five ◌ the manifesto

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I was minutes away from passing out. I was extremely dizzy; I couldn't see straight, it was hard to breathe, and I was confident that I would die in this car. The pain was something I couldn't explain with mere words. The searing twinge wasn't isolated to just the area of my bullet wound. Instead, it flushed through the entire left side of my body. I wasn't sure how long I could last, and with each passing second, my eyelids grew heavier.

"How is it? How do you feel?"

Even through the pain, I still felt nothing but irritation for the boy in the driver's seat. Granted, I was thankful that Harry happened to be in my neighborhood at the perfect time, but his stupid question almost wished he left me to bleed out on the sidewalk.

"I fucking got shot in the arm Harry, how do you think I feel?" I snapped. I kept my head rested against the cool glass of the window. I didn't have to look at him to know that his eyes were rolling around in his sockets.

"Give me your arm," Harry was stopped behind a line of cars. The downtown traffic was insane for that time of night, but with the basketball game finished, it made complete sense.

"What?"

"Your arm, Tash, give me your fucking arm."

"Tash? Really? Tasha, is already a nickname," I retorted. "You can't give my nickname a nickname."

"For a girl who just got shot, you're still an insufferable cup of douche-water," Harry tugged my arm towards him. I let out a yelp from the pain that shot through my body. He proceeded to take off his flannel before tying it above my wound as a tourniquet.

"Turn right on Georgia Street, there's a hospital up there," I mentioned. I was beginning to breath heavily, and in precise patterns, similar to mothers about to give birth. I kept my mind strong, replaying happy memories in hopes the warmth from those blissful moments could keep me stimulated to stay awake.

But it was too hard.

Not the staying awake part— the happy memories part. Attempting to invade my mind with only peaceful thoughts was painful for my heart. All I could think about was my mom and Kat. All my brain wanted to replay over and over again, was the lifeless body of my mother sprawled across a car. My own mind was attacking itself with images of Kat being dragged into a van, her chilling screams fading into the sky. It was all too paralyzing, and I wasn't so sure if I could handle it.

"Hey," I croaked. "You missed Georgia Street."

I watched as the glowing sign of the hospital evaporated into a blur. At first, I thought it was a simple mistake, but as Harry continued to drive, it concurred to me that he wasn't taking me to the hospital. Something else took over the boy, and without warning, my shoulder crashed against the window. A scream left my lips as Harry swerved the car into a one-way street.

"Harry what are you doing?" I gawked at him with fear flushed in my eyes.

The moon's beams interweaved with the neon blue of the car's interior screen, casting an eerie gleam against Harry's face. I noticed then, that he was wearing a pair of thin, wire-framed glasses. His eyebrows were furrowed, he had two hands gripping the steering wheel, and an inelastic focus that only diffused something grisly. The person next to me was a shell made of something sinister, because the Harry I knew was harmless. A deceptive little shit yes, but harmless nonetheless. For the first time, I was scared of him.

"Watch out!" I shrieked, my eyes growing immensely as we approached an incoming car.

Blaring honks from the car rippled through my ears, as its blinding headlights caused me to squint my eyes. Harry had no intention of stopping and rather maneuvered the car's gears. Effortlessly he took a wide turn, drifting the vehicle into an alley way. We emerged out of its darkness and into an adjacent street.

"Get me the fuck out of this car!" I screamed at Harry, determined to escape this carriage on its way down the highway to hell.

"I have specific instructions not to let you out until we've reached our destination," Harry spoke stoically, as if I asked him what his favorite food was.

"Stop the car or I'm going to jump out," this wasn't a threat. I had my hand gripping the door's handle, ready to yank it open.

Harry laughed, tingling my spine with fear, "you wouldn't."

"Don't test me," I spoke through gritted teeth.

The car seemed to slow down slightly as we approached an incoming red light. This was my moment to extract myself from the hellish situation, and I took it. I tugged onto the handle, the door swinging open, and I unlocked my seatbelt. Not wasting another moment, I was ready to tuck and roll out of the vehicle. But Harry was quick on his feet, and thwarted my plans. He stepped on the pedal, gaining a monumental leap of speed, while maneuvering the vehicle towards a line of parked cars. This hindered my movements, and within a split second, the open door crashed against the trunk of an idle car, causing my only exit to slam shut.

"You're not leaving," Harry taunted, hitting a button and locking the doors shut.

"Then slow the fuck down Vin Diesel!" I ordered. "You're going to kill me!"

Harry didn't sway his behavior. He only intensified them through his driving. The car moved up the 10-freeway at lightening speed, weaving in and out of lanes. Harry took us west, passing the other cars aggressively.

"Slow down, please," I choked in between heavy breaths. "Where are you taking me?"

The green-eyed monster didn't respond. He kept driving, gradually gaining speed by the second. If the gaping hole in my arm, or the insane amount of blood I've lost didn't kill me, I was sure that Harry's driving would. It was in this moment did I accept my fate. At eighteen, without experiencing the world, without saying goodbye to my friends and family, I, Tasha, was about to die. I yielded to my heavy eyelids, and without another protest, I let them shut.

"Don't close your eyes, Tash," Harry's deep voice buzzed in my ears. Though I didn't hear it clearly at first, it was the touch of his warm hand on my leg that shook my senses.

I grumbled nonsense in response.

"Your eyes Tash," he repeated, harshly this time. "Don't close them. We're almost there. Keep 'em open."

Almost there? Exactly, where was there, and why was it more imperative than a hospital? My questions only lead to endless theories. One theory I couldn't shake off, was the speculation that Harry was part of whatever fucked up gang killed my mother and kidnapped Kat. It made sense to me— he was at the right place at the right time, he deliberately eschewed the hospital, and to top it all off, he drank kombutcha. What sane person consumes fermented tea and enjoys it?

That's when I retracted my personal lament.

I wasn't dying. At least not in the presence of ass hat Harry who was channeling his inner Jeffrey Dahmer. I should've passed out minutes ago, but for some bizarre reason, I was still awake. I took this as a sign to keep on fighting. I started with the obvious: my cell phone, which sat in the smaller compartment of my backpack.

"What are you doing?" Harry questioned, glaring at me as I finished punching in a set of three emergency numbers. I didn't reply, only expecting him to rip the cellphone away from me. When he didn't however, I brought the device to my ear.

Dispatch answered.

"I hope you're not calling the police," Harry seethed. "Tasha, hang up, it's not a good idea."

My words were flustered as they spewed from my mouth, "I've been shot, my sister's been kidnapped, and my mom fell, and I'm stuck in—"

"—Hello Tasha."

My breathing hitched, and the world around me ceased to be the reality I knew. The deep, grim voice that spoke on the other end stroked my entire being with fear.

"H-How do you k-know my name?" My vocal chords rattled as I spoke, cowering in my seat as each word slipped through my lips.

"Put it on speaker," Harry demanded.

The words were useless though, because instead of letting me decide what to do, Harry immediately snatched the phone out of my hand and attached it to some high-tech dock. Then, the chilling voice percolated through the car's sound system, enveloping the vehicle with his manifesto.

"Natasha Rae Andrada Aquino, eighteen years old. High school senior at Kennedy Prep in Los Angeles, California. Born to Irene and Julius Aquino in Manhattan, New York on the First of February. You have a blood type of O-negative, your favorite color is yellow, and I have something you want."

"Why do you have information on me?" I questioned, the panic increasing by each passing moment.

"My team and I do heavy recon on all our marks," he had an accent. Somewhat similar to Harry's, but with notes that made it entirely different.

"Where's my sister? What did you do with her?"

There was no response from the man on the other end, but in replace was a sound so disheartening, it lacerated my heart in several pieces. Kat's high-pitched cries reverberated against the car's interior, masking out the highway's distinctive cacophony.

"Let her go!" I fumed. "Please! Don't hurt her, I'll do anything!"

"Your driven mentality reveals to me that we captured the weaker Aquino, which is exactly what we want," the menacing tone of the voice was straight out of a nightmare. But this was not some night terror I could wake up from— this was reality.

"And what is it do you want?" I inquired. I quickly glanced at Harry whose eyes were still on the road before us, maneuvering the car across the asphalt. This time however, the speed was slightly slower as he took the Barrington Avenue exit.

"You are to follow a set of instructions, and you are to do them in the time allotted. Succeeding will result in the release of your sister Katerina," and that was the beginning of a dangerous game.

"What do I have to do?"

"Rules Tasha," the voice continued. "There are three laws you must follow. The first one, contacting authorities is strictly prohibited. If you try, trust me," he paused to let out a dark chuckle, "we will know. The second rule, which you are already breaking, includes the non-disclosure of this conversation."

Harry and I locked eyes.

"Tasha, if you notify anyone else of our agreement and they attempt to get in the way of our endeavors, Katerina will die... slowly," the voice warned. "I know that Effie Reed is your best friend, and I also know that she has quite the moxie. Do not let her in on your secret, otherwise the only thing she'll be protesting is her death."

"Number three," I wanted this conversation to be over. "What's the third rule?"

There was a pause. It was a short one, only lasting seconds, but as I sat in the car, waiting for him to speak again, the time seemed to move agonizingly slow. Even Harry looked agitated as he further narrowed in his eyebrows, and gripped the steering wheel with a stronger grasp.

"The last rule applies to your father," the voice threatened with a tone carrying hints of mockery. "At the end of all this, whether you succeed or not, Julius Aquino will die."

It was completely improbable the way my life shifted. The last eighteen years of my life moved at an incredibly slow speed. My routine has been almost identical year after year. Go to school, try not to embarrass myself, learn some martial arts, hang with family, and be happy. My goals were simple: graduate, get out of Los Angeles, and see the world. I wanted to embark on a self-discovering journey with just me, my backpack, and a really good book. Now, without an inkling that something disastrous of this magnitude would rattle my life, I was facing an adventure I no longer wanted.

"You have eight hours to agree," he added.

"Who are you? Where do you come fr—"

The phone call ended, halting my outpour of questions. Perched in the passenger side of Harry's car, my body was stationary. My mind on the other hand, was a cyclone of emotions, unanswered questions, and anxiety. My thoughts were in a chaotic disarray and I didn't know which thought to focus on first.

When the car slowed down, coming to a complete standstill, I looked out the window to find that we were stopped in front of an elegant house. Before any other thoughts and questions could vomit out of my mouth, I felt my entire being flee.

"Tash?" Harry's muted voice was the last thing I heard before everything around me snapped to black.

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» author's note «

For those who "celebrate" (I put this loosely bcuz dark history) Thanksgiving, I hope you had a wonderful one! I hope you had a fun time with family & ate tons of food. I'm so full but knowing me, I'll probably eat again in another hour haha. 

Chapter 5 is one of my favorite chapters thus far. We get to see more of the dynamic between Harry & Tasha, before Harry goes all Fast & Furious on her. I'm hoping you all liked this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please don't be a silent reader & vote for the chapter. It helps me out as a writer / Wattpadder because my story will start showing up on recommended lists. Also, if you wanna share your opinions, theories, constructive feedback, etc., then leave me a comment :)

Thank you so much for reading!