Enhancement

[3] A Familiar Face

     She was right when she said she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. All she did was lie on her bed and stare at her dark ceiling until she saw light spill into her room. Lily heaved a reluctant sigh and slowly rolled out of bed. She sat on the edge and stared at her feet, her blue fuzzy socks amused her for a moment as she smiled at them before she stood. She then started her normal morning routine

Lily walked over to her closet which was to the left of her bed, opposite to her bathroom. She rummaged through her closet, throwing her desired clothing items onto the bed behind her. Once she had an entire outfit she quickly changed, only then noticing that it was six o'clock and she had a total of one and a half hours before she needed to be ready for work. Never the less she got herself ready in her typical work attire, a blue striped dress shirt black jeans and a speckled grey fall sweater. Once she had gotten dressed she exited her bedroom and walked out into the hall and made a right towards her kitchen.

       Although she was quite attractive Lily had never found much interest in men, or dating, maybe her heart was still taken by another man. She also grew to like the silence. She walked over to the counter and reached above to grab a mug from the cupboard and then placed it on the counter, next to the coffee maker. She scooped some more grounds into the machine and poured water to refill the reservoir, then pressed the power button. While her coffee was brewing Lily gathered the items needed to make herself a bowl of cereal; frosted flakes, his favourite. She went about her morning preparations until her routine departure at eight o'clock A.M. sharp.

      Lily grabbed her work supplies: her large tote bag with her binders and a bottle of water. She then grabbed her brown suede coat from her closet and headed out the door. A rush of chilly air met her at her doorstep. She let the wind hit her and continued down her front steps until she stood by her red truck, she looked around her and admired her view. Behind her were vast woods and beyond that, the icy mountain peeks that always took her breathe away. She peeled her eyes away from the view and opened her car door, tossing her tote onto the passenger seat. She stepped into her truck, started up her car and drove down her long dirt driveway.

      It took her about five minutes until she emerged from the forest and onto an actual gravel road, she liked it that way, and after all, she did live in Montana. She continued on the gravel road for another ten minutes until she got into town, which was small and secluded, great for disappearing. Lily then pulled up to the local high school, which was her place of work, and parked in the staff parking lot. She then stepped out of the car and grabbed her bag. Lily was almost at the doors when a familiar voice stopped her and made her turn around.

"Lily, wait up" he said happily, it was Andrew her flirtatious co-worker who was bad about hiding his feelings. Andrew had a muscular build, black curly hair, and light blue eyes. "Oh hey Andrew" she responded as she turned around reluctantly, "Hey I maybe thought that we could, uh, maybe, er go out for a coffee today?" He asked hopefully.

She stood there for a moment biting her lip not knowing what to say, "it's tempting, but I'm not interested in seeing anyone right now Andrew. It was sweet of you to ask though." She answered with a guilty feeling. He nodded, disappointed, "I get it. But might I ask you one thing?" he pondered, Lily nodded wanting him to continue. "How long has it been since you've actually been in a relationship?" he looked at her with a sideways glance. She chuckled to herself remembering how many times she had answered that question, "too long" she muttered to herself. Andrew just nodded sadly and walked into the building.

Lily stood there for a moment longer, thinking back to her last relationship, how long it had been. She needed to get back on the horse, she thought privately.

     In a flash she had snapped out of her day dream to the sound of car brakes shrieking to a halt and masked men hopping out of a van and grabbing her by the arms. By the time her brain had processed it all she was in the van and they were pulling out of the parking lot. She tried to scream but her mouth had been stuffed with a cloth and she couldn't make a peep, she couldn't even bite the man that had his hand over her mouth. Flailing about didn't help either, her captors held her legs down and her arms at her sides. She then began to try and calm herself, that would be the only way she would be able to escape. She took deep breaths and slowed her heart rate from a thundering herd of elephants in her chest, to just the trotting of a horse.

Lily counted seven men in the van, all wearing black high quality material masks, combat boots and body armour. The man driving was the one calling the shots, since he was the only one hollering orders and everyone else in the van seemed to call him "captain." Soon she felt the sound of the wheels going over wood, they were at the bridge that crossed into Flathead National Forest. She knew that now was the time to really focus, the bridge was long but not that long. Lily closed her eyes and thought about the bridge and the van driving over it, she thought about the van tipping over and crashing into the railing and down into the river below. There was a crack and a splash and she knew that she had done it. The men were now the ones flailing about. She focused again making the door beside her slide open. She swam fiercely out and up towards the surface.

She quickly removed the cloth from her mouth as she clambered onto the shore. She was still fighting for breathe when she saw three of the masked men emerge from the depths. Lily did not have the time or focus to drown them, she just ran. She was dripping with water as she ran stumbling every now and then, her soaked layers weighing her down and making her body feel as though it had just been in a freezer. She tried to focus as she ran but all she could think about was the pounding in her head. She could hear voices behind her, the men trailing her were moving a lot quicker then she was.

Lily struggled to continue, her lungs were tightening, her breathe was shallow, and the cramp in her side was becoming unbearable. In the distance she heard a loud "pop, pop, pop." She stopped dead in her tracks, she obviously hadn't shot the men, so who did? Was it someone else who was after her, should she keep running? Lily was wheezing, barely able to breathe, she thought there was water in her lungs. She decided that she should keep going, but not slow her pace. Lily closed her eyes and focused on the air around her, the wind whooshing by her ears, about lifting off the ground and propelling forward above the tree line. When she opened her eyes she was flying above the trees, the wind encircled her and lifted her up towards the sky.

Lily spotted the man that had shot the other pursuers, he looked frightening with a large gun and army-like attire. She also saw that there was a small jet about a hundred meters before the once intact bridge. The man, whom she assumed was some type of assassin had spotted her above the trees and was pointing his gun towards her. She heard the sound of gunfire, and knew that those bullets were heading for her. One flew by her, just missing her shoulders, then a second whizzed by her ear which started a loud, pounding ringing in her ear. The pounding had soon become to much and she had forgot to focus on what she had been doing, quickly enough she realized that she was spiralling towards the ground.

       She didn't have much time to think about the unknown man that had shot at her, and why all these men were after her, seeing as she was plummeting towards the forest floor. She shut her eyes quickly thinking 'catch me,catch me!' then a small scream escaped from her throat as she felt her hand brush the ground. But she was safe, Lily was suspended in the air, millimetres from the ground. She then dropped to the floor with a minute thud.

She now only felt a small pounding in her head, and slight dizziness, but the feeling soon left her. Lily brushed her fingers along her cheek and felt blood, she then realized that the one of the bullets had grazed her cheek. Lily quickly moved along, not knowing where the assassin was, or how close he was.