technicolor dreams • a modern fairy tale

• 006 •

She pressed her back against the brick wall, hoping that the coldness would calm her racing heart, but it did little good. Knowing where she was didn't really help, too. Because the place Google maps had shown her was one she wanted to get away from as soon as possibly.
She had somehow ended up in the banlieue of the city where the occasional rape or murder wasn't unusual. And there weren't really any taxis or a metro she'd willingly put a foot in, and she also didn't want to risk going back the way she came from, now not only out of fear of getting lost but also of getting mugged.

So, Tiana took deep breaths and tried to think logically, all the while desperately holding back the tears that burned in her eyes. It was no use though; her heartbeat just didn't want to calm down, and the black yet leering looks some of the guys had sent her kept replaying in front of her mind's eye, causing a cold shiver to run down her spine.

Maybe she should just call her butler and ask him to come and get her, no matter where she was. Surely he wouldn't tell her parents that she had wandered off so far, would he?
Tiana was just about to turn on her phone again, distracted as she argued with herself that calling Maurice really was her best and only option out of this mess, when suddenly she felt a pull and then only stared at her empty palm.

She blinked stupidly, once, twice, and wondered where the hell her phone had gone when someone called out to her.

"Missing something, darling?" The voice sounded mocking and menacing at the same time.

Tiana blinked once more before she looked up, and when she did, she first caught sight of her phone, then noticed the hand holding it. Her eyes followed the muscled arm, slid over the body of a pretty tall, pretty brawny guy and eventually settled on his face. The brutal scar that split his cheek had her recoiling forcefully, and she had difficulty to swallow around the lump that had formed in her throat instantly at the sight. All in all, he looked like your regular goon, maybe with a little less hair than most, but it was definitely enough to let Tiana's teeth clatter in fear.

She wasn't capable of visibly reacting to the ambush though, she simply stared at her phone-kidnapper in shock and witnessed as the expression on his face changed. It morphed into something that was more menacing than mocking, and Tiana felt a bead of cold sweat rolling down her temple. He probably wasn't such a regular goon after all.

Just as Tiana had gathered her bearings enough to remember how to scream and opened her mouth to do just that, the thug jerked his head to the side and on cue, two other men appeared. In their pitch black clothing they looked just as vile as the first one and Tiana wasn't quick enough to react to the newcomers before one grabbed hold of Tiana and pressed a hand on her mouth, while the other one used her stupor to rip the purse out of her grip.

As Tiana struggled helplessly against the hold the goon had on her, the other began to look through the purse, presumably searching for something valuable. They were doomed to find nothing though, since when Tiana had left the house this morning, she hadn't been in the mood for shopping, and she definitely hadn't thought of the possibility of having to please some money-hungry gangsters.

When they then turned to glare at her, Tiana panicked and she frantically began to struggle against the grip the third one of these half-giants had on her. God, please don't let them deem her useless and dump her corpse in some refuse skip. She'd only just bought the dress, it would a shame to ruin it already! Plus, she was too young to die - and she hadn't even had the time to properly drive her newest Porsche yet!
But, (thankfully?), it seemed as if the thugs had gotten another idea after the initial throwback while Tiana had been busy with freaking out.

The phone-thief, who appeared to be the leader, smirked cruelly, and the movement caused the scar to morph his face into a grotesque mask. Tiana tried to swallow down her panic since she felt dizzy from lack of oxygen, and she only now noticed the cold and sharp something that was pressed against her throat. Immediately, her already wobbly legs began to tremble much more forcefully, and the jerky motion caused the blade to rip the skin and tears to escape her eyes. It was pain and panic, overwhelmed by the nonsensical fear of being infected with some dirty sickness now since the stupid thugs surely hadn't disinfected the knife before deciding to assault her.

She had to squeeze her eyes shut tightly in order not to say something now - she wasn't sure if she would begin begging for her life or curse them to hell and back for daring to mug and touch her with those filthy hands.

But she still had seen the expression in the leader's face and knew that there was more in store for her. And as if on cue, he spoke again and this time, he sounded thoroughly insane.

"Alrighty. Since you apparently don't carry around multiple hundred euros we have to find another way to get money, don't we? So, tell us your name, darling. And the one of daddy dearest too while you're already at it. Then we'll know who to call with our demands and you don't have to suffer for too long. How does that sound?"