Stranded With My Familiar Stranger

Chapter 3- Off Limits

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Here I was, following this finely dressed, olive toned man with the silky looking hair that makes you want to pass your hand through it a million times. Oh God, what is wrong with me. I was desperately following a stranger, who could possibly murder me in a dark alley and do much worse...

After I told him I don't trust well dressed men, he gave me a look, judging me as if to say 'how'd you get here then '. Actually, his face was unreadable. I just let me conscience speak for me there.

He probably thought I was easy. I felt a pang of disgust at the thought of someone thinking I even wanted to be lured in by these demonic male species.

He told me to follow him and he stalked off down the dark alleyway, without answering my desperate questions, which i realized I didn't ask out loud. Was I starting to go crazy?

I didn't follow at first, but it took a few seconds to register that it was either I followed him, or get myself in the hands of Mr Button up and Kev, that is, provided that this fine man here wasn't one of them.

He kept strolling along the passageway, I assume, expecting me to follow. I started my pace toward wherever he was leading the way to.

I mean, he couldn't be that bad, he wasn't forcing me out of here.

"I see you ran out of options," his words filled the great distance between us, as we walked on with the tinge of light that the lack of streetlights on the main roads provided us with.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Somewhere safe."

Somewhere safe? Ha. Probably an isolated place where nobody could hear me screaming. This was probably his slick way of saying that I'm going to die.

"So-"

He cut me off.

He stopped and swung back and stopped me in my tracks, a few centimeters from him. "Talking takes up too much energy, and from the looks of it, you barely have any. So, save yourself the pain. " He rolled out each word so smoothly, yet his voice naturally seemed to have a sarcastic lacing. 

I stared at him without responding because it was surely for survival purposes that I listen. "Good girl." He reached out his hand to pat my head.

I didn't even flinch or argue, I was just thinking of the heavenly joy of having these shoes off and to be alone right now and safe wherever he was taking me. How stupid was I to mentally acknowledge that safe place as a police station. How stupid was I to make myself think and believe that.

He turned back around then shifted to the side and walked on, slowing his pace until it matched mine.

We finally reached where he was leading on to all along, a faded red building, fairly a different make from the rest. It was shorter than the rest which we clearly apartment buildings.

He pulled a key from his pocket and opened the lock on the steeled door. Steel, yep, this was probably a drug den and they needed bullet protection.

He opened the door and held it there until I half willingly stepped in. I stood, back glued to the door after it closed, preparing myself for the worst.

Okay. Maybe I was expecting a gym of torture equipment, or maybe a hidden strip club or something. Can't trust these men.

Before me, there was a completely unexpected home setting. Unless, you count the dining table across the room with about one, two, three...six men sitting around it.

Oh my. What an oxymoronic situation. Home setting for a violation scene, but the outcome after my many tortuous thoughts kicked in, certainly was not as expected.

The men at the table looked up as the brown haired olive man that brought me here, closed the door. At a general glance, none of them were exceptionally ugly, all generally fine looking, hope their characters were like that too....I hope.

They looked generally happy to see him. Then, they all noticed me.

I focused on the pale one with the big, bright eyes who spoke first. He looked like an innocent little boy. Maybe this place wasn't entirely bad after all.

The bright eyed boy glanced at me a few times while he spoke. "Boss." GREAT. Now my safe-holding saviour of a guy, was a boss. "Boss, you brought us back a treat?"

A treat?

Okay. Nope. No. Not at all. I was underestimating everything, really. Suddenly, of course, I didn't feel so safe anymore.

I just leaned my head back onto the door and waited. Whatever had to happen, would happen.

Why me?

I never did anything wrong....I never killed anyone....I never asked for this.

Trouble doesn't come knocking on my door...it breaks in, picks me up and drags me to places like this....wherever I was.

Not looking at anyone because my eyes closed, head against the steel, I heard the 'Boss' say something that gave me mixed feelings. It either meant I was safe, or I was going to be a spectacle.

"No, you can find the supermarket yourselves." Wait what? Does this mean that there was not a chance of them referring to me? That's great for starters.

"Boss, who is that?" The focus was all on me again after their chatter over who was supposed to go to get their snack supplies that day. 

Another one, looked like his name could probably be Carlos, I don't know why, he just looked like a Carlos, pressed his cigarette down into the ash tray and smiled at me. "What's her name?"

Another, I couldn't tell which direction it came from, asked, "Can we talk to her?"

"No." I fixed my eyes on him now and he looked at me directly and finished his sentence. "This one is off limits."