by Leah Spiegel
Once on the road, I realized two or three SUVs were already tailing me, but this was my city and I knew these roads better than them. I lost two of them to rush hour traffic on McKnight Road which was lovingly dubbed as ‘Nightmare Road’ to the locals like me. It didn’t take long before I was on the North Side and lost the other SUV to one of the gazillion stoplights in the city. When I finally reached the West End Bridge, I sighed with relief that I was alone again. Following the signs, I merged and came around the back of Mount Washington in the direction of Route 19.
I thought I had lost everyone minutes later when I grabbed ahold of grocery cart at Giant Eagle, but a tall thick balding man in his early forties, who must have been built when he was younger, but over time developed a beer belly turned to wink at me on his way into the store. There was a spark of interest in his dark brown eyes which made me hesitant, but then again I did look nice for once, and I noticed that he wasn’t carrying a camera in his hands, so I didn’t see the harm in continuing with my plans to shop there.
I looked at the items I had jotted down on a list because I thought the least I could do was make my mom some dinners while I was home and she was hard at work trying to make ends meet. I wrote this list an hour ago though and I was ravenous now, but nothing on that piece of paper was going to fix my current hunger craving.
As I rounded the chip aisle, my eyes zeroed in on a bag of Cheetos, and I didn’t know if it was from being absolutely depressed since coming home or what because without even thinking twice, I ripped open the bag and proceeded to help myself. I wasn’t sure if it was technically called ‘stealing’ if I had the money to pay for it in my pocket. Besides, I had seen tons of preschool kids get away with it before; I tried to shrug it off like that was a plausible excuse as I continued to pick up the rest of the items on the grocery list.
I passed the balding man with the beer gut on my way down the pasta aisle not thinking much of our earlier encounter, but through the corner of my eye I noticed him take a sideways glance in my direction as I grabbed up a bottle of parmesan cheese further down the aisle.
When I tossed the bottle of cheese into my cart, our eyes locked long enough for him to flash me a lingering smile which instantly made me feel uncomfortable. Oh crap, maybe he was with the paparazzi.
The thought sent a shot of adrenaline pulsing through my veins. I tried to remain calm as I rounded another aisle of food. Once out of view, I began tossing groceries in my cart left and right like a manic contestant on that old game show ‘Supermarket Sweep’. I didn’t know how long it would take for the others to arrive at the store, but I really didn’t want stick around to find out. I was making quick progress, that was until I quickly pulled my cart up to an open cashier at their register. With my eyes still peeled to the back of the store, I started to quickly unload my cart.
“Josephine Hall?”
I snapped my head around like someone had called my name for attendance at Preston High since that was the last time I had heard anyone call me by my full name.
“It is you,” a blue eyed, brunette girl with a crooked nose gushed when I realized it was Maria Rey; a girl who brought a world of memories back to my mind. The most recent of them being the rather painful night I saw her laugh at me when Jake, the former love of my life, kicked me out his party while filming it for YouTube.
“We haven’t talked in ages!” she continued to gush, as if we were suddenly BFFs, and I thought yeah, like middle school. “I was just skimming through this magazine article about you,” she reached over top of the register for one of those god awful weeklies in the magazine racks next to me. Oh god—I hoped for dear life that it wasn’t one about how Hawkins and I split. It figures that the one time things didn’t look so good for our relationship it would be in front of Maria Rey.
Whatever the dreadful magazine had to say, it was secondary in my mind when I realized there was another guy, a much older one with white hair and a smaller frame casually leaning against a Coinstar machine. He didn’t look like he planned on using it any time soon; in fact the only thing he seemed interested in was me.
Damn it.
“Hawkins and Joie are still going strong,” Maria announced, causing me to snap my neck around in her direction again. The magazine must have been an outdated version I realized and said a silent prayer thanking God.
She gave me a little lopsided grin at the mention of Hawkins’ name. I had seen the same star struck look on a million other hopeful faces before, but I wasn’t exactly in the mood to hear how ‘strong we were still going’ when we weren’t.
“Yep,” I nodded thinking that if I kept it short and sweet that I would get out of the place before the paparazzi could swarm in around me.
Unfazed, Maria continued to babble on, “What’s Hawkins really like in person?”
Kind of an ass, the pissed part of me wanted to say, but the jealous insecure girl from high school who knew whatever I said would get back to Jake, added frankly, “Really, really good in bed.” Her eyes suddenly widened in surprise, probably not expecting to hear this juicy tidbit.
“You know he looks like he would be,” she giggled and I hung my head in shame because I couldn’t believe that I was having this kind of conversation about Hawkins in the first place.
With another quick glance over my shoulder, I realized the guy leaning against the coin machine wasn’t there anymore. I quickly scanned the front and back looking for wherever he had gone, but I didn’t see him anywhere.
“Your total is one-hundred and forty-two dollars,” Maria announced bringing my focus back to her again. I quickly pulled out my debit card to pay for the groceries before taking another tentative look around the store, but as far as I could tell both of the guys had left the store, probably to get their cameras.
“I never thought you’d have to rely on your own money now that you’re dating a millionaire,” Maria cocked back her head in surprise. “But then again he was a part of that marketing scandal,” she sighed under her breath causing me to roll my eyes. The nerve of some people I thought to myself.
After I had paid for all the groceries and was ready to leave, Maria presented me with the magazine and a pen. “Can I get your autograph?”
Looking down at the magazine of Hawkins and me at a happier time in our lives wasn’t something I actually wanted to sign. Lord knows, Maria would just pass it around for a laugh when the news of our relationship being over eventually hit the stands.
“Actually no,” I took a moment to be real since I was sick of all the Gwyneth’s in the world. “You were my best friend up until our eighth grade year and I bent over backwards to be a good friend to you even when everyone else was calling you a slut behind your back. Yet, I can still remember that it was you who walked away from me that day I got in a fight. So no Mary,” I called her by her high school name. “You can’t have my autograph.” I smiled with fake sincerity and pushed off with my cart to leave.
“You know, you’re not supposed to eat something before you actually paid for it!” Maria shouted after me and I thought ‘ewwww’ that’s the best you got? Quickly grabbing up what was left of the bag of Cheetos I dramatically shoved one after the other into my mouth.
Wanting to put the whole experience behind me, I made a beeline for my mom’s red Grand Am, just grateful that the paparazzi hadn’t arrived yet. I flung open the trunk and tossed in bag after bag knowing that at any minute they could pull in like gang busters in the mostly deserted parking lot and get away with whatever they wanted to do like block me in with their SUVs. Hawkins said he was sending me back for my safety; yeah right.
I threw in my last bag; thinking that I might get out of there unnoticed when someone suddenly yanked a cloth around my mouth. At first I didn’t know what was happening to me as my eyes snapped opened wide from shock. This wasn’t the paparazzi I realized, as I struggled to free myself, this was some deranged person or fan.
The thought sent my into a panicked state, I couldn’t handle bein
g at the mercy of another Cyrus. I swung my arms over my head to smack and claw at my attacker’s face trying to do anything to break away from his firm grip. When that didn’t work, I kicked my foot up and pushed off the trunk of my car for leverage, but every time I rammed myself into the man’s chest it was like trying to push through a brick wall.
I screamed, but the noise was instantly drowned out by the cloth over my mouth. It seemed like the more I tried to shout out for help, the more I became woozy until my knees became weak and buckled underneath me. What was happening to me?
The man pushed me forward in the direction of my opened trunk, causing my eyes to snap open wide again. When I realized what he planned to do with me, another rush of pure adrenaline raced through my body, giving me the ability kick my foot out one last time in an attempt to save myself.
“Josephine?!” I heard someone shout out from behind us.
The man holding me turned around enough for me to see Maria standing there like a deer caught in the head lights before, she quickly backpedaled into the grocery store with a scream that could cut the sky.
Not playing around this time, the man shoved me forward into the trunk. I dove in head first and barely had the time to break my fall. Before I knew it, he rolled me over until my arms and legs were completely enclosed. My limp head fell back, giving me a straight view of the man as he went to shut the trunk. As I slowly started to lose consciousness, I thought, ‘God, please not like this. Please don’t let me die…like…this.’
When I came around again, my whole mind and body felt sluggish, like waking up after having a major surgery. I started to notice the simplest of things like I couldn’t lift my head up very far and that something was digging into my wrists behind me. As my vision came back to me I took in my surroundings. I was in a large dingy room that looked like it used to be a warehouse for something. The floor was stained where large equipment had once laid. The walls were made of steel with windows toward the ceiling allowing me to see that it was night time so I must have been unconscious for a few hours. My mouth was dry and my hair had fallen across my face. I couldn’t move the strands because my hands were tied behind the chair I was strapped into. A massive migraine was building the more and more I came around until my head felt like it was going to explode. When I finally realized that I was only dressed in my bra and underwear, I flinched, jerking my head back.
“Time to wake up,” I heard a spine-chilling voice sing as my eyes rolled open again. I stared up at the balding man with the beer gut from the grocery store and realized he was a professional at this since he was able to change his persona so easily. His bulky figure moved in and I realized he wasn’t as tall as he was wide when he suddenly slapped my face with the back of his hand, knocking my head to the side. Tears stung my eyes from the painful blow as I quickly started to regain some of my initial fear from the parking lot.
“Why are you doing th…” I said drunkenly, but I couldn’t seem to form the words to form the rest of the sentence.
“When I say it’s time to wake up, it’s time to wake up!” the man said harshly, and the next thing I knew he smothered a cloth like material over my face making my stomach suddenly drop and my veins suddenly race with fear. What was he doing?
He grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back and poured what felt like an endless stream of water over my face. I inhaled a mouthful of the cold liquid, causing me to gag as I struggled to free myself from the grip he had on the back of my hair. When the pouring finally stopped, I hacked and coughed uncontrollably until he yanked the rag off my face, making it easier for me to gasp for air.
“Where’s the microchip?” he asked, but the feeling of hacking up water and gasping for air at the same time made it hard for me to focus on him. I couldn’t even speak at first; the fear was too overwhelming as tears streamed down my face. He let me sob for what seemed like a minute before he grabbed onto my hair again.
“What…microchip?” My wide eyes looked from the thicker man to the older one with white hair and cool blue eyes that I also remembered seeing at the grocery store earlier. There was a third man that was much younger than even the bald creepy man. He was tall and had a lanky military build. He was holding a large gun and seemed to be in charge of watching the door. I caught his eye and the dead stare he was displaying changed to reveal a more sinister look that caused me to wish I could cover my mostly naked body. I couldn’t believe I would rather drown by the big beefy man then be tortured by the young man who I doubt would use water. I began to wonder how this had anything to do with my relationship to Hawkins and the band.
“I know that you have it,” the thicker one muttered in between gritted teeth. “She told me that you did!”
He slapped the wet towel over my mouth again, but I couldn’t stop my instinctual reaction to scream as another endless stream of water washed over my face, causing me to ingest even more than I had before. I gagged and coughed as I tried to spit the water back out of my mouth, but the suffocating rag over my mouth made it impossible to do. No matter how hard I tried there was nowhere for the water to go but down. My windpipe felt like a steal pipe that was quickly closing shut. I fought against the chair that bound me to the spot; noticing that I was slowly loosening the wet rope around my wrists.
He ripped off the towel and continued to gruel me, “Where’s the microchip?”
With his hand off my head, I leaned forward as much as the restraints would allow me and threw up the water that I had been choking on. I knew I wouldn’t have time to fully catch my breath so as soon as I could, I tried to speak. “Microchip for…” I gasped and then coughed, “what?”
“She doesn’t know what you’re talking about,” the other older man, who if the larger one was the brawn than this man must be the brains, quickly came to the conclusion.
“She knows!” The thicker one roared over his shoulder as he threw the soaked cloth over my mouth again. This time I took a deep breath and closed my mouth, hoping in vain that it would stop the drowning feeling, but the water poured down my nostrils, forcing me to open my mouth and to gag all over again. The man let me squirm and struggle under the water longer than before. When he finally ripped the cloth off my face again, I snorted and twitched until I was overcome with emotion and began to gasp through my tears.
I didn’t know what they were talking about or what they wanted from me. And the thought of dying in this cold warehouse all alone without Hawkins made the tears flood out of my eyes like the water being shoved down my throat.
The older man had wisdom in his eyes and I could tell that he had once been like the brut in front of me but the thrill of the chase had long passed him as he slowly came forward; making both my attacker and I snap our eyes over in his direction.
“Why don’t you give me a minute to talk to the girl?” he offered to the other man, who looked like he wanted to put me through another round of torture. The gruff one shrugged and moved out of the way as the other man pulled up a chair across from me.
“Joie, is it?” The man’s eyes were kinder than the other one I noticed. “Something was taken from us,” he continued to explain, “Information…very valuable information that in the wrong hands would be catastrophic for us. That’s what was on the microchip were looking for. It’s a very small chip that can be easily concealed in another object. If we don’t get it back, we will be left with no other choice than to retaliate accordingly.” He paused to examine my reaction before he added, “She never gave you the microchip, did she?”
Who was she? I almost asked when I realized my life depended on me having that microchip because without it, I wasn’t valuable to them anymore.
“I didn’t know…what I had,” I tried to say surer than I felt.
The man didn’t look totally convinced I was telling the truth, but before he could say anything more the other, more passionate one suddenly dragged me back by the chair.
“Where’s it?!” he hissed in my face.
“Why don�
�t we take a break for now?” the other older man offered. “Let the girl recover while we have a talk.”
I didn’t like the way he said ‘talk’, when I was pretty sure they were going to talk about how I didn’t have the microchip and how someone lied by saying that I did. The heavier set man sighed before slowly nodding in agreement, and both of the men turned to walk out of the room; leaving behind the younger guy armed with a gun at the door.
I didn’t know what was happening; all I knew was that I needed to get out of there if I had any chance of living. I tried to free my wrists from the wet rope as nonchalantly as I possibly could.
The younger guy quietly approached from the door, causing my eyes to snap up to him. He had short cropped dark hair and blue eyes that looked cold. When his beady little eyes looked me up and down, I was eerily reminded that I was only dressed in my light pink Victoria’s Secret bra and underwear.
“The infamous Joie Hall,” he whispered as he pushed back a strand of my wet damp hair with the end of his gun, causing me to flinch with fear.
“I bet your boyfriend would be really upset to see you like this,” he looked just as thrilled by the mention of Hawkins, the famous rock star, as Maria Rey had been earlier the grocery store. He leaned his head down to level with mine as if he were slowly studying my face and it made me extremely uncomfortable, maybe even more uncomfortable than the thought of being put through another drowning torture session.
And just when I thought my life couldn’t get any worse he stuck out his tongue and licked the side of my cheek, causing me to squirm with disgust. I tried to move my head out of the way, but he continued up to the crown of my head, causing me to flinch and twitch in my seat. Tears suddenly welled up in my eyes; first Cyrus and now this? Why was this happening to me again?