Her Five Protectors

ONE

Athena did not know how her life managed to turn out like this as she had been just walking on the empty road and trying to search for a right destination, when suddenly a SUV blocked her path.

The door opened, revealing scary though well built men. Before she could even think of running, they had lunged at her and locked her in tight grip but it was not as rough as she expected it to be. She tried to struggle but to no avail.

One of the men muttered something on his ear piece something like 'we got her'.

Athena's eyes widened. Her heart sank.

What?

She was almost gently pushed into the car.

They caught her so soon.

Fear gripped her nerves making her freeze.

Lost in thought, she did not even realize when the car stopped. She was dragged out with the similar treatment as earlier.

"We are going to board the jet."

Athena looked at the men as he reported to someone on his ear piece. His eyes met hers. She almost whimpered.

"I would not let her escape." He said, looking directly at her, instilling more fear in her heart.

She was led into the plane and pushed on one of the seat. Nervously, she clenched her knees and thought back about her life. The life she had just escaped.

Athena basically grew up with her foster parents who adopted her when she was just a year old baby. They were the most loving people and they nurtured her with love and care or is that what she thought until she become aware of their horrible reality.

Her foster father was an alcoholic. He loved her but this love of his started to change into something disgusting. That made her uncomfortable. She started to avoid getting close to him as much as she could. But this only led to the punishments and she was starved for days. Her foster mother only cared that her house was clean and there was not a single speck of dust. That was why, Athena turned out to be their little servant when she was just 10. Her stepmother taught her basics from cooking to cleaning. She grew up taking care of their needs and their house. However, she was never taught that she needed to take care of herself too.

They practically locked her up in the house and never allowed her to get out. Sometimes her foster mother bothered to teach her some more interesting things like how to read. But it was very rare. She was basically illiterate.

As she turned 16, she overheard her foster parents' conversation. They were conversing regarding how she could make them a lot of money. She later understood when she eavesdropped more that they were planning to sell her to someone to clear off their debts.

Athena had heard news on the television for several times, regarding the bad guys who sell human's organs illegally. Another reason, why she was so terrified in front of these men presences.

To save herself, she made a decision to runaway. Athena was scared of the outside world as she had never been there. But there was more fear of these bad guys imprinted in her mind.

The Runway Journey was humorous. As she ran, she was chased by street dogs. A situation she never even thought she would find herself in. She ended up running into the cops. But they confused the poor girl more by asking her weird questions. She managed to escape from them too and they chased her. In the end, she ended up hitting a high speed car.

A scream left her lips as with huge force her body flew up in air and then, her head slammed down on the pavement. The next moment she found herself in the hospital bed. The team of Doctors and Cops were asking her weird questions again but it was only increasing her headache.

She wanted to scream. It was too much for her.

In tears, she did that and almost laughed when they flinched back in fear. Taking advantage of their shocked state, she ran outside. She blended in the busy streets and finally after hours, managed to escape them.

She went into hiding for next 3 days in an abandoned store but she was starving like no one's business. Due to the accident, she had grown even more weaker and her head was always hurting like hell.

At last, she reached at the point where she was kidnapped and now in the plane. She shivered looking at the sky outside.

A flight attended approached her, asking her sweetly if she wanted anything. Athena flinched back and huddled back to her chair as if she could hide in it.

To her utter confusion, they kept directing her by an unknown name. She wanted to tell them that her name was Athena not Ariana. Due to fear gripping her nerves, she could not even get a word out.

She was instructed to put her seatbelt on as they were close to landing. She did so obediently but it was partly because of fear. The second reason, her foster parents had beaten this into her too well to always obey others, no matter what the command is.

She was escorted outside. Her heartbeat skyrocketed and her head spun.

Was this the end? The thought rang in her mind.

Resulting in her balance to stumble at the end of stairs but someone caught her.

"Ariana De' Cortello! You are in so much trouble young lady!"