Find me - A Duskwood story

Chapter 4

TW: language, violence

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I woke up with a nagging pain on my cheek. My head hurt and I felt dizzy. I tried to raise a hand to my face but I couldn't move. My wrists were tied together with a thick rope way too tight, my fingers started to numb and my skin, under the rope, was aching.

I raised my head and opened my eyes trying to focus on my surroundings. I sat on a rusty chair in the middle of a dark room. Here, right in front of me, stood a tall man talking with someone on the phone. I was still confused so I couldn't understand what he said, but I recognized him right away. How could I forget these gray eyes?

A shiver ran down my spine as the man approached me. He reached his hand and put the phone against my ear.

A worried voice raised from the device. "MC, are you okay?"

I gasped. This voice! Of course it was Jake's voice. I felt so relieved to hear him. "Jake? Jake, is this you?" my eyes went back and forth, trying to figure out where I could be. I wanted to give him clues about my location, so maybe he could quickly find me. But all I could see was my kidnapper leaning over me, blocking my sight of the rest of the room. My voice broke, "where am I?" I was now fully crying, feeling helpless.

"Don't worry MC, I'll find you!" Jake's usually calm voice shaked a little, as if he was trying not to panic.

Hearing him being anxious made me feel more frightened. I trusted him with my life and I knew he would do everything he could to find me. But what if he was too late? I wanted to look strong not to worry Jake even more, but fear took over me. I couldn't help but answer in a pleading voice, "Jake, please, please find me!"

The man stood up and I heard him talking to Jake on the phone, "I'll send you the location. Come with the file. No file, no MC", and then hung up. The man leaned over me again, grabbing me by the chin, motioning me to look somewhere over his shoulder, "Say 'hello' to the camera."

While he spoke I felt his thumb running along my cheek. His touch made me feel nauseous. I knew Jake could see this through the camera and that jerk was purposely pissing him off by acting like this. A wave of anger hit me, "Don't touch me!" I hissed, kicking him in his leg.

I immediately regret what I did. My kidnapper roughly pulled my hair and pressed the cold blade of a knife against my throat. At that exact moment I saw a second man appear beside me and shooting at the camera. My attacker came closer to me and placed his mouth right next to my ear. I could feel his hot breath on my ear, and neck. I firmly closed my eyes, "Don't act too proud, MC. Do you think you're strong enough to defeat me!" he spoke with a low threatening voice, "you better stay still if you don't want to get hurt."

He stepped back, his hand still in my hair, and forced me to look at him. His gray eyes glowed with pure anger. "Is that clear?" I opened my mouth to speak but nothing would come out, I only managed to nod briefly. "Good," he said, letting me go. He turned to face his mate, "let's go! We have work to do!" and both of them left the room, leaving me on my own.

My breath became uneven as panic took control of my body. I tried to keep calm but my whole body was shaking and tears were rolling over my face. I couldn't breath, I couldn't think, everything seemed blurry. I can't die here! I had to calm down. I couldn't stay here waiting for them to hurt me, or worse. I needed to find something, to escape! I knew Jake was coming to save me. But it was too dangerous for me as for him. He did so many things to protect me, I couldn't let him risk his life again for me. I would never forgive myself if something bad happened to him.

I took several deep breaths, focusing on the oxygen filling my lungs. After a while, I felt my heartbeat slow down and my vision became clear again. I looked at my surroundings, giving my eyes some time to get used to the darkness of the room.

I was in a quite big room, with wooden workbenchs, shefts and cabinets along the walls. The heavy iron door, by wich the two men left, seemed to be the only way out of the room. The room was filled with a scent of moisture and I could see a thick layer of dust on the wooden furniture. The building had probably been abandoned a long time ago.

I needed to escape this place, and fast! But I also had to warn Jake. I needed to find a phone or any device to call Jake,to tell him not to come, that I'd find a way out of here! But first, I had to untie myself and figure out where I was.

I closed my eyes again, trying to hear something that could help me find my location. Nothing. I heard nothing, no car, no voice, only the wind... I shivered as I felt a cold breath coming from behind me.

I turned my head and saw a huge window at the opposite side of the room. It was a window with small tiles, like those we find in workshops. At the left bottom-left corner of the window, the glass was broken. Some pieces of glass were still stucked on the iron window frame as other pieces had shattered on the ground. The wind rushed through that breach, cooling the room.

The hole was too small for me to escape, but I could cut the rope against the broken pieces of glass. I pushed my legs on the ground trying to move the chair. My body ached and the chair was heavy, but thank to adrenaline I was able to move it. Inch by inch I managed to apporched the window.

Once I was there, I raised my elbow as high as I could, twisting my arms and I started cutting the rope with the glass. I cried as I cut myself, moving too fast. Slow down, MC. Don't rush or you'll get hurt. I slowly breathed and after a while, my hands were finally free. I checked on my wrists and sighed with relief, the cut was shallow.

I carefully stood up and got closer to one of the workbenchs. I grabbed a dirty cloth and went back to the window, ripping off a piece of glass from it. I wrapped the cloth around the piece of glass to use it as a weapon. It wasn't much but it was all I had for now.

I left the room pulling the heavy iron door in a grinding. The hallway was empty and dark. I couldn't see anything. I guided myself by holding the wall. I walked like this for endless minutes, until I saw a weak glow coming from another room. I walked in the room and noticed the glow was coming from a computer screen. I smiled, I would be able to send a message to Jake, or call him, or find out where I was or... Footsteps interrupted my thoughts. Shit! I looked around and spotted an old wardrobe on the corner of the room. I hid inside just in time when two people entered the room.

I quietly stepped back between old jackets hanging in the wardrobe and winced. It was smelling like cigarette smoke and sweat. I followed the two men with my eyes as they went to the computer. There obviously were my abductors. The smaller man said, "Hey, Jasper, what do we do now?"

Jasper... so it was the name of the man with gray eyes. "We wait, Pete," even when he talked to his partner, his voice remained threatening.

Pete slightly nodded, then continued, "So are we really gonna trade the girl for the files?" he seemed disappointed, "it doesn't sound like you, dude."

Jasper didn't bother to look at him and answered with a sigh "Of course not." I felt a weight in my stomach. What was he up to?

"So, what's the plan?" Pete asked again.

"Just shut up already! I need to focus." Pete startled as he heard Jasper's command. A heavy silence floated in the room. I tried to keep calm while waiting for the men to leave.

I noticed that Pete seemed to be more and more uncomfortable. "Jasper... What if the hacker manages to track us? I heard he was quite good at..." he didn't have time to finish. Jasper grabbed him by the collar of his sweatshirt and slammed him against the wall.

"What did you just say?" Jasper was whispering but I could clearly hear what he was saying. I started to shake, holding my weapon against my body.

"Do you think I will lose against that jerk, huh?" Jasper's face was red with anger.

"No, no of course not! He can't defeat you. What are you gonna do to them?" Pete was now totally shaking.

Jasper let him go and rubbed his hands against his face, calming down a little, "We keep the bitch, she can be useful. About the hacker, once he's here... He's not leaving that place alive!" I raised my hands on my mouth, just in time to suppress a cry of fear.

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