Mind Over Matter

Thursday //1

Slowly as I drifted out of my sleep I turned over and opened my eyes; staring at my window as the sun rays were gleaming through, illuminating my room, it was beautiful. Laying there I thought about what everyone else in New York might doing, the new mothers tending to screaming babies; the business men and women walking down the streets, cell phones glued to their ears and then I was lying there in my deep thoughts. That was until, my mother screeched at me to get out of bed; rudely awakening me.

I sighed and slumped out of bed and into the kitchen where Magda, the housekeeper, had already made breakfast. As I sat down at the glass dining table, I helped my self to a croissant; my favourite. My mother sat there in a S/S13 Chanel Tweed suit, her dark brown hair in a straight long bob, and her black Louboutins quietly tapping on the floor.

''Sofia, You look disgusting'' she said, not even bothering too look up at me, too busy reading Cosmo. My mother wasn't the kindest person ever, she used to be. But ever since I'd turned 13 and become more independent, so did my mother. She would often take vacations to Aruba or Paris randomly without me, which meant the apartment was completely empty apart from me. My dad was always working away somewhere, and every time I too ask what he was doing all I got told was that he was away doing 'business' and that it was important. It must've been considering he was away at least half of the year.

I didn't respond to my mothers comment, she probably wouldn't of heard me anyway; too busy reading her ''bible'' and twiddling on her Blackberry to pay attention to me. Although I purposely shovelled down my croissant and slurped my coffee, which earned me nothing but an glare from her.

This was our usual interactions at breakfast, or any other time. We never really crossed paths and we'd both just get on with our daily routines. Mother would dine and shop and gossip; and I would go to school, shop and gossip. For two people so alike, it was surprising we didn't have a stronger bond.

As usual I continued my routine, I showered and then quickly changed into my uniform. Just as the clock in the living room chimed eight. I stepped out into the corridor before stopping in front of a mirror. My school uniform was horrible, I tried to convince my mother to send me too a different school somewhere else, just so I could avoid the horrendous sight of 200 girls in navy, plaid skirts.  If the rules were a little more flexible I wouldn't ind but, no they weren't, everything had to be perfect. Black blazer with blue trim, black and blue tartan skirt, some weird tie and an itchy black jumper. It was awful, my mother knew that, yet she still refused to let me move.

A loud cackle echoed through the apartment, which meant my mothers socialite friends were here. I walked into the living room too see the 3 of them laughing, if you could even call it that.

''Darling honestly could that uniform get any worse, ugh'' my mother said as she walked over to me, I smiled and fiddled with my blazer, trying to make it look better.

''Now don't forget your father comes home tomorrow at some point so, get him a present or something,okay?'' she forced a smile and handed me an $50 dollar bill, I despised the way she treated me like an 8 year old, I'm 17 for heavens sake!

''Have fun at school sweetie'' she kissed me on the forehead and handed me my bag, then walked back over to her obnoxious friends. ''So girls where were we..'' my mother continued. She had the strangest accent, somewhere between Jersey and Chicago. It was so nasally and annoying, I was kind of thankful at times we didn't talk much.

I put the $50 bill in my wallet, what was I going to get in New York for $50..a fake Rolex? I'm sure daddy will appreciate that. To be honest, I was glad he was coming home from whatever ''business'' he was doing, I miss him a lot when he's away.

''Bye'' I said to my mother, she just waved me and I stepped into the elevator. I got in, pressed the button and watched the doors closed. Standing there awkwardly, I listened to the elevator music's annoying repetitive tune until the doors finally opened. I walked across the long marble lobby, my shoes clacking as they did. It was pretty much silent and very peaceful in the lobby of the building; but the minute the doors opened, there was no peace and quiet anywhere. They're not wrong when they say New York is ''The City That Never Sleeps'', there's always a few shops open, plenty of people about and it's no quieter at 3am then it is and 3pm.

My black Mercedes was outside waiting for me. A man stood outside of the car, he wasn't my usual driver, but it didn't bother me.

''Miss Castaletta?'' He asked and I smiled. He was tall, and bulky with a widows peak that reminded me of my grandpa. He smiled back as he opened the door and I slid into my seat.

''Um..who's he..?'' I asked gesturing towards the strange man in the passenger side.

''He's just a trainee ma'am, nothing to worry about'' He smiled at me and then turned his focus back to driving. He spoke to the man in a different language, one that was familiar, I think it was Italian. I don't speak Italian, pretty Ironic for someone who is. The few words I did understand, didn't intrigue me. I'm pretty certain they were just looking at famous landmarks and other boring thing.

My phone buzzed and I took it out of my pocket; it was from Chloe, my best friend. As usual there were boyfriend issues and being the great friend that I am, I spent my time giving her a little pep talk through text; assuring her I'd be at school soon. I'd been texting her for about thirty minutes, which was pretty unusual considering it was only an short drive to my school. Thinking the traffic might of been bad, I looked out of the window, but we were moving at an average pace for New York. Chloe texted me back, as I was about to reply when my head shot up too take a second look at my surroundings. We weren't in New York; We'd crossed the bridge.

I shoved my phone back in the pocket of my blazer.

''Where are we?'' I asked the driver.

''It's fine'' the guy in the passenger side waved his hand in the air at me.

''No. We're not in New York where are we?'' I must of asked twenty times, and still no response.

''Look just shut up okay?!'' The driver yelled at me.

I started trying to open the doors, even though we were driving, but they were child locked. Which meant I couldn't get out.

''I'm calling my mom!'' I said as I fumbled to get my phone out of my pocket, but as soon as I did the creepy guy in the passenger seat whacked it out of my hand.

''What the hell!'' I shouted, I started screaming and banging on windows in the hope that someone would notice and help me.

''Just do it, and quickly''  the driver shouted at the other man.

The creepy guy pulled out what looked like a gun. Right then and there I was certain he was going to kill me. Instead he turned around and with all of his strength, he whacked me right round the head. Not hard enough to kill me, but just enough.

I lay down on the seat, trying my hardest not to close my eyes. The tears my streaming down my face, and my head was pounding. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I let them win.