Chapter 4. Nighty Night

Leah’s POV

Ringing. That was what I heard as I blinked slowly, trying to understand and take in what had just happened. What had even happened?

The ringing continued in my ears, assaulting my eardrums, but the noise soon quieted down. The taste of blood in my mouth was overwhelming, and my body ached, but in a good way. I don’t know how to explain it, but the pain felt good.

I coughed a few times, and when I tried to move, that’s when another wave of pain hit me. This one did not feel good. Not at all. Tears fell from my eyes, and now my breathing was labored.

Then I heard footsteps. That was good, right? Or was I hallucinating? More tears escaped my eyes, and I felt like tonight was going to be the night I was going to die. I closed my eyes and prayed to God, crying to him to give him another chance.

I can’t die. My mother won’t be able to live through the grief. Not after what had happened with Dad.

“Hey!” I heard a voice, and that was when I knew that I was not hallucinating. It was someone, and I think they were trying to help me. “Stop moving. I’m going to help you.”

“Okay,” I replied, but when I turned to see the person, my heart dropped. The person was wearing a mask that struck fear in me. The mask looked like it was a cow, and its eyes were red…the horns were strong and looked almost realistic, even though it was plastic.

I knew that he was trying to help, right? But everything in me was telling me that he was there for the opposite reason. “No,” The word left my mouth without permission.

“Stop moving. You’re going to make it worse,” The man said as he tried to claw the door open, but it seemed like it was not even budging.

“Please, call 911,” I cried. I did not want his help anymore. I wanted the police. I wanted the ambulance. I wanted my mom.

“Gosh, shut the f*ck up and let me help you!” The man snapped. He seemed annoyed. Then he pulled out something sharp. It was a syringe.

As soon as my eyes fell on it, my breath hitched, and more tears left my eyes. I knew it. He was not here to help me! I needed to do something. But what could I even do? I was stuck. Every move I made felt like I was being stabbed by a knife.

Maybe it was the adrenaline still rushing through my veins, and the fear added because I started to push past the pain as I fought to get free.

The man laughed at my attempt. He then simply reached into the car due to the windows that were broken. He pushed the needle into my arm, and before I could even do anything, I found myself being pushed into darkness.

It was like I blinked once, and I was gone.

***

I woke up, and it was dark. My heart was thundering in my chest. Where was I? I had no idea, and the very thought of that made me even more scared and confused.

I was sweating, and when I tried to move, I realized that I could not. My hands were tied together behind my back by something tight and strong, and that was when I noticed that my legs were, too.

“God, please…” I was already crying. This had to be a nightmare, right? It had to be. This had to be some kind of sick dream because there was no way that this was happening.

I kept trying to move, but it was clear that I was tied up by some kind of rope. I tried to stretch my legs, and that was when I realized that wherever I was, it was not a huge space. Crying was not going to help me, but I just could not stop.

I was just way too scared. I was literally tied and in a dark little space, with no sense of where I was. I think I had every right to be scared, didn’t I?

The next thing that I heard that made me stiffen were voices. They were muffled, and I could barely make out what they were saying, but it was clear that they were not far from where I was.

Then, before I knew it, I heard a click, and then light soon blinded me. It was a flashlight shining right in my face. “She’s awake, I told you,” The guy holding the light said to the other guy.

“And so? She’s tied up. It’s not like she’s going to escape or anything.”

“Man, she could literally start screaming. What if we’re driving and someone hears her?”

As soon as they talked about screaming, it was as if my brain registered that as my cue to do so. “Help! Somebody help me!!” I shouted at the very top of my lungs until my throat burned in pain.

“Shut the f*ck up,” the man holding the flashlight literally hit me in the face with it. Pain ran through my nose, and I coughed as I started to sob. “Open your mouth again, and I will shoot you dead.”

As soon as I heard about being shot, I closed my mouth and swallowed my pain. This was real; this was really happening to me.

This was really happening to me. I was not dreaming. I was not reading a book or watching a movie. I was not watching a crime documentary. This was literally happening to me.

“Please,” I begged, my voice breaking. “I don’t have anything. My mom barely makes enough to sustain us. My dad is dead, and we can’t even pay my tuition. I’m on a scholarship, and I—please…please…just don’t kill me. My mom would die from heartbreak.”

“Kill you?” The guy holding the flashlight chuckled. “You’re worried about us killing you?” He scoffed. “B*tch, you’ve got bigger problems. Your entire life is about to change.” With that, he closed the trunk of the car, and that was how I knew where I was.