The rain was merciless, the alley dark and lonely—the kind that sent chills down one’s spine. As I bolted through the shadows, the wind brushed against my face, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
My pulse was racing, my tears mixed with the rain. My toes hurt, my feet tingled, and my knees felt weaker by the second. Still, I kept going, hoping to lose these relentless chasers.
However, every turn I made, they followed, never too far, never too close. But always enough to keep me on my toes.
“Help!” I called into the night, my voice echoing off the walls. “Somebody help! Please!”
When I glanced back, I saw a huge shadow with elongated hands reaching to grab me. I screamed and turned a corner just before those demonic claws sank into my flesh.
As I sprinted down the street, I realized this whole time, I’d been running in circles. The alley was like a maze, and I’d been trapped in there ever since.
I stopped in my tracks when I saw a dark figure standing at the end of the street. My heart paused for a second, and my breath caught in my throat.
Frozen in place, I stood there like a statue, unable to move. I was crippled by intense fear, the kind that made itimpossible to breathe. The closer the figure drew to me, the weaker I became.
My heart was racing so fast I thought it was about to explode out of my chest.
“Wake up, Celine!” a voice yelled at me. “Wake up!”
With a loud gasp, I jolted awake, drenched in sweat with a hand on my chest. My shoulders rose and fell as I struggled to catch my breath, my eyes wide with terror.
“Oh, thank goodness,” I whispered to myself, fingers rubbing my forehead. “It’s just a dream.” I repeated the last statement over and over again until it sank in.
It might have been a dream, but in reality, I wasn’t safe either. Memories of yesterday came rushing back in, updating me on my current situation. I’d gotten involved with the wrong crowd and was now paying the price.
I’d been kidnapped.
My brows slowly arched in disbelief when I drank in my surroundings, unsure of what was happening. Just last night, I’d been in a cell in what looked like a basement. Today, I woke up in what seemed like a five-star hotel suite.
The cozy bed I was sitting on was covered with silky white sheets and embroidered pillows. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling looked expensive enough to cover my tuition fees for three years.
The room itself was spacious, bathed in the chandelier’s warm, golden light. A massive flat-screen TV stretched across the wall in front, framed by sleek walnut panels.
To my left was a floor-to-ceiling window with velvet curtains draped over it. Plush leather couches were meticulously arranged around a low coffee table adorned with fresh flowers in a vase.
The room radiated so much luxury and comfort that I started to wonder if I was still kidnapped.
Quietly, I tossed the silk sheets to the side and lowered both my legs on the fluffy rug at the base of the bed. The polished marble floor was stainless and cool beneath my bare feet as I walked over to the window.
My eyes squinted ever so slightly after I parted the curtains, and the morning sun kissed my face. I thought I was going to witness the breathtaking cityscape and all the bustle that came with it.
I was wrong.
What I saw outside the window was an endless forest. No visible roads, no neighbors, no civilization at all. Just trees. Lots of tall trees. Their canopies were woven together to form a green ocean that stretched beyond sight.
A faint mist curled lazily between the branches, giving the forest an eerie, unsettling feel. Even from inside, I could smell the crisp, earthy scent of damp soil and fresh leaves lingering in the air.
It was a beautiful sight to behold, yes. But it was also deeply isolated, away from the city and any form of civilization. There was no way in hell that I was ever escaping a place like this.
My captor was a Mafia boss who believed that I had accessed some vital information about his operation. He wasn’t wrong. Everything in that ledger was stored in the back of the mind.
One question lingered: What was he going to do to me?
The fact that he called me by my name meant that he already knew who I was. Even though I’d lied about my identity. Since he knew that I was a college student, the problem of his thinking I was some sort of spy was out of the way.
However, spy or not, I was in deep trouble because of what I knew. And from the look of things, he wasn’t about to let me go anytime soon.
Escaping wasn’t an option either. There was nothing out there but the forest, and only God knew what manner of creatures lurked in those woods. For now, I was trapped in this place—defenseless, alone, and awaiting whatever fate my captor had in store for me.