by Abby Osuna
me from my side. Anger and fury bubbled up inside me. The cliché was right. Never mess with someone who just woke up.
“Yea, right. Moron!” I almost spat the words at him, not in the least bit regretful.
“What did you just---“
“Carl, enough. We have orders,” I heard Zed order from behind us.
See that Carl?
“She’s annoying,” Carl complained and I felt his grip on my arm tighten. I was a bit thankful that
he didn’t tie my hands. He was just gripping them tight. I suddenly thought that piercing ropes
might even feel better than his hands. I just wanted to peel off from his touch and stay as far
away from him as possible.
I tried to struggle yet his hold was solid. We were now on the parking lot and Carl was dragging
me to a van parked nearby.
“Let me go,” I stil struggled, even though I knew that it was useless.
“Don’t make this harder than it is, Drei,” Carl made me enter the van and he followed suit. He
was sitting so close that it was unnerving.
“Why don’t you just let us go? It’s not that we have any intention to do what you want us to do,
right? It was obvious right from the start. We’l come up with a compromise with the syndicate,
but you don’t need to do this to us. My mom’s been doing what they’ve been telling her to do
and yet---“
Carl suddenly pressed a handkerchief to my face, covering my nose and my mouth. The next
thing I know, the van was spinning just as I saw Zed dragging Anthony in.
~
I was expecting to feel the grip of Carl’s filthy hands on my arms the moment I came to. But to
my surprise, what I felt were rough ropes circled both my wrists. I didn’t open my eyes yet,
careful to all the sounds in the room. If we were to get out of here alive, I must be very vigilant to what our captors were doing. Or what they were planning to do.
Listening to any sounds of Anthony or Drew’s presence in the room was very difficult
considering that I had to feign unconsciousness. Only now did I realize that I was sitting in a
chair, tied to it actually, making it more difficult to feign unconsciousness since my head was
ducked low. I could feel the strain on the muscles of my nape.
“What now? It’s not that we could just force them to work for us,” Carl complained.
“You have way too many worries in your head, Carl. Leave it to them. They can decide. It
seems that until now you haven’t gotten over the fact that they snatched the position from you.
Now tell me I’m wrong,” Carley challenged him when he gave out what seemed to be a groan of
disgust.
“If I wasn’t over it, Carley, why would I be here now?” There was an undeniable smug edge to
his voice.
Wait. They were talking about they. Could it be that there were more than one leaders of the syndicate? Which made it even more difficult to talk our way through all this. How can my mom
and I hand Anthony in? If they had such harsh and illogical rules, it was close to impossible to
convince them to just let us off the hook. Or maybe there was some kind of jury that is
responsible for the decisions of the whole group. If only we could get to the leader without the
jury knowing…
“You have a point. But stil . Your actions speak otherwise.”
“Whatever Carley.”
Suddenly I heard sounds of movement and a bang of a door.
“See? So bitter,” Carley said dismissively to whomever it was that was left in the room with her.
“Let’s go,” the unknown one answered.
I waited until I heard both of them got up from their seats and assumingly exit the door when I
let out the sigh I didn’t know I was holding in. I didn’t realize that being blindfolded like this would double the anxiety.
I tugged on my wrists only to confirm that they really were tied up at the back of the seat. The
second tug told me that the knot wasn’t looped around the chair, which meant that I could
acrobat my way off it. That is, if I was flexible enough.
Trying to elicit some reaction from whoever was left in the room, I tugged on my wrists a third
time, but a more forceful one to exaggerate what I was trying to do. I waited for a few moments,
and to my relief, no one objected.
Slowly I raised my head, the muscles on the back of my neck screaming relief as I did so. With
much concentration, I tugged on the ropes tying my hands again, thinking of a way to escape
them. Suddenly, I felt the ropes being tugged by another person. My heart sank. Just when I
was on the brink of escaping. How will I ever find Drew and Anthony now? I should have waited
a little longer to make sure the coast was clear!
“Hold stil .”
Through the blindfolds, I blinked in thought. Could I be right? That was…
“Anthony?”
“Ssshhh!” Another voice interrupted. Drew!
Finally the ropes on my wrists loosened, and the blindfold from my eyes were off. I blinked to
adjust my eyes to the sudden burst of light. My eyes swept the room we were in, and sure
enough it was in a warehouse. It was practically empty except for my chair. It had the size of our
kitchen except that the ceiling was much higher. It also appeared to be bigger since there was
nothing to consume the space except the chair. I struggled to hold on to hope when I saw that
the only window in the room was a good ten feet from us.
“I know, the window’s high,” Drew’s voice broke my thoughts. He was stil talking in a whisper.
“We could try the door,” Anthony suggested, now untying the ropes on my feet. I realized just
now that they were tied in the first place.
“Even if it’s easy to open, surely it’s heavily guarded,” I countered, stil scanning the room. But now, watching out for cameras.
Drew paced the room, still thinking of a way to get out. He was walking so stealthily that he
didn’t make any sound. I was wracking my brain for options that I didn’t notice what Anthony
was doing. He was tying all the ropes that were tied to us just moments ago.
I patted his arm and shot him a questioning look as he looked at me. He just smiled
reassuringly, but just continued doing it.
When he was through, he jogged to Drew and whispered something to his ear. Drew’s eyes
automatically went to the window above us. My eyebrows furrowed in thought. What was he
planning? Throw himself to the window? Besides, the chair would not make much of a height
enhancer. The window was just way too high.
Finally, Drew nodded and proceeded to where I was seated. He quietly grabbed my wrist and
led me out of the chair. He brought the chair right below the window and climbed on to it. Then
Anthony was suddenly on his side, expertly climbing the chair too, but landing his feet only on
the empty spaces until he was standing on Drew’s shoulders.
I sprinted to the chair to hold it in place. When I looked up, Anthony was already tugging at the
gril s securing the window. It was now level with Anthony’s chin. How he would climb on to it
was yet to be discovered.
After a few more tugs, the grills finally gave in. The sound of the metal resounded in the room
and we all held our breaths. We heard a scuffle of sounds behind the door.
There were a series of clinks which logically were locks on the other side of the door. When the
doorknob turned, all I could do was close my eyes and brace myself.
&n
bsp; “Hey moron! Lunch!” a gruff voice said from behind the door. The room was eerily silent that
even from behind the doors, I could make out the voices.
The few seconds that followed seemed like an eternity for the three of us. The knob turned but
the sound of the clinks told us that whoever was behind it locked it again. Lunch
was that amazing.
When I glanced up again, Anthony was already facing down on us, clearly succeeding in his
climb. Drew was now looking at me, extending his hand.
“Next,” he said.
My eyes were as big as saucers as I tried to digest his word. Me? Next?
Suddenly he was tugging at my hand which was holding on to the chair. I didn’t real y have the
time to debate with him so I just let him drag me up the chair which was surprisingly able to hold
us both. Unlike Anthony, I was a slow climber. I just didn’t know where to place my feet.
Drew was now holding both of my hands, and he was bent toward me so that I could climb up
his shoulders. Adrenaline swallowed my fear of heights. I did what he wanted me to do. As he
was straightening up, I saw that Anthony lowered the rope in front of me so that I had something
to hold on to as Drew stood up to his full height.
Good thing there were knots on the ropes because they turned out to be improvised footholds.
As I was climbing up, Anthony held the rope in place. Only one foot left and I’m good to go. I
saw that the outside window was another building and that its roof was directly next to the
window. It served as a floor once outside. Despite the situation, it was a bit funny that they
forgot to look into this little flaw in the kennel they placed us in.
As Anthony was lowering the ropes for Drew, I positioned myself behind him so I could help him
tug Drew up. Realization dawned on me. Drew was very heavy considering his height.
True to my thoughts, Anthony and I struggled to haul him up. Because of the effort, we heard
the chair from below topple over, causing the sound to echo through the room.
Drew struggled even more, as the sounds of the locks from behind the door grew even more
louder this time, clearly an indication that they were opening it, fast.
Holding on to the ropes as if it were our lives, I final y saw Drew’s hair through the window. A
few seconds later he hooked his elbows on the sill lifting his body.
The door from below swung open. “Hey!”
Anthony and I both pulled Drew through the window. I helped my uncle straighten up, and
Anthony covered the window with the grills. That won’t hold them for long, but it could stil stall for time.
We bolted to the far end of the roof, watching out for ladders or anything that could help us
down.
“Here!”
Drew motioned for us and I saw a dumpster below.
“Oh no! I’m not jumpi---,”
Before I could finish, Anthony was already mid-air and he landed with a thud on the black
garbage bags.
To my surprise, Drew pushed me over the roof. The scream died in my throat and I flailed my
arms as I reached the dumpster.
“You okay?”
I barely looked at Anthony when Drew’s landing made me topple over.
“There!” a gruff voice, undeniably the one who brought the lunch of the guards, shouted from my
far left. Several guys from inside were now dashing toward us. Drew was now tugging me
toward the opposite direction and to our luck, there was a car parked from what seemed like a
few feet from us.
Anthony opened the driver’s side and dodged the attack from the guy behind the wheel. In one
swipe, the driver was outside the car, which gave Anthony the chance to knock him
unconscious. Drew opened the passenger door for me and we scrambled inside.
“Hurry!” the gruff voice commanded and I saw three guys near us, guns drawn.
Without hesitation, Anthony geared the car toward them before they could even shoot. The car
was now facing toward the gate which wasn’t closed yet. I heard a loud bang from somewhere
near me and the guard by the gate collapsed. Instinctively, my hands covered my ears.
“Where’d you get that?!” I demanded from Drew, who was holding the gun. He nodded his head
toward the console just in front of us. There were a series of shots from behind us as Anthony
geared the car toward the gravel road.
“Duck!” he glowered from behind the wheel.
To our dismay, there were no turns which made us a plain target for the guys behind us. I felt
Drew move beside me, and he fired a few shots behind us, making me stoop lower in my seat.
When I glanced up, we were now nearing the main road. Anthony took a sharp left which sent
me awkwardly toppling over. Drew fired one more and he settled beside me.
“I stil have the touch,” he said proudly, clearly panting.
“But you’re out of bul ets,” I prodded.
He shook his head, smiling. He reached forward, got another gun I didn’t notice was right there,
pocketing the bul ets beside it. “They were thoughtful enough to leave these for us.”
I shrugged, thankful at our streak of luck. “Did we lose them?” I asked, suddenly realizing the
quiet surroundings.
Drew nodded, eyes on the trail behind us. “Anthony’s a great driver after all.”
Looking out the window, I realized we were already in the main road. We passed by a few cars.
This side of town was a bit secluded, judging by the few cars. As if reading my mind, the noise
of the city began to land on my ears.
“We’re near the city already?”
Drew nodded.
“Where to?” Anthony asked.
“Drei’s.”
~
A good twenty minutes passed before we reached our house. It wasn’t that far from the main
part of the city, but Anthony rounded several blocks along the way, to make sure that our trail
was free from pursuers.
It was now three AM, and surprisingly I stil wasn’t sleepy. Amazing adrenaline.
Anthony parked the car in front of our gate and we got out of the car. Was it because of the time
or is it eerily quiet? I could really hear my breathing.
I steadied myself and rang the doorbell. At last, things were going back to normal now.
After a few seconds, Nanny Helena emerged from inside, opening the gate for us.
“Drei!”
I almost hugged her in relief the moment I saw her. But something stopped me. I saw something
in her eyes that puzzled me. Exhaustion maybe? It was early in the morning, which was
justifiable.
“Nanny.” I managed to answer.
We entered the house without another word. I didn’t dare ask, without knowing why. Anthony
and Drew trailed behind us. Surprisingly, they too, didn’t let out a word.
“Did you hear from Mom, Nanny?”
“Oh she heard alright.”
Our heads snapped toward the living room, to the source of the voice. My jaw literally dropped.
“Kristine?”
“Yes, Ms. Hamilton?”
She was standing in the middle of the living room, her arms crossed in front of her. Her stance
was very strong, very commanding that I couldn’t quite believe that it real y was her. And that
she was a part of them.
Al of a sudden my hands bal ed into fists, realizing what this meant. “Where’s Mom?”
On cue, Kris emerged from the kitchen, leading my tied-up Mom inside the living room. Her
mouth was silenced with what looked like a large hanky, and her hands were tied behind her.
Behind him, there were two guys. One brought a chair, and the other had a roll of ropes.
“You can’t do that to my Mom, buster!” I hol ered.
Just then, there were guys who emerged from behind us, holding us captive. I didn’t notice
Nanny was already held by another guy by the corner of the living room.
As the chair was set beside Kristine, Kris shoved my Mom into sitting, and yet again was tied to
the chair. Smugly, she shrugged. “Apparently, we just did.”
I glared at her with all my might.
“If only you’d let me take her place,” Drew bargained with Kristine from where he stood beside
me.
“Oh and she’l miss all the fun? I’m not a spoiler, Drew. Besides, tradition says otherwise.”
“Screw your stupid tradition!” My rage was seething.
“Wil you shut up?!” she snapped at me.
“Kristine…” I heard Kris calm her. She literally glowered at her twin.
Reluctantly taking heed, she straightened up and exhaled. She calmed herself before speaking
again. “Our tradition has saved this organization…”
“Syndicate!”
She glowered at me as if she would eat me up alive at any minute. But she continued. “…from
being discovered and busted by authorities. Business was going very well and the transition of
leaders and members have been very effective. Families don’t ever turn their backs on each
other, especially on matters as important as these.”
Where was she going with this?
“But then again, don’t always happen the way we plan them.” Her voice was eerily pleasant,
which made me want to vomit.
“Yea, I already know that. What I want to know is why are you the one making the big speech?”
I mocked her.
She chuckled, not exactly a nice sound. While I was stalling, I glanced around the house and
realized that it was heavily guarded. All the corners of the house had men with their guns drawn.
Practically at us. Any way that I would have taken for escape was a dead end. I glanced at
Anthony from beside me and I saw that he too, was seething with rage.
“I see Carley has not oriented you yet,” Kristine continued.
“Obviously,” Anthony snapped. I was surprised that he joined the banter with me.
Taken aback, Kristine swallowed and smiled pleasantly again. “I, Kristine Wong, together with