Safe Space

Why

There was silence in the car. None of them dared to talk. It is raining heavily now. It's as if the sky is crying with them. Narong is focusing on getting the kids to safety. Zee is concentrating on keeping nunew calm. Just as they were about to reach the main road, a black car blocked their car. Narong locked all the doors.

"Nong zee. Whatever you do, dont open the car door." He told zee. He reached out to the glove compartment. He took out a gun hidden there.
"And when you see my Nat. Tell him how much i love him. That i am so proud if him and i will forever be there watching him." Narong looked at zee. He held the younger one's hand.
"No Khun, No please. We can get out of here. Please dont do this" Zee pleaded with the old man.

"Please, live and be strong. Be the best version of yourself and protect the ones you love." He told zee.
And with a last glance, he told the young boy
"Please take care of my family for me." Narong smiled at him and went out. Zee is crying by now. He made sure all the doors are locked. He held nunew tighter in his arms and closed his eyes. He heard a gun shot. One, two, three.. He lost count. When he opened his eyes, he cant see Khun Narong anymore. The window next to them was smashed and the doors were opened. He tried to resist them. He tried to fight them. To run. But he was just a young boy. Nunew was taken from him. Nunew cried. He screamed. He tried to get away. But the men wearing black covered both of their faces with a cloth. Then zee smelled something awful. And all he knows is, his vision went black.

Zee pruk woke up in a very dark room. His head hurts. His body hurts. But he immediately looked for nunew. They were in what it looks like a dark prison cell. He couldnt see much. There is a window with a barricade on it but its too high for him to reach. Everything is dark. He can hear the rain outside. Thunder and lightning would illuminate the room for a while but he still cant see much. He started to see a small figure in the corner of the room. He recognizes that figure. He limped towards him slowly and when he reached him, he put his hand on the other one's shoulder.

"Nunew" he said softly.
The other one stiffened. He pushed his hand away and started to cry quietly and shake.
Zee put both of his hands on both of nunew's shoulders.

"Nu, look up. Its me. Its me Nu. Im here" Zee tried to speak louder. But just enough that only nunew would hear it.
Nunew then looked up. His eyes met zee's. He hugged the older boy and cried even harder. Zee winced but didnt say anything to him. He just hugged him and cried with him.

"I tried to wake you up P'zee. But you were not moving. I was scared. I thought you left me as well. The guards got angry because i was crying non stop. They said they will shoot me if i dont shut up. I was so scared Phi. Why is this happening?" Nunew said as he cried louder.

"Sssshhhh.. im here Nu. Im here. I will not let you go again. Okay? Now we have to be quiet a bit. Okay? Lets lie down and pretend that we are still sleeping. Okay?" Zee told nunew.

They lied down on the cold floor. They faced each other and stared at each other's eyes. Nunew put his hands on Zee's chest as if the young boy is making sure that his Phi is really alive with him. Nunew felt something in Zee's pocket.
"P'zee, what's in there?" Asked nunew. Zee checked his chest and found out that his pen is still there. Max gave him a pen last week. It was a gift for him as the Perdpiriyawong family went to the US and Max thought him when he saw the pen. Zee was engrossed with a detective novel that time and Max thought this oen would be perfect. It has the ability to record sounds.
Zee patted his nong's head. Trying to tell him good job and its going to be alright. He can use this to his advantage later. Then they heard footsteps. They are getting closer. Zee motioned to nunew to close his eyes and pretend to sleep. Nunew did as he was told. Zee took out the pen, turned it on and held nunew's hand tightly

"Shia! What the hell were your guys thinking kidnapping these kids?! That was not in the plan! We said we would only scare people and threathen Panich and Perdpiriyawong!" One of the men outside said

"I know, i know. But things got out of hand. My men didnt anticipate that there would be so much armed guys in there. These two tried to escape but my men recognized the teenage boy as Panich's son. And thought we can use them to our advantage and to get ransom." The other guy said.

"Bullshit. How are we going to get out of this now that your men also hit Panich and Perdpiriyawong?! You even dragged the driver?! " The first guy is getting angrier now.

"Dont worry, nobody recognized us. People wouldnt question the police's involvement in this too. The ones we paid wouldnt peep a word too. They got so much money out of this." Said the other one.

Zee can hear everything. He cant recognize their voices. But he puts two and two together and figured out that the police is involved here. They targeted their parents. This also explains why there were no police in the area despite famous people being at the party.

" If Perdpiriyawong just endorsed me to be the police chief, this wouldnt have happened to them. Serves them right. They always want to play by the right. Society doesnt always allow that. They play all goody two shoes and this is what they deserved" Zee thought for a minute, police chief? A candidate? Wait, is this Officer Badin?! He did this?! Ofcourse Arthit wouldt support him! He is a protector of the drug lords!

"Panich deserves it too. How dare him step into my territory. This is my town. My industry. I will be the only one in the top in the country. How could Arthit support this guy. He is nothing without Pornthip's help! They should have just tied up with me!" Said the other older man. Zee cant understand this.. Who is this second one? Why is he so mad at his family? They did nothing wrong! They started from nothing!

"Come on, we'll send a ransom note to the families and blame some gang for it. Nobody will know it is us whose behind this shit."

The two walked away. Their footseps started to fade away. When they couldnt hear anything any longer, the two boys sat up.

"Phi, I recognize the voice of the other one. That one was uncle Atid. He is one of my dad's friends! But why! Why would he do this to us." Nunew cried.

"I dont know too Nu. But we should focus on trying to get out. We should focus in our survival first. Okay?" Zee held nunew's face up to him looking directly into the eyes if the younger one. Nunew could only nod. He trusts zee. He can only trust Zee now.