Olifina: Love And Trouble

24. Kidnapped

Standing close to the apple tree, my breath came out heavily. I bent over and placed my hand just above my knees. Rodas goes to stand directly under the tree.

"Are you sure it's safe to stand there?"

Rodas laughed. "I can fight off any snakes if that's what you're scared of."

"Well, you have fun with that because right now I'm so tired I can't even kill an ant."

The place was dim but we could manage to see the apples on the tree. Rodas's strength could only allow him to pluck four apples but it was sufficient. I took the apples from him and dropped them in the bag which contained our empty plates.

As we walked down to the house, we noticed someone in the distance, a masculine figure. The person held a big torch and flashed its light in our direction. We looked away, shielding our eyes from the glaring light.

"Rufina! Rodas! Where have you guys been?"

I was so relieved when I heard Oliver's voice. Out of impulse, I ran towards him as he walked quickly in my direction. We engulfed each other in a hug. I lost balance, dragging him to the ground with me as I fell. For that moment, I couldn't remember my fever or the throbbing pain in my stomach and legs. The wind seemed to cease around us as we wrapped our hands around each other with my head resting on his shoulder.

We withdrew from each other as Oliver looked around me to see if I was hurt.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied faintly.

"Come on, let's go inside," he said pulling me up.

"Uh... Hello? I'm okay too. I survived," Rodas said waving at us.

I smiled and stretched out my hand to him. He needed the support too. He had saved our asses out there in the woods.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," he said, rejecting my hand as he walked past us.

"I don't want to draw attention our way," Oliver said, putting off the torch as we continued walking.

In the front yard, we met my dad. He stood in the open yard with his hands folded across his chest. His whole attention was on the woods in front of the house. It seemed he was waiting for us to come out through there not knowing we had already entered through the back.

The sound of our footsteps alerted him and he turned around. When he saw that we were the ones there, he walked quickly in our direction and squeezed me into a hug. I was too weak to tell him how he was crushing all my feeble bones underneath. When he finally released me, we stared at each other in silence. The amount of fear and relief in his eyes made me emotional but I was too weak to cry. I could only smile at him and tell him it was okay. I was back unharmed.

All the running and starvation made me feel sick. Halfway into my meal I stood up and rushed into the visitor's bathroom where I threw up.

I looked up when I noticed someone at the door of the bathroom. It was Dad. He gave me some water which I used to rinse my mouth. Afterwards, we returned to the living room and they all insisted I finish my food, including Rodas. They had their mind set so there was no way out of that one for me. They all stayed there until I finished my food before we all went to bed. Well, not all of us though.

We had reached the darkest hour of the painfully, quiet night. To my dismay, the house was as quiet as the night - A silence that haunted me.

After trying all I could the sleep wasn't forthcoming. I felt too stressed to sleep. Ironical right? The events of the day kept replaying in my mind. My breathing increased in leaps as I tossed from side to side on my bed. My breath came out raspy and rushed like it had been when we were running through the woods with that serial killer on our tail.

I sat up abruptly and flung the blanket off my body. Standing up, I wore my flip-slops and checked the time on my phone.

It was 2 am.

Thursday...

Sighing, I went into the bathroom to pee, then rinsed my face and dried it with my towel.

I stood there for some extra seconds, staring at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were sunken inside -I was stressed out of my mind but I still couldn't sleep.

Going back into the room, I took up my phone to engage myself so I wouldn't think up crazy things. The number of horror movies I'd watched in my lifetime was enough to be pronounced illegal. I visibly shook my head to disperse the thoughts. Those things weren't good for the mind to brood on at 2 am.

I kept scrolling around my phone in search of a game or app that could keep me busy. The silence and darkness of the room were distracting. At that moment, there was nothing I hated more than it. I put on some music which I listened to through my headphones. Seconds later, I was jamming to the beat of the music, nodding and snapping my fingers. I did a little dancing on the bed where I sat.

Click!

Click!

Click!

I thought the sounds were normal until I saw the flame erupt out of nowhere. Immediately, my breath got caught up in my throat and I froze in my bed. Someone was in my room.

My breathing got louder and erratic, following the racing of my heart.

I tried my best to scan through the dark if I could see anyone. It was only that flame and the hand holding it. It looked like someone was holding a lighter, but I couldn't see who it was.
The stranger stood at the side of my room door so I couldn't run outside.

Surely, it wasn't Oliver or any other person I knew. This was a stranger. A stranger who had danger written all over.

The place was dark. I couldn't see anything else in the room except the flame from the lighter this person was holding.

Then the light went off. My breathing hitched as I tried frantically to put on the light on my phone. As soon as I put it on, the person roughly placed a cloth on my mouth to muffle my screams. My nostrils were filled with a strange smell. The more I screamed, the more I breathed it in and the more I breathed it in, the weaker I got. I tried my best to pry his hands off my nose and mouth but all my efforts were in vain. I saw myself getting weaker and weaker in his grip. I racked my brain trying to figure out who he was. He looked familiar; I knew I had seen him before. Then I remembered. Just before my eyes closed, giving in to the effect of whatever he had placed on my nose, I remembered. He was the one we were running away from back then in the woods. The serial killer. My mother's captor.

Drip!

Drip!

Drip!

A familiar smell sifted past my nose. I remembered it from the days Dad would give me chemistry lessons at home. In one of those lessons, he had arranged several bottles filled with different chemicals in front of me. He guided me as we sniffed them one by one and identified the chemicals. I could match that smell with the smell of a certain chemical he labelled 'chlorine'.

Being too weak to open my eyes fully, I opened it halfway to see a figure looming over me, blocking out the light. I closed my eyes weakly.

Drip!

Drip!

Drip!

I was awakened by the sound of a door opening. Lifting my head, I tried to see the person coming towards me but it was useless. I was as drowsy as a drugged sleepy cat. I tried so hard but I couldn't lift my eyelids to open my eyes fully.

The person moved towards me quickly. Before I could fully realize myself, I felt a prick on my right upper arm. I flinched at the feeling of a cold metallic object piercing through my skin. My eyelids became heavier than before as sleep took over me. In a matter of seconds, I drifted into dreamland.

Bang!

Bang!

Crash!

I saw the fire. I felt the heat. I smelt the smoke as if filled my lungs, stinging my nose. There was danger.