"Rise and shine princess,"
The first thing I notice is the drilling pain in my skull and the throbbing coming from the backside of my head. My head is heavy. My mouth is dry. My body is stiff.
"Ah, there you are," the same voice says. It's nothing familiar.
Opening my eyes slowly, I come to consciousness. Although hazy, I see an endless darkness with a light brightening a few spots here and there.
There is a man standing before me. He's tall and clothed in dark attire. When my vision gets clear, I find him distraught and savagely dressed. His beard is untrimmed and is giving him a rough look. Standing before me, he has his arms crossed over in front of his chest.
Glancing down, I find myself sitting on a wooden chair, hands bound behind. I start panicking. The events come down crashing my consciousness. I remember being stolen from my car and knocked down. I remember my phone call with Andrew.
"I hope I have provided your wishes, your highness," the man mocks me.
"What do you want?" I say in a coarse voice, coming from my dry throat. Testing my binds, I find my legs tightly secured to the legs of the chair and hands to the back. I am hopeless and helpless.
"Oh, nothing from you. It's your boyfriend, I need things from. I think he has figured everything by now," he says as he checks his phone. When he turns around, I see the shiny gun tucked into the waist of his pants.
He seems insecure, constantly looking over his shoulder and checking me. My stomach drops, thinking that I wouldn't make it out of here. Assessing the man, I realize I may be his only chance at what he wants and he's got nothing to lose. Thi type of people are the most desperate and dangerous ones who wouldn't think twice before pulling the trigger.
"Please, let me go. There's nothing you can do with holding me as a hostage. If they find you, you'll be sentenced. I can give you whatever you want. Just let me go. Is it money you want?" I ask, trying to find his weakness.
"And I would believe you wouldn't run your mouth and tell the police? It's over. Everything is over. Even if I go down, I'll take Andrew down with me," he laughs cruelly.
"What do you want from him? Why are you doing this?" I ask while my hands fumble in the back, trying to find a knot or a weak point in the rope. Crap, it's too tight.
"Why am I doing this?" he asks, looking at me curiously. "Ooh, let me guess, he hasn't told you who I am, has he? Oh, that's because he found out too late." He scrubs his chin, looking amused.
Grabbing a nearby box, he lifts it and puts it before me before taking a seat.
"So let's start the story. After Andrew was rescued, he sent for me. The mob had moved by that time, so no one got caught but I did. He stood before the court and watched as I got charged with raping and killing his sister. She was a little rat that was no good for anyone,"
"F*CK YOU." I snap, feeling rage at how he speaks of Chrystal. "You f*cking dirty *sshole. You deserve to rot in hell. Do you have any idea what you have done? And you're bragging about it. SHAME ON YOU. You are not a human being, you are a disgusting rat-
He slaps me hard on my cheek. I loss vision to black stars and soon a warmth spreads on my cheek.
"You dirty little thing - just like her. I should kill you too. Andrew would finally get for he's done to me." He chuckles. "I was in prison because of that f*cking rich mother f*cker. Now, it's payback time. I'll kill his girlfriend too. That'll be easy. I'll f*ck his life over before his eyes-
This time I get him by surprise as I push my feet on the floor and jump my knee straight to his private part and as he doubles, I send a blow to his head with my head. Though it pains me, it's well deserved for a man as he. He disgusts me. I soon realize that I'm not only dealing with a criminal and a murder but also a psychopath.
"You f*cking b*tch," he grumbles as he stands up and attacks me, sending the chair back as he climbs over me with his hand on my throat. Knowing he's not going to kill me now, not before he gets what he wants, I try to maintain calm and save my breath as much as possible. After a while, he gives up and stands up. Bushing his head with his fist, he keeps murmuring.
Finally, walking back to me, he puts the chair back in its place. He walks toward a counter with a few new item peaking on the dusty counter. Coming back, he places a tape over my mouth,
"That should do," he says. "Be a good girl and daddy would reward you," he shouts and disappears somewhere in the darkness and a few seconds later, I hear the door opening and closing with a bang and a car driving off.
As my bravery dies away, I start feeling scared. Looking around, I apprehend that this might be my last hours alive. I might never see Andrew again and tell him how much I love him. With this man being mentally unstable I am so scared.
A loud click comes from somewhere in the dark. I stir awake, almost immediately shaking the sleepiness out of my vision.
"Did you have a good nap, ay?" the man asks. The sound of his boots slapping the concrete is screeching my ears.
I don't reply him. Not that I can anyways with this tape on my mouth. I only spare him a glance of hatred and disgust. Where is the humanity in this man? How could he think what he's doing is avenging? He was supposed to go to jail to get fixed for the crime he had done not to get mad and want to get revenge.
"Time to have a bit chit chat with your boyfriend," he sits on the box previously positioned before me and puts out a phone.
Dialing a number, he waits for it to ring. After a few rings, a familiar voice answers.
"Hello?' Andrew comes through the speaker. My lips, even though sealed start shaking. My vision gets blurry through the gathering tears.
"Hello, Andrew. Do you remember me?" The man says. Looking at him, I see nothing but darkness. His eyes are hallowed and empty of any human emotions.
"Where is Laura? I know you have her, and I swear to God, if you don't tell me what the f*ck you've done to her, I will find you and kill you with my bare hands-
"Ok, that's enough of your rage. I think I have the upper game over here. Your girl is safe, for now. I would be careful with my words, pretty boy, if I were you. Remember one wrong move and your beautiful Laura would go puff in the air." he laughs. His sound echoing through the place.
"What do you want? Is it money, safety, or what? Tell me what you want and I give it to you, just don't hurt her. She's done nothing except falling in love with the wrong guy. Ok? Just let her go. You want me, right? I'll switch places with her, I swear. Please don't harm her," he begs. A series of tear rolls.
"Whoa, you're offering too much, pretty boy. I'm tempted. Not enough, though. You see, you've destroyed my life when you decided to put charges against me. You little sl*t of sister begged me to do that to her. But you decided to ruin my life by putting me in jail. Guess what? I'm going to ruin your life if you don't give me twenty million dollars and that safety you promised. I know you have the police after me. Drop them or your girl dies," he plays around with the knife in his hand as if taking life is easy for him. No remorse. No guilt.
"Put me through. Let me see her. I want to know she's safe first," Andrew demands,
"Sure. Here," he turns the phone and clicks on a button. An image instantly comes up. Andrew is sitting in the living room, shirt opened at the collar, hair ruffled and everywhere indicating he hasn't taken a shower for a long time.
"Laura," his voice shakes as if threatening to break any moment, "what have you done to her you bastard? If I find one hair of her missing, I beat you to death,"
Looking at Andrew, distress and worried, knowing I have caused this to us, I want to tell him one last time how much I love him. I want to tell him that I forgive him and if time would allow, maybe, just maybe I would have forgotten.
I should have listened to him. I should have stayed and talked to him about it instead of running away. I have promised I wouldn't run away again and yet here we are. Just as he blames himself if anything happens to me, I would blame myself just as much if anything happens to him.
"Oops, sorry my bad," my captor leans in and savagely takes off the tape.
"Andrew," The minute the tape is gone, I find my voice to call him,
"Laura, everything will be alright. I promise you. I'll save you even if I die," I see a few tears dropping and his eyes reddening.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I shake my head, biting my lips.
"Aw, would you look at that?" the man whom I don't know his name says, "alright face time's over," when he turned the camera off, I know what I should do and use my last moment being useful.
"ANDREW, DON'T TRUST HIM. HE'S GOING TO KILL ME, ANYWAY-
"Shut up," he slaps me again. I don't hear what Andrew says, because he throws the phone, breaking it. "YOU CAN'T SHUT YOUR MOUTH, CAN YOU?" he shouts, his voice deafening. "Maybe I should rape you. See what Andrew is so fascinated about?"
"People like you shame the human race." I spat at him, "You think it's ok to do what you want. That God has given the right to be superior and dominant. That raping a woman is your human right. But NO. You're just sick and disgusting. You're too shallow to let your humanity show because you get high in your pride. But guess what? No matter how much you'll try, you can't break me,"
"That's it. I'm gonna kill you right now," he goes toward his gun, walks back with the gun in his hand, aiming at me. What he obviously doesn't see is the shake of his hand. He's afraid.
"Oh, good. Go ahead and see what happened next. You think you're a genius for wanting to get money and kill me at the same time. Boy, you're so stupid. The minute you kill me, the police hails your ass and Andrew would see you're behind the bars again. This time, hopefully, sentenced to death. And who'll be taking joy in your f*cking sick revenge, huh?" I smirk at him, seeing I have made him terrified. Frustrated, he pulls away, hands still shaking. Going mad, he rakes his hair, a bit tough.
In a matter of seconds, he's rushing outside. The place goes into a striking silence. I breathe out heavily.
Seconds later, he walks back, looking around, shaken a bit. He walks toward me and starts untying the ropes off of the wooden chair.
"Come on, we're moving." He says as he pushes me toward the door.
The brightness of outside starts hurting my eyes. I look around, find my surrounding empty and dry. We must be somewhere off city area. Perhaps toward Anaheim, seeing the soil is too dry.
The man starts guiding me toward his car, the one he has hit my car with. Opening the door, he puts me in the back seat, typing my hands to the front seat. He's obviously a bit unsure of what he's doing. He turns the hood easily and sits beside me.
"Where are we going?" I ask,
"Just shut up," he answers. I nod my head, looking around. He's definitely not planning to go in the city. He knows the risk of having me exposed. However the windows are fairly tinted and I'm sure nothing would be seen from outside, although I can see very clearly.
He guides the car back to a road and a few seconds later on a not so crowded freeway.
I see a few signs of Santa Ana and one Orange. We go north but never close to LA. We finally end up in Whittier, somewhere in the mountains, many trees, obviously the perfect place for a trail.
He gets out of the car, huffing, puffing. Grabbing a phone from his pocket, he dials a number. I try to listen closely to what he says,
"I'm where I said I will be. You have half an hour or the girl dies," he sharply hangs upon whom I assume was Andrew.
Fishing a cigar-shaped wrap, which I assume contains drugs, he lights it up and takes a huge puff. After he's done with his drugs, he opens my door and starts untying my bonds.
"So this is it. I kind of pity Andrew. You're one feisty b*tch. But guess what as soon as I get my money, I'll be off and I don't give a sh*t about any of you. Although I would love to put a bullet through his f*cking head," he laughs as if he was telling a joke. I gulp, fearing for Andrew's life. I don't care what happens to mine but I can't live if Andrew is dead. I can't. I'll die too.
The sun starts setting. It actually becomes a beautiful sunset despite the situation.
Half an hour passes and Andrew doesn't show up. I start doubting that Andrew doesn't really care about me considering the amount of money he asked. But then again, I'm glad he's not here. that means he's safe and has taken my advice.
"F*ck. Get in the car," he grabs my elbow, in a way that adds more bruises to me, for sure. Shoving me in the car, this time in the passenger seat, he doesn't bother tying my hands to somewhere. And I can see how he's stressed and can't think right.
Starting the car, he turns about. His hands are unsteady on the wheel. Whether it's the drug kicking in or the frustration of having his plans going to ruin, it's a good thing for me.
We move toward the busier part of the trails. Although the road is two-sided and narrow, it's quite busy with cars.
Out of nowhere, my captor starts swearing vividly. He keeps glancing at the rear mirror and behind his shoulder.
"The son of a b*tch is following us." He says loudly.
Turning around, I look behind us. True to his words, there are multiple black SUVs following us. I smile faintly. He's here.
A few moments later, the siren of police cars joins them. It gets everyone's attention as the cars in front of us start parting. He becomes rigid. Speeding up, he keeps swirling about. All of a sudden it becomes a car chase.
I should stop this. I should do something. Raising my hands, which are bound together, I hit him on his head, quite hard. He loses concentration and grabs his head while swearing. Not stopping there, I hit him again.
"F*ck you. Get down. Sh*t," he swears constantly.
Raising my elbow this time, I aim for his nose. Hitting him harder, his head goes up. Yet, he doesn't give up.
A few police car manages to catch up with us, from both sides. When they try to stop him, they only make him more confused, so the car starts going left and right in a swirly motion.
I watch as he loses control of the car and the tires lose grip on the road in the sharp turn. In a matter of moments, the car leans on its left and turns around. I hit my head hard and lose consciousness quite a bit, so the next few things are a blur of images.
I feel my body thrown out and hit the ground hard, barely next to the road. There is a horrible ringing sound in my ears. My hipbone hurts and so does my chest. I lay there as if the moment has stopped. I can breathe, I can fairly see, but it seems that I am no better than a dead body. My only thought is to see Andrew one last time.
"MEDIC HERE," someone seconds later shouts.
I open my eyes. The sky is a beautiful twilight. There is tree casting a shadow over me. And then I see him. Andrew.
"LAURA," he shouts. I try to keep my eyes open. The pain is kicking in and I can feel my heart-getting wretch inside my chest.
Andrew comes to my side, grabbing my face in his hands. I try to raise my hand toward his face but I'm too limp.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please, don't leave me. I love you. Please, don't you dare leave me." he leans down to the chest and weeps.
"I love you," I whisper back before I embrace the unconsciousness. I am relieved of one thing. That I've got to see Andrew and tell him I love him one last time. This time, however, it's a white light surrounding me. And I openly accept it.
------------------------------
"He loves you so much, you know," a voice says behind me. I turn around, squishing my eyes to see through the brightness.
"Who's there?" I ask.
"Come closer." Out of nowhere, a hand is offered to me out of nowhere. This is a dream. Or perhaps... I'm dead.
I hesitantly accept the hand and suddenly I am taken to a beautiful garden with trees just blossomed into pink and white little flowers. The green carpet of grass feels nice under my feet.
"You shouldn't be here, you know," the voice says again.
This time when I turn around, I see a beautiful girl, standing before me. She has golden brown-ish hair, pink lips, and icy blue eyes. Those eyes, I have seen them somewhere. They look familiar and so beautiful.
"I'm Crystal, by the way," she smiles at me. "It's really sad that we have to meet like this." Suddenly I recognize her from the photos I've seen in Harris' vacation house in Malibu. She was barely a child then.
"Hi," I whisper.
"You should go back." She says, playing with a little daisy in her hand
"How?" I ask.
"Fight back," she shrugs her shoulder.
I walk closer to her. She's barely more than eighteen. I find myself crying. Crying for her. She was a victim of cruelty subjected to her by false. She was a victim of someone else's idiocy. She was innocent.
"I watched my brother fall in love with you. I've watched you ever since. I am happy for him and you too. You both deserve happiness. Do you love him?" she asks, looking up,
"Yes. From the bottom of my heart." I answer.
"I want you to promise something to me. We may not know each other, but this is my only wish; to see him happy. Please, don't give up on him, don't let go. Fight back. Fight harder. For your love. Give him a chance." Suddenly she runs up to me and holds my hands, "Promise me you'll give him a chance. He's innocent. He had no part in that, I swear to you," she starts pushing me back, "Go, go back. Fight. Go back," she pushes me back again.
I stumble on my behind. When I look up again, Crystal has vanished. I look around, but there is no sign of her. I feel a funny tickle where my heart is. As if there is electricity running through me. And then I feel the tug as if someone is pulling me. And it goes on and on. And I fight harder and harder to move forward.