Spearmint

1. Julia

May 2018

It was late, too late for a teen to be out in the pitch dark but Julia had no choice. Working at the cafe was the only job she could get in the city and that meant working late.

She tugged her old black sweater closer to her thin frame as she started her trudge home to a little house she shared with her roommate, Andrea.

Andrea was a spitfire Julia met while she lived with her last foster family and they became the best of friends.

The house wasn't far from Gena's cafe but it still was a complete pain in the ass to have to walk in the cold mid-may night. All Julia wanted to do at that moment was go home, take a nice relaxing bath, change into her dingy sweatpants, and binge watch the newest crime documentary on Netflix with the cat, Sprinkles.

Julia ignored the sound of a car driving by her. It was odd for a car to be driving that late at night in the area, but she figured it was probably another staff member from Gena's.

The car slowed behind her and the hair on the back of her neck raised as she felt her legs start to tremble. The sensations were so overwhelming she thought she might pass out in the street. She turned slightly to see the car that had been following her. It was a little black sports car with tinted windows on the sides but she could faintly see a man in the front seat through the windshield. She didn't recognize the car and she knew if Andrea was going to pick her up she would have called.

The man in the car was wearing a smile that showed his teeth, Julia's stomach dropped at the sight, and before she could think her sore feet were pounding against the pavement. The car didn't speed up but it did continue to follow her even as she ran into her neighborhood. She ran all the way to her front door.

She tried to ignore the sound of his car door opening as she slid the key in the lock with shaky hands, she was just about to turn the key when two large rough hands grabbed her. She opened her mouth to scream but her mouth was quickly covered by a piece of cloth that smelt like sour milk and tasted like a dirty sock.

The taste reminded her of her foster brother when he shoved his foot in her mouth to wake her up one time.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry but the shock wouldn't allow her.

Why was her body reacting like this?

She tried to bite down on whatever she could but her attempts did nothing. She heard the man chuckle as he dragged her off her porch towards the car. She struggled, or at least attempted to. The man obviously worked out because he was carrying her with one hand like it was nothing while covering her mouth.

She froze as the man opened the door and guided her in the back seat onto her stomach, he pinned her hands behind her back with his knee and with his free hand reached into his back pocket to grab a pair of metal handcuffs.

He struggled to get them on her as she wiggled but after a moment Julia felt the metal against her wrists, there was no escaping now. The man pressed her face against the leather seats before he maneuvered a piece of cloth into her mouth in order to gag her. It tasted like sour milk too.

Where was that before?

He removed his heavy body and made sure she was secure on her stomach before exiting the car, closing the door at her feet.

Julia struggled in the backseat, she wanted to see where she was going. He had kept her on her stomach so she couldn't see anything or do anything, most kidnappers do that.

Who was this psychopath? What did he want with a barely legal eighteen-year-old? Murder? Was he going to assault her? Was he going to assault her then murder her?