trouvaille // jenlisa

prologue

/JENNIE/

Chill ran down my spine as the cold wind blew. I tightened my jacket around me, seeking warmth in the middle of the chilly night weather.

I glanced around to find no one, positively nothing around me. The street was empty, the sidewalks hollow.

I thought I was hallucinating when I heard footsteps following me. I turned around and was again met with emptiness. My eyebrows were automatically furrowed, I was sure I had heard footsteps after me, or maybe it was just mine.

As I increased my walking speed, the footsteps were again heard. I was starting to feel nauseous, negative thoughts started to consume my mind.

Then the wind blew again, aggressively this time. My hair was blown and messed up in the result. I tucked some loose strands of hair and hugged myself tightly, September wind was no joke, especially at 11 pm.

"What's a beautiful lady doing out here by herself?"

I jumped at the baritone voice, my heart rate picked up. I looked around and found a man leaning his body on one of the trees beside the street.

"None of your business," I spat, increasing my speed and tried to escape the creep.

Only a second passed and he was already beside me, "Playing hard to get, are we?"

His voice sounded flirty and dangerous, despite the fact that it was unbiasedly a good sound to the ears. Just not at this moment, not when I was alone in an empty road with a creepy guy beside me.

I decided not to answer. Other than I didn't know what to say, I was starting to feel unsafe. I mean, we're alone and only God knows what sat on his mind.

"Come on, why are you such in a hurry?" he mirrored my pace, a grin evident on his face.

He looked around 30s, his facial structure sharp and defined, his eyes alarming, with a pointed nose and thin lips, unshaved mustaches sat uncomfortably just above his lips.

He suddenly stopped in front of me, blocking my way in the result. He smirked as he walked towards me, his arms reaching for a hold on my body.

I walked backward, my heart starting to thunder incredibly fast.

TRIGGER WARNING !!!

"You're so sexy, you know?" he said in a low voice that annoyed and scared the hell out of me. He then grabbed my shoulders violently, "I can give you warmth, skin on skin, you'll no longer need that jacket."

I almost puked at his sentence, if I wasn't so focused at the distance between our faces, which were only inches apart.

His breath smelled so much like cigarettes as he whispered next to my ear, "Let me take you home, we'll have a good time. A definitely hot, good time."

I wanted to scream. Even a blind man knew where this was going, and I wasn't going to let it happen to me. I was aware of the situation, with his hands keeping me in place, I couldn't escape, but trying wouldn't hurt, right?

So I did.

I screamed for help, tried my best to punch him and freed myself. He was caught off-guard when I gathered all my strength to kick his lower part with my knee.

He let go of me and kneel on the ground, hands covering his lower body part. I took the chance to run as fast as my leg allowed me to.

The street was still dark and empty, my heart was still beating uncontrollably. I internally cursed myself for being so stupid, for choosing to walk through this abandoned street, alone at 11 pm, only because it would bring me home faster than a cab would.