CHAPTER FOUR: DANGER AFTER MIDNIGHT

When Kevin opened his eyes, they were watery, and his throat felt scratchy. He wasn’t sure where he was. He felt himself sitting upright in an iron chair and tried to get up, but couldn’t. That’s when he noticed that something was restraining his arms. He looked down and saw the belt that wrapped around his wrist, anchoring his hands to the arm of the iron chair.

Kevin moved his body, struggling hard to set himself free, but the belt was just too thick. He looked around the room nervously and noticed a long table in the corner of the room. Some bottles were placed on top. He glanced up at the window behind drawn curtains high up the cinder-board wall. The curtains sealed off a partial trace of light. The room seemed empty and devoid of life. 

A thin line of sweat rolled down his forehead and rested at the side of his lips. He took out his tongue to lick it off. It had a distinctive taste of sweat mixed with blood. That was when he realised he was bleeding. The last thing he remembered was being knocked out with a shovel. He struggled to get loose, but then stopped moving when he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room. Something else was sitting with him in the room.

A figure sat in the dark corner far across, watching him from the shadow. It stood up and walked towards him, revealing its face in the light. Kevin noticed two things when he looked at him. He wasn’t wearing a mask, and he wasn’t the man that’d kidnapped him; the man standing before him was much taller.

“Where am I?” That was all he could think of asking. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want to kidnap him. He wasn’t rich, neither did he have any rich relatives, and as far as he was concerned, he hadn’t offended anyone.

“Who are you?”

The tall figure stood staring down at him with a straight posture and a neutral face, not uttering a word.

“What is this place?” Kevin panicked and was sweating, struggling to break free.

His questions were met with a blank stare. The man took a rag from the table and walked towards him.

 “What do you want from—?” Kevin asked just before the man stuffed the rag into his mouth, sealing his words away.

“Patience. All of this would make sense to you with time.” The man finally spoke and walked away. Kevin wanted to call him back, but all he did was muffle noises through the gag.

“You can call me T-Murek, and it’s not you I’m after, at least not yet,” the man said, and walked towards something across the room which was still hidden in the dark. Kevin continued to writhe and groan before T-Murek finally hit the light switch, filling the room with bright fluorescent light.

Kevin’s eyes bulged when he saw what had been hidden in the darkness on the other side of the room. The love of his life was gagged and tied to a pole at the centre of the room, leaving him confused about what was really going on.

“Kevin? Kevin!” The voice was coming to him from far away, slowly dragging him out of the dream. “Bro, wake up!”

Someone was gently tapping his shoulder. Kevin woke from the terrible nightmare with a quick gasp, chest heaving rapidly. He turned to see a tall male standing at his side. 

“Landry?” he called, his brows knitted. “What are you doing here?”

“Cedric has been worried about you. He called a while ago to notify me that you are home. I just came to see if you’re alright.”

Still panting, he glanced around, then looked up at the clock. Only forty minutes had passed. It was a long night, he observed. Each second seemed to go by as though they were minutes and each minute like an hour. Then he returned his wondering gaze to Landry.

“How long have you been standing there?” 

“Long enough to notice you were crying in your sleep, again,” he answered, picking a chair from the corner.

Kevin flushed when he noticed the tears on his cheek and quickly wiped them off.

Then he sat facing him. “Having trouble sleeping?”

Kevin gave no immediate response.

“This is the sixth time this week I’ve had the same bad dream.”

“The one about the night of your kidnap?”

He took in a deep breath to calm himself. “Every time I close my eyes, I see every detail of that day, the horrible things he did to her.”

Landry moved close to him. “Look Kevin, the reason we all moved to this city is so we can forget about what had happened and move on.”

“Move on? How can we possibly do that when we both know he is still out there—and someday, somehow, he’s going to find us?” 

###

At about 9:25 pm, Natasha was hanging out with her friends in a bar. While Dreda and Madelia were dancing to the hip-hop music that filled the air, Natasha sat in a lonesome corner, sipping from a straw, watching as others were dancing.

She found herself thinking about him, again. He was so distraught just as he’d been when she bumped into him. Something about that sadness in his eyes piqued her interest. She was curious to know what dark and sad tales were hidden behind that face. She almost felt sorry for him, but then remembered his words: Stay away from me.

“Hey.”

She quickly snapped out of her thoughts and saw a man standing before her, holding a glass and smiling.

“Do you mind?” He gestured towards the empty stool beside her.

She paused for a second as if contemplating, then said, “Sure.”

“What’s a beautiful lady doing all by herself in a bar like this? You should be dancing too,” he said affably. “The music is not to your taste?”

Natasha snorted at his attempt at flirting, then smiled. “No, it’s not the music. It’s just that I don’t fancy dancing when there are eyes watching. It feels awkward.”

“Oh, you’re a shy one.” He smiled at her. “Well then, would you care to join me for a drink?” He raised his glass at her. “Bill’s on me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She turned him down politely.

“Feels awkward to have a drink when there are eyes watching?” He raised a brow at her.

She gave a nervous laugh, then noticed he was a little drunk. “I think I’ve had enough for the night.”

“Such a shame. Could have been the best night you ever had.” 

Natasha felt somewhat revolted by his remark. From the corner of her eyes, she saw him detail her outfit with predatory eyes. Then he stood up and walked away, almost stumbling after hitting a stool. His drink spilled on his shirt and he cursed voicelessly under his breath.

Watching him walk that way forced a laugh out of her. “Drinking with a drunk—” she scoffed “—that would’ve haunted me for the rest of my life.”

Some minutes later, she noticed her friends walking toward her.

“Why are you sitting by yourself? You should be dancing too,” Madelia said. 

She couldn’t hear her over the music. “What?”

She came a little closer, raising her voice. “Come, let’s go have some fun.”

“I’m just… not in the mood.”

“Not in the mood?” Madelia chuckled. “What a load of crab. You love dancing. Since when did you start being ‘not in the mood’?”

“Really, you two should go on without me,” she said. “I’d prefer to sit here and watch.”

“That’s it. Get up,” Dreda said, forcing her up. “If we just wanted to sit around and watch people, we wouldn’t go to a bar.”

“Do we really have to dance?” she said.

Dreda, who’s only a few months older than Natasha, wasn’t one to take no for an answer. Living with her single father in a big mansion has made her tough. She’d only just turned eighteen when she lost her mother. No one was sure how exactly she died, but it was said that her body had been found outside their mansion just a few days after her father had been officially sworn in as new mayor of the city.

“We shouldn’t let such a good night go to waste, now should we?” Dreda said.

“Alright, fine,” Natasha said, standing on her feet. “If it makes you two happy.” Just then, her phone—the one she used at home—rang, and she quickly pulled it to see who was calling.

“Your Dad?” Dreda second-guessed, folding her arms.

“Nah, it’s Derik,” she said, stepping away from them. “I have to take this. I’ll join you girls in a sec.”

“You better hurry,” Madelia said as they went back to join the others on the dance floor. 

The music inside was too loud, so she rushed out of the bar. “Hey, Derik.” 

“Natasha, I’m at the mansion, but you’re not home. I met your brother a little while ago and he says your Dad’s at the office, but he doesn’t know where you are.” His voice trailed. “Wait. Is that music I hear in the background? Are you at Pittsburgh bar?” 

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. I went out with Madelia and Dreda, but don’t worry about it, I won’t be out for too long.”

“Should I come to pick you up later?”

“No,” she said. “We’ll be fine on our own.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, really. It’s fine.”

“Alright, be home soon. It is already late.” He hung up.

Natasha put her phone back in her bag. She felt her throat burn, then realised she was thirsty. She looked up and noticed a soda store right ahead.

“A bottle of soda, please.” She dipped her hands into her bag and fished out a dollar note.

“Here you go, miss.” The shopkeeper handed the soda to her.

“Thank you.” She quickly opened the bottle and gulped down its contents. 

In no time, Natasha emptied it and threw the container away. Then she noticed how dark the street was. Glancing at her wristwatch, she exclaimed, “Shit! A minute past midnight, it’s late. I had better start heading back.”

Something about the dark street frightened her. As she walked to the bar, her fear intensified when she noticed a group of roughly dressed men walking out of the shadows and several dark corners of the street. She picked up the pace.

The footsteps were getting closer, and she could tell the person—or the group–-were walking faster. She knew what they wanted, but wasn’t about to give it up. She soon found herself running and could hear the footsteps walking faster, chasing her. 

A hand clutched her purse, dragging it from her. Natasha turned in fear and saw that she had been surrounded. Fear swelled inside her. They walked slowly, silently, smiling. She shuffled backward, away from the group, and backed into another.

          She felt icy fingers on her arm, grabbing her from behind. She drew a quivering breath and struggled to break free, but then he swept her off her feet, pulling her off the street, into a dark corner. 

“Leave me alone!” she screamed, wiggling her feet, hoping that somebody would hear her and come to her rescue.

They grabbed her arms and restrained her. Another covered her mouth with a coarse and calloused hand. She let out a muffled scream, her body trembling. Panic struck her brain. 

Suddenly, she heard footsteps, and they all stopped at once. The thugs parted and she saw, walking towards her, a man dressed in black. She recognised him. He was the man she’d turned down earlier at the bar.

“What’s with you girls and turning down nice people?” He shot an ungodly glance at her as he drew closer, slamming his fist against his palm. “All I wanted was a drink with you.”