OBLIVION

She woke up in the dark. Her wrists and ankles were still sore. She felt like she was on the floor, everything was cold, very cold, and smelt horrible. She didn't know where she was but she was certain it wasn't on her soft bed at home and she knew she was in transit. Roselyn tried to recount what had happened before then even as her head was banging. 

The events of the time before came as a blur but in bits, she remembered the day she had a memory of, had started like a normal day of her life. She wasn't sure if the day, however, was the day before or the week before, but she knew it was the last normal morning she had spent with her family. 

She had had breakfast with her family, pancakes with syrup, and a beverage drink. She had listened to some podcasts of one of her other friends, Naya. The podcast was about life after which she had gone shopping with her friend, her best friend, Annalise. 

Upon their arrival at the store, she had seen a beautiful red dress she was totally in love with and prayed it was her size. A bright red lace gown with small white pearls at the front about mid-length of the thigh.

"Don't you think this red dress would be perfect for that heel my mum got me from Dublin?" she asked Annalise.

"Oh yes, absolutely perfect! You should get this dress, Rose." Annalise replied.

"Okay, I'd just go check out the fittings and know if I should go for a size lower or a size higher," said Roselyn.

Even without asking her best friend, she knew it was a good fit for the transparent pearl heel she already got at home. She got into the changing room to check the fittings of the dress. Overwhelmed by the beauty of the dress and how it would look on her, she did not notice the man who had stealthily entered the room with her. She felt a sharp pain in her neck and instinctively touched the site of the pain, thinking it was probably an insect bite only to feel that she had started feeling dizzy, she saw a silhouette of a man and immediately, she tried to call out for her friend checking out dresses in the other changing room but she couldn't hear her voice sound. She felt wobbly and tried to make it to the door of the changing room until she felt herself collapse and pass out. As she was going under slowly, she remembered how scared she was, that something bad was about to happen! Indeed, something bad had happened.

As Roselyn recounted all these, Gato was on his way to her to check if Roselyn had woken up. The door flung open and sharp rays of light entered the dark room suddenly. Her pupils constricted and she squinted her eyes.

"Get up!" Gato yelled.

She stood up immediately and asked him a series of questions, "Where am I? Who are you? Where are you taking me?"

"Would you like to get out of this smelly place first and follow me, or you'd like to sit here and wait on answers to those useless questions you have?" Gato replied with his Spanish accent waving through the words.

"My legs are tied, Idiot! How could I possibly walk when my legs are bound?" Roselyn countered. 

Without another word, Gato moved forward to remove the chains at her wrist and ankle and as soon as he did that, Roselyn felt an instant rush of relief at her wrist and ankles. She figured, at least, he was listening to her. She looked closely to see the face of the man who came to loosen the chain. Gato was a man of average height with tiny beards on his face, he had not-so-pleasing eyeballs. On his face, there were different tattoos ( a sword, a snake, and a cross) making him look fearful. 

"What are you looking at?" He sneered in a gruff voice.

"Nothing! Nothing! Where are you taking me to?" She asked again.

He moved out of the room and signaled her to follow him. She stood up and felt her legs still shaking. She managed to stand upright and walked slowly out of the room.

Outside the room, Gato led her through a corridor that was filled with fishing equipment like fishing hooks, fishing nets, fishing baskets, and different sacs. She wondered why she was in a place with the fishing equipment. Was her captor a fisherman? Or was he just using the fishing equipment as camouflage as to whatever thing he was doing? Why was she on this ship? What exactly was she doing here and above all, where were they taking her? 

She remembered her parents at home, her dog, Pious, her best friend, and her other friends and how terrified they must be. She was sure they were looking for her. They must be looking for her and here she was, on a ship with fishing equipment, unsure of where she was, not knowing where this strange Hispanic man was taking her to or who he was taking her to see. 

They stopped at the front of a door and Gato told her to get in and get dressed. When she opened the door, she saw a clean room that served as a bathroom. Candles were lit and everything looked beautiful. The walls were white with mirrors on them. In the room, there was a bathtub and when she looked at the cabinet, different hair products, body soap, body wash, and body scrub were on them. When she entered further into the room, she saw an adjoining room that served as a room. The room had a bed made properly and on the bed, she saw a white silky gown that was folded neatly and a red heel. A dressing area was also in the room with body lotions, perfumes, and makeup products on the dressing table.

This room seemed like the opposite of the one she was just coming from and she couldn't understand what was happening.

She was happy she was going to get a bath after what seemed like a long time and quickly, she removed her tattered cloth to get into the tub, this was when she discovered the water in the tub was warm and petals were floating on it. She bathed quickly, changed into the dress on the bed because it was the only available option asides from her very tattered clothes, and wore the heel on the bedside. She did not use the makeup products she found by the dressing side.

After she was done, she knocked on the door and found Gato standing outside the door. 

"Did you not realize that the makeup products and the perfumes by the dressing side were for you to use and not just to ignore?" Gato asked.

"I feel angry enough putting this gown and heels on when I don't know why I'm here and you're asking me to use makeup and perfume like everything is all right?" Roselyn replied.

"They are there for you to use them, for you to look and smell beautiful before you meet the boss. You're here to meet the boss. Does that answer your question?" Gato said.

"If you think I'd go back inside and use makeup and perfumes to smell and look beautiful for some boss who I don't know or why he has kidnapped me, you better wake up from your slumber because I won't," Roselyn replied.

"All right then, I'll be glad to take you back into that filthy room where we keep the fishes." Gato threatened. 

Roselyn paused for a while, remembering the smell of that horrible room, and realized it was because fishes were kept there was why it smelt horrible.

'It wouldn't hurt to put some makeup and perfume on,' she thought. 

She knew that was better than going back to the smelly room. She turned around swiftly, slammed the door of the room, and went to the dressing room to put the makeup and perfumes on. It was then she realized everything there were designer products, the perfumes, and makeup were high-end and very expensive products. She started thinking, the boss the Hispanic man was talking about probably owned the boat and he was rich.

'So what did he want with her and why has he kidnapped her only to clean her up and make her up?' She thought again. She brought herself back to the present and used the products quickly. She checked herself in the mirror and saw that she looked very beautiful.

She opened the door again this time to the arm of Gato waiting to take her to meet the so-called boss. 

"What is your name and are we on a ship?" Roselyn asked curiously.

"I am Gato, and no, we are not on a ship, we are on a yacht," Gato replied.

She followed Gato and they walked for a short while, they encountered a few men on the yacht with guns strapped to their belts. She walked briskly and tried to keep up with Gato. At the front of what looked like another room, Gato stopped. By the door, Roselyn saw an armed man that was looking fiercely with tattoos on his left arm.

"Hey Manuel, can you tell the boss she's ready?" Gato asked the man standing by the door. His eyes washed over her before he looked back at Gato who was staring at him waiting on an answer.

"All right, no problem," Manuel replied with one stiff nod. If one didn't know better, you'd think the man's neck would cut off his head if he nodded twice.

Manuel opened the door slightly and talked to someone inside. The person inside relayed a message to someone further inside the room.

"Okay, all right," Manuel replied

He left the door ajar and gestured to Roselyn to go in. She expected Gato to follow her in but he just stood by the door.

"Are you not coming in?" She asked Gato reluctantly.

"No, I'm not. The boss wants to see you alone," Gato answered.

She entered the room and her eyes immediately fell on two ladies who had just finished setting up a dining table. At the end of the laid table sat a man whose eyes were staring at her like he was looking directly at her soul. She didn't need anyone telling her. He was obviously the boss.