"Ring...Ring...Ring" Charlie still didn't answer his phone and Emma was starting to get worried.
After waiting for almost three minutes of calling his phone, Emma decided to leave the café and go to another place with Charlie because no one would still take her order yet. As she was walking towards the door she suddenly felt a pair of cold yet familiar pair of hands grab her shoulders whiling tying something around her eyes. Emma heard the waitress speaking in a hushed tone
" Make sure no one sees you or I'll get fired, got it?" Someone said
"Yeah, whatever, it's not like anyone will see us remember" The man who was holding Emma was speaking with clarity while talking with the waitress
Emma didn't even know what was going on but since it was taking forever for them to get outside, she figured they were going towards the back door. She felt the cold wind hit her face imagining she was already outside, she decided to try something she saw on one of her television shows. Emma began to scream so loud that guy restraining her was astounded by her choice of actions that he let her go for one second. Emma took this as an opportunity to punch him hard aiming towards his face and took off running in the other direction.
"Thud" The man fell down on the floor
" Sorry...not sorry" Emma spoke with a grin while trying to regain her breath
As soon as Emma turned around to continue running the heck out of there, she noticed something to her left that seemed to look like a narrow hallway. Emma made sure she wasn't being followed by the mysterious man, but as she turned around, she realized that she knocked him out. She squinted her eyes and started to walk towards the motionless mysterious man laying on the dirt covered floor. Emma noticed that the man was wearing a navy blue sweater with a white stain on the top left shoulder.
"Where have I seen this before?"
She wanted to make sure that the man was not awake, so she got a stick that was from a nearby puddle and slowly poked him with the stick. After realizing that he was unconscious, Emma carefully turned the man over and removed the hoodie.
"Oh my god...what the?" Emma began to come up with a thousand questions. She couldn't believe that her best friend Charlie would be the one who was restraining her.
EARLIER THAT DAY...
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“BEEP....BEEP....BEEP...BE-”
Emma got the alarm clock and threw it on the floor. She never really liked waking up in the mornings, but today she had to. She was meeting Charlie at the coffee house for an unknown reason, but as long as there was food, she would go wherever. She got up and out of her bed waiting anxiously for her dad to wake up. They got tickets to go see an art show in the city which was hosted by some famous artist that was just being discovered, so luckily the tickets did not cost as much.
" Morning Dad, are you ready for today?" Emma asked with excitement
" Morning sweetie and um what do you mean by that?" Her dad clearly didn't know what was happening.
"Come on dad, please don't tell me you forgot about the art show! I have been reminding you about it for like the past month about it. It's not like you could forget this!" Emma spoke to him with a tone of voice that he did not hear often.
" I'm sorry it's just been a really hard day at work and I have been working extra hours. And just last night my boss told me to work a few extra hours tonight so I'll be home later than usual. " Her dad said with a tired voice.
"How late?" Emma asked uneasily
"Late enough that I know I won't be able to go." Her dad spoke
They both stood there in a silence that was slightly turning into an awkward one by the second. Emma cleared her throat and took out her cup from the bright blue painted cabinet to make herself some hot chocolate.
"So I'm guessing that I'll be taking Charlie then?" Emma asked with anticipation even though it sounded more of a statement rather than a question.
"Yeah sure but just get home safely okay? I better start leaving if I don't want to be late." Her dad spoke with a hurried voice as he checked his watch
"Bye dad, love-... you!" Emma sighed the last word to her dad. She spoke to late and wasn't even sure her dad heard her. He was out the door faster than she expected.
Emma decided to call Charlie and ask him about the tickets. She finally finished put on a pair of black leggings, a white over sized sweater with some combat boots while she quickly fixed her hair into a messy bun. Emma grabbed her keys and locked the door to the apartment and walked to the elevator. In the meantime, while waiting in the elevator, she decided to call Charlie.
"RING...RIN-"
"Hello, Emma?" Charlie spoke
"Hey Charlie yeah it's me. Um I wanted to know if you're able to meet me so we can talk." Emma asked hopefully
"Yeah sure no problem, but at the usual place right?"
"Yup but make sure to bring your money cause this entire week I've been giving the check. I actually think that I have spent almost half of my saved money on your coffee, so you better bring some cash" Emma tried to sound aggressive but came out in a jokingly manner.
" Yeah whatever, I know you love me enough to pay for my own car." Charlie said jokingly
"Okay just make sure you get here fast cause I'm almost there." Emma said while walking around the corner.
"Okay, see ya" Charlie said
" Bye" Emma responded
Emma began to see the brown rusty café sign as she approached the door. As she opened the door she noticed that it began to rain. She quickly entered the shop and ran towards the order station. She noticed that the café only had a few people.
"Probably cause of the rain" Emma thought
Emma started to take notice that she has been here few minutes and no one has come up to her and started to wonder where all of the workers were. She decided to go into a room with a sign that said "Employees only"
" Oh well, no one is looking. And besides, if I get caught what would I get in trouble for?"
As Emma quietly tiptoed towards to door, she turned around to make sure no one saw her. The coast was clear. She pushed the door ever so slightly that it made an awful screeching noise. And as unlucky as has ever been, one of the employees came out of the nowhere from behind her.
" What are you doing back here, you don't work here?" One of the waitresses asked
Emma didn't want to turn around so all she did was stay frozen and hoped that the waitress wasn’t talking to her.
" You know I can see you right? You're not invisible" The waitress said with a high pitched voice
"Right now I wish I was though" Emma thought
" Look I'm sorry I thought this was the way to the bathroom" Emma said with a awkward grin.
"yeah whatever, I don't even care. Just as long as my boss doesn't see you." She said with a bored voice
" Okay, um can I order now? I'm getting hungry" Emma asked annoyed with this conversation
"I'm on my break, you can wait." The waitress said with an unpleasant tone as she walked back into what seemed as the worker' lounge.
Emma sat down patiently waiting for Charlie to come. When she checked her watch, she began to notice that it was taking Charlie more time than expected. And Charlie was never the one to be late besides once but Emma was told to never speak about it because it made Charlie really upset, even though it was pretty funny from her point of view considering the situation had nothing to do with her. As she slipped out of her fun trip down memory lane, she began to get up out of the comfy brown couch and began to wander around the coffee shop to look at the pictures. Seeing that all the pictures were the same with just old photographs of old buildings, she decided to call Charlie one more time...
Back to the Present
*****************************
Emma noticed Charlie stirring around so she quickly got up from the ground and began running the opposite direction. She luckily had a head start but eventually Charlie caught up to her and pulled Emma back by her baby blue jacket.
"Ugh.. Charlie stop, I just bought this jacket!" Emma said while struggling to get out of his grip.
"Shut up!" Charlie spat at her
"Well, isn't someone being narky today" Emma spoke sarcastically
Emma felt a sharp pain erupt in the back of her head before she was surrounded by the darkness. Emma squinted her eyes opened and adjusted them to the light coming from the window next to her. She realized that she was not anywhere near the coffee shop, so she started to breath heavily until she realized that her arms were tied together with rope. She began to "untie" the knots even though she knew she could not. But it was worth a shot.
"You will just make it worse for yourself if you continue to struggle." A voice came from the other side of the room. It was Charlie
"Care to explain Charlie, or is that even your real name considering that the whole 'best friend' jig was a lie" Emma asked rudely.
"Now who said I wasn't your best friend?" Charlie asked oblivious to the situation
" What kind of friend practically kidnaps them for no apparent reason!?" Emma asked impatiently
"Yeah your right but guess what? I never really considered you as a friend. Enemy? Yes. But Friend? Absolute N-O" Charlie said making sure to clarify the word "NO"
Emma found a piece of broken glass next to her so she cautiously grabbed it without being caught by Charlie and began to cut off the rope. Since Emma didn't really care about what Charlie had to say, she tuned him out.
"Zuzz" Emma finally cut the rope in half
She was about to attack Charlie when she heard him talking about her father and how he is in the process of being killed at the moment.
She was trying to process all of what was happening but she was to flabbergasted and taken aback. And then Emma suddenly woke up from her state of shock and realized what he just said and tried to lunge herself on Charlie only to realize that she was tied up in a mess of ropes on the ground.
She grasped his neck with her fingers like claws. Emma found his spot of weakness and punched him on the spot, causing them both to fall down. Since Emma was on top of him, she had the advantage. She suddenly had a moment of confidence and took out her hand from behind her back and started hitting him with all her might as Charlie was doing the best to stop her. Emma did not know whose screaming were louder hers or Charlie's. As Emma was fighting Charlie, she let out every ounce of anger she ever had build up inside of her and let it all out.
"That is ENOUGH!" Charlie yelled at her
This caused Emma to stumble back. Charlie had gotten on top of Emma and had a hold of Emma's arms and legs so there was no way for her to fight back.
"I suggest that if you want you and your father to live, then you better start listening to me and doing what I say or you'll end up nowhere" Charlie said with a rude tone.
"What do you want me to do" Emma said with a voice and face pure of hatred
To Be Continued...