Shatter Me

Chapter 1

You fall onto the couch with a groan. You finally finished unpacking and putting everything in its place in your new apartment. A few months ago, you decided to use the money you've saved up to buy an apartment in the city and finally move out of the small town you grew up in. Growing up in a small town wasn't all bad. Everyone treated each other like family, and it was significantly easier to navigate around, but it was also because of these things that it was suffocating. There weren't any new adventures to go on or discoveries to make. Your life was pretty much planned out for you.

Desperate for that sense of adventure you felt when you were younger, you decided to move into the city. Your parents were against the idea, they didn't like the thought of you being so far away from home, and came up with every reason they could to try and get you to stay.

~3 Months ago~

"What if you get hit by a car on those busy streets? Or you get into an accident while you're driving?" Your mother sat on your while you walked around your room, grabbing some of your things so you could start packing for the move.

"Mom, they have crosswalks to prevent that, and I plan on using public transportation, so you have nothing to worry about" You stopped and gave her your best, confident smile before resuming what you were doing.

"Well, what if you get kidnapped? We would have no way of knowing until it's too late!" You sighed at your mothers' endless scenarios. You knew she was worried about her daughter moving to a new city that takes a whole day to get to by train. But you were 21 now, and you've been dreaming of these moments ever since you were fourteen when you started helping your parents at the family diner.

"Mom..." You spoke softly, taking a seat next to her on your bed. "I promise I will be okay. This town will always be my home, but other than you guys, there's nothing left for me here." You felt a pang in your heart when she wiped away a tear that was slowly sliding down her cheek.

Wrapping your arms around her in a tight hug, you whispered a promise you didn't know you couldn't keep.

"I love you, mom. I'll be okay, I promise."

~Present~

After about an hour of laying on the couch, you decide to it's time to explore the city. The past three weeks have been dedicated to unpacking, and tomorrow you would have to go job searching, but it was getting too late to do that now. You still have money saved up, but it will only last for so long, and you need to start saving again, so you can eventually start going to school. Although you still have no idea what you want to do yet, now that there are endless opportunities.

Grabbing a light jacket, you slip on your shoes and walk out the door, making sure to lock it before leaving the building. You feel a rush of excitement, that sense of adventure that's been missing for so long.

___________________________

You've been walking around or about two hours now and it's everything you imagined it to be. There are large company buildings on every street, you saw some cute cafes, multiple shopping centres, but most importantly, "Help Wanted" signs. You were able to fill out a few applications already, but shops were starting to close for the night, and that's your cue to head home.

While walking home, you pass a twenty-four-hour convenience store with a "Help Wanted" sign in the front window. You figure filling out one more application wouldn't hurt. Slowly pushing the door open and walking inside, you approach the front counter. Looking around the store you don't see any kind of employee, after waiting for a few minutes you decide to walk around the store in hopes someone would come out.

"Hello...?" You didn't want to be that person, but it seemed strange that you haven't seen an employee in the ten minutes you've been here, or maybe I'm crazy, the thought crosses your mind, and you stop in the middle of the store. I'm completely insane. The employee is probably on break, taking a nap or just relaxing, and here I am acting like one of those crazy customers that know no bounds.

Slowly you find your way down a hall with the restrooms and a door that read "Employees Only." The door was cracked open enough for you to peek inside, if you were just to barge in, then you would seem crazy. Approaching the door, you can hear voices coming from the room, unable to make out what they're saying, but it sounds like a pretty heated discussion. Against your better judgment, you decide to peek through the small gap, and your hand flies to your mouth to stop a gasp from escaping your lips.

There are four men in the room. You first notice the employee sitting down with his hands tied behind his back, and his face bruised and battered. Next is the man with blonde hair, kneeling in front of the employee. He has a devious smile on his face that quickly changes into a cold glare, and he seems to be the one doing most of the talking. Beside him is a shorter man with silver hair. His arms are behind his back, almost politely, but his eyes haven't left the man in question once. The last one is in the back, leaning against the wall seeming uninterested in what the other two are doing. He's wearing a mask over his mouth, and his dark brown hair is covering his eyes.

"Fine, if you don't want to cooperate with us while we're nice, then we'll have switch it up" They're finally talking loud enough that you can hear what they're saying, and it's the blonde that speaks up. His voice is deep and rough, had it been any other scenario, it would be enticing.

You're pulled out of your trance when the silver-haired one suddenly pulls out a gun and points it at the employee's head. A gasp finally escapes your lips, and you pray that it was quiet enough that they didn't hear it over everything else that's going on, but to no avail, the brown-haired one's head snaps up, and you two lock eyes. Until today, fear had been an idea, a concept. Now it was real: a feeling you would carry inside you for the rest of your life.

Your options are dwindling by the second. Right or wrong, you had to do something you couldn't just wait this one out. You could run, call the police and walk away unharmed, but it might be too late by the time they get here. He knows you're here now, he knows you've been watching, and he hasn't taken his eyes off of you almost like he's waiting to see what you decide to do. The way you see it, if you run, it may cost a man his life and who's to say the brown-haired man won't run after you if you do? Reaching into your bag, you grab the small can of pepper spray your mother gave you before you left and you have never been so thankful for her overprotectiveness.

Gripping the small can in your hand, you've made your decision, and you take a deep breath before slamming the door open and running in. You shove the blonde into the silver-haired man, sending them to the ground before they can even register what's happening and spray the pepper spray in the direction of the man against the wall. The only way you know you hit him is that he yells as the spray hits his eyes, followed by a string of curses, but you don't waste time with making sure he was down. You rush over to the employee, kneeling behind him to start on the zip-ties that are keeping his wrists bound together.

"I'm here; I'm going to get you out of this. Try pulling your wrists apart and I'll start pulling the end of it" You sound calm, but on the inside, your fight or flight instincts are going crazy and telling every last bit of you to run, the men weren't going to stay down forever, but you're way too stubborn to give up after coming this far.

The employee pulls his wrists as much as he can, and you start tugging at the end of the tie. The pulling quickly turns into desperate tugging when you can see the two get off the ground out of the corner of your eye. Fresh, hot tears burn your eyes when the zip-tie won't budge and fear sets in. That's the last thing you feel before something strikes the back of your head.

And everything goes black.