to them, they spoke for a little while before they seemed to walk away from him. Just then three more men came out of the car. Forcefully picking up these girls as they screamed in panic. Zhuri covered her mouth, tears forming on her face as she witnessed a kidnapping.
She didn’t know what to do, afraid of coming out cause what could she possibly do? Nothing, she was helpless.
Putting the three girls in the back of the van and shutting it before it drove off. She froze on her knees behind the rose bush for a while, looking around to see if they were gone.
The park was empty, so was the road. She got up from behind the rose bush and started taking the long route around instead of the main road. She had been walking here a lot, she had never witnessed a kidnapping or even anyone getting mugged. She’d get to the bus stop safely, sometimes there would be other people there with her.
Looking around still to check if she was alone, her heart was hammering in her chest. She felt like breaking down, afraid for herself now. Looking back constantly in paranoia, listening for a car that could be driving around but it was completely silent.
She walked in a street that had no lights, trying her best to tiptoe, she didn’t even want to make a sound. Felt sick to her stomach, wanted to collapse.
Just then she sees headlights in front of her on the road. She freezes, the car turns the headlights to a bright. She turns and starts running back towards the library. Her heart was racing along with the speed she ran in, her ears were ringing.
Around the corner, she noticed a man, behind her another. They were surrounding her,
“ No no...” she cried out, looking to her right which was empty. She wasn’t sure if she’d outrun them but it was worth a try. She dropped her bag and ran towards the right alongside a tall glass building. She turned back and noticed them chasing her.
Her mind was going insane at the moment, she couldn’t believe that this was happening to her, why her?
She reached a dead end, turned around to look but there was no one there. She turned back around and ran into a big man in a suit who grabbed her, putting a cloth over her nose. She felt herself getting woozy before the street lights looked like vivid lines, then everything went dark.
She woke up to voices, the three girls looking at her with smudged mascara in the back of the van. Their legs crossed in their little mini-skirts, in panic.
Zhuri got up, her head was still spinning. Kicking the door of the van,
“ hmm!!!” She screamed with her mouth covered with tape.
The door swung open,
“ We’ve got a problematic one here. She made us run and now she’s kicking the doors down.” The man said looking at her.
“ The boss will deal with her, you know how much he hates the ones that think they can give us a hard time, he’ll sell her for peanuts.” The other replied before they laughed.
Grabbing Zhuri by the feet and pulling her out, slapping her,
“ You better behave you stupid thing.” The one-man said the one who had drugged her. She kicked him right where it hurts and sent him crawling on the floor before she stepped on him.
The other men grabbed her,
“ Grab that dumb girl and drug her again, make sure her legs are tied when she meets with the boss tomorrow.”