Gunner (EDITED/REWRITTEN)

33- Aria (EDITED)

I feel incredibly drowsy, dizzy, confused, nauseous, and out of it. I see darkness; I hear voices I don't recognize, and I hear Nikki crying for me to awake.

Where am I?

Where are we?

Why is Nikki crying and a woman yelling for her to be quiet?

I remember being at a nightclub, dancing with Nikki and some girls who befriended us, and then suddenly everything went dark.

"Make sure she's tied up good," a wrathful woman demanded. I tightened my eyes, trying to distinguish her voice, and when I couldn't, I tried opening my eyes, but they insisted on staying closed.

"Please let us go; why are you doing this?" Nikki cried.

"Oh, shut up," the angry woman snapped.

I felt more nauseous, so I tried opening my eyes again, but I was too groggy. I felt like I was floating. It also felt like all my blood was rushing to my head as if I were slumped over—someone was carrying me, but I knew it wasn't Gunner by how they were holding me.

What the hell is going on?

"Aria, please wake up!"

"Shut your fucking mouth," a tyrant man's voice groaned; a loud slap followed, and a woman whimpered in fear—Nikki.

Suddenly my stomach felt some relief, and all the blood I felt rushing to my head quickly dissipated as the blood flowed back down my body, prickling my skin as it re-nourished my veins.

The next thing I felt was my chest, wrists, and ankles held in place—restrained by a rope.

I tried again to see what was happening and forced my eyes to open. But, lamentably, all I saw was a big blur with a man's face directly in mine, staring at me.

"Hello, Aria..."

That's not Gunner.

I blinked a few times, trying to get my eyes to focus, and once they did, the man I thought I saw and heard was gone. I looked around, and then when I looked down and saw a rope, I tried moving my body and arms, only for the restraint to tighten more against my chest.

The more focused I became, the more I realized I had no idea where I was; it was dark yet somewhat lit—enough to see I was in a room filled with crates and gigantic boxes. I continued looking around, but the longer I did, the more my insides wished to find a new home.

Finally, I closed my eyes, trying to talk myself out of being sick. But while murmuring to myself, I felt motion sensations as if I was swaying forward and back and from side to side, and now I know why I feel the way I do, I'm in a fucking boat. I've never been on a ship without getting seasick.

Where the hell am I?

Where are we?

Who's all here with me?

"Gunner?" I cried out.

"Aria, you're awake," Nikki loudly and excitedly whispered, choking on her tears.

"Where are we?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that we're inside a boat."

"Where's Gunner or Justin?"

"I don't know. I awoke to people I've never seen before, carrying us down the stairs," she whimpered. "I remember the last thing was us dancing."

I sighed, closing my eyes. "That's all I remember too... who was the guy that was just talking to me?"

"I don't know," she whispered, "But he looked familiar... Aria, we have to get out of here," she cried.

I looked down at the restraint tied around me and wiggled my wrists and ankles, trying to loosen the ropes. The rope tied around my ankles finally eased, and they became free.