Bittersweet Moments

37 | Dark Chocolate

37 | Dark Chocolate

Please let this not be real.

Never mind that the performance didn't really happen. Just don't make this night come true. And I'll wake up with the girls and laugh at the crazy dream. Please let this be a joke. Please let Mony be safe. Little Mony . . .

Wait, who was I talking to?

And my silent pleas weren't working. I was still handcuffed in the car Mitch was driving. My phone was still on the dashboard. Help wasn't coming any sooner. The car stopped. We had arrived. And my eyes were drooping.

But I was jolted fully awake when Mitch got out of the car and pulled me out. I decided not to talk for a while. See where this was going. What she was exactly planning. What this place was exactly.

She dragged me into the back of a warehouse. It was dark out and empty. How clichéd. Warehouse, kidnapping for exchange, in a creepy night – I wondered whose idea what this all was. It was an ineffective way to commit a crime.

I opened my mouth again, "Really now, if you wanted to kidnap me, you should at least do it in style. You know – something that will make Moriarty proud."

"Quiet," she growled, leading us inside. Dim lights filled the warehouse. It was eerily silent in here. And the smell of sewage infiltrated the air. The floor felt slippery and wet.

I took deep breaths. They'll come sooner or later. Twenty minutes – I took count. That was how long the ride lasted. It shouldn't take them long. Come on, just get a move on.

While I was basked in my thoughts, Mitch pushed me hard and I tumbled onto the ground. I hissed when my arm bent and the handcuff pushed into my wrist. I felt something burn on my face and then blood trickled from my cheek.

"Seriously?" I whispered.

Mitch ignored me. "I got her," she said firmly to somebody else. She got me handcuffed on a pipe. I backed away slowly against a wall.

Murmurs. Sounds of struggling. Muffled. That's what I heard. Mony.

The place lighted up a bit. And then I saw everything, like the mainstream criminal scene. Harmony was tied and handcuffed to a chair, her mouth gagged. She cried and squirmed, looking at me. I scowled when I saw the bruises on her arms and the cuts on her face. A black eye standing out.

What the hell did they do to my baby sister?

My gaze raked over our captor, to my left, a few feet away. "Oh my God," I laughed sarcastically, "I should've known. Owen."

At the mention of his name, I saw the corner of his lips tug upwards. My rolled skyward. Plan, Ollie, you must have some kind of spontaneous plan. To keep them from hurting Mony any more.

"Thank you, Mitchell," he said softly.

"Are you really doing this right now?" I said incredulously, "Kidnapping us? For what in exchange? You know, you've got bad taste in your venue and the style couldn't be any sloppier – "

I cut myself off with a scream when Owen trudged towards me and kicked my stomach. Ouch, dude.

"Enough," he said.

I mocked some more, "Why, why are you doing this? What's your back-story? Do you have some boo-hoo said tale to share with us? Please do. I can't wait to hear it." Another kick on my stomach. I winced as he stepped his foot down on my legs.

I looked anywhere but on him. Mitch was there, standing by Harmony, a blank expression on her face. I glared at her, "You're a coward, you know that? You could've run away and told somebody, but no, you just had to join his side. Is this really who you are?"