Punished

REALITY

Essence woke up to her phone notifications going off. She sat up, realizing she was in the bed alone and naked.

“Nothing happened. I wasn’t drunk to not know if I had sex.”

She said to herself, looking around, then grabbed her phone from her purse. There were over twenty missed calls and text messages from Felicia and Keisha.

The last number on her call log was who she was going to call, but her phone rang in her hand.

“Felicia, what’s going on?”

She heard sniffles through the phone.

“Dawn is dead.”

“What the hell?!!”

“They found her with her heart missing. It looked like she had all her blood drained from her body.”

Essence, help me!

Her dream of Bellamy and Dawn flashed through her thoughts. Her friend's voice was so clear with a look of terror on her face.

“Remember we saw her car crashed up on the curb?”

“Y-Yeah…” she felt sick.

“Well the same car appeared in her driveway with her inside it. She had on the same clothes she wore at the club.”

“That…that doesn’t make sense.”

“I know. I can’t believe they killed her.”

Essence jumped out of the bed, putting her dress and shoes back on. Now she was terrified.

“So it was those guys that chased us that night?”

“Who else could it have been?”

Tears began to fill her eyes. It was sinking in that one of her good friends was gone. And she’s in her killers’ home.

“I’m-I’m going to call you back, okay?”

“Okay. Love you, Essence.”

Tears fell down her face. “I love you, too.”

Essence hung up, then put her phone back in her purse. She didn’t know the address of where she was but knew she had to get out of there ASAP.

“Good morning.”

She jumped at the sound of Amin’s voice. Her hand wiped her tears as she turned her back to him.

“Are you hungry?”

Essence faced him.  “N-No, I need to go home.”

Amin had his two braids taken out. His long dark hair hung over his shoulders. All that he wore was sweat pants, giving Essence a look at his muscular, tattooed covered body.

“You do already? That sucks.”

He walked towards her and stood inches apart. “I had plans for us since my brother is going to be busy all day.”

Essence tried not to look nervous or show that something was wrong. All she wanted to do was get home.

“Sorry…I really want to go home. I have plans with my son.”

Amin gave a soft smile. “Okay, give me a few minutes, and I will take you home.”

“I can call a cab…I just need your address.”

He turned to look at her. “Is something wrong, Essence?”

“N-No, I’m just trying not to be a pain.”

“You’re not, baby. I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

Essence gave him a nod, then followed him out of the room. She went down the stairs and found a chair to sit on in the big foyer.