Imagine Us

Chapter 10: Bloody Hell

"Now you're probably wondering why I'm introducing us is 'cause you'll be here for a while."

"I thought I'd be dead soon."

"Oh not you. Not yet." I took a deep breath. This all had to be a nightmare. "First, we gotta wait 'til the *throws up quotation signs with his fingers* bullshit flies over."

"What does that even mean?"

"Rival gang shit."

"What do I have to do with that?!"

"Let's just say, everyone wants your money. You obviously don't got the same kind of security as your parents did and your lawyer really underestimated this place and so here you are. He let you down."

Ouch.

That actually hit me. I try to disregard the thought. Ian did the most he could for me. It's just that evil people get in the way of good intentions.

"People are going to start looking for me." I said through gritted teeth.

"Oh yeah, they already have. You're kinda also the cops' first priority right now but haha, they'll be looking for a while. No one comes to these parts. No matter what. Not even for you, sweetheart." ... I looked at him furiously. "Alright well, that's the chat for the day. Welcome to the downtown hood, baby girl." Noah unties me from the chair, holds me by the arm and leads me into a small room. There were four bunk beds. On one of them, there was a pillow, a folded blanket and some clothes. Noah unties my hands. "Don't worry. You'll be the only one in here." He shuts the door as he leaves. That thick, steel door sounded like it locked. Crap. There were no windows or any other openings. I inspected the clothes. It was a plain white men's t-shirt and some grey men's sweatpants. It was really cold in my robe so I put them on, having no choice anyway.

The pants fit me alright - still big on me - but alright and the shirt was very oversized. These surely belonged to someone here. I did not want to find out who. Gross.

Part of me wanted to bang on the door 'til my hands gave out and scream 'til my lungs did too but the the other part of me just wanted to cry myself to sleep.

I think I'll go with the second option.

After all, thankfully, my bed already had sheets and the blanket was very wooly and warm. However, I refuse to directly admit that my clothes were very comfy.

I lay down and pulled the blanket over me.

What just happened? I thought to myself. Is this really the end? Is this just a waiting game now? Life really is cruel. All the money in the world can't tell me otherwise. What a world this was. A cruel, cruel world, at every turn.

Tears begin to stream down the sides of my face as I lay on my back.

***************

I woke up to loud banging on the door.

Someone barges in - Noah. I sit up.

"Took a nap, I see. Well, here's your dinner."

Noah brings in a plate of rice, broccoli and a piece of chicken. He places it on the foot of my bed and leaves.

If I was going to take one bite of that, I'd most likely throw up so I decide to sit against the wall. I'm actually going to try and starve myself to death. That'll be so fun, seeing as how I have nothing else to do. If they were planning to torture me and not kill me straight away, I'll do it myself.

I spent the next two hours just contemplating to myself about how unlucky my life really is. Take it from me, money isn't everything. I've had loads of it my whole life but in the end, it's so easy to lose it all because you have nothing else to rely on. The longer I spend in this cement box, the more I realise how cold (figuratively and literally), empty and emotionally plain I was - and it's only been around five hours, I think.