When Nari came to, she was in her old bedroom. As she looked around, taking in the familiar surroundings, she wondered if everything this past month had been a dream.
Had she never started living with Jeno?
Had she always been here?
It made her sad; she quite liked living with Jeno. He was kind, and sweet, and his house was nice. She missed that bedroom. It was better than this one.
The second she moved, reality crashed in on her. She was lying on her bed, hands and feet tied, with a cloth tied around her mouth.
Panic shot through her, and she started to struggle. The ropes didn't give, and she started to scream. Every sound was muffled, and Nari felt like she couldn't breathe.
She struggled so much that she fell off the bed. Pain blossomed on her hip as she landed, and she bit back a groan. Carefully, she shifted so that her hands were in front of her. Then she crawled over to the door.
Muffled voices reached her ears. It sounded like two men arguing. She strained to listen.
"...can't let her go, she'll rat us out."
"She's my daughter! For God's sake, this isn't like Colombia where you can just dump a body in a river..."
Her blood ran ice cold. What the hell kind of person was her dad working with?
Please, Nari thought. Please, someone come and save me.
In the meantime, she started working at the ropes again. The window was too small to go through, but if she was free she couldㅡwell, Nari didn't know what she could do. Make a dash for the front door and pray they didn't shoot her?
A shadow moved outside, and Nari froze. More dealers? Then sounds of crashing and yelling hit her ears.
Nari didn't know what was going on, but her eyes moved around frantically in the dark, trying to follow the action.
Then, abruptly, the sounds stopped. Noises came from her bedroom door, and Nari panicked.
She shuffled backwards, pushing away from the door until her back hit the dresser. The door wrenched open, and Nari felt sobs begin to wrack her body.
The figure shadowed in the doorway was tall, and imposing, and Nari felt tears soaking her cheeks. She struggled, making weak sounds of protest, as the figure drew closer.
It wasn't until they were almost in front of her that she realised the person was speaking. She stilled, and the figure crouched down in front of her.
"...me," he was saying. "Nari, it's me. It's just me."
Her eyes welled up with tears again, blurring the pierced face in her vision. "Jesus," he muttered, reaching out and untying the gag. "What the hell did they do..."
"Jeno," she whimpered, as soon as her mouth was free. "Jeno, you came. You're here."
"'Course I am," he growled. His hands started untying the ropes around her wrists, then around her ankles. "Cmon, Shortie, we gotta go."
"No – we can't, they're-"
"I already called the cops, okay, but we gotta go." His hand circled her wrist, tugging insistently. She let herself be pulled to her feet.
He led her out of the bedroom, across the two bodies lying on the floor. Part of the meth lab had crashed, and the fumes were leaking into the air.
