Luna Raine

IV. Fear

After some time, I exhale dramatically. My weight dropped on my knees. "Are we there yet?" I couldn't stop panting.

She exhales, "City life has spoiled you. We're almost there."

"You said that-" I looked at my phone, "ten minutes ago."

Mom shrugs and continues walking, "If you laid off those chips!"

"Don't you talk dirty about my chips!" I made my way toward her.

I chug down a water bottle and look up to see the sunlight filtered by the tree branches on each side of the trail. I won't lie. It's tiring, but I miss this.

Then, I heard it.

A muffling sound.

My legs stopped working, and I turned my head towards the dense forest.

"What's wro-" I place a finger over my mouth and mom stops talking. Steadily, I flow towards the trees, removing one branch at a time with my mom behind me. I know it's a stupid thing to do. Who in their right mind would follow a creepy sound? Humans. Curiosity generally gets the best out of us.

Then, it stops.

The muffling sound halted.

I stop walking, feeling an urking sensation inside of me. Every single one of my fibers tells me not to walk any further. I feel a soft panic growing due to this vortex of stupidity. I breathed out real slow and told myself it's all inside my mind.

Paranoid. I am merely paranoid.

And with a single step backward, I heard a branch snap. Then, it strikes...the panic escalated. "Well, what do we have here?"

I turn around to see two men behind me. My head twirls around to see more on the other side. Slightly, I pushed mom back, who clung onto my arm. My eyes strike towards a woman's body hovering over one of the men's shoulders. Then, there it is. Another body. This time, dragged by his bloody shirt. A dead man.

I grab the taser from the side of my backpack, and so did mom. Somehow, that humored them. I didn't look at my mom, but I know she's as scared as me. So, without another word, I said: "Run."

When a man reaches for us, we electrocute them. Without a second thought, we abandoned the bags. We ran through the maze of trees, our eyes still on each other once in a while to ensure we haven't split up. The sky rumbled—a brilliant time to rain—something the weather forecast predicted. We weren't fazed by it, the sudden formation of mud and storm had tangled our hair.

Time has never brazed by so fast when you're running for your life. We tried to search for someone...anyone. Most of them are far too ahead of the trail. We arrived late. f**k me and my laziness.

When we reached the parking lot, I reached for the keys in my back pocket. No one was there. Mom says it's a bad habit to keep my keys there, but this one time. I'm grateful I didn't listen to her.

The distance was all that mattered. We weren't stopping for anything or anyone. I could run over a person and still be driving until we reached the police station. My foot harshly slams against the gas pedal, and if I wasn't going to stop for a human. Why the f**k would I stop for a shitstorm that came from the blue.

I can see it.

The cars behind us.

They are f*****g chasing us.

My eyes continuously trace over towards the small shivering woman beside me. Her eyes widen, breaths ragged and harsh, knowing precisely what is happening right now. I grab her hand, going ridiculously over the mile limit. "It's okay, mom." I rub circles around her palm. "I'm here. Raine is here. I'll keep you safe."

The world passed in greens and greys. Without another thought, a car enters my left and another on my right. Our grips tighten around one another, but mine was even harder. I'm scared.

Then, in an instant, they slammed their car against ours. We couldn't have avoided it even if we wanted to as we barely had time to scream before the airbag knocked us back. The car swirled out of control and slammed against the tree.

I couldn't hear anything, only cries. I scrunch my eyes, attempting to adjust it. It was futile. Mom tugs my body harder, "Raine! Raine! Get up! Please! Honey!"

I groaned slightly due to the pain before my eyes adjusted. With all her strength, she pulled me out of the car. The ringing in my head made it challenging to retake control of my body. Mom flung my arm over her shoulder and walked us far away from the men. She rests me inside a tree hole. I groan at the pain on my head, "Mom. Mom. Where are you going?"

I reach for her, but she only cups my cheeks. Her teary eyes analyzed my whole face before she kissed my cheek. "I love you. I love you so much, Raine." She presses her head against mine, "Please, if there is a God out there. Please, keep my baby girl safe."

She covered the hole and ran away.

I attempted to reach for her, but the darkness took over.

When I finally came to consciousness, my breaths were ragged and hard. "Mom," I said, pressing my hand against the dried blood on my head. I must have hit it during the car crash. I push back the pain and crawl out of the hole. "Mom." I would be lying if I wasn't crying by now. The thought of those men taking my mom terrified me.

I look down at my leg to see a large cut. I grabbed the bandana tied to my waist and wrapped it around my leg. I need to be logical. As much as I want to scream out for my mom and search for her. I need to find help. I need to go to the police station and gather a rescue team.

While I limped back towards town, I only had positive thoughts inside my head. Mom could be safe and sound right now. She's probably screaming for help at the police station. After this, we have a story to tell to our neighbors. How we barely escaped from kidnappers.

The longer I walked, the harder it got to breathe. "M-Mom." I couldn't help it, the desperate tears.

Mom is all I have left.

I am all mom has left.

And with my luck, I didn't escape. I want to stand tall and firm, but my body wouldn't stop shaking as three sets of eyes stared at me. "L-Let me g-go." I stumble back only for them to move forward. "P-Please. I-I won't tell anyone."

One of the men smiles, "Of course you won't."

Without any more words being exchanged, one of the men grabs me. An ear-shrieking scream left my throat. "Someone! Please! Help me!" I can hear my voice screaming back at me.

No one. No one will help me.

Instantly, a hand covers my mouth, and another wrapped around my waist. I wasn't going down without a fight. I was kicking and screaming, elbowing his gut, but it was futile as another came up to help him. One of them slapped me. The fight stopped. My body refused to respond.

I'm scared.

I shook my head only to have them knock me out.

By the time I regained consciousness, I was inside a black van. I've always heard of people being kidnapped and thrown inside a tinted car; I never thought I would become one of them. And I'm sure that when someone listens about me on the news, they wouldn't believe it could be them either.

"She's waking up," one of them said.

"Use the needle," another responded.

In my dizzy state, someone pulled out a needle. Dejectedly, I shook my head as sweat glistened down. He held my arm down and injected the substance. The men released me, and I laid on the car ground, convulsing and twitching as the liquid traveled throughout my body. Everything started blurring, and my strength was stripped away from me.

The last thing I thought of was my mom, how she is waiting for me at home. She's there. I know she is.

My lids lifted, seeing a few men in front of me. I couldn't hear what they said; my hands were tied behind my back a cloth wrapped around my mouth.

My eyes scanned around to see a few other girls who were passed out being carried like luggage inside a large truck. A guy came up with another needle and injected it inside of me.

When I woke up, a stinging sensation hit me. After blinking a few times, I realized I was inside the truck. Only a few cracks were surrounding us, letting some light enter. My heart leaped out of my chest, and I scurried backward when I saw a pair of eyes.

My body was frozen as I scooted myself back until I hit a cold wall, gasping and choking, I tried to break free but I couldn't. I looked back up, realizing it was another girl who woke up. She was lying there, crying, muffling something incoherent as our mouth was all stuffed with clothes.

Slowly, I started realizing it wasn't just her who was awake. Others were surrounding us, who was sobbing. Listening to the cries of others, I started crying on my own, wanting nothing more than to go home and hug my mom.

My eyes blasted open when I heard a few loud cars honking as well as sirens. "Pull over! I repeat, pull over!" a loud voice echoes.

Hope was raised inside the room when we realized the police were here. We muffled louder, some perhaps sending prayers to God.

The truck made a sharp turn, and I rolled over to the girls on the other side, hitting my head against theirs. A few girls laid on top of me, pushing their weight down. One turn after another, we were all rolling on the back of the truck, slamming our bodies against one another as well as the cold metals. We cried, bruised, and prayed for this moment to soon be over.

Suddenly, we heard a loud honk and crashed. When the pain hit me, I realized it was us who crashed into something. We started floating in midair, slamming our bodies on the top of the truck. My eyes scanned the room, seeing some of the girls pass out. I can hear an awful beeping sound.

The beating of my chest was louder than ever as I saw water sinking inside. I hurried away until I hit a wall, crying how I should've adopted that pig at the farm even when my parents said no. I should've thrown a tantrum until I got my own pet pig.

Taking a sniff, I didn't know what to do except cry. My wrists were hurting as the rope digs into my flesh. The water was reaching higher and higher, up to my waist. At that moment, I wished I was passed out like the other girls. But, here I am, with the unfortunate few crying our hearts out, knowing this will be the end of us.

But the whole time, with everything that had happened.

My thought only flows back towards my mom and how lonely she'll be in that house.