Empty Void

Prologue

Run. Run. Run. Don't stop. That was the only thought in my mind. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. My lungs filled with air with every sprint. My heart is pounding so hard I can already feel it coming out of my chest. I still smell the sickening scent of smoke, which makes me cough from disgust. My nose is puffy, my eyes are red, tears streaming down my cheeks. I've been running for less than two minutes, but it feels like it's been forever. The sky is pitch black; no stars are out. I hear footsteps not far behind me, so I fasten the pace. I can't stop. I won't-

[BAAM. BAAM.]

I fall to the ground and scratch my left knee on the hard pavement. Though it hurts like hell, I make an effort to crawl and hide. I take cover inside a dark alley, and I sit upright against the wall. I see the crimson liquid seeping through my skirt, and I feel it running down my leg. "Come back here girl!" The sound of gunshots pierces the inside of my ears, and an overwhelming fear sends a shiver down my spine. "¡No querrás hacer esto más difícil!¹" I take a deep breath and take a peek around the corner. I see people running, panicking, seeking shelter. And then, I see them. They look around - inspecting the area carefully - and then they separate. Looking for their victim, they hold their weapons close to their chest, ready to shoot. They don't even take a glance at the traumatized villagers, who are running away for their lives. No. Because the town's folk are not on their death list. They are not the target.

I am.

Suddenly, I feel two arms wrap me up from behind and I try to fight them off. The mysterious figure forces me to face him. Because it's so dark, I can't make out any of his features. Eventually, my vision adjusts to the poor lighting, and I can see an extremely disturbing look in his eyes. His smile was so twisted to the point where it made him look like a maniac. I can't help but feel terrified by the sight. I try to let myself go, but the harder I try, the tighter his force becomes. He grunts as I try to escape, but I still fight for my freedom.

Why can't he just let go? Ugh, he's too strong, I can't free myself. My heart starts beating faster by the second, fear pumping my adrenaline. The man pulls me out of the alley and into the open. The other men noticed me in my captor's possession, there were about seven of them, including the one digging his nails into my arms. Some of them are holding torches, but all of them have guns. One of them comes closer. He has a tall and slim figure, with an intimidating aura radiating off of him. He takes out a pocketknife, and I look at it with wide eyes. I know he did that on purpose to impose horror in me. Unfortunately, it worked, and he knew that.

"Well, well, well." He flicked his knife through his fingers, half covered by his fingerless gloves. "Look what we have here, our little chismosita² runaway." Suddenly, he placed the tip of his knife right beside my cheek, just underneath my left eye. He started sliding the knife down my face, and over my dried tears. I refused to show any kind of fear or intimidation, so I put on a strong face. "You really thought you could escape us, you little runt? Without saying goodbye first? You know," his knife now made contact with my chin, "that was very impolite of you. ¿Ustedes que piensan compadres?³"

His comrades laughed at the man's comment, and I just gritted my teeth out of fury. One of them though, just seemed bored with this. He was huge, with a very distinguished mustache and a tattoo on his forearm in the shape of the sun. "Jorge, al grano. Deja de jugar con la niña⁴." He was not amused at all by - I guess now I have a name for the animal standing in front of me - Jorge's behavior, who rolled his eyes out of annoyance. "Listen here," he used the sharp tip of the pocketknife to bring my chin up, "I'll be nice and give you the short version of the deal. Someone related to you did some really bad stuff, and she made the mistake of messing with us. So, now you are going to pay for her little slip." What was this man talking about? Someone related to me?

I struggled, "Why me? I've done no wrong to you!"

"Then I guess your mamá⁵ should have thought of that before deciding to fiddle with us, huh?"

When I heard him say that my mind became blank. My-my, my mom? What did she have to do with this? What in the world did she do? Why would she get herself involved with these thugs? A million questions swarmed my head, it was only when I heard Jorge laugh when I was dragged back to reality. He glanced at his men with an amused look.

His laughter died down, "Incredible, this little- Dios mio⁶. She doesn't know." He laughed more. My anger only grew at his mockery, my adrenaline was so high I wouldn't hesitate to lunge at him the chance I had.

"I guess you got unlucky with life. Never mind that," he came closer to me. His face now inches from mine, "I'm already having some fun ideas that I can take into action before disposing of you." He licked his bottom lip and guided his knife along my chest as he said this.

I was not about to lose my dignity to this pig, so I accumulated some saliva inside my mouth and spat on his face.

This caught him off guard, and he stumbled backwards. "¡Hija de-⁷!" he said as he attempted to remove the saliva from his eyes with the back of his gloved hand. He stormed towards me; his eyes filled with hatred. He used his whole left hand to grab me by the chin and used his other hand to put his knife right at my face.

"Te vas a arrepentir⁸ escuincla⁹," he whispered. Nevertheless, that didn't make it sound less menacing. He was definitely mad, but to my surprise, his anger vanished as soon as it came. Instead, a devilish smile is plastered on his face. This makes me feel uneasy, and fear starts to overtake me again.

I want to yell. I want to scream at the top of my lungs. I want to cry. I want to ask for help. But I know that I will just be wasting my breath. However, that didn't stop me from whimpering and hyperventilating when Jorge started dragging his blade down my body until he reached my right leg, just under my good knee.

He was now crouched down, so I looked down to see he had grabbed my leg with his hand and guided his weapon along it with the other. I started to get nervous, and I was really tempted to scream. However, I kept my mouth shut.

"I'm thinking, it wouldn't hurt to make a small cut, now, would it?" He stood up to face the rest of his gang. "What do you guys think?" The other delinquents agreed to Jorge's request, and he only chuckled at their response.

I started to panic. No. "No, stop! Get away from me!" I pleaded. I tried to fight off the guy that was holding me in place, and for one second, I was able to free one of my arms. Jorge saw this and signaled some of his men to help keep me still. Two of them held my arms, and another one grabbed my left leg. They all grabbed me with such force that the majority of my limbs started to ache, and they were finally able to immobilize me.

Jorge grabbed my right leg forcefully, and he started to trace the area where he wanted to cut with his switchblade. I could feel the tip of the knife leave little marks on my skin, and tears flooded my eyes. I struggled, I tried to free myself desperately, but failed miserably.

"¡No, por favor¹⁰! JUST STOP!"

The guy that grabbed me by the alley used his big hand to cover my mouth, so that when I yelled you could only hear a muffled sound.

"Don't worry pequeña¹¹, I'll make it quick." He assured me.

This only made me feel more agitated and scared. I moved my head from side to side out of spite.

"Or not." And just as Jorge said that I felt a sharp pain emerge from my right leg.

* * * * *

¹["You don't want to make this harder."]

²[1. Tattletale/ 2. Big mouth/ 3. Someone who tells others about other people's actions or affairs]

³["What do you guys think?"]

⁴[Jorge, get to the point. Stop playing/fooling around with the girl]

⁵[Mom]

⁶[My God]

⁷[Son of a-]

⁸[You will regret that]

⁹[1. Punk/ 2. Kid/ 3. Child]

¹⁰[Please]

¹¹[Little one]