The Bodyguard ✔

Chapter One

On the 21st of October, I was walking alone from a friend's house to mine. It was warm, keeping in mind it was autumn. Because of the nice weather, I had opened my jacket.

I felt happy and walked cheerful through the colorful leaves. They were beautiful, being illuminated by the intense color of orange from the evening sun. The wind made the leaves sing, from the ones who lay on the ground, to the ones who were still hanging onto their branches.

Maybe that's why I didn't hear them come...

A van stopped behind my back. Two men, fully dressed in black, stepped out of the van. While I was looking at the beautiful sunset and listening to the sound of the wind, my mouth was covered and someone pulled my arms. Everything went dark and quiet.

A couple of seconds, I was at peace. My head didn't hurt. I felt happy. And I had almost forgotten how being at peace felt...

Suddenly the pain fired through my leg into my back. My head throws itself in his neck and I screamed louder than I ever thought was possible. There is something wrong with my body. The pain sickens me and I feel lightheaded. My consciousness starts to fade.

I hardly feel the unfamiliar hands pushing me back in soft cushions. I can see people running in chaos everywhere. Who are they? I don't really feel the need to answer that question, when I feel a sting in my arm and my eyelids start weighing heavy. Somewhere in a distance, I hear a sweet voice. What a pity that I didn't understand what it was saying. And again, I get sucked into a dream.

I was missing for fifteen days. They found me in a parc at the rehabilitation center, across from the hospital. I had an injury on my left leg and zero memory about my abduction and the days that followed. The police think I might have experienced a shock and blocked any memory about those days. Although they're a little suspicious. Some officers think I ran away from home, like the spoiled child they think I am, and I came back because I managed to get my leg hurt. My dad doesn't even consider that being a possibility. After they found me in the parc, doctors had put me in an artificial coma for a week. It turned out that the injury on my leg was only a deep graze, nothing serious.

No ransom was demanded after I was abducted and the bastards didn't leave a trace. It was a very difficult period for my father. He blamed himself. The man thought one of his enemies, created by one of dozens business deals, might wanted to hurt him by hurting his only child. He thought they wanted to hurt the only close family that was left.

My mother left us when I was still very little. My dad doesn't like to share much about it, but I do know she didn't have the most stable mental health. Nobody really knows where she is, at least, so they say. Sometimes, I think a couple of facts about my mother is being withhold from me. But that's okay, I'll find out anyway.

After my mother took off, my dad raised me together with my aunt, my mother's sister. She passed away from cancer when I was ten. Her death was something that hit us very hard.

But in the years that followed, we learned to live together in this big house, located in a long street with only a couple of houses, surrounded by forest and trees. I admit, it's a pretty great place to live. Our backyard is just an open place, again surrounded by lots of trees.

Ten days after I was found, doctors gave me permission to go home. In the beginning, the nightmares were horrifying. I dreamt about obscure and dark places, full of shadows, pulling my hair and scratching my skin. They waked me abruptly, making me scream and heavily sweat. I still have the nightmares nowadays, but they're less severe.

Going outside is a bigger challenge. I only dare to take a couple of steps out of the house. Still working on that.

My dad stayed home for a while, to comfort me etc., but I get that he had to go back to work. Business doesn't wait after all. Being home alone was scary in the beginning, but I managed. Now I barely notice I got the whole place to myself. But what I can't manage, is going to school. I tried going once after I got abducted, and I had a panic attack in the hall because of the many people. I fainted. My dad and I decided to hire some private teachers. For now, it's a well-working alternative.