Afraid to love

Chapter 35

The class is just what I needed to clear my mind. Spending time with children always lifts my spirits. At eight the class finishes, and I pull out my phone to call the taxi.

I'm standing in the parking lot, beneath a lamp post. The parking is filled with parents picking up their children,

"Bye Sofia!" the cutest voice of a six-year-old girl calls, I smile at my dance student and give her a big wave,

"See you next week Ollie!" I call back, her mum smiles and waves at me. That's the last thing I see before a large dark grey van stops right in front of me. A masked man jumps out, hits me hard across my temple with some sort of metal object. The pain rings through my ears, I lose my footing, I scream, I fight. The attacker slaps me across my face, my teeth cluck together. People around us are screaming, yelling for help. The man pulls me up by my hair and hauls me into the car. He jumps into the driver's seat and drives off. I force my body to function, I go to open the door. The attacker turns around and grabs me by my hair, he pushes my head into the seat, and holds me like that so I can't move. I can barely breathe as he's pushing my head into the leather. I struggle to get free, the more I struggle, the less air enters my lungs. I feel like I will suffocate, but I do everything to stay awake.

Be calm. Breathe. Breathe. Slowly, my senses return. I stop struggling, and focus on my breathing. In, out. In, out. I can tell he's driving very fast, I can feel each time he turns. I can feel each bump on the road. Breathe. Breathe. His grip slightly loosens, maybe thinking I am unconscious. Let him think that. Breathe.

When I feel like I've regained my strength, I push up with all my force, my head flies up. He swears and breaks really hard. The van swivels to a hard stop. I go to open the door, he exits the van. Just as I open it, he appears on the other side. Face to face with a masked monster. I lunge backwards, kicking at him with my legs. But he is ready for the attack, he moves out of the way, then tries grabbing my legs. I kick harder, he yells out a hurt grunt, but manages to push my legs down with his body. He grasps my hair once more and pulls me forward, he punches me, I squeal in pain. He grasps my wrists and quickly tapes them together. Then throws a black plastic bag over my head, I feel like I am losing air once more.

I kick at him even harder, this time I succeed in kicking where it hurts and he cries out in pain. A voice so familiar. So familiar...

"George?" I cry, "George? Is that you?"

The man responds in a deep, unnatural voice that I can't place,

"You want to fight? Huh? How does this feel?" he punches me right in my stomach, my legs curl up defensively, my lungs cry for air. He uses the moment to clasp my knees together and tape around them with duct tape, just like he did with my hands. He then does the same to my ankles. When done, he leaves me curled up on the back seat and slams the door shut. Without another word, he turns the van on and drives.

I am in so much pain, mu head is killing me. My body feels like it's bruised all over. I've never been hurt like this. No one has ever been this rough. Not even close. Except when this same man punched me in that forest. But then I had Wolf. He saved me. Now? Now I am alone. I am so hurt, that I can hear myself moaning in pain. I can't stop it. I can feel the distinct metallic taste of blood in my mouth, my temple feels like it's bleeding too.

Focus. I try to tell myself. Focus. Breathe. Focus. Stay awake. Breathe.

I try to work my hands, but the duct tape is wound around extremely tight. I'm laying on my side, my back towards the drivers seat. I try freeing my hands again. No use. Too tight. Slowly, so he doesn't notice, I raise my tied hands towards my head, pulling on the bag to get it off. Not fully off, as I don't want the driver to nice, only far enough to push my hands to my mouth. I bite down on the tape, trying to tear it off. I grunt loudly. Then freeze. But he doesn't notice. Or he might think I am grunting from the pain he inflicted.