Trust Me Or Trust No One (A Short Story)

Running. Crying. I screamed my heart out as I ask for help. I fastened my pace; each step I make is a victory. My knees were swollen and my feet were bruised, afraid yes I was.  I had a gaping wound in my back and I felt so close to death. Yet, I kept on fighting. I looked around me, silence. There was no one, no sound to be heard except for the sound of a car honking from afar. I tried to wipe my face with the hem of my shirt, blood oozing down my back. I never imagined being in a situation like this, neither did I expect myself to gamble. But it was all a nightmare to me that I don’t even understand why I went with it. The memory was still fresh in my mind, the party, the bet. All of it. All of those critical and unthought-of situations that made one of my friends cross over to the other side.

                I remember, the night of the party. My friend had two VIP tickets to the most elite bar she could find in the city. I smirked as she waved it in front of me. “Are you sure we’re allowed?” I asked rolling my eyes. This was so good to be true. And it’s not that I don’t want to go but we were kids and we weren’t meant to be there and get drunk.  “Uh-hu.” She nodded. I was 14, she was barely 16. But that didn’t make an exception. “I think we shouldn’t go.” She laughed at me as I said the words, patting my shoulder.  “Kid, don’t be bothered. Trust me on this.” She said painting her lips red.  “You do trust me right?” she raised an eyebrow at me. I started to sweat, I was unsure. We were friends, I knew that. But trust, I don’t think so. “I- I do trust you.” I lied. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She was a sister to me ever since I saved her from that guy who almost murdered her. She smiled, grabbing her bag. “So, shall we?” she cocked her head to the side. Examining the clothes I was wearing; some baggy old shorts and a top that was too big for me. She gave me a big thumbs up as if to say she could deal with it. Minutes later we finally arrived at our destination. A bouncer was up front, asking for passwords. He looked at us in disgust, guessing we were just kids fooling around. My friend cut in line, slamming the tickets hard on the table. The bouncer sighed and opened the door. As I entered, the music blasted into my ears, probably hurting my eardrum. “Should we get drinks?” I asked, almost shouting. I couldn’t hear myself. We walked to the bar, our eyes drooling on what to pick because there were so many. I ended up having a Tequila Sunrise in my hand. A guy, with his friends started to look at us. Well not at me, but at my friend. They were the same age as us, I could tell. The guy started to whisper something to his friends and they all started to walk on our direction. “Hey.” The guy with the blonde hair said half-grinning, half-seducing. A player, I pondered.  And my thoughts were true, they were interested in my friend. I listened to their conversation, those simple questions that take a millisecond to answer. Do you have a boyfriend, are you a student, what school do you go to and the blah. And then it struck me when the guy asked if we wanted to join a bet. A dare game actually. “I dare you to do something, and you get 15 thousand if you ace the game.” He showed his wallet full of cash. For a 15 year old, he was rich. I thought my friend would just ignore it since it was gambling and everything. But she actually thought about it. I grabbed her by the wrist, shaking my head sideways. No, it’s risky. She mouthed the words trust me and she nodded at the guys. She broke free of my grasp, I was so left out. We went out of the bar and found ourselves in front of a jewellery shop. My heart started to thump; I have a bad feeling about this. “I dare you two, to go inside that shop and get something for me. 15 thousand if you can get  us in, I’ll raise it to 30 if we get out. ” He shrugged like it was easy money he could sweep off the streets. He showed us a picture, of a necklace and a really expensive one we could tell. My friend started to stretch her hands. “Deal.” She said not thinking of what she had just said. Who knows what might be inside that shop. There might be security cameras and I couldn’t bear to see myself in the headlines. “Trust me, we can do this. We get the thing then we get out. We have the money and we go home. Aryt?” she said persuading me. “No, you trust me. This is dangerous.” But she just ignored me. As much as I didn’t want to go, I had to. I had to be by her side. It took us a second to get inside the shop. It was as easy as cutting cheese with a cheese knife.  The hall was big, and we started to search. I scanned the room, it was a wonder why there were so many jewelleries but no guards. The place looks haunted. Not a single guard present. My friend and I parted ways so that we can search for it faster. It wasn’t that long when I heard a cry from where my friend was at. “Heeeelp!” I ran down. Hoping it wasn’t such a big of a deal. But when I came closer to the ground, I saw no one. No one at all. “Hello? Is anybody there?” I started to hear some growling. Ugh, they’re just pulling a prank on me I thought. But when I turned, I saw a pool of blood and I too screamed. “Show yourself!” I was unafraid. Thinking of the possibilities that this might be juice or ketchup, but it looked so true. I heard a sigh, then a laugh. Then I saw my friend’s face, brimming with sadness. She looked gray. I drifted towards her, almost giving her a big hug when I saw her chest; a knife through her heart. Tears started to pour down my cheeks as I scrambled to the floor, hauling myself up I saw myself surrounded. These guys were monsters, killers and murderers for fun. “You think I would give you money eh? Silly little girls.” The guy who showed us his money snapped at me. I wasn’t the fool. I knew they were going for the kill but no, I had my pride and I wouldn’t let them kill me. I bounded up the stairs and found a window. A guy drag his knife down my back before I took it and stab his heart. I pushed open the only opening in the hall, this is it. I jumped, leading to bruising my legs. Before I could get up, a guy shoved me onto the wall. A gun on his hand. I’m a fast thinker and I grab the gun before he could notice and shoot. I found myself in an alley, full of rotting flesh.  Dead bodies were laid up in piles. I ran, who would kill people for fun?  Tears were streaming, blood was oozing, the guys were following me.

                And that’s how I found myself in this situation. Rain was now starting to pour and I hid myself under a bush. I don’t know why this happened to me, but I do know my friend never trusted me even just a little bit. I trusted her, now I trust no one. I am all alone in this world now. I closed my eyes, hoping to be dead when I wake up. Trust, ha! Who needs it?