Dark Paradise

I'm able to go all alone.

The ground beneath him shook. He heard a noise. Peter parted his eyes. He was lying in the back seats of a moving car. With a hiss, he sat up slowly, wanting to rub a sore head by his hand, but found that his hands were tied together.

Where am I? What happened?

"Ah, you're finally awake." A voice came. Brad? The boy thought. Suddenly he remembered. Park, the room, the gun, and finally a strong blow to the head. Brunet took a breath and looked toward the driver.

"Look ... Brad-"

"Boy, I'll interrupt you right away. My name isn't Brad."

"What?" The boy asked in disbelief, looked down as if he were five and smashing the neighbors' window with a soccer ball. He felt like a complete idiot. When he first met the man, he was wearing a suit and looking trustworthy. Don't judge a book by its cover. But he did.

"Okay ..." Peter didn't finish his new sentence, and he looked out the window for a moment, it was dark and snowing, "if you want something like ransom, you won't see it. I live alone with my aunt and we don't have the money to give away."

The man said nothing, making the boy even more nervous. Peter craned his neck to see how fast the vehicle was going. He thought he might try to jump out of the car. But the little hand held the position at 120 kilometers per hour and the brunette felt disappointed. Even if he miraculously managed to open the car door, it wouldn't turn out well. He would probably remain unconscious or in excruciating pain lying on the road. Fundamentals of physics and knowledge of the resistance of the human body. His hijacker would just turn the wheel and load him back in the car and Peter would be at the beginning again. Therefore, he had no choice but to wait for the vehicle to reach its destination. So far, he had time to think. He looked out again. The houses disappeared and were replaced by forest. He still couldn't believe it. He could not imagine how the situation would continue to develop. What will he do with him? Will he kill him? Will he close him to the cellar? Will he cut off parts of his body and send them to the police or his aunt? Little of what he knew about the abductions was that when it came to abducting a person for ransom, the kidnappers were careful that the victim did not recognize them, but his kidnapper did not follow this scenario.

The man was driving for the time being, occasionally looking at the boy through the rearview mirror. He thought that his victim was surprisingly calm.

Eventually they reached a relatively large gate. The man pressed a button on the remote control next to the gear lever and the door began to move. The car passed through the entrance gate and for a while drove along the road leading to a large house. The man turned off the engine, got out, took two steps, and opened the back door.

"So, get out of the car." 

"And what makes me listen to you?" Peter whispered, his voice trembling, despite his great efforts. As soon as he finished the sentence, an old acquaintance of the pistol appeared. The boy sighed and left the vehicle. He staggered, but the man grabbed his arm in time, and without letting go, he walked with him to the trunk of the car and took out the boy's backpack.

"Come on." He led his prisoner beside him as a criminal. Peter did his best to resist him. He jerked or missed footsteps, leaving scratches in the freshly fallen snow as a result.

"Look, don't make me put a gun to your body again," the man said angrily.

"Fine," Peter snapped. "But I'm able to go all alone."

The man hesitated for a moment, but finally released the grip of the boy's arm and motioned for him to walk in front of him. They entered the house and the man led the young man down the hall to a small room with a bed and a wardrobe on the first floor. He threw his backpack on the bed.

"So who are you?" Peter turned to the man with an inquisitive look.

"My name is Stark. Tony Stark, "the man replied without looking at the boy. There was a moment of silence.

"I-I have to go to the bathroom," Peter shouted quickly as Stark was about to lock him in the room.

"Okay," Tony sighed. He led the teenager to the bathroom.

"Could you?" Peter reached out his handcuffed hands to Stark. He let them go. The boy locked himself in the bathroom while Stark waited on the other side. Peter looked around the room. There was a small window above the toilet. Would he stretch through it? Peter lowered the lid on the toilet and stepped carefully onto the toilet bowl.

He flushed his feet and opened the window during the noise, it was just as big as he needed. He reached out and fell behind the hard ground into a thin layer of fallen snow. He suppressed a scream and grabbed his arm, probably taking a few bruises. He got up quickly and ran through the land to the driveway. Suddenly, however, he found himself on the ground again. He turned his head to see an inconspicuous, barely visible string stretched just inches above the ground. But nothing happened. Maybe he set off an alarm in the house. He sat down and looked around. He saw Stark's face in the large window next to the front door. He jumped to his feet as if someone had stabbed him. He climbed the fence and ran through the trees, hoping to get lost in in the forest and Tony won't find him. He ran through the woods and did not look back.

The trees disappeared and an ice-covered lake appeared in front of him. Peter took a step forward, trying to test the hardness of the frozen water with one foot. The sheer silence that surrounded him was frightening. "He heard silence". He was there behind him. We must escape danger, and running is the most natural reaction.

God, help me! Peter thought and ran across the ice. He was beginning to hope to get lost again between the trees on the other side, but suddenly he couldn't run. His right foot ran under the ice, and after a few seconds he fell into water. His clothes soaked up the icy liquid, and Peter tried his best to keep himself afloat. He spat out water that came into his mouth and began waving his arms furiously around him. He saw more and more blurred. The last thing he noticed were the hands reaching out for him.