Black Equation - The Gifted Ones

Number Three

“Take a step. Don’t look back… for I will never be the same if we ever meet again.”

 

Number Three

 

It had been hours since she was placed inside the room, and probably a day since she was taken. Her mind was filled with worry for her father. And Arashi. And Tyra. What were they doing right now? She couldn’t stand the thought of them driving aimlessly around the city, or them shouting at the police in frenzied panic over her disappearance.

Abcidee peeled her eyelid open when she heard the door open. A stern-faced man entered, carrying with him a tray of food. Her appetite was nowhere to be found, and if it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t have realized she had eaten nothing in nearly twenty-four hours. She didn’t move from the bed, but didn’t pretend to be asleep either. Her green eyes watched him as he set her food on the side table.

“Eat up. We ain’t starvin’ ya here,” the older man barked with a heavy Southern accent.

Cautiously, she sat up, eying the plate of pasta, two slices of garlic bread and the tall glass of orange juice.

“Ain’t put any drugs in it, if that’s what ya thinkin’.” The man winced. “Krad would slice me throat if I did.”

Krad. Abcidee tilted her head to the side. Where did she hear that name before?

“Uh, thank you,” she offered lamely, but didn’t make any move to eat.

The man walked over her and lightly grasped her elbow, pulling her up. “Eat! And ya better keep quiet in ‘ere if ya want no problems here, lassy. We men watchin' you. Every move you make. We ‘ear every sound, and we ain’t like ya bitches whinin’.”

Abcidee wanted to scoff at his warning, but thought it wiser not to. She hadn’t given up trying to find a way to escape, but that didn’t mean she would do something as senseless as cry or quiver in fear in front of her kidnappers. She was not the type to waste her energy that way. If there was any chance against them, she had to be calm and collected. She had to make them think that she was as compliant as putty so that they would let their guards down. Sooner or later, an opportunity would show itself, and then she would strike.

She sat there staring at the stern-faced man, sizing him up if there was any chance she could get past him. Her two intimidating guards had stepped out half an hour ago. From their conversation though, she knew that there were more men in the halls. The window, a small squarish opening four feet above her was impossible to reach, much more to squeeze herself through.

Abruptly, she yanked her arm away from the man and took the utensils, deliberately brandishing the fork in front of him.

“Ya think I’ll be scared with a fork?” The man snickered. “Like that little thing ‘il do any harm.”

With a roll of her eyes, she forked the pasta and shoved it inside her mouth. She chewed loudly and gulped.  “Satisfied?”

He frowned at her before turning around. “I’ll come back to get ‘em later.”

“Where is my father?” she asked just as the man grabbed the door knob to make his exit.

"What?" 

"My father... You took him with me, right?" She saw Arashi just before she was taken. Who else would these men take? If they planned to make her a slave to their wishes, surely, it was her father whom they took.

The man pulled his hand back from the knob and scratched the back of his ear. "Why 'il we do that?"

"Uh, to make me obey?" she answered with uncertainty lacing her tone. A few heavy seconds ticked by.