Epiphany

Chapter 22 Part 2~Is it a...

“What’s wrong?” Another unfamiliar voice spoke.

I inhaled loudly before speaking between my ragged breath. “Please… Help me! My—"

“Help yourself.”

When I sat upright and had a good look on both of them, I didn’t try to repeat my words to them.

“Who the hell is she?” A second person emerged out and stood behind the first one, wearing a frown on his face which I was certain it didn’t match mine.

They didn’t look like the guys who would help me out, they seemed more like the people who would run after me with these huge, weird-looking knives clutched in their hands to dismember my limbs and use it as a play thing.

How their faces was smeared with dirt and their eyes screamed danger, I wanted nothing but to run away from them.

I know that Chase told me to bring in the first person I see, but that was nonsense!

How can they help me—her?! They’d want the opposite, if I had to guess.

“Hey, Noah! Come over here.” When the first one who had an unsettling smile yelled, a third person appeared out of the trees.

His bored expression etched to one of surprise, then to an amused one as soon as he saw me on the ground.

I put both my hands on the floor, readying myself to stand on my feet and get the heck out of here.

But seemed like fate had other plans—like always.

“You’re not from here, are you?” I yelped when the first one's boots pressed on my chest, knocking me on my back again. “You don’t seem familiar.”

My hands that were placed on the ground immediately shot out to my chest as a great amount of pressure was felt there, causing my already burning lungs to pain me even more.

I started clawing at his feet and at the same time gazillions of depressing thoughts exploded in my head.

Thoughts that whispered in my ears the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear.

“Leave me…” As soon as I growled, his shoes pressed deeper on my chest, causing my voice to fade.

Goddammit!

“Take your…” I sucked as much air as I could in and tried to sneer at him again, but the words just wouldn’t come out.

If I didn’t get his dirty shoes off of me, Julia would die!

“Hmm?” He leaned closer to me, and amidst the blur in my vision, his face appeared.

He had a cheesy smile on as he leaned his head towards me with his hands cupping his ears.

The way he tormented me with a smile on reminded me of someone that I despised.

But what I despised even more was the fact that wherever I went I always seemed to meet those kind of peop—animals.

My strained fingers that were digging themselves into his thick boots and the hem of his pants, and my thrashing legs didn’t appear to bother him even the slightest.

“Ask her where she’s from, Karim.” I couldn’t see who said that, but the amusement that clung to his voice told me it was the third one.

“Where you from?” He increased the pressure on me as his face beamed even more.

“Leave…” I uttered but I was sure that it didn’t reach him with how low it was.

“Come on.” I released a small cry when his boot pressed harder. “Answer me.”

I heard some chuckles emit from behind him. The chuckles seemed really far though, as if it didn’t come from any of those animals.

I couldn’t see myself, but I felt the intense amount of heat radiating from my face and was sure that my face turned to a deep rufescent color and was soon about to explode. The liquid that was soaking the sides of my face was the only thing that kept my face from exploding at bay as it cooled it down a little.

But the most pain that I endured was in my lungs as I couldn’t inhale any molecule of oxygen.

The unbearable pressure on my lungs that only seemed to increase by the second told me that he wasn’t going to release me any sooner.

He didn’t have the mercy to.

I felt myself start to fade. My body was slowly surrendering itself to the darkness that was starting to reveal itself to me as the blurriness in my vision was getting concealed by it. The pain throbbing through my body was still there though, intensifying by the second.

And when the image of Julia desperate for my help popped in my mind, I released a sob, which made the pain in my body way worse.

Why?

Why can’t things just go right?

Why can’t something good just happen?

Bad things always seemed to happen to me when I got kidnapped.

No, I take that back. Ever since ever!

A thought that emerged in my head amidst the millions of others almost made me want to scream.

I failed my friend.

I did.

A second time.

Then amidst the negative whispers in my head, I heard a voice.

Hey, the fuck are you doing?!

It wasn’t in my head though.

+ + +

Who might this be?