Breathe

by Tania Trozzo

  As he was walking towards his car, he started to pull out his phone to text Clara. He wanted to see if she was still at school. She had a newspaper meeting and then another one with Jamie and the coach. Gabe’s group had met at a coffee shop near school. As he walked out, Lola followed him, typing on her phone. She caught up to him and said, “Hey, maybe we should exchange numbers in case we had any questions.”

  Gabe shook his head. “You have my email. We’re in a good place, actually, we’re probably ahead of schedule. Enjoy the break.”

  She grabbed his arm. He stilled turning his gaze towards her and pulling his arm away. He arched his eyebrow in question. Her eyes darted behind him and he sensed that someone had approached. She nudged her chin in the direction to whoever was standing behind him. Lola walked towards her car as he turned around.

  Kristin stood there looking at him and murmured, “hey, Lola.” Lola nodded and got in her car and drove off. Gabe crossed his arms over his chest staring at Kristin. “Hi, Gabe.” Kristin obviously had come to say something. He was immediately irritated.

  “Well? Did you just ambush me here to say hi? If you have something to say, just say it. Get it out because I have to go.” She had started to lower her gaze to the ground but when he said that, her gaze whipped up to find his.

  “You have to go to her, don’t you?” Kristin asked him. Both of them knowing who she was referring to.

  Gabe didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “It’s none of your damn business.” He blew out a breath and softened his tone. Snapping at her wasn’t going to get him anywhere. “Kristin, why are you here? What’s going on?”

  She looked up at him, “I just had to know. What went wrong with us? Did I do something?”

  He shook his head. “Is that what this is about?” he said quietly. “You didn’t do anything wrong Kristin. I was honest with you from the beginning and you can’t say I wasn’t. I told you, it wouldn’t be anything serious, no girlfriend status.”

  “I know you said that, but it seemed as though we were having a great time. The last few weeks we saw each other almost every day, Gabe.”

  Gabe exhaled. He knew she had begun getting attached, every party he went to she was there. How do you tell someone that they just happened to be at the right place at the right time, readily available? He needed to make her understand without being a dick. “Listen, I did have fun this summer. The last few weeks, we saw each other more often, because there was a party almost every night and we were both there. But I didn’t make any promises to you and usually I didn’t make plans with you, did I?” He tried to use a softer tone even though he was annoyed. He had thought by now she would have been over it but it was obvious she wasn’t.

  “No, you didn’t,” she answered quietly, “I guess I just presumed that you were there for me. Now that I think about it, you never reached out to me first. I thought maybe you were keeping me at a distance and then would realize how good we were together. But I know we were good together. I know we were. You can’t deny that part, Gabe.”

  His phone buzzed a few times in his pocket but they both stayed quiet for a moment. Gabe didn’t want to be a dick like he was at Connor’s party, but he didn’t want to be too nice and get her hopes up. He wanted it done. He also didn’t want to bring up Clara, even though she had to know by now that they were together. He didn’t think Kristin would take it out on her, but he couldn’t be sure.

  She looked straight at him, “It’s not going to change, is it?”

  “No, Kristin, it isn’t.” No apologizing either, he wasn’t going to do that. He had been clear then and he had to be clear now too. His phone buzzed again. He wondered if it was Clara done with her meeting, he went to get his phone.

  “At first, I hated her, you know?” He lifted his gaze to her, his attention was now fully on Kristin. She was going there, and he needed to hear her out because after he did he would tell her that Clara was off limits. “I thought she had taken your attention away from me. You didn’t think I noticed, but everywhere she was, you watched her and I watched you. You watched her with such an intensity. I kept trying to think of what I needed to do to get you to look at me like that. Every time you get to English class, you’re happy, almost excited. It’s because Clara is there, I realize that now. I kept trying to understand what was so special about her, what it was that had you so absorbed. I thought maybe ..I don’t know. Do you feel sorry for her, is that it?”

  His phone buzzed again. WTF? He was about to say something when his phone started ringing. He reached in his pocket and noticed Connor calling him. “Hold on a minute,” he said to Kristin. Gabe needed the reprieve, so he could think of what to say back to Kristin. Also, it was odd that Connor would text and then call immediately. Unless it was important.

  “Hey, Connor, what’s up?”

  “Gabe, is Clara with you?” Connor asked quickly.

  “No, she was supposed to meet Coach Rossi and Jamie to discuss something. She may be done by now though. Why?” Gabe began to feel uneasy.

  “Dude, Claudia told Leo that she overheard 2 girls talking in the locker room. All she could make out from the conversation was it had to do with Clara and doing something to her tonight. She didn’t want to get caught so she slipped out and immediately called Leo. He was at work so he didn’t answer right away and she went to find him. We’ve tried calling her but no answer. When you didn’t answer our texts, we were hoping she was just with you.”

  He immediately started walking towards his car, “I’m close by. I’ll go check on her now.”

  “Ok, Sonia and I are on our way too and I already called Alex when you weren’t answering. He was coming to find you.” Connor hesitated, “Man, I don’t have a good feeling.”

  “Meet you there.” Gabe hung up the call and instantly looked for Clara’s name to call her. He turned his head slightly to Kristin saying, “I have to go. I can’t talk anymore and leave me alone Kristen. It’s over.” Something was wrong, he could feel it. Clara’s phone kept ringing until her voicemail came on, “Clara, it’s me. Call me as soon as you get this. Please.” He opened his door when Kristin spoke up behind him.

  “I may know where Clara is.”

  Gabe stilled and turned around slowly. Kristin kept fidgeting with her hands. She was nervous, very nervous. “What do you mean you know where she is?” His voice was hard.

  She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. Initially, I was supposed to keep you busy, so I took the opportunity to find out what I needed to know. I’m sorry.”

  Gabe walked closer to her and raised his voice. “Kristin, stop wasting fucking time. What the hell is going on?” He was never inclined to hurt a girl but right now he just wanted to shake her. Something was going on. He clenched his fists to refrain himself.

  She swallowed hard and kept fidgeting, “Sarah and Jamie are playing a prank on her, someone else is involved too but not sure who. Initially, they were supposed to just scare her a bit, but I found out they are pretending to kidnap her. They didn’t tell me directly.”

  “What????? What the fuck is wrong with you? Tell me where they are taking her, NOW.” He dialed Alex’s number as he was listening to Kristin.

  “I’m sorry, I knew it was wrong. I should have never agreed. I’m sorry.” Kristin was blabbering, and it was pissing him off. It was wasting time.

  “Stop saying sorry and tell me where she is!!” As he yelled at Kristin who flinched, Alex answered the phone.

  “Sorry, yes. I heard them talking, they are taking her to the woods behind the pool in Bello park. They were going to leave her there for a few hours in the dark, at least I hope that’s all they were going to do. They didn’t tell me everything. They probably knew I would have second thoughts. That’s all I know, but I can find out more.”

  “Keep your phone on you in case I need you to find out more.” Gabe barked at her. She nodded. Gabe the
n added, “I won’t tell them you told me, but don’t open your mouth about it either.” She nodded frantically again.

  He turned towards his car and yelled into the phone at Alex, “Did you hear that?”

  “Yep, turning around now, I’m on my way. What is going on?”

  “Sarah, Jamie and a few others are playing a prank on Clara. They’re pretending to kidnap her.”

  Alex cursed under his breath, “What the fuck is wrong with people? This is messed up. Hang up I’m calling Connor and I’ll call Sonia too. Leo is with me.”

  Gabe responded immediately, “Follow me to the woods. Tell Con to doublecheck the school just in case they didn’t do it yet. I’ll meet you there.” His foot hit the gas peddle a little hard as he peeled out of the parking lot heading towards the area behind the pool that Kristin indicated. “I’m coming, Clara.” Gabe whispered to himself. His fists clenched.

  33

  Clara

  Coach had approached both Jamie and Clara with the idea of training throughout the winter for a spring soccer tournament to be held in Florida. It was a great opportunity for them. Clara had overheard Coach Lawson and Coach Rossi speak about having two team captains next year. She had mentioned it to Gabe and he thought that the tournament was probably a way to see if they could work together. When she seemed preoccupied he assured her that if Jamie wouldn’t be able to so, then it would fall on Jamie, not her. Both coaches knew Clara wasn’t one to start problems, especially Coach Lawson. Although Clara seemed hesitant about her role in the beginning, Coach Lawson had become one of her biggest cheerleaders. Clara had become very fond of her.

  Both Clara and Jamie had put off this meeting between them for days but yesterday Jamie approached her in the hallway. They both decided to meet up in the back courtyard in between the cafeteria and the gym to talk and come up with a schedule, then they would meet with Coach. Gabe had a meeting for his group project around the same time, so they agreed to meet up afterwards. She couldn’t wait for this break to start. Gabe and the others had planned a weekend in the mountains skiing. Clara had never been skiing so she was excited. Vince and his new girlfriend were coming as well, so her aunt and uncle wouldn’t worry too much. But she would be able to spend 3 uninterrupted days with Gabe and every time she thought about it, she smiled. In addition to that, Clara loved the holidays. When you’re a kid and you don’t have them for a few years, you realize how truly special they are and Clara felt extremely blessed this year. Clara’s phone beeped signaling the arrival of a text message. It was from an unknown number.

  R u there? Running a few mins behind

  Yep, I’m here. Clara answered presuming it was Jamie.

  OK. As Clara looked up she noticed someone approaching with a hoodie. Although the person was looking down, she realized the person walking towards her was not Jamie. She knew Jamie’s walk, and this wasn’t it. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She stiffened and went to retrieve her phone back out of her bag. Someone called her name, “Clara.” Her shoulders slightly dropped as it seemed like a voice she knew but something in the back of her mind kept nagging at her. As the hooded person kept walking in her direction, she shifted her gaze for a second to the right towards the voice, seeing in fact, Jamie or was it? This person had a hood on too. Just as she began to ask she felt someone come up behind her and before she was able to turn around, a sack went over her head and large hands grabbed her from behind.

  Taken by surprise, Clara froze for a moment, panic seizing her, but then her brain caught up and her training kicked in. She managed a hard elbow to the person’s gut with force. The person grunted. Going with her instincts, she was pretty sure the person was a male. Clara then delivered a swift back kick to the person’s knee resulting in them grunting again. If they thought she wouldn’t put up a fight, they obviously didn’t know her very well. She was able for a moment to extract herself from the arms surrounding her, so she began to lift the sack partially from her face and take a deep breath. But then, someone else pulled the sack back down over her face and pushed her violently to the ground with enough force to daze Clara for a moment.

  Large hands quickly wrapped around her hands and linked them together, pulling her up and dragging her a few feet. She knew she should scream but instead, she just listened and needed to think. There had to be at least 3 of them. “Jamie” if she was a part of it, the guy who grunted and the other person walking towards her. She fought with the one restraining her like a wild animal. She could hear someone approaching from the front, so she kicked her right leg out in front hitting someone, who yelped, but not hard enough. Just as she was about to scream, they threw her to the ground again. Shit that hurt. She was sure that her leggings were just torn, her left knee burned. She was panting trying to remain calm.

  “What the fuck? Stop.” Someone else scream whispered incredulously.

  “Shut up,” said a gruff voice.

  She needed to breathe. She felt claustrophobic due to the sack over her head and it was messing with her head. Memories from the past of being locked in small spaces flooded her mind each time she blinked. But that wasn’t her anymore. She had to remember that. Breathe, Clara, Breathe. With her scraped palms she lifted herself to her knees and hearing breathing behind her, her right knee came up off the ground. She straightened her leg and delivered a reverse broom sweep causing the person to fall.

  “Shit!” she heard one of them say.

  “What the hell, she can fight!” Another one answered.

  She stood up. Catching her breath, she was listening to understand where all three of them were located. She needed to lift the sack and had to do it quickly. She feigned moving to the right instead moving to the left and began to lift the sack over face when a body tackled her. As she fell her gaze shifted down and the sack was high enough where she noticed a tattoo on the person’s forearm, but the force of the tackle sent her reeling back and the wind was knocked out of her. She lifted her head and she felt the earth spin on its axis before everything went dark. Fuck.

  ***

  It could have been minutes or hours when Clara finally came to, she had no idea. She was in a car. Her hands were tied in front of her, the sack, which she was pretty sure was a pillow case, still over her head and because of this they couldn’t tell that she was awake.

  The person seated to her left, kept fidgeting and tapping their foot on the floor. They were nervous. If she had to guess, it was a girl and Clara was proven correct when she spoke to the others in a hushed whisper. “I’m not sure about this anymore. You guys totally took this too far.” Jamie.

  “Shut up,” said the guy through gritted teeth.

  “You guys are fucked up. All of you. If I had known what I had to help with, I would never had agreed,” spoke another hushed voice. She was pretty sure it was the person driving, and it was a guy.

  “You didn’t have much of a choice,” spoke the gruff voice next to her.

  “Well, I’m done after this.” The driver spoke again.

  “Your debt is paid. But speak a word of it and I’ll come after you.” She knew this voice. Clara couldn’t place it right now but she knew who this was. Think, Clara, think.

  “Already told you I wouldn’t say anything. Don’t want your wrath or the wrath of Gabe and the others on my head.”

  Jamie spoke again, “I didn’t think she would put up such a fight. Wouldn’t she have like PTSD or something and freeze up? This is not how I thought it would go.”

  “Stop being so dramatic. They won’t find out you helped us and it’s just a prank. We needed to put her in her place. After this maybe she’ll leave this school too,” a fourth voice spoke quietly.

  “We’re here. No more talking.” The leader was the guy next to her.

  They pulled up and two doors slammed. Clara was undecided what to do. Even if it was just a prank, she had to get away, but she had no idea where they
were. For all she knew she could start running and run smack into a wall. She needed to understand where she was.

  As the guy next to her pulled her out of the car and picked her up, the car drove off. The guy holding her smelled of sweat and something familiar. It was getting harder to pretend to be passed out, her mind flooded with moments she fought the past few years to forget. She couldn’t help it and she went stiff. Whoever was carrying her noticed instantly and said to the others, “she’s awake,” dropping her quickly on her feet and lingering too long with his touch. This time when he spoke, he changed his voice. He nuzzled her neck inhaling and making an appreciative noise. Clara tried not to cringe, but it was difficult, and he chuckled. There were 3 of them, unless the driver came back but she didn’t think he would, and only her. Since running off was not a smart option she decided to try and get some answers hopefully also delaying their plan if someone was looking for her. Gabe would look for her right?

  “Where are you guys taking me?” Clara asked. No answer except for a slight shove.

  “What is this about?” She couldn’t let them know that she had heard it was a prank. “Do you really think you will get away with this?” They chuckled again and responded with a changed voice, “We are getting away with it, aren’t we?”

  “Jamie?” And although no one answered, she heard it, a small gasp. The guy tightened his gasp as Clara began to dig in her heels and pull herself in the opposite direction. “Listen, just stop for a minute. Just leave me where the car dropped us off. And all of you go. I won’t say anything about this.” Clara could feel her heart beating frantically and she was slightly panting. She was about to panic, but she was fighting it with everything she had. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. “Come on, Jamie, what do you want me to do? Quit the team? Is that it? I know deep down, there’s more to you.”

  “Shut up!” the guy said to her tightening his grip even more. She was bound to have bruises tomorrow.