Beyond Control

Chapter 2

She revolved around in shock, pushing her back against the wall as if hoping to sink into it. A gasp escaped her lips reluctantly as she raised her hands to cover up her mouth which could make another noise again before she could take a step. Her eyes widened, which allowed the tears to stream down her cheeks rapidly.

The man knows her name, whoever he is, she could confirm that she'd definitely seen or met with him before, but she isn't sure when she would talk to a man far from her age. She could feel her heart thumping as if it's on the verge of drilling a hole through her chest. Sweats and tears rolled down her neck along with the chills running down her spine.

When she heard footsteps directed to her from her mother's hospital room, she pushed herself off from the wall and darted towards the exit of the hallway without any hesitation. She ran her hardest with her fist clenched, her limbs rapidly propelling herself forward relentlessly. She gritted her teeth as she thought of the sight of her mother laying on the hospital bed with a kidnapper waiting for her, which she ran away without having a care for her mother's safety.

She heard footsteps behind her, chasing her down the hallway of the silent hospital where most patients had already moved out or passed. Her gaze searched for the stairs, though she'd been accustomed to the hospital's structure, she'd forgotten the direction in a moment of panic.

The lights grew dimmer as she ran, seemingly caused by her exhaustion and tiredness from running at midnight. She attempted to navigate the stairs by the indicator sign hung on the ceiling but in a faint light, she missed her chance to read those words and symbols. Thus, she does not turn back, knowing that whoever that is would catch up to her frail self.

She tried to calm her breath so that she could begin recalling what she'd been accustomed to, but for every echoing footfall behind her reminds her of the current situation, which breaks her focus constantly whenever she tries to recall. She clenched her fist and fought the urge to give up now like how she'd given up on all her studies in the last semester, which she dropped out a week ago and began looking for a job to fund her mother's bills. She turned back as she took a turn and caught sight of the man running in a relaxing manner, his arms swinging nonchalantly as if this hadn't been a chase this whole time.

At that point, she knew she had been acting according to their plan perfectly.

By the time she noticed their plan, she reached her destination, where she had two contrasting options.

One, taking the lift and arriving at safety's hand efficiently and briskly, but it requires time for the lift to arrive.

Two, taking the stairs and walking in darkness with those kidnappers on her tail but it requires no waiting time.

Without a second of hesitation, she darted towards the stairs and hurled herself inside after pushing the door open relentlessly since she knows that if she stops running for a mere second, it can lead to her death.

The stairs were slippery as it was built out of the same marble floor as the patient's ward. She was on the verge of falling when she slid in, her shoes making a screeching noise which slowed her down. When she felt that she'd been gradual during the time she entered the room, she began skipping steps and leaped down the stairs when she's near the landing. She'd been concerned that she might hurt herself during this since she hadn't exercised in a long time and that she doesn't know what move she's capable of doing and what's not.

After a while of rapid pacing, she perceived that the lighting gets darker and dimmer the lower she goes, and eventually it turned pitch black but she kept running as she can still hear that echoing footstep behind her.

Till she heard a sound, sentient and calm. She didn't get to react or figure out the direction of the sound or what it was, but she is mostly certain that there's not only one person who's trying to kidnap her.

She felt herself thrown against a soft surface, but then bounced off standing in the pitch black which had her perplexed by what had just happened.

The footsteps behind her had been terminated, and she couldn't hear any movement around her as if everything'd froze. She reached her hand around her but retained her position to ensure nothing's around her before she continued moving again.

Is this a dream? She thought as she took an insignificant step forward and reached her arms out.

In the caliginous space, she hears nothing, sees nothing, feels nothing, and smells nothing. She began feeling that rapid heart rhythm to calm as she took a few deep breaths and remained silent.

When she began to search for the railings of the stairs, she touched something. It was soft and warm, nothing like an object, but like a living thing. Upon a new discovery in this misty space, she bounced back and had her heart racing again.

Before she could retrieve more clues upon the new discovery, a burst of light flashed across her face which shocked her utterly. She squinted her eyes and raised her hand up to block that irritating light off her face before she knew what it was.

There's three black figures in front of her, one holding the flashlight aimed at her face and the other two standing beside the flashlight.

This is certainly not a dream.

Before she managed to move a step, she felt a force, seemingly a stick or a fist, hit her head from the back and threw her onto the ground. She struggled to see after that, it left a blurry vision on her sight and a colossal ringing by her ears. The girl laid on the ground after a long chase with hopes of escaping despite her awful luck heaving her out of her optimistic self, she raised her head up but it dropped down when her vision began to fade.

She could hear vague murmurs and a few scoffs from the kidnappers after she'd fallen into their trap, but she couldn't quite catch a hint of their identity or the purpose of this. They spoke for quite some time but she'd only managed to hear one thing from the kidnappers. "Erase her existence from the world."