Forced Vows

Exploring the river

I slumped down outside the airport and bit down a sob. I wouldn’t cry. Why should I cry? Why waste tears over something which had been impossible to avoid? This would never have worked anyway.  I should have expected it. But- why keep it a secret? Why pretend that maybe this would work? Had he been planning to hide this forever? 

All the questions circulated my brain and I leaned back, there was a slight drizzle and the sky was dark already. It wasn’t cold, well not that cold- considering it was winter. I closed my eyes for a second before sitting up. Sitting outside in the rain looking pitiful wouldn’t help me. I had learned that much in my previous experience. 

I stood up, stuffing my hands in my pocket and glanced at my watch. There was half an hour left till my flight would leave. I didn’t know whether I was still going. The problem was using his money. Maybe I would just pay him back. A holiday sounded like something I needed. I took my suitcase and started walking back to the lounge. It was only a 5-10 minutes’ walk back. 

There weren’t many people around. I could hear the river underneath the bridge only a few meters away. It was raining and it was dark so that wasn’t a big surprise. There was a man, hunched up near a wall, smoking. He let out a racking cough and spat at the ground. He limped when he walked. There was a woman behind me, walking gracefully in 6 inch high heels, as If she wanted to make me feel short. Then there were 3 people in a group just a few steps ahead, wavering around, laughing- probably out to go to their first holiday abroad together. 

I looked ahead blankly, a sense of uneasiness drifted over me. God. I was glad I had taken self-defence lessons in my ‘rebel years’. Whilst many teens would smoke, drink and abuse drugs in their rebel years, I took self-defence lessons. To my parents, the two didn’t seem too different. Anyway, at the moment I don’t think the woman in the heels would help. Though her heels could kill an innocent man... I sighed and pulled my hat further over my face, the last thing I wanted was for someone to ask me if I was alright. 

I stared ahead at the shadow I was making and blinked, my eyebrows furrowed- the next second I was on the floor, my back stung as a sharp pain took over. I gritted my teeth and rolled over to see the woman in the heels, it took me a second to understand what was happening. Those random people were probably not as unfamiliar to each other as I had thought. In fact, the ‘old’ man seemed perfectly fine now as he walked forward, a knife glinting in his hand. 

I jumped up, stumbling slightly but thankful I wasn’t wearing heels. Though my bag throbbed, it was the least of my worries. I ran, the woman behind me flung her high heels in my direction and I ducked just in time to see it fly over the bridge and into the river. I cursed, scrambling up and turned sharply only to find myself surrounded. I was standing in a defence stance against the stare of a gun, like a child who thought their duvet would protect them from the under the bed minster. 

From behind me, the ‘old’ man threw his arm around my neck, squeezing it ever so slightly. I could feel cold metal on the side of my head and the thought of what it was made my legs numb. 

The man muttered something to the woman who nodded, I saw the gun his the side of my head before everything went black. 

There was  something warm and sticky in my hair. And it killed. I forced my eyes open, trying to sit up only to realize that this would be impossible considering there was someone on top of me. A wave of fear swept through me and through instinct, I started trying to struggle, knowing that it was no use. 

The people in front of me were talking to the man who nodded and got off me, pulling me up by my hair and slamming me onto the wall behind me. A whimper escaped me and I hoped they hadn’t heard.