Opal

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Since I had gone overtime for my lunch break, my boss, Camille, thought it would be a great idea to give me a "stern talking to."

"Monicaaa!" Camille called out to me as I tried to sneak into my office.

"Shit," I whispered to myself, "yes Camille?"

"Sweetie, I hate to tell you this but you did go over your half hour break," Camille started, "so sorry for having to say this seeing as we are BFFS, but if you are late again I am going to have to dock some dollars from your check. If you know what I mean."

Camille was the typical white girl boss, but she wasn't the badass type boss. She called everyone "sweetie" or "hun" and always smiled. I usually did not mind her constantly trying to convince not only me, but herself as well, that we were the bestest of friends. Today, however, did not go as planned for me and I was not in a good mood.

"Camille, hey, so glad you stopped by for this talk. I will definitely take your suggestion into consideration."

I walked back to my office, unlocked the door and walked inside, and as I was closing the door I heard Camille holler, "it-it wasn't a suggestion!!"

I slumped down onto my chair in frustration. I was clueless about what was going on at this point and who was involved in this mess. I decided to get serious. I needed to know exactly who could know anything about what had happened to me in those three years. I made a list. Ameera, Lionel, and unfortunately Camille would be my main suspects. My parents would be at the top of that list, but I don't think things have cooled off just yet.

I waited until the final minutes of my shift and started heading outside. Ameera was my friend, but she was also my family's driver. If anyone could know something, it had to be her.

"Ameera! I am so glad you are here!" I walked down the stairs outside of the building and waved to Ameera.

"Well, I'm here everyday, except yesterday. Where were you? I waited for over an hour," Ameera sounded upset.

I took a deep breath, which meant that I had about two seconds to come up with a convincing lie.

"Right, yesterday!" I was already crashing. "I drank a bit too much of the rocks if you know what I mean, heh." I laughed nervously but hid it with a smile.

"Okay... let's get you home," Ameera opened the door for me and I sat down, preparing my questions in my head.

When we reached the first red light, I knew we would be here for a while. So, I worked up the courage and started talking.

"So, my parents, huh?" I awkwardly noted.

"What about your parents?" Ameera replied.

"Well, I mean," I started, "you do take them anywhere they want to go, right?"

"That is my job as a driver, so yes." Ameera chuckled, "what's all this about?"

I hadn't gotten this far in my head conversation, and we were slowly coming up to my apartment, so I just spit it out.

"Have they asked you to go anywhere... I don't know, suspicious lately?"

Ameera paused. I continued, "I mean, they have been acting so weird lately, you know? I think they may be hiding something. Maybe like a secret? Do you think they could know something about my teenage years?"

Ameera turned her head to look at me and started laughing. It was creepy.

"Where is all this coming from?" She laughed, "I didn't realize this was a police investigation." Ameera continued to laugh and from all her laughing I felt as if I was in a horror film.

"Just answer the questions, do you think they could be hiding something from me? Also, here's another thing I've been wondering.. why did my parents hire you? I have my drivers license and am perfectly capable of driving myself everywhere." I started getting a bit paranoid, I realized after all these years that I never really knew why my parents asked Ameera to drive me everywhere.

"Okay, woah, you need to take a chill pill," Ameera chuckled, "what is going on with you today? You need a drink, I'll reroute us to the club."

I became scared, I did not trust Ameera anymore.

"NO! Don't you dare turn this car around. I'll walk home by myself. Take the night off, Meera."

"Oh don't be so silly, Mon. You will relax as soon as you have a drink in your hand."

As soon as the light turned green Ameera sped, she went so fast that I was not able to jump out of this lunatic's car safely. I went over a million different scenarios in my head, but they all ended with me either in the hospital, or dead. I did not have the money to be spending on a hospital bill, so I waited and prayed for the next red light. As soon as we came up onto a red light I looked over and saw Ameera looking a bit worried. She knew exactly what I was going to do.

I unbuckled my seatbelt, threw myself out the door, and started speed walking away from the car. I could hear Ameera yelling at me saying that I was crazy, and she was right. I was a female walking the New York streets at night, alone. Tell me something crazier and maybe I'll give you a piece of candy.

I felt like I was being watched. I could hear cans hitting the ground behind me, and footsteps that were never there. I would turn around every two minutes to make sure I wasn't being followed. Then, I thought to myself, "why am I spending all my energy being scared when I should be angry at Ameera and my parents?" My focus redirected to anger and I was fuming. I never looked behind me again.

I considered calling an uber, but I thought about who I could trust. That was no one.

I was nearly to my apartment when I felt a bag go over my head. I screamed and tried fighting, but whoever this person was, they were much bigger than me. I kicked and tried pulling the bag off, but my efforts failed. The last thing I saw was blackness.

I should've looked back.