NEVER HURT A WOMAN

She coughed, slowly feeling the pain seeping through her entire body. There’s a peculiar smell that rushed through her senses the moment she has slowly gained consciousness.

Her body aches like she’s never felt them aching before, paired with the poignantly loud banging within her head. She slowly recalled what happened and started sobbing. She realizes that her hands are now restrained at the back of a single chair.

She could only imagine the scenes in movies when mafias would kidnap someone and torture them till their death. Will that be the same fate she’ll have right now?

“Now you’re awake!” the sound of the man’s voice sounded unfamiliar.

She struggled to slowly open her eyes, definitively glaring at her surroundings. She found three men standing across her, two of them she recognizes as the men who took off the black van not too long ago.

One man, was dressed in an all-white suit, paired with the same white fedora. He must be their boss. With the gold necklace around his neck, the same gold rings that filled half of the number of fingers he has, it’s not that hard to guess. It is now that she realizes that she has gone way too deeper than just a simple money she owes.

Her eyes roamed, seeing plastic covers all over the place. It must be an old edifice they brought her. She could see scaffoldings all over the place. An abandoned building? Ongoing construction? She could only guess. Perhaps tomorrow someone will find her on that chair, in this place, already lifeless. The though brough chills to her spine.

“Please,” her voice started to crack, “don’t do this.”

“Don’t do what?” the man’s face was now leveled at hers as he pulled the back of her hair so she could look up to him.

She screamed at the pain that she felt not just from the pull but also from the sudden impact it made all over her face. The guy must have really punched her so hard. The numbness in her face has run all over her skull.

“Didn’t we tell you to pay us back the money you owe us? But it’s been a year now. The interests have grown, and you constantly run away from us. Do you not think that this is what you deserve?”

“Please...” she sobbed louder, despair filling her at that moment.

“Shut up!” he advances to her and gave her another jab straight to her stomach. She groaned at the feel of the punch and realize that blood was starting to catapult towards her lips. She cried at the fate that she now has.

Perhaps this is her end. Perhaps this is her final destination. She didn’t even get to write the greatest story she could have ever written.

A click clack sound stole her attentions against the pain she was feeling right at that moment. She recognizes them as the tip of stilettoes kissing the compact ground.

Her head turns to where the sound is coming from.

“Didn’t your mama ever tell you that punching a woman is bad?” the same ethereal voice reverberated all over the building.

Right at that moment, she suddenly felt a serene calmness, a sudden feeling of safety despite what she has just gone through.

“Who are you?”

The woman halted not too far away from them; her hands tucked inside the pockets of her all-red coat. Her eyes covered with black shades and in her head is a wide brim fedora, also in red.

From head to toe, she shouts statuesque. And she knows for sure, this was the same woman who saved her the previous night.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” her tongue was clicking as she slowly walked once again towards them, taking her time with her hands still tucked in her pockets.

“Stay where you are!” the two men standing behind their boss now let out a gun and pointed it towards the woman who just arrived.

“Really? Guns?” the brim of her hat lifted like she was in slow motion. The very first thing that took her attention was the full red lipstick on her lips. She must love red so much, “You know, I love people on this Earth. But sometimes, someone will always make it so hard for me to like them.”

“Shoot her!” the big boss commanded.

Without hesitation, the two men pulled the trigger and all she could do was scream at the danger that’s starting to surface around her.

It was like looking at a movie right at the old sofa in her apartment.

The loud bang of the gun profusely scared her that she looked away.

But the loud bang was soon replaced with silence.

She realized that the bullets have not gone off. She turned her head back at the woman only to find her smirking with both bullets freezing on air just in front of her.

“How did she do that?” she whispered to herself.

“You know, two things I hate the most?” the three men standing across her stood still, with fear starting to wallow them, “number one, men who hurt women, and well, two, men who hurt women. That’s basically the same thing. Only the second woman was me.”

She smiled as her hands danced on air, and the bullets turned around.

“Woah” both bodyguards gruntled at the sight of the bullets now turned toward them. In a quick second, they found themselves running away as fast as they can, chased by the bullets that the woman now dismissed on air.

The big boss turned around, finding himself standing alone in front of a strange woman.

“Who are you?” she could hear his trembling voice as his knees started to wobble.

The click clack sound of her stilettoes filled the air once again as she slowly came near him.

“My name is too expensive for you my dear. Now tell me, how much does this poor woman, owe you?”

“I.. I can just..”

“You can just what?”

“I can just waive that payment this one time.”

“What are you? A customer service on phone? No. Didn’t your papa ever tell you that money owed should be paid?”

“Y..Yes..”

“Then, tell me, how much does this woman owe you?” her voice now turned even scarier.

“Fifteen thousand dollars.”

The mysterious woman turned her head towards her, “What did you do to that money?”

But she never allowed her to say anything, instead, the mysterious woman moved her fingers, asking the bog boss to come near her.

She flicked her fingers and money magically appeared in her hands, rolled together and tied in a band.

“How did you...”

As soon as the man was near her, she pulled him by the head and her lips whispered against his ears, “You shall never ever touch a woman again. Because if you do, I will hunt you. You will forget my face after this, but the moment you lay a hand on another woman, only then will you remember this face, and when you do, believe me, I will know, I will come to you, and I will turn you into a ‘yarqa’. Now get away from me.” She placed the rolled money in his side pocket and pushed him off to the ground.

The so-called big boss, run off, scared to death, almost limping.

She heard her fingers flicked once again and the ropes that were tied against her hands were now gone. She could only imagine how wide her mouth right at that moment, after witnessing all the fiasco.

“Now you, follow me.” she started to walk out of the building only to stop when she notices that no one was following her, “well honey, you got move or those men will be running back here.”

She stood there stupefied. Absentmindedly, she stood up and started to move, totally forgetting all the pain that she just received from the three men who has abducted her.

No words were exchanged, only the silent footsteps and amusing click clack of the other woman’s stilettoes.

They reached the road not too long after. She realized they were in an abandoned building that she believes is almost an hour away from her apartment. She looked up at the old edifice and realized that if no one had ever shown up, she must be dead tomorrow, and her body would be stuck there for a lifetime, with no one to save her.

“Now, let me just think for a moment, and... right.” she clapped thrice and in the once empty street now appeared a sleek red Ferrari.

“What the hell?” she said out loud.

“I know, pretty, right?”

She’s getting frightened with the woman standing just a few steps beside her.

“Who are you?”

“Didn’t you hear me a while ago? Darling, my name is too expensive for all of you.”

“Are you a witch?” she could hear her own voice drastically dragging the accusation against her.

“Hmmm.” She saw the woman’s head flip on the side, seemingly thinking of whether she should answer or not.

“Well, that’s a little hard to explain.”

“I’m not coming with you. No.”

“You ungrateful little brat.” She flicked her fingers once again.

The next she knows, she was on the ground, unconscious. Totally oblivious of what is happening next.