My steps were getting faster and faster the closer I got. I was craving a shower. The whole week, the classes, everything--I was excited to wash it all off of me. Few more blocks and you're home, girl, I though, and felt my feet have accelerated a tiny bit as if in excitement.
I hate to stay at school this late in the afternoon, we all do, and I am sure that Attwood knows this. Why else would he keep on speaking twenty bloody minutes after his lesson ended, I wondered. The last lesson in the Friday afternoon? To torture as, that's why!
A quill might be mightier than a sword, but apparently neither trumps the authority of a professor that gets to decide if you pass the class or not. So we all stayed to the very end, and we all dispersed as soon as we could.
The streets were getting empty as people ware already home from work. Those about to kick the Friday night out have not got out of their homes yet. The autumn weather have not exactly invited one to spend time out, unless you had a good reason to, so there was pretty much no one around. Good time for a walk. Especially, good time for a walk home.
I turned quickly when a car stopped right next to me. It has not stopped as cars do, it just halted on a spot. And, it was not a car, it was a rather big van with sliding doors. I recognized the doors slide to open, because the moment I looked that way the door were already open. And, so was my mouth seeing a pair of men--with ski masks over their heads--hopping out and running towards me. My legs froze on that very spot and I could not move in any direction. Four eyes, that was all I could see of the men, were looking straight at me when I stood there like a statue anchored to the sidewalk. The direction I moved towards eventually, was inside the van when the two men grabbed me by my arms, and showed me there like a bag of potatoes.
The moment I remembered to start kicking and screaming, I heard the door have shut close. All the light disappeared and all I felt was rough grip around my wrists. My hands were twisted behind my back while I was laying there face down. Then, with the squealing tires, the van headed off again.
Second or so later, the driver hit the brakes completely out of the blue, and both the strangers somersaulted over my lying body. It must have been both of them, as it took them some time and cursing to untangle all the legs and elbows I felt swirling over my back. When I could, I tried to get up to my feet, but their hands found me--even in the dark--before I got up, and pushed me back forcing me to lay down. They grabbed me by whatever they found, my coat, my wrist, my hair and torn me down again. I ended up pinned to the floor with someone's knee piercing my back painfully. With every breath I made, a staggering pain hit me in between my shoulder blades where they knelt on me. Just moving my arms up--so I can protect my head from further pushing and dragging--got me to squeal in pain.
I got out few "No"s and "Au"s when I realized that the driver is talking with someone. A woman, it seemed. Not that I could see any of that. There was nothing but a faint beam of light getting inside through a tiny window leading to the cabin. I slowly started to recognize shapes around me as my eyes were getting used to the dark I found myself in. I yelled some more, but the voices continued uninterrupted. At that moment, a rough big hand covered my mouth, so I could barely make any sound at all. I kept trying though, until my futile attempts got interrupted.
"Get her out!" shouted the driver after slamming the bulkhead loudly.
"What?" hissed a voice right into my ear. The knee moved a bit, and I closed my eyes in pain. I felt two tiny tears have rolled down my tightly shut eyelids.
"Just get her out, now!" the driver insisted, still shouting. Then the door swung open from the outside, I was grabbed by my arms again and pushed out. I swished through the air, closely missing the driver that was now climbing back to the front seat again.
I stumbled when my feet hit the sidewalk focusing all my energy on trying not to collapse on the pavement. I still kinda did. When I got to stand still enough to turn around, I saw an old black van taking off rapidly, and like in a dream, I watched the car fading to the distance.
I stood there like parallelized, observing what was happening as if it was a movie. Once I got back some control of my own body, I was quite surprised to realize that what I am holding in my hands--both of them--are my glasses. I stared at them, thinking of how they got there. Then I looked around, as if searching for someone who would help me understand that.
The street was calm, and almost empty. "I got to call the police," I said aloud, and reached out for the bag that I carried over my shoulder. But, it was not there! I looked around frantically as one would look for a dog that was--just a second ago--wandering around somewhere near to one's feet. "My bag!" I exclaimed again. There was a figure on the same sidewalk walking away from me not that far away. It was clear that she--because it was woman--was not having my bag, but I run towards her anyway. It was the only person around, the only person that could help me, I thought.
She looked apparently surprised when I coughed her up. "They took my bag," I said and waived my hand in the direction the van have just disappeared. "They put me in a van, they took my bag, and then they kicked me off again. Did you see that?" I got out, pausing for breath a few times.
"Your bag?" she went on and looked in the direction I was pointing to.
"Yeah, with all my stuff in it. I need to call the police, but I can't 'cause my phone was there too."
She made few searching looks around the street, and then her hand slid into her purse. It eventually emerged holding a cell phone, and I thanked her instinctively before she even started dialing a number.
I looked into the distance, and she was bending over the display. Entire street was quite empty. The lady begun pacing while speaking to the cell phone. I put my glasses back on, and redone my ponytail instinctively. These mechanic movements was about all I was able to do right now. I checked up on myself, my hands. my legs, all I could see seemed fine. No pain, no blood, no torn clothes, that was all on the plus side. No wallet, no keys, no cellphone, no laptop--well, those were the minuses.
I tried to replay what happened in my head, but it all felt so blurry. The blood was still pumping loudly in my head, and I could feel a cold sweat all over my body. I slowly started to become aware of things around me, but I could barely focus on any of them. My hands ware shaking, I could see that. I folded them instinctively and begun to look around. The reality of a late afternoon town still felt quite distant to me.
The lady kept talking to the phone, without turning back to me. I walked up and around her, so she can see me, but she signaled me to wait until she is done with the call. It did not sound like she is talking to the police, though. But I was too shocked to worry. Too shocked to suspect.
"So, what did they say?" I asked once she was done with the "ah-hah"s to whoever was on the other end of the line.
"They will be here in an hour" she said looking around the street. She looked as worried as I was. Her eyes eventually stopped moving around and ended up looking at me, but she said nothing more, although it seemed there might be something she would like to say.
"Did you see what happened?" I said looking straight at her. I could not imagine that she would not notice all the fuzz we made, and simply kept on walking like that. She must saw something.
"Well..." said she, with a long pause, looking around the street nervously. And then it struck me like a lighting--it was her arguing with the driver. It was not a passenger on a front seat, no, I was her voice!
"You talked to them!" I accused her, plain and simple. She was apparently surprised, she opened her mouth to speak, but did not get any word out. "What the hell was that?" I inquired. Things slowly started to get back to me, and I was beginning to think straight.
"Look..." she began, but I gave her no chance to add much to it.
"And why did they want to..." I paused and looked towards the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the street. The man was too far to hear us, but I whispered anyway "... to kidnap me?"
"Let me explain." she said while coming closer to me, "Let's sit for a coffee, I will explain, and I promise it will all make sense to you".
