Memories are strange, they make you laugh and cry at the same time.

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I quickly lock the door behind me and follow these two police officers. I didn't ask for their Id, is that bad?

"Umm, can I see your ID cards?" I ask as we reach the bottom of the stairs.

"Sure, you can check it once you bail your brother out of prison!"

"What! Why is Derek in prison? What did he do?" I question, shocked at this new information.

What did he do now?

"You will know once we reach the station. Now please get it," they say opening the door of their car.

Derek, why did you have to ruin my night.

Shit! what if dad finds out. I'm so dead. I told he is fine. Ohh. goddd. Help me!

I am sure, you could see the worry lines on my face.

"Sure, thank you!" I say, getting in the backseat. I sit in the seat diagonal to the driver seat. Strategically this is the safest place in the car.

The car revs and I was left wondering what did he do. In my dads' eyes, he is the perfect kid. Good grades, good in sports, a little rude at times, but mostly well behaved. I always felt he was fishy. He was like only an year elder than me, but has the whole school with him.

I never found a black mark in his history, he'd always cover his tracks and never mixed school life with home. Something felt odd about him but I always thought I was over thinking it.

I search my pockets for my card, just in case I may need it, when I realize I don't have it.

"Hey, officer. Could you please turn back, I forgot my card," I say, still checking my back pockets.

"Now you listen Miss," says, the guy from the passenger seat with big muscles, turning around pointing a gun at me.

"We aren't taking you to the police station. One word out of your mouth and I won't hesitate to kill you!" he says, in a threatening manner, flaunting his gun.

Shit!

I couldn't breathe, what are the going to do. Are they really going to kill me?

With great difficulty, I take in deep breaths to calm myself down. My eyes literally pop out. I do everything possible to not panic, but I couldn't help overthink.

"Who are you guys? What do you want?" I ask, finally mustering courage.

"I said keep quiet!" he yells, turning back, showing off his chipped teeth.

I jerk suddenly, given his loud voice.

I try to keep my reaction as minimal as possible. They scared the life out of me, but I couldn't let them know that.

It is situations like this that make me wish, I have my phone on me.

The ride to the kidnappers den starts out smooth but soon turns bumpy.

I try to think of a plan to escape them. Maybe I can open the door and jump, yes jump from a running car!

The car doors were thankfully, unlocked. I keep quiet so as to not garner attention. When I see them slow down by the speed breaker, which is a few feet ahead of us, I quickly scan the area around and swiftly open the car door.

I jump with all the courage I have in me. I cover my head to avoid any serious injuries. I roll over and land in the mud road beside, with the stones pricking me. I get up dusting myself and run. My legs hurt, but this is still better than going into the kidnappers den. I hear a gunshot, and thankfully it wasn't anywhere near me.

I run with all the might I have, even though I hear them shouting profanities at me.

"You asshole, look she left," I hear him yell and a smack resonates.

"Stop there, bitch!" he yells over the revving engine, as they come closer.

I don't think I'll be able to outrun it but nevertheless, I keep going on while trying to an eye out hoping I find someone to help me.

The car soon stops in front of me and I turn around, desperately looking for a way out. But the bulky, Jamaican guy gets down and walks towards me.

In my hurry, to escape I trip on the rocks below and fall face flat on the muddy floor. I bite down the pain I feel where the stones pierce me and start crawling away from him, but my stomach hurts. He takes two large steps and soon pins me down on the muddy ground with his leg on my arm. He captures me and throws me over his shoulder and carries me till the car and I'm back again.

Damn! This isn't good. Not an escape route. I strike this off my list and think of another way to escape.

Maybe, I can strangle these guys and take the gun and threaten them and finally run away.

"Do you think she is dead?" asks, the muscled guy.

"Yes, she has been awfully silent. Boss told not to harm her. Check!" he replies with a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Hey you!" he says, prodding me with his gun.

Maybe now is the time.

I keep quiet, wanting to see how close would he come. I could smell his bad breath  from this far. Slowly, I open one eye to see that this guy is awfully close to me. He was almost in the backseat with his gun directly pointed at me.

Maybe I could kick him in the crotch, and he'd fall on the guy beside him. Then I can get down and run. But outrunning them?

Before I could put my master plan, note the sarcasm, into action. The driver suddenly pulls the brakes and the muscled guy, who is bald falls on the other guy, with a thick mustache.

Even from the backseat it looks disgusting, I wonder how does MustacheGuy feel about this.

"Eww get off me," he says pushing the MustacheGuy aside.

"Who asked you to hit the brakes suddenly?"

"We are here!!" he yells.

Damn! We arrived so soon? Or maybe it was spent on me thinking of a way to escape.

I look up to see them busy arguing with each other. An idea hits me and I slowly try to open the car door.

It was not locked. Am I dreaming?

I slowly open the door and get one foot out of the car. I move back and try not to garner attention. I slowly sneak the other part of my body out and the minute I step outside, I take a good look of where I am.

I see that the whole area looks deserted and there is an old and overused bar in front of me. It is literally in the middle of nowhere and it has a rustic look to it. It looks like a place cowboys would be hanging around with their guns.

Oh! Damn guns. I should definitely go the opposite way.

I turn around and run like my life depended on it. Well it did!

I see two jeeps approaching the bar. After a quick scan, I hide behind a dustbin placed a few feet to my right. It was too big and I could probably fit inside it, given my petite figure.

"Go search for her." The wind carries over their voice and I hear a gunshot.

Shit! They realized I'm missing.

I take in deep breaths to calm myself down.

Don't panic. It's okay. All you need to do it escape. I couldn't even escape in my nightmares, would I be able to do it in my real life?

I look around and find only one place to hide- The dustbin.

It wasn't the typical small bin you have in your houses, it looked like a municipality bin. Huge, dirty and blue.

I'd do anything to escape them. My life matters and this bin isn't going to ruin it for me.

Urgh! Derek, you are so paying for this.

I try to sneak inside the bin and do my best to reach the top using my short hands.

"What are you doing? "

I look up to see it was not either of those two guys who kidnapped him. Maybe he will help me? But he could also one of them?

"My phone accidentally fell in the bin. I'm looking for it," I lie, hoping I don't get caught.

"James, Dave. I think I found your girl!" He yells and MustacheGuy and MuscleGuy come running.

"Oh, hey guys. We meet again!" I say, with such fake enthusiasm that I see them twitching in anger.

The MuscleGuy comes and picks me up from the bin in which I was trying to get in, and throws me over his shoulder.

There goes my master plan.

"Well, let's get this over with!" I yell.

Okay, I mentally yell that part.

"Who are you guys? What do you want?" I ask flailing my arms and legs.

"You will know!" yells the third guy.

They cover my face with a black cloth and take me to a dark room. It feels bumpy so they must have brought me downstairs to the basement.

"Please remove the cloth. I won't shout please," I beg them as they tie me to what felt like a rickety chair and the wooden edges of it cut my skin.

"Shut up!" one of them says and slaps me.

"Boss told not to hurt her. If anything happens to her, you are dead." says the other guy.

"Shut up!"

"Quit bickering you two and get this over with. I'm starving!" yells the third guy.

I start panicking not because of what they might do but because of the darkness surrounding me. I like being alone but never in the dark. I yell and scream in the hope that someone removes this bloody cloth. I hate the darkness.

I try not to think of darkness around me but of something happier. Happy memories. But soon those happy memories turn into the dark cloudy night when I last saw my mother. I remember running in the woods searching for her, I remember that day like it was yesterday. The darkness brought bad memories and I didn't like it.

The evil lurking in my head soon takes the form of anxiety and I guess I'm in for a long time with it this time.

I couldn't take any more of it. The anxiety in me grows with every passing second. I yell asking them to free me and soon start hallucinating images from the past; some vile, some vague.

I don't know when but I give in to this and am overcome with grief and panic.

Crying and yelling soon tires out and I'm left with nothing but my worst nightmares.

A/N

Hey guys. How are you all?? Hope there is someone out there reading this. If yes, please do let me know what do you think of this chapter by dropping a comment. And if you like this chapter please do vote for it.

Until the next update,

Lots of love,
Lakshmi vaishnavi.