Adventures of MGTB: Ep 1

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝔀𝓸

Chapter 2
Theo B.

My first and biggest regret is not putting on sunscreen before I left, but I'm already out of the apartment building so it's too late now. The second I stepped outside I already felt my skin melting and peeling off from the burning heat. Without thinking, a disappointed groan slips from my mouth. My sister and I have this thing where if one of us gets sunburnt we slap each other on the area as much as we can. It's hilarious — at least, when you're the one slapping.

I pace sluggishly down the street, watching as kids play on slip 'n slides out on their front lawn. Parallel on the other side of the footpath I'm on is the local park. Sunlight blazes through the tall trees, leaves dancing slightly in the subtle summer breeze. There isn't a single cloud in the cyan blue skies. I take a whiff of the scent of freshly cut grass and sizzling BBQs. Today is the perfect day for that kind of stuff.

The walk to the shops doesn't take long. After taking a couple of turns down a few blocks, my feet finally scuff to a stop. I've made it — and now I'm standing outside the entrance door to the supermarkets. But there's something on the door. A sign, maybe. My eyes squint through the heatwaves making my vision wavy, and I step closer to read it. My heart sinks when I do.

'Store is closed today. Sorry.'

Oh come on. It's not seriously that hot, right? But my disappointment is only brief, as my eyes follow a line of much smaller text just beneath that one.

'TURN AROUND, T.B'

I don't know what or who T.B stands for, but that's something I just completely disregard. I seriously doubt this message means anything. It's probably one of those chain mails you get sent, like 'if you don't share this post with 5 other people Satan will appear under your bed tonight.' There's no way someone's actually meticulously planned that somebody specifically named T.B would walk here at this exact time of day and they're going to be waiting behind them ready to jump the second they turn around. I shrug, but sneak a glance towards my sides. There's nobody watching. So out of curiosity, I turn around, because I know that I'm not T.B.

I don't even have the chance to comprehend what happens before a figure launches at me, gagging me with a rolled-up sock and throwing a bag over my head.

"ARHHH!" I yell — well, try to yell, anyway — through the balled-up fabric shoved into my mouth. But my yells only come out as mere muffles. An arm wraps around my neck, putting me into a chokehold. I try to kick my way out of whatever the hell is going on but the more I kick the tighter the chokehold becomes. Something rough tightens around my body. It takes me a few seconds to realise it's a rope. Then I hear a door open, and a running engine. A car. No, it's bigger than a car. It must be a truck or something.

My body feels light as I'm picked up by a pair of arms, and for a few minutes I'm weightless in the air. The feeling doesn't last long before I feel the impact of metal ram into my sides. The door slams shut. The vehicle's engine revs. I think I'm in the boot of a van.

Okay, so maybe I'm wrong about the sign being a joke. And maybe I am the T.B they're talking about. But that still doesn't explain why these people — since there's no way this plan is thought out by only one individual — are gagging and kidnapping me. I keep my hopes optimistic — maybe they just got the wrong guy. Soon they'll realise that, and they'll stop the van and open the boot and pull me out and say "sorry kiddo we thought you were someone else," and let me go. That will happen, I'm sure of it.

A couple of terrorizing seconds stretches into minutes, and then those minutes stretch into at least half an hour. As my tied-up, bagged body lies helpless in the heat compacted trunk, the hope I've had has only kept shrinking. I feel that knot of apprehension tie in my gut again as I come to the stark realisation: maybe I am the right guy. Maybe I do have beef with these people that I got no idea about but they do. I try to draw my mind back to the last time I've pissed people off. I think it was two weeks ago when I got mad at some Burger King employee at the cash register for reading my order wrong 4 times.