SWNOVELS Chapter 53: Lost Memories
In the darkness, she forced herself to see the light. She kept on running to escape from the place without any direction. She couldn't see any path to follow, but she just kept on running afraid of being trapped
in the dark forever.
"My Boss wanted us to kill you!"
"Your fake husband wanted us to kill you!"
"Bill wanted you to be dead!"
All these words kept on hounding her while she was running and Bill's devilishly face appeared in the dark laughing wickedly like the mastermind who triumphantly put her into her situation right now.
Scared, tired and tormented, she refused to stop and let the evil man decide her destiny. She refused to be imprisoned in the dark forever. She shook her head to get rid of Bill's devilish face and covered her ears with her hands to avoid hearing those awful words that lingered repetitively in her head. With almost lacking the strength to run, she forced herself even if she was already enervated until she saw a small glimmer of light. With her remaining breath, she weakly ran after the light with the hope that it's the door to the bright side, it's the door to her freedom, but the more she ran, the light seemed to be moving away.
"Please don't go away! Please!" Arabella howled. She was begging and crying helplessly.
She never stopped moving towards the light, but it was slowly fading away.
"No!" Arabella yowled in disquietude while chasing her breathe.
With all her hopes drained up, she kneeled on the ground and cried her heart out. She shoved her head on her knees while her arms were tightly hugging them. Trembling in fear mixed with the feeling of being alone and imprisoned in the dark, she was intensely sobbing in her helplessness until she had felt extreme pain in her head. She couldn't bear the pain so she held her head with her two hands and she leaned it to the ground. She was struggling with so much pain in the head that she wanted to bump her head on the hard ground.
Then suddenly, she saw a picture of herself when she was a kid. Then after that, mixed scenes and shambled memories of her childhood kept on popping out uncontrollably like a puzzle that was unassembled but the parts were already laid down on the table.
As the unbearable pain continued, she forced her mind to remember everything with the hope to stop the scorching pain. All her life, she felt incomplete because of her incapability to remember that part of her existence. Whenever she asked her parents why she had lost her memories, they always changed the topic and said to forget those memories. She knew they were hiding something from her and she could sense that it was tragic that's why they don't want to talk about it.
Now that the pieces of her memories were out, it was all up to her to solve the puzzle.
She saw a kid version of herself happily playing in the park with her parents until she was captured by bad men and put her in a black van. She did a lot of crying until a fat man covered her mouth with a duct tape. Then all she could do was to cry with, no sound and only her tears uncontrollably flowing down.
Then she woke up in a dark place sitting on the ground with her hands and feet tied up with a rope. Scared young Arabella tried to make a sound, but the duct tape on her mouth deprived her to shout for help. She could only make a very small sound. After feeling helpless, she cried a lot in fear when somebody held her hand. At first, young Arabella was frightened and struggled from her position wanting to be released from the tie, but to her surprise, the hand that was holding her was just a little bigger than her hand.
"Do not cry." A boy's voice came out. It was calm even they were in the dark place. There was no light at all she could see was the silhouette of a boy a little bigger than her.
Knowing that she was not alone in the dark room, young Arabella wiped her tears, "Who are you?" then she asked.
"I'm also a kid and I was also kidnapped just like you." He cooed.
Even in the dark, she could tell that he was a kid like her. It seemed that he was already there for a long time before she arrived that he managed to take away the duct tape on his mouth. "What are they going to do with us?" She catechized with trembling voice.
"Shhhh... Don't be afraid. Don't move. I will help you to take off the tape on your mouth, but you have to promise me that you won't shout. Okay?" The boy conveyed calmly without any trace of fear in his voice With still tears rolling down from her eyes, young Arabella slightly nodded her head to send him a message that she understood and she agreed with him. She didn't move and that was the only time, she realized that the boy loosened all the ropes on his body. He managed to scratch off the duct tape on her mouth in the dark by gently holding her face tracing down the direction of her mouth.
"Thank you." With a low voice, young Arabella said. She felt relieved after she was released from the ropes, but somehow great fear was still invading her young mind.
"Shhhh... Just be quiet the men might hear us." The boy whispered. "I've been here for 3 days already and I already checked this room, there were no exits. Not even windows." He added with low voice. Right after his words, she heard people outside talking.
"Big Boss said to kill the kids after we get the money." A hoarse voice of a man could be heard.
"That was easy to do. I like killing kids. They are just like insects to me." Another man replied.
Hearing the men's deleterious conversation, young Arabella couldn't help herself but to cry again. She imagined the man like a humongous ugly monster that could eat them in whole like insects. Young Arabella trembled in fear.
"Shhh... Don't make any sound. Let me think of a way for us to get out here." The young boy said, trying to make her calm down.
"But I want to go home now. I miss my parents." Young Arabella tried to make her crying low.
The boy held her hand again.
"Don't worry, we can get out of here together. I promise." The sincerity of his voice made her feel grateful for a moment.
Young Arabella was still scared, but with the presence of the young boy, she felt a little secured. She was amazed of how the boy as young as he was could talk calm in spite of the situation they were in. He was like an adult who had a sense of analytical skills and could talk a lot of bravery.
"Don't move. I will loosen your ties, but we have to pretend that we are still tied up if that door opens." Though in the darkness, the silhouette of the boy could be seen that was pointing to a direction. Then after, he loosened her ties.
Young Arabella breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you." She uttered with a dried throat from crying.
"Be brave." He spoke in a gentle low voice.
"But I am scared." She replied with big tears stuck in her eyes.
"Don't be scared. I promise to protect you." He said with calmness and sincerity.
After hearing him, Young Arabella felt satisfied and delighted then she wiped her tears. She was the only child in their family. She was envious with other kids with siblings in their school. She wished to have a brother or a sister who she could talk and share everything but unfortunately there's none. For a moment, she felt having a big brother who promised to protect her and would not leave her alone. Then her feeling of loneliness a while ago instantly vanished.
"How do we escape? What's the plan?" Young Arabella asked him.
"We don't have to do anything if we want to stay alive. My dad will find me sooner." The boy said.
When he mentioned the word dad, young Arabella cried again. She was hoping that her dad would find her too soon.
"Why are you crying again?" His tone was worried and confused.
"I missed my parents." She sadly replied.
"I am here. Just pretend that I am your brother." Obviously, the boy just wanted her to be at ease with the situation. Crying was no use for this kind of situation.
Young Arabella wiped her tears again and drew a shuddering breath.
The boy didn't talk anymore until gunshots from the outside were heard. Young Arabella panicked and whined. Then suddenly, two small hands covered her ears and they ducked together on the ground. Imprisoned in the dark, two kids were so afraid of their lives without knowing each other and seeing each other's face. All they could do was to trust each other and be each other's emotional support. Then the firing outside stopped. Suddenly, someone kicked the door open and grabbed the boy in the dark. Young Arabella, held the boy's hand tightly, not wanting to release her while crying out loud. The boy struggled and held her hand tightly too.
"No! Don't go! Don't leave me! You promised me!" Young Arabella exclaimed.
"Shhhh... Be strong! I promise to be back and get you out from here." The boy said.
"No! No! No!" Young Arabella shook her head and grabbed the boy's hand more tightly, but her strength was no match for the man who was dragging the boy.
Two kids were trying their best and used their full strength not to be separated with each other, but they have no match on the man's brawniness. Until their hands were forcefully detached with each other. The boy was carried by the man with a strong and assertive manner, but young Arabella chased them to the door, but the strong man pushed her little body abruptly to the ground. Young Arabella plummeted to the floor and then she had felt a heavy pain in her head. There were liquids coming out of her head and ran freely to her forehead down to her cheeks until it touched down to her lips. She tasted her blood. Since the pain was unbearable, she closed her eyes that were full of tears due to pain until she heard another gunshot from the door's direction and someone tumbled on the floor.
More tears rolled down from her eyes as she thought that the one who was shot and fell on the floor was the boy who she considered to be her big brother for a while. In a very short time, she was a little happy to find a kid that was brave and made her feel secure. Even though she didn't see his face because of the darkness in the room, she felt less scared because of his presence.
She tried to open her eyes, but it was too heavy. Then someone, lifted her from the ground. In her blurred vision, she could tell a man was staring and smiling at her with bad intention. She forced her eyes to see the man's face clearly, but it was to no avail.
"Boss I already killed the boy." A proud man came in and said to the man who lifted her body.
"That's good! Then this kid is next." The man who was called the Boss replied.
Young Arabella suffered pain in the heart after hearing that the boy who made promises to her was already dead. They should be out from there safe and alive as to what he had promised. Feeling the extreme pain in her head and the pain in her heart, young Arabella totally collapsed.0000