Rhénee Johnson: Emelda's Sapphire (Book One)

Chapter 20

The bump to the head woke her. She slowly opened her eyes and all she could see is darkness. She felt another bump to the head, fully waking her up from what felt like a slumber. Her head started to ache. She felt like she was moving side to side, not realising what’s going on. She felt like she's lying on a carpeted floor. She moved her legs and found that she couldn’t stretch them out like she wanted to. She drew her hand up and felt herself touching what felt like a wall.

She started to feel around and realised that she’s in some kind of box as she felt the walls around her. Then she felt the box move around, in the process, hitting her head a few times on the walls. She now started to panic as she started to precipitate, and wondering why she's in a box.

She heard the sound of an engine. Is she in a car? I must be, she thought. She started to pound on the lid above and she heard the sound of heavy metal. She is in a car. She continued to bang on the lid, hoping that there is someone out there. But she soon figured they were probably driving down a dark lonely road with no one around.

She started to breathe heavily and felt like she's running out of air as it started to feel stuffy.

“Calm down,” she told herself.“Take deep and steady breaths.”

As much as she tried to, her heart still beat faster at the thought of being in a trunk of a car. She tried to remember how she got in this situation, but she still felt dizzy and a blank picture came up every time she tried.

The sudden thought of Rhénee crossed her mind. She soon remembered where she was before and who she's with right now. She was in the bathroom of Mr. Cowell’s house, trying to help clean his wound, when all of a sudden, he had her back pinned to the wall. Before she could realise what's going on, he covered her nose and mouth with a white cloth. She remembered it had a horrible smell and it made her lose sight of things. Next thing she knew, she's locked in a trunk.

Now that she has recalled everything, she couldn’t believe Mr. Cowell could do what he did. First of all, he lied about being injured, then he drugged and stuffed her in the back of a car. She couldn’t wrap her head around all this so as to know what motive he could've to do what he did. She continued to bang on the lid, hoping that he could hear her and let her out.

The bumpy ride continued and Miss Griselda soon got tired of banging on the trunk’s lid. There were probably no people or cars around that could hear her. She now wondered where she is.

Soon enough the car came to a stop and Miss Griselda held her breath for a second as she heard the opening and closing of the car door. The soft roar of the engine continued when she heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer.

She heard the trunk opening and when it did, cold air quickly rushed in, surprising Miss Griselda who had gotten used to the hot, stuffy air. A dark figure of a person appeared above her and before she could utter a sound, the person reached for her shoulder and roughly made her sit up so as to get out of the boot.

“Come on, Griselda,” came a familiar voice, as the man dragged her out.

Miss Griselda didn’t try to fight back as she got out. The place is dark and cold. With trees all around, it's like a dark veil covered the whole area.

“Why are you doing this?” Miss Griselda asked as soon as she was out. Mr. Cowell closed the boot, while his other hand held tight around Miss Griselda’s arm.

“Stop talking,” he ordered, as he brought her round the front of the car. The headlights of the car were still on, and when Miss Griselda stood in front of them, she felt like a deer about to get run over.

“Who is ordering you to do this?” Miss Griselda continued to ask. “What have you done with Rhénee?”

“Not much if you don’t stop talking,” said Mr. Cowell as he squeezed his hand on Miss Griselda’s arm. “Come on, let’s move.”