Stronger

Captive

Quick update because this story has been in my head for a while... I didn't think the story would be this long... click the star if you want me to go on for a few more chapters;-)

Sanem woke up with the worse headache, she opened her eyes and immediately stood up panicking. She was in a small dark room, light was coming through the frame of a metallic door. She started banging the door screaming to let her out. The door opened and a big guy wearing a baclava walked in and pushed her on the mattress. ''You stay here and shut up'' he barked and left the room.

Sanem was breathing heavy, terrified. She looked around for a window or any possibility to escape but the room was a solid box, there was a water bottle next to the mattress and a dirty blanket. She checked the bottle was sealed and drank half the water. Her head hurt so much... She touched her head and could feel her hair sticking to her temple, her fingers smelt of blood. She figured they had hit her on the head and she had been bleeding. She decided to wait... surely they would tell her what they wanted at some point... She had no idea what to do or what to think, this was just surreal.

She had no idea how long she had slept when a loud door noise woke her up. The same large guy walked in, grabbed her by the jacket and dragged her out of the room. Sanem looked around and tried to understand where she was. It was still night time and it looked like a warehouse with very high ceilings and... rails, she could see rails, it was an old train station she figured. Another masked man was setting up a camera in front of a chair. Sanem decided to talk...''what do you want?' where I am?''

''Shut up'' one of them shouted at her again. ''you'll talk when I'll tell you to. Now sit down!'' he threw her on the chair. Sanem couldn't hold her tears and started sobbing, she was in a complete panic and started screaming: ''what do you want? Let me go now!!'' The guy behind the camera was smaller than his accomplice, but as ruthless. He walked up to her and slapped her face; Sanem fell on the ground, her vision was blurry for a few seconds. She felt a hand grab her jacket again and push her on the chair, the same guy who had hit her shouted again: ''sit down and stay still, or this will be nothing compared to what's coming...''

He started filming. Sanem was crying as quietly as she could. He stopped the camera about 30 seconds later and threw her back in her small cell.

Can was processing the pictures he had taken that day when a new email pinged on this laptop. The title caught his immediate attention: SANEM NEEDS YOU. He didn't know the sender, it was an email address made of random numbers and letters. He clicked on the video that was attached and his heart stopped beating at the very instant she appeared on the screen. Half her face and her head were covered in blood, she was crying, seating on a chair surrounded by darkness. He could see she was indoor and what she was wearing but that was it. He heard a second ping and opened the second email that came from another random sender. The video popped up on its own and the face of Enzo Fabri appeared, proud and smiley. ''Signor Can, I bet you didn't expect to see me!! I am sorry this is a recording, but I am otherwise busy at this very moment... You must have received a little video of your dear Sanem. I am so sorry this is happening this way but surely you couldn't expect I would let you trap me like you did. I can assure you, she will be fine Signor Can. You have 24 hours to reach Istanbul and call me on this number for further instructions. Talk soon Signor Can.''

Can was paralysed, frozen by shock, fear and confusion. He ran to the bathroom and vomited in the toilets, his stomach was upside down, he had never been in such a state of panic, millions of questions were going through his mind, why isn't Fabri in jail? Where is Sanem? Is he going to hurt her? Or worse...?

He threw water on his face, took his backpack and rushed out of his room to catch a cab to the airport. He called Leila from the taxi. It was still mid-morning in Istanbul.