Chapter 2

I turned around and nearly doubled over in relief," Jas what the heck is wrong with you?! Who sneaks up on a person like that?!" I yell at my best friend, Jasmine Dalca, who just grins sheepishly at me like she didn't just scare my soul out of my body," chill girl, a little scare never sent anyone to their graves" I was just about to argue otherwise when she interrupted," you going on your lunch break right? Lets have a chat together before you go back" she says and drags me to our usual coffee shop.

At the table, we ordered our usuals, I with a latte and Jasmine with an espresso. Why would a lady like a sweetless drink such as that is beyond me," so wassup girl, How's it been? I was out to surprise you and figured you'd still be going to the sanctuary" Jasmine states as she takes a sip of her coffee.

Jasmine and I are childhood friends, we've been through a lot together, both good and bad times. We are a contrast though in appearance, where I'm a 5'3 redhead with grey eyes, straight nose, round lips, and some freckles on the bridge of my nose, Jasmine is a 5'8 blonde with blue eyes, pointed nose, full lips with a character that screams 'don't fuck with me'.

It's always been our dream to go to university together but unexpected grief strikes out of nowhere, leaving me here trying to build myself up and her in another country moving on with life as per her parents' instruction.

Jasmine as an only child sees it as her responsibility to build herself to the expectations of her parents, but I admire her perseverance." It's been good, started working in the library after high school so I'd say a dream come true'' I smile at her as I take a sip of my coffee," of course that's be a dream of yours" she shakes her head playfully and I shove her while snickering," whatever, I also got admission into the school I told you about " I share the news with her, we may not see each other a lot anymore but we always make sure to keep our friendship alive through calls and chat," that's wonderful babe! So happy for you" she smiles happily and squeezes my hand," thanks hun, now what have you been up to in London?" I ask her and we keep on chatting and updating each other on our lives till my break is over.

After the coffee date, we hugged, and said we would see each other later. She'll come around in the evening to greet my parents and hang out for a bit, maybe even for a sleepover.

As I walked back to the library I had that eerie feeling of being watched again and turned around but still found nothing suspicious, I quickly walked back to the library,' maybe I'm just being paranoid' I thought to myself, and continued with my work.

I continued with my work till it was close to closing time, Tommy came out of his office looking haggard and walks towards the table," you look like a mess" I tell him, he gives me an 'are you kidding me look ' and rolls his eyes "thanks, I feel like one" he says and stretched his back out," ill be heading out first then, use your keys and lock up after your done" he says and walks towards the door," sure thing" I say just as he's out of the door and get started on clearing the place for lock up.

After locking up, I collect my bike and cycle towards the spot I visit frequently but not as frequently as I would have hoped to.

I arrive at the cemetery and walk up the silent steps towards the place where one of the most important people to me rests now. I walk towards the tombstone and kneel in front of it in loving memories of our son and brother Mihai Alexe 2003-2015.

I stare at his tombstone for a while remembering the day I lost a part of me, my twin.

We were on our way back home from school as usual, I, Mihai and Jasmine as always, when a car from nowhere speeds right at us and drives away to get out of trouble, next thing I know I'm waking up in the hospital to a fractured hip with 4 broken ribs, Jasmine with a fractured leg and a concussion and the emptiness of hearing that the one I shared a womb with was gone, adding depression to my list of wounds.

I blink slowly at his grave and smile softly at it, "Hi Mihai, I'm back again, I'm sure you missed me" I stare at his picture on the tombstone, my lookalike but male, we both inherited my mum's looks but where I took my dad's eye color, he took mum's.

I sit with him and tell him about everything including my admission," so ill be gone for a while and won't be able to see you for a while, sad news I know but ill be here at every single break so don't miss me too much okay" I tell his picture, after a moment of silence I get up and dust my dress," see you later Mihai, I promise to bring your favorite chocolate next time" I whisper before I walk out of the cemetery.

As I step out feeling solemn and with a heavy heart, I grab my bike and just as I am about to hop on and ride home, a van stops abruptly and 3 masked men rush out and 2 of them grab me," What the-who are you-help! Let me go!"  I thrashed in their hold but it was of no use, they were too strong, I screamed but the place was silent, the absence of any living soul, the third one walked up to me then yanked my hair and I felt a sharp sting on my neck before everything went black.

Chapter 3

I regain consciousness with an ache in my body and my neck is stiff. I groan as I try to stretch my joints but feel restrictions in my body.

I open my eyes to a dimly lit area and blink, trying to adjust to the dim lights. The whole place is too dim to make out. There is only a small window by the wall on my right, but it's barred down, letting only a few streams of sunlight into the room, facing me are stairs leading up.

I look down at my limbs and see that I've been bound to the chair with ropes. I try dragging my hands free but the rope bites into my skin. I struggle for a while then stop as the rope digs in tighter.

I sit there in confusion, wondering where I am and how long I have been tied up. As the sun sets, I cry to myself, thinking about how worried my parents are about not seeing me back home until sundown.

Just as I was about to force the restraints on my hands and feet again, the sound of keys rattling made me freeze. I hold my breath as the door atop the stairs opens up and I get momentarily blinded by the sudden light that comes through.

Just as I adjusted my eyes to the sudden light, slow, calculated footsteps came from the door, then the figure of a large man blocked the light passing through the door and covered my form in his shadow.

He stands by the doorway but I couldn't make out his facial features," Who are you and what am I doing here?!"I shout at his form but I'm just met with silence, just as I'm about the shout profanities at him, he comes down the steps calmly and stands in front of me.

My breath catches in my throat at the sight of the large man, he has sharp black eyes that pierce into one's soul, a chiseled jaw,  full lips with a beard framing them and his hairstyle is that of being cut short on the sides and a few inches longer at the front. He's a really attractive male but he stared at me like he'd crush me with his shoe and I don't recall knowing such a man.

Two burly men also come down from the stairs and close it behind them, plunging us into darkness momentarily before turning on the light for a single bulb above us.

Being surrounded by all these strangers, I feel the surge of panic start to bubble up within me as they surround me from all sides," answer me God damn it! Who the heck are you?!" I shout at them in panic and in a flash, the man on my left grabs my jaw harshly and forces my head upwards to stare at the man with the piercing dark eyes.

I take in sharp deep breaths to quell my rising panic attack, I couldn't afford to get a panic attack in front of these men.

The dark eyed man looks deeply at me," your a loud thing for someone powerless ", his deep voice sounds off in the enclosed space, he bends towards my face and studies me," you owe me a debt that is very much overdue so I decide to see to this matter myself" his breath fans my face as he speaks, a mix of tobacco and mint.

I stare at him with furrowed brows in confusion, I've never met this man before in my life so his talk of a debt is all new to me," What do you mean by debt? I don't even know you" I tell him as I watch his eyes. He raises one brow in silent amusement and takes a step back with a smirk on his face," Oh really? Want to play the innocent game with me, pretend you know nothing, quite original" he says mockingly as he takes slow, predatory steps around me," but no issues, let me play along and jog your memory shall we?" he asks while still circling round me," in 2015, Roman Alexe and his wife had a sudden decline from business that they tried to rise from, then all of a sudden got struck with the accident of their children which resulted in the demise of one and the long term hospitalisation of the other and with all those bills rounding up they had no way to go about it" he continues while I pale upon hearing his words,"how-how did-"," but then, left with no other option, they decided to steal from my shipment and stab me in the back" he interrupts me while still taking circles round me," nobody, will betray me and not get what's coming for them, hence why you're here", he finished and stops in front of me.

He stared at me with his cold, hard eyes at my pale self. The man holding my jaw lets go of my head with a shove making my hair stick to my sweaty, tear-stricken face. The hard-eyed man roughly grabs my hair by the roots and forces my face towards his," and now the option left is to pay me otherwise...." he leaves the statement hanging and draws out his gun from his back and grazes it at the side of my face.

The cold pistol is pressed to my forehead as the smirk falls from his face and he looks at me like a nuisance he would not be bothered to shoot right this instance," a life or two has to be traded for it" he pushes my head backward with the tip of his pistol and turns away towards the stairs," so now we play the waiting game, shake them up then we see what option they choose" he says without looking back and like a silent command, he's two men follow him up the steps and open the door for him," no, stop wait!!!!" I shout just as they slam the door behind them, plunging me into darkness.

Chapter 4

Locked. In the darkness. All one.

The sheer terror that courses through me is enough to spiral into a panic attack.

How long will they keep me, aside from my parents who would search for me I think while hyperventilating.

The sheer pressure of everything pressed down on me making it hard for me to breathe.

I practice my breathing exercises and go through my mantras that I was taught during my therapy session. I'm okay, everything will get better, not all is lost, but as I recite them in my mind I know that if I don't work fast that all will be lost.

I managed to stabilize myself and in the meantime, only one thought came to me....," I have to get myself out of here" I whispered to myself.

I calmly observe what little I can make of the space I'm locked in, apart from the single bulb, a window, and the door, there's nothing in the room that could help me.

My heart drops and I begin to feel hopeless.

After some hours of still silence and near madness, I hear some footsteps of men upstairs. It sounded like there was a group of men chatting about.

I heard a few yelling shouting drinks and guessed that they were drinking, then a plan struck me, dangerous but necessary.

I mentally give them about 45 minutes before I start shouting," Hey!!! Let me out of here!!! You don't know who you're messing with, I'll make you all pay!!!" I shout at the top of my lungs then hear sudden silence from above.

Now, I'm no one really but the goal is to anger them to at least send one down so that I could try and outsmart them in their drunken stupor. Not long after my shouts a large, heavily tattooed man bursts in through the door nearly knocking himself and the door down, he staggers down from the stairs, beer bottle in hand, and marches towards me.

He grabs my hair by the root, forcing my head up. A sharp pain spreads through my scalp and I hiss at the pain," you filthy little thing, who the heck do you think you are to be running your mouth while tied up huh" he mocks me while looking down at me, I sneer and muster up a false bravado," errand boys like you only do what your good for and run around doing the errands of other people, I laugh at your false display of power" I mock him and watch as fury blazes in his eyes, next thing I know I get slapped across the face hard, my head swerves to the right and I blood seeps into my mouth, smearing it with its metallic taste.

The man heaves with anger then all of a sudden looks at me with a look I can only describe as evil," Since you're so keen on showing us who you are, better to show off what you're made of to the rest of the fellas isn't that right?" He says as he walks around me and stops behind me, he drops his bottle at the side of the chair I'm tied to and moves to untie my hands.

Just as he frees my hands, I take advantage of his wobbly alcohol-induced movements and rush to grab the bottle on the floor and swing it to his head without missing a beat.

Cheers go off from above just as the bottle makes contact with his head, masking the sound of the bottle breaking. He falls to the floor with a thud and stares at his body, the sound of blood flowing through my ears and my heart still beats fast from the turn of events.

I rush to untie my legs quickly and get up from the chair taking a glance at the unconscious man on the floor I better make a run for it before he wakes up, by the looks of it may be out for the night but I can't bet on that I think to myself as I move to grab the walkie talkie in his back pocket, a large shard of glass from the broken bottle and slowly climb up the steps to the door.

I carefully peered out through the door and noticed that it was a long hallway and to my left was some sort of lounge where about 5 men surrounded by women were having drinks.

I observed to make sure they're well distracted then rush passed the door. I make hurried steps through the hallway while occasionally glancing back to make sure that I haven't been spotted yet and keep going.

Along the walls of the hallway were closed doors. I don't try to gamble with it about whether it's an exit or a room of sober men so I keep moving forward hoping that the corridor would lead to an opening.

Not long into my escape, the walkie-talkie comes to life ''all men within block C, the girl has escaped, move fast and catch her before she heads far" a male voice announces through the device.

Panic surged through me hearing that they know I'm gone and are looking for me so I bolt through the hallway.

The end of the hallway was just in sight when I could hear the murmur of voices behind me.

I dash towards the opening just as I hear a man shout "There she is, catch her!" I increase my speed upon hearing that.

I noticed that at the end of the hallway was a staircase leading down and I just prayed that it led to the exit.

I ran down the stairs and noticed that it was an open space with an open door showing land.

I run faster at the sight of freedom but before making it long, I got tackled to the floor on my left, knocking the items I held out of my hand, just before I could regain my bearings, I feel a sting on my neck and just before blacking out, I glance at the door once more, so close, then darkness.