NIGHTMARE

chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

My mind raced at a million miles per hour.

Needed?

What the fuck could I possibly be needed for by the Bonten?

I mean, of course I knew what kind of people worked in the Bonten; to be honest, I just didn't want to admit to myself the kind of things that I would be 'needed' for.

The closest I had ever been to understanding the world of criminal organizations, let alone seeing a member of one, was through the screen of a Netflix documentary on true crime and punishment.

I could barely breathe.

This kind of thing didn't happen to me; it just didn't.

In the department of my social life, I practically didn't have one to begin with; now that I was absolutely and utterly friendless, there was no way in hell that I was keeping Yuzuha around after tonight's shenanigans.

"Where are we going?" I demanded.

I at least wanted to know where the fuck I was about to be shipped off to and dumped.

"Italia," the man seated in the passenger seat said, turning back to face me.

His accent was thick and laced, and I was slowly putting the pieces of this mess together.

He has wavy black hair fashioned in a death hawk style combed to the right, leaving the left side of his head trimmed and split in equal furrows.

He has black, almond-shaped eyes.

He has thin, arching eyebrows, ovular ears, and fair skin.

My mind started to go into a state of utter panic, and I could feel every muscle in my body start to tense as my chest tightened.

"Italy?" I repeated.

I don't know if I was confirming what he had told me or if I was asking as if to make sure that I had heard it right.

You know, he could have said anything else.

There are 8819 words in the English language that begin with an 'I," so I could very well be mistaken.

"Do you have a hearing problem or something, sweetheart? Or are you just stupid? Yes, he said Italy." My attention was drawn back to the man next to me.

He didn't sound Italian.

Sanzu stared at me like I was a dumb little dog who wasn't doing what it was told.

I really didn't like this man; he was nasty and cruel.

"Ran, use the cloth; she can't know where we are going exactly," the man driving the car said.

Through the rear-view mirror, I saw him tilt his sunglasses slightly.

He has natural black hair fashioned into a buzz cut.

He has a prominent scar running from the back of his skull to the leftmost side of his face that slightly touches the corner of his left visually impaired eye.

He has firm, S-shaped eyebrows, with his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

Suddenly my attention was brought back to the back seat when, in a swift movement, Rinduo gave my ponytail a rough tug, and my head was now wrapped in between his forearm and his bicep.

I kicked at the door, thumping on it as if someone outside would be able to hear me and save me.

"Keep still, or this is going to end a lot worse than what it's intended to," he hissed at me through gritted teeth as he held my head in his grip while fiddling around in a bag for a cloth.

"Let me go, you dipshit!" I screeched, attempting to elbow him from behind, damning my small and trapped elbows for failing me.

He just laughed and brought the cloth he had found to my face.

It seemed to come at me in slow motion, moving towards my nose and mouth.

What was on this thing?

I was either going to die or be knocked unconscious here, both of which I wished wouldn't occur.

The cloth contacted my face, and for the few seconds that I remained conscious with black dots circling my vision, I could make out the small chuckling laughter from behind me.

I had always wanted to go to Italy, but not like this.

My eyes fluttered open; the world wasn't bouncing with the vibrating car engine anymore; instead, it was spinning from the roller coaster inside my head.

For a moment, I stayed frozen, squinting and blinking furiously to adjust my eyes to the light.

Then I came to take notes on my surroundings.

I had woken up in a box—a white box.

Bringing myself to my feet, I stood up, taking in everything within my range of sight.

Obviously, that wasn't much, given the fact that I was practically in a locked version of a cardboard box.

Surrounding me were four bland white walls of all the same height and width, and in the corner where I had just stood up was a single bed with one blanket over it and no pillow.

Adjacent to that was a toilet with no walls or doors to cover it.

I jerked my head from side to side, wondering how, in God's name, I had ended up in this situation.

"What the fuck?" My eyes were drawn to the top left corner of the room; there was a camera; these pervs were watching my every move.

Luckily for me, though, I wasn't completely useless.

If there was one thing I knew how to do, it was escape a situation that I didn't want to be in.

I just had to wait for the opportune moment to strike.