Set Me Free

Chapter 2

"Stop the car," the man retorted straightening his posture. His fingers tapped much more rapidly on the leather seat before my eyes.

The driver started his search for a suitable place to pull over in response, a bored sigh exiting in the process which only slightly amused me. I was inquisitive if this random-girl-in-car mishap was frequent. But a reminder of my dangerous predicament killed that curiosity immediately.

"This is completely absurd," he lightly shook his head as if he was humoured, resting his head back on the headrest. "There's a dirty girl in my car, Kyle. Why is there a dirty girl in my car?"

"My apologies sir, we've never experienced a situation like this before," the car steered into a vacant bay.

Once stationary, the man's eyes locked back onto mine causing me to cower farther back than I thought was possible. They searched my eyes for my plentiful impurities. I felt terrified under his scrutinising stare yet I couldn't bring myself to drag my gaze away from his irritated glare.

With a click of his tongue, he decided to speak again leaning forward and clasping his hands together. "What are you doing in my car?"

Once he addressed me directly my mouth lost its moisture and my eyes widened further than before. His brow raised impatiently signalling that my time to plead was running very thin.

"I-I, uh," I willed myself to formulate words yet everything that tried to come out was rendered indistinguishable.

At my pathetic attempt to solicit why I was here, all of the interest vanished from his face. He turned to cut me off and exited the car. I stayed incredibly still awaiting what will come next after scrunching my body to appear smaller. The door which I used to put myself in this situation quickly opened and a hand was placed in front of my face.

"Come out," he demanded calmly. My mouth parted in denial as I stared plainly at the hand, my body unresponsive. "Now." His voice held more of a strain which jerked my body into submission. I lightly took his hand and he carefully dragged me out.

He held my hand further to make sure I was steadily on my feet which I was grateful for. Judging by how my knees buckled, I knew I would have just collapsed onto the ground. What troubled me is that my hand continued to loiter in his after I was perfectly stable on the ground. I picked up my attention to look at this stranger baffled but he kept his own plastered onto my hand, momentarily lost in thought.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" He spoke but kept his vision on my hand. I only then noticed what peaked his intrigue, he turned my hand about to catch different angles of my mother's ring.

I snatched my hand back, clutching it to my chest protectively. Instinctively, my face morphed from dread-filled to a defensive manner. "I have nowhere to go," I answered definitely more assuredly than before as my suspicion rose.

His hand hovered in the air where it held mine previously with a raised brow, obviously not expecting my sudden defiance. I couldn't distinguish his eyes as they hid under the stray blonde locks that escaped the minuscule bun gathered at the crook of his neck. But he quickly recoiled and straightened his composure making me notice how tall he came to be: enough for a significant tilt in my neck to be needed just to make eye contact.

"Why not sell the ring?" He challenged leaning against the car, arms folded before him.

"It holds value."

"That much value on such an unkempt host?" I shuffled my feet feeling uncomfortable by his judgement, simultaneously receiving unwanted shame from his own acknowledged triumph in unsettling me. What unnerved me further was his faultless upkeep of a neutral form, even after succeeding at a retort to my blunt behaviour. The daring front that I presented crumbled just as quick as it appeared and I sealed my mouth shut.