No Way Out...

O N E

Laila-Marie Vaques

Alexandria, Louisiana.

"Laila!", I heard.

"Laila, wake up baby!", my mom's voice came through the door of my bedroom.

I honestly hated getting up when I did not have to. It was a Saturday and my mom has this thing where we get up early and clean up the whole house from top to bottom. I was use to it but I would still like to get my sleep. My weekdays are pretty busy, and the weekend is the only time I can truly rest and pamper myself...sometimes.

"Laila I'm not gonna call your damn name again!", I heard her say once more.

I huffed and kicked my thick white comforter off of me. I leaned up from laying down and rolled my eyes slightly.

"I'm up mama! I have to brush my teeth and stuff", I slightly yelled back so she could hear me.

"Okay, meet me in the front room when you done", she said back.

I grabbed my towel and the stuff I needed for my shower , then walked to the bathroom that my mother and I shared. It was in the hallway next to both of our rooms. I hopped in the shower really fast being that I sweat a little bit in my sleep. I washed myself up and got out of the shower knowing she'd probably yell at me for being too slow. I brushed my teeth and moved my plaits in a band to move them from out of my face. I rushed to my room and put on sweats and a spaghetti strapped crop top with some low black socks. I didn't bother putting on a bra and just let my nipple rings show through my top. I took my phone off the charger and walked out of my room into the front room. I saw my mom sitting on the couch on her phone.

"Ma'am?", I said standing in front of her with a slight attitude.

"Aw, Ladybug lose the attitude", she said looking at my and rolling her eyes.

"Mama I'm tired, I stayed at the college extra late to study for my finals that's coming up", I said loosening up a bit.

"I know Lady but I really want you to come with me grocery shopping, I need you to pick out what you want too", She said rubbing my face.

I nodded my head and turned back around to go get my shoes and headphones. I hated having an attitude with my mom, she works just as hard as I do and she gets me whatever I want only because she said I deserved it. My mom was a Social worker, she worked five days a week making enough to provide for me and her both. I admired her so much, she was doing this shit alone and it isn't easy raising a daughter on your own. I loved my mom, I didn't have a dad. My mom sat me down a long ass time ago when I was 10 years old and explained to me that I was a product of rape and that my dad was in prison for life for what he did to her and many other girls. She had me when she was 15 and ever since I came into her life she'd never treated me badly. We didn't stay in the best neighborhood or house but this was where she raised me and showed me more than enough love.

"I'm ready mommy", I said walking to the front.

My mom was waiting for me by the door in some mom jeans and a spaghetti strap shirt with her all white slip on Vans. She was beautiful to me. We walked out of the house and she locked up and made our way to her 2016 Volkswagen . The car ride was a comfortable silence for about five minutes before she decided to start a conversation.

"So, how is that English class you were telling me about, the one with the weird ass professor", she said pulling a piece of chewing gum from the side of her door.

I slightly rolled my eyes thinking of the weird woman, "UGH, she is super weird and like she never wanna explain the damn work to us, mama you might have to go lay paws on her", I said pouting looking at her.

She chuckled lightly and slapped my shoulder playfully.

"Baby you got this its the end of the semester and you're graduating so you should not be stressing this hard. you have a 94 in that class the last time I checked.", she said reassuring me on my progress.

You see I was a dual enrollment student and I had been ever since the ninth grade so now I am graduating with my AA and High School diploma. It was stressful but now its time to graduate and I couldn't be more excited. The conversation carried on and we finally made it to the Walmart that was 15 minutes away from our house. My mom had to park far away a little bit because the parking lot was filled with cars. We both got out and there was a cart that was left by another car so I grabbed it and we walked right into the store. She was grabbing things that we both liked and filling the cart as we saw things we needed. After we were done we made our way to check out and waited as the man in front of us was finishing. Once he was done it was our turn and we place the things on the belt and waited for the cashier to finish ringing us up.

"Okay, your total is 96.54", She smiled at us.

My mom must have noticed her card was still in the car, so she looked at me and sighed.

"Laila can you go run to the car and get my card out of the side part where my gum is?", she asked.

I nodded my head and let her know that I will be right back. I walked to the parking lot making sure to be aware of my surroundings. I made it to my moms car and reached in to get her card and everything. Once I got her card and stole a piece a gum, I locked her doors back. Before I could really close the door, strong arms wrapped around my body and neck. I kicked and screamed as they tried to cover my mouth.

"HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!", I yelled as I was crying.

Before I saw anything else or screamed for help, I was getting thrown in an all black van. But before I was fully in I kicked the sides so they wouldn't force me in. I made eye contact with an elderly lady who was watching in horror.

"PLEASE! MOMMYYYYY!", I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Everything happened so fast, I was in the dark now in the back of this van. I tried unlocking it but it was locked from the inside, I banged on the doors as my kidnappers were in the front, there was a blacked out partition up. I couldn't see anything, it was dark and the Van smelled of blood and sex. There was no windows, so I couldn't see where we were going. I cried out for my mom and broke down thinking of her.