By this time the intruder had figured out I was locked in
the bathroom. Whoever it was, was testing the doorknob before he knocked
roughly at the door.
“Sydney
Gerken, I know you’re in there. Open up!” the voice commanded angrily and he
shook the door roughly. The meager bathroom door was not nearly as sturdy as my
front door and if he could break the solid front door, made out of actual,
strong wood, I knew he would be able to make short work of the feeble bathroom
door made up of plywood.
“911 what
is the nature of your emergency?”
Before I
could respond I heard, “Really? You called 911?” There was a loud, irritated
growl and in the next moment the bathroom door was torn off of its hinges.
I screamed.
I mean, really screamed and then I was embarrassed by my reaction. I always
thought I would be a little bit braver, you know? I guess you just never really
know how you’re going to react to a situation until you’re in a situation.
I didn’t
know the figure standing before me, glowering at me with annoyance. He wasn’t
particularly large, maybe even an inch or two shorter than Emryl. He was of
medium build with dark hair, dark, thick eyebrows and black, intense eyes. He
was obviously strong though, as he had broken both of my doors. In two steps he
was to me and he grabbed my phone out of my hand and hung up on the 911
dispatcher.
“They’re
probably already on their way!” I squeaked desperately.
“You’re
probably right.” He said as if bored. He shook his head and then in one swift
movement I had been thrown over his shoulders. I was shocked for a couple of
seconds, and I hung there with my head resting against his back.
Once the
shock wore off though, I took action. I started kicking my legs, screaming
again, and beating him unmercifully on the back. I wasn’t going to make this
easy for him.
My assault
had about as much affect on him as a mosquito on an elephant. It’s
like I wasn’t having any effect on him at all. In fact, he didn’t seem bothered
by much of anything. You would think that he would be a little worried, what
carrying a screaming girl from her apartment and down the street.
You would
also think that somebody would step in to help. It’s not like he tried to
conceal us. A couple of little kids stopped playing hopscotch to gawk, open
mouthed at the spectacle but maybe they just thought we were playing around or
something. I told them to call for help but they just kept staring at us and
then after a couple of seconds went back to their game.
A few
people stopped and chuckled at us, as if what was happening was cute or
something. I even heard one woman say, “oh to be young and in love”. I couldn’t
believe it. What was wrong with people?
There was
one guy who stepped forward, and hope exploded with me, but who ever the guy
that was carrying me was, laughed cheerfully and no doubt playing off of the
“to be young and in love” comment, explained that he was taking me out on a
special date and that I was being purposefully difficult, to disguise my
pleasure. He was smooth this one and even though the stranger hesitated,
looking a little unsure, eventually he shrugged and walked away. He didn’t even
bother to pull out his cell phone to call for help. He had bought the line.
We didn’t
dart in and out of alleyways trying to avoid attention. In fact, he seemed to
be enjoying the attention. Maybe that was the smartest way to get away with
something. Be so over obvious that people have almost no choice but to believe
you can’t be up to the very thing that it appears you are up to. Who would
guess that I was actually being kidnapped? I stated it every couple of seconds,
screaming for help. Begging people to call 911 and that I was being taken
against my will. But either people didn’t understand what was happening or,
most likely, they just didn’t want to get involved. And their thinking would be
that if I was really in danger, I wouldn’t be paraded down the sidewalk for
everybody to witness. Except for wailing, furious me, there was no suspicious
behavior. And he kept dismissing it as a joke.
The whole thing was surreal. I was already fully aware that we lived in
a demented and messed up society. I knew that. What I wasn’t aware of until
this moment was the fact that people are so desensitized and so self involved
that a man can snatch somebody up in the middle of the day and walk down the
street and nobody will do anything about it except for stare, laugh and maybe
shake their heads.
Eventually,
realizing that I wasn’t going to get any help I stopped struggling and went
limp. It was too much effort fighting him especially because it didn’t phase
him in the least.
“Are you
done with your tantrum?” he asked casually as if this were an everyday
occurrence, or that I was merely being a naughty child.
“Yes.”
“If I put
you down… will you behave?”
“I’m not
two,” I answered with annoyance. “You did just kidnap me.”
“No,” he
said and he stopped walking and placed me on my feet. “I just saved you.”
“Saved me?”
I shrieked. I tugged at my shirt, which in all of the chaos had inched up,
revealing my belly, which begrudgingly I have to admit is not as flat as I
would have liked. “I have no idea who you are!”
“My name is
Tavian. Come on, this way.”
Running
would be stupid. I knew it would be stupid. I told myself it would be stupid
but hope is a strange creature. There was, after all, always a chance that I
would be able to outrun him. So even though I knew that I most likely wouldn’t
succeed, I had to give it a try. I wasn’t about to just follow the guy. That
would be stupid too.
I nodded
submissively, feigning resignation and waited until he had turned and started
to walk in the direction he had indicated. That’s when I spun and with all of
the speed of a slug, turned and ran in the opposite direction.
Or at
least, I felt like I must have been running at the speed of a snail because
Tavian, somehow appeared in my path. I didn’t even see him and I ran smack in
to him. I stumbled backward and fell on to my rear end.
He didn’t
laugh.
Neither did
I.
“Didn’t I
tell you to behave? You give me no choice. This is on you.” Tavian said with
forced patience. I could tell he wasn’t very pleased with me. He was not gentle
as he picked me up, as if I were nothing more than a rag doll, and tossed me
over his shoulder again.
This time I
didn’t fight him. I merely let myself hang there, sighing with annoyance every
so often.
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