Ensnared

by I N Foggarty

  Only when the light tinkling of the doorbell sounded did Anna realise that she had crossed the road and entered the establishment. This was stupid she thought as her stomach took control of her body and moved her forwards towards the counter. She could not recall what her weekly expenses had amounted to except that they had eaten into next week’s budget. Worse yet she did not even know if she had any money.

  “What can I get for you, Dear?” an elderly woman from behind the counter said to her in a friendly voice.

  “I’m not sure,” Anna replied, her tone soft but flat.

  “Well, when you decide just give me a shout, ok.”

  Anna nodded meekly at the woman before she bustled off to deal with another customer. Hesitantly she removed her purse and counted the scarce contents, four dollars fifty. Glancing above the counter she checked the cost of her usual order, four dollars twenty. When next the waitress passed her by she got her attention. “Excuse me,” her voice was almost a whisper but the woman heard her well enough

  “Yes, Dear?”

  “Can I have a glass of Pepsi and a sugared doughnut?”

  “Of course you can. Just take a seat and I’ll bring it right over.”

  As the woman busied herself once more, Anna slid herself into a booth beside the window. A few minutes later and the waitress bustled over and gently placed a tall glass and chipped white plate in front of her. Offhandedly thanking her Anna took a long drink from the glass. She could not recall the beverage ever tasting so refreshing. She took a bite out of the doughnut. It tasted sweet and sticky and perhaps the best thing she had tasted in months. Like a wild animal that had caught its first prey in days, Anna wolfed down the dessert. Licking the last grains of sugar from her fingers, she looked down at the empty plate and sighed. Well, it had been good while it lasted she thought miserably. Maybe she should have savoured it.

  With only half a glass of Pepsi left, Anna’s mind wandered back to where it had been when she had fallen off the curb. Back in Raymond’s she had opened the door and glanced around the room. On a sofa at the bottom end of she had caught sight of the back of Natalie’s head. The girl had been sat on someone’s lap. A wave of emotions, ranging from sorrow to anger, to disbelief, to hatred flooded over her as she recalled the scene. The girls head had moved to the side slightly and it had given Anna all the view she needed of the person the chocolate haired bitch had been snogging. Matt.

  “Matt?” she whispered to herself, echoing the same word that she had said back at the party. At the time she couldn’t believe what she had seen. Didn’t want to believe it. Surely it had not been him. But she knew it had. She had called out to him again but it had only served to enrage the bitch. While her brain had told her to leave quickly she had been rooted to the spot. Though she had wanted to escape the sight of her boyfriend betraying her and being ensnared by that temptress she had just stood there, silently. Maybe that was why he had defended her that day in the lunch room.

  A single tear rolled down Anna’s right cheek as the mental representation of herself whispered goodbye to the boy. The scene had just been so painful she hadn’t even wanted to know why. When she had turned to the door he had called out to her but a single glance back at him had been too much to bear. She had left.

  So here she sat, alone in a cafe. Her last reason for being in Chicago having just been taken from her. A year ago everything had seemed so full of promise. Good school grades, a band that she felt had potential, a boyfriend who cared about her… freedom. It all seemed like a bad joke now.

  The first thing to go had been her band. Working four nights a week at Lunar DVD rental had forced her to miss vital rehearsal time with her bandmates. At first, it had been sporadic. However, after the summer holidays had ended her schoolwork had started to mount and those missed sessions became increasingly frequent. By the time December had come around her bandmates had become sick fed up and unanimously kicked her out. She could still remember the text Rick had sent her to inform her of the decision. At the time she had suspected him of having been the one to instigate it. He was an arrogant jackass who had tried to coax her into the back seats of his car one evening. When she had point blank refused him he had attempted to kick her out. This had not gone down well with the other three members. Who politely informed him that he was welcome to leave himself and that they were going to continue playing with her. In the end, it hadn’t mattered. He had gotten his way eventually.

  By the time the end of semester exam results had come her grades had dropped significantly. Where once she had attained almost perfect A’s across the board, she had struggled to attain low B’s and high C’s. Music had been the only exception; remaining an A. After Christmas her marks had dropped further, to the point she barely scraped C’s; again discounting music. Her faint hope of making it into college on some sort of scholarship well and truly dead. The only thing left had been Matt. He had been the one constant throughout all the hardship. Even though he annoyed her sometimes and occasionally blew her off. Like everything else, she had now lost him too. Absentmindedly she stared out the window at the small patch of the city it framed. It brought her to the crux of the matter. Did she actually have any reason left to remain in Chicago? She could have pondered all night long and still come up with the same answer. A resounding no.

  The jangling of the doorbell drew her attention away from the window. She had an unrestricted view of the doorway as she looked up. Staggering slightly a tall boy with messy brown hair entered the café. Someone Anna knew well.

  End of the road

  Buildings swayed from side to side as street and sign lights smeared across the swirling skyline. The twisting road seemed to bobble up and down while at the same time curve upwards at the edges; like a halfpipe in a skate park. Dylan staggered down the street in a dizzy drunken daze. The smile currently plastered over his face had been there since he had gone inside Jess. Afterwards, they had lain together, allowing the after orgasm feeling to wash over them. It had been weird for him not to have been the dominant one in the bedroom. However, never before had he fornicated with someone so… so… in his current state the word escaped him… experienced, he settled for. Suffice it to say she was without question the best ever. Although even sober he had a suspicion she would have had her way with him. Regardless he did not care. It had been sheer bliss. He would see her again, oh yes.

  Such thoughts were just some of the many that swam through Dylan’s head while he wandered along the road. Although still drunk it could be debated whether or not the alcohol was entirely to blame for his present state. When Jess had finally sat up he had moaned at her not to go. Flicking her luscious blond hair she had rolled on top of him and whispered something in his ear. “I’m here until Sunday night. Buy me dinner tomorrow and I’ll bring dessert.” He had almost howled when she seized his balls in one of her soft slender hands and squeezed firmly. “These are mine now,” she said seductively when she climbed off. Upon reflection, it seemed like a bizarre sort of ownership claim.

  By the time Dylan managed to stagger to his feet she had already dressed and left. Where she had gone he did not know, for the room was supposed to have been hers. Struggling to dress he quickly discovered he lacked socks, shoes and shirt. A precarious trip down the stairs and back to the hot tub had procured his missing garments; his soaking swim shorts he chose to abandon. The party had wound down by that point. With Jess or any of his friends nowhere to be found, he had left. Stumbling down the street his brain had managed to cobble together enough sense to tell him it would be foolish to attempt driving home. So he had left the car behind and started walking.

  Reaching the end of an unfamiliar road Dylan tilted his head too far and almost crashed to the ground. Things looked a lot different on foot than they did from inside a car he realised, left or right? He went left. After about thirty yards he turned around and headed back the way he had come. Taking the right path this time he followed that for a time before doing yet another U-turn and going
back to the fork. He was well and truly lost. He sighed in dismay. If he were ever going to get home he would need to find out where he was and more importantly, sober up slightly. Glancing around his weary eyes eventually caught sight of a swirl of red and green light? Traffic lights showing both colours at once? What good would that do anyone? How were you supposed to know whether to go up or down? Someone should find the #@%*$’s who were in charge of the roads and have them {#/@$%*<.

  Like a moth to a flame, he inadvertently found himself drawn towards the light. When his nose collided with the window he stumbled backwards. Who the hell had built a coffee shop in the middle of a road he cursed as his eyes strained to make out the letters of the sign. The town planners who had designed this dump of a neighbourhood needed to join their road layout colleagues in $?#@£^<]{.

  Pausing he took what little stock of the situation his addled mind could handle. A strong coffee would sober him up enough to ask directions and get himself home. His smile widened, luck was still on his side it seemed. Haphazardly Dylan shuffled over to the door. The soft tinkle of a bell filled his ears when he pushed it open and stepped inside.

  Over the curb

  Anna ignored the sudden appearance of Dylan, devious manipulative little dick that he was, and stared at the remainder of her drink. She would finish it quickly then go before he noticed her. Though she did not know how things had transpired that evening, she would put money on Dylan’s hand having been involved somehow. That’s just who he was. The sort of person he had always been. A wretched, selfish little bastard with sticky fingers who thought with his cock and that he knew everything and what were best for everyone around him. Moreover, he had the audacity to think his life so terrible because his housekeeper could be slightly strict and he incurred his father’s wrath due to his own slack nature. He had no clue as to how much worse life could get.

  Ancient history aside Dylan had hated her the moment she had sat down at their lunch table and spoken to Matt three years prior. The irony being that she had not intended to speak to any of them. In fact, she had only sat down with them because she had arrived late to the lunch hall and she couldn’t find another vacant chair. Planning to eat quickly and split, Anna could not help but overhear Matt divulge his plans to spend the summer vacation practising his hockey skills; hoping to make the school team the following year. Naturally, this did not factor into Dylan’s plans nor Natalie’s for that matter.

  Perhaps she had just felt sorry for him that his ‘friends’ only cared about their own self-interest and were in the process of reshaping his plans to suit them. Whatever it had been she had decided to ‘intrude’ as Dylan would later denounce it. Some heated words had been required to fend the pair off but in the end, Matt had accepted her offer of help and left the lunchroom with her. Afterwards, Dylan had taken every opportunity he could to try and remove her from Matt’s life once more. Unfortunately, Matt had been too dense to see Dylan for what he really was. Such folly had been his undoing...

  Anger swept all other emotions inside Anna out. How dare he think he knew what was best for Matt. Or for anyone for that matter. What right did he have to actively destroy other people’s relationships? Fury coursed through her like an unchecked fire. Balling her fists, she sucked in a long slow breath. If she did not control herself she would undoubtedly do something she would later regret. So long as he did not notice her, she would be ok. Unclenching a hand Anna picked up her glass and drained the last of the contents. Lowering it back to the table, she froze. Dylan stared directly at her.

  “Anna!” he exclaimed in a loud and overly happy voice. “S’good to see you.”

  Great, she thought. Dylan was completely drunk. Glaring at him, she replied in an icy tone that helped to dilute her anger, “leave me alone, Dylan.”

  He visibly staggered backwards as though wounded by her words. “Whoa! Don’ cut my balls off.” She would have gladly hacked his balls off with a rusty knife and much more besides.

  “So…” His speech was slightly slurred. “How is you?” Staggering he slid down into the booth opposite her with an unceremonious thud. When the server brought him coffee Anna signalled for her bill. Her hope that he would take the hint when she did not reply ended up short-lived. “So…, Morgan. Why is it that you hate being called that?”

  A fresh flash of anger lit up inside and Anna clenched her fists again. She had to focus on her breathing she told herself. Promptly the server returned and placed the bill in front of her. Wasting no time she placed money on the small metal dish and handed it back. Standing up she slid from the booth.

  “And why’s it..., Morgan. That you are always an evil horrible bitch to me…, Morgan.”

  Her resolve shattered. “I’M A BITCH TO YOU?” She snapped her neck around to face him, the floodgates holding back three years of anger finally bursting. Her fingernails dug into her palms as she bellowed at him. “YOU’RE THE ONE WHO HAS DONE NOTHING BUT TRY AND BREAK MATT AND ME APART SINCE DAY ONE.”

  Dylan looked slightly taken aback. His reaction no doubt diluted due to his state of intoxication. Unfortunate, yes, but Anna did not care.

  The alcohol must have given him more balls though for he quickly recovered. “You tried to take him away from his friends first.”

  “He was my friend long before he was yours. And unlike the rest of you, I was willing to help him achieve his goals. Do you realise that his grades are a B average at best? Do you realise how much easier it is for him to get into college with the sport behind him? I didn’t do what I did for me I did it for him, which is more than I can say for you lot! Did you even know that he’s had scouts watching him?”

  Her words had no effect on him it seemed. Dylan reacted as though she had not retorted. “And you stole him from Natalie.”

  Anna almost punched him, his comment cutting deep. She would not stand to hear him say that. She had known that Natalie had been interested in Matt before the holidays two summers ago. However, at no point had she asked him out. When Christmas came, Matt had been the one to make the choice, asking her not Natalie to go ice-skating with him. He had asked her to be his girlfriend while they had been huddled together on the ice. Regardless of what Dylan and Natalie had thought, she had not stolen him.

  “HE WAS THE ONE WHO ASKED ME OUT!” she screamed. “THE ONLY BOYFRIEND STEALER IN OUR GROUP IS NATALIE! AND IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME JUST WAIT UNTIL THEY START SNOGGING ON MONDAY.”

  She had to leave now or she would hurt him and she doubted she’d be able to stop herself once started. Ignoring the stunned looks from the waiting staff and two other customers, Anna stormed out of the café. Outside she turned right and began pounding the sidewalk. A moment later and she heard the slam of the café door from behind her.

  She ignored it and continued walking. Reaching a turn off on her right, Dylan yelled at her, “aww come on, Morgan!”

  Ignoring the drunken boy Anna took the turn off and started up the new road. Why could he not just leave her be? Did he actually want her to hurt him? She could hear his footsteps behind her; he was getting closer. Before she could quicken her pace, Anna froze, a hand on her left shoulder. Instinctively she slid out of his grasp and turned to face her assailant.

  “Hey,” Dylan declared in bewilderment when his hand closed around thin air. “Geeze you’re a slippery one, Morgan.” His lewd eyes drifted from her face to her chest. “I wonder if Matt found your cunt just as slippery.”

  Anna pulled back her fist to punch him but somehow managed to restrain herself. He is not worth it, she said to herself firmly. “Get out of my way, Dylan.”

  When she moved to go past him, he moved in front of her again. “You still didn’t answer my question.”

  She felt hot again and needed to get away from the irritant. Turning right Anna froze as she almost stepped out into the road in front of a white van that had decided to pull in. She had not even heard the thing coming. However, her urge to get away from Dylan proved stronger than the shock of almost being run o
ver. There was no crosswalk but she did not care. She took a step out onto the road.

  “Come back, Mor…” she heard Dylan shout at her before his voice became unnaturally muffled. Spinning round Anna caught sight of Dylan. Behind him, a man had one thick arm clamped around the boy’s chest and the other holding something over his mouth.

  “LET HIM GO!” Anna yelled, quickly closing the distance between them. As she reached them Dylan’s body went limp in the man’s arms. She watched the black haired Hispanic man struggle to keep his captive upright. His diverted attention gave Anna the only opening she needed. In one fluid motion, she balled up her right fist and hit the man square on his left cheek. In an instant, his grip on Dylan released and he staggered backwards.

  Before Anna had the chance to advance on him a loud crash sounded off to her left. Turning she brought her guard up to block any incoming attack. None came. Beside open doors a mountain of a man stood and Anna had just enough time to register the gun clenched in his thick fist. A single shot fired and she crumpled… the world went black.

  ~End of part One~

  ~Two Days Earlier~

  Interlude: A New York minute

  The sun had long since set and stars now speckled the picturesque navy canvas above the New York skyline. What wisps of cloud had lingered throughout the day were now but a memory. A light breeze fluttered through the streets below. It was quiet, or at least as quiet as things ever got in the city that never sleeps. For the motorists, it meant being able to see some shred of tarmac in front of them rather than bumpers. While on the sidewalks, pedestrians were afforded some breathing space and the ability to choose their own paths, rather than being carried away with the crowd.