Twenty

  "Drive!" I bark at the driver again when he disinclined. He turns his head to me, his amber iris scans irritatingly me. I show him a pleading gesture.

"Please, please." I beg.

"Where to, Miss?" I twist my head back and forth, getting updates about his movement.

It is a good thing, he fails to see me enter the Uber.

"Hmmm..."

If I ask him to drive me home, that would be at a great expense of mine and the college-

"Take me to the nearest police department." he nods and proceeds his turn on the wheels.

The car speeds up, forcing me to rest my back on the seat.

If I can get to the station, I can spill out everything that happened and there may be a way to set Stella free. Then Jeremy will have a reason to believe me.

Although, I still feel angry towards him, at the same time I am hurt that he refuses to trust me. Instead, he thinks this is a joke I decided to pull up with the enemy.

"Huur-ry-please hurry, hurry. Please." I breathe with a moan.

"Relax, Miss..."

Subsequently, I turn back and looking through the tainted window to confirm how really far we are from him.

Messiah stands outside the restaurant, one of his hands brush his blond while the other on his hips. The maple trees beside him, close to the aisle that leads to the restaurant just fall in line with other trees along the street.

I sit back thinking about him. Anyone ogling him may have fallen for his innocent look and manly aura. Then I think again, human beings are created to comprehend like one and when they see evil, they flee. People will not fall under his trap.

"You know Miss, you can confide in me and share a story." the driver suggests coolly.

Staring at the nape of his neck, I see a tattoo. I look away, I have been seeing too many tat for a day.

Bad memory, it will forever be, even after today. I am going to pretend that never happened and it will always be a horrible nightmare.

I did not realize tears are dropping from my eyes until the Driver asks if I am okay.

I jolt and look at the rear mirror facing me from the front space. He is obviously peering at me through the mirror.

There lays a stitch on his forehead which half of it reflects on the mirror. I sigh before speaking in a whisper, "I was-kidnapped."

I press my fingers together on my almost exposed thigh. I never understand that the dress is skimpy, dirty, torn, and roughly textured until this decoy.

Gradually, I bury my face in my hands and sob softly. If I've heed to go with Sofia's idea, I will probably be chilling with Netflix and no problem, and have no knowledge the truth, or know what atrocity Ralph has done, that Stella will never leave her son.

I slowly moving my hands to my hair, when the soreness in my head kicks back to life, this probably happens whenever I'm settled.

My eyelids try to shut down, I notice something unusual. The road we are treading on is as quiet as a tarantula, holding definite suspicion.

"W... where're we head to? This road..." I look sideways. Buildings are no longer in sight, all I am seeing are fall trees and silent sand. We are out of town.

"This doesn't look like the police-"

"Calm down, Haley. Everything is under control." he cut in.

"But-wait," I stop dead when I discover something strange and dangerous.

"I never mentioned my name. How did you know that was my name?"

"What?- cut the crap, you... told me." he stammers, yet still driving and force.

I look round the car, it's like every other normal uber I call daily. The warm not cozy seat for passenger which is always black. No rosary hanging in front of the rear mirror, no patching on the seats.

"I didn't."

He glances at me, I take a quick peek at his features. Brown hair in short dreadlocks, the stitch I had seen early, apparently not alone, there are three more, covered on his nose. He might have been in an accident before.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. You did, Miss. I mean, you were saying something about being kidnapped by some gang, Mafia? You said..." he shrugs as he continues talking without giving a flinch if I am listening.

I move closer to the door on the right, I pull the knob closer to try and open it, and it is lock as predicted.

I glance over to him, while survey him I spot a familiar tattoo on his hand as he drives.

My heart seizes up and my head feels ten times bigger. He is one of them. The word alas lays on his hand, close to his thumb on the wheel. His pink long sleeve manages to cover his both arms.

"There is only one way to find out." I say in a husky tone.

"Find-what?"

"Stop the car."

"What...I can't do that, Miss. This is a middle of nowhere." He perk at me again, this time he notices my unease, he squints his amber eyes in alert.

"Stop the god-damned car!" I yelp as I bounce on him struggling to take control of the wheel from him.

His own force seems mightier than mine, he is stronger, faster, and healthier than I am. He can easily use one of his large hands to push me back to the seat and he did, stabbing me back on the seat.

I lay on the seat, the shock from the sudden movement hold me back in place, however, I feel hurt.

"You're just gonna hurt yourself, Haley," he says, breathing.

Without giving up, I hop back on his neck. My hands tighten around it, choking him till I am pleased.

Killing him will only make me a cold-blooded murderer. But I will not stop, I until I get him to stop the car and get my ass far away.

He manages to pull me off his neck again and this time, he pulls out a gun from nowhere. He cocks it at me. I scurry back, close to the door.

"Don't mess with me, Haley. The only thing holding me from not blowing your skull off is Rico."

This is a trap, I should've sense it long ago, right from when he almost hit me.

I inhale a deep breath and close my eyes. I have to do something, fast enough to stop the wheel.

Sitting at the back is an advantage for me if I use it rightly. It is certainly easy to attack him from behind since I am behind him, half and a quarter of his attention is on the road while the other quarter is with me. All I need to do is to get the gun out of his hand and distract him.

I open my eyes. I hum words beneath me with my eyes gazing at the black carpet, covering the rug.

Slowly, I start removing the gauze, using it as a distraction for him. Silly but I hope it works.

"What are you doing?"

I ignore him.

"Hey! Hey! I'm talking to you-"

I look up, move close enough at a speedy rate, and grab the gun from his reach when he is not looking.

I squat on the seat and point the pistol towards his head with my hands quivering, I press the gun harder.

"Now, stop the car."