Chapter 0

The present…

Dragging the air to his lungs, as if it was his first breath, Adam woke up pulling himself up.

"It was just a dream…" He said to himself trying to ease his heartbeat that was making him choke. "A fucked up one. I should really stop drinking."

Adam said the same thing every time he felt the ruthless side effects of a night out. As in any other morning after a party, the twenty-one year old Playboy woke up with a massive headache.

He grunted and squeezed his eyes tight as pain pierced his temples. The Playboy regretted every decision he ever made.

Feeling his head weighing one hundred kilos he stayed quiet and immobile, waiting for the sting to settle down. 

"Shit, where am I?" 

That morning was unusually dark, he didn't know if his eyes were either open or still closed. It didn't matter how many times he blinked, trying to get used to the darkness, he couldn't see anything. 

"Mom is gonna strangle me if I miss breakfast..."

The hungover man took a deep breath to prepare himself for the suffering that would hit him once he stood up. With an impulse he pulled up his torso but was held back. 

In his arms and legs he felt pain after trying to get off the bed. Something extremely heavy was immobilizing his limbs. 

"What the-" He tried again, this time with more strength. 

The second attempt was even worse than the first—it felt as if he had no arms or legs, he couldn't feel them.

And still Adam didn't move.

Something was off. It was too dark, his eyes couldn't capture any light as if light itself didn't exist. Blind and unable to move, triggered something in him. 

"What the fuck is happening?!" Screaming into the void was all he could think of to release some of the stress. If there was anyone around, they would hear him.

Adam didn't know where he was. Feeling panic lingering in his mind he tried to remember what happened before he went to sleep. 

Where was I? 

As he forced his memory, his temples pulsate with pain. It felt like his mind was blocked and he couldn't remember anything about how he got there. 

A sudden urge to get in touch with his mother struck him. Adam had a distressing feeling towards his mother. She would've already barged in and pulled him out of the covers by the ears. 

Unfortunately, she did not come. His thoughts began to echo back to him. Each one bounced around in every direction. 

Was he really awake? It was hard to determine what was real since he had no recollection of how he got there. 

What is the worst thing that could happen to him? Having been kidnapped. Maybe he had ditched the security again and ended up causing a mess with the wrong people… again. 

"Fuck mom is gonna kill me if they don't…" 

Having established he wasn't in his house, the boy had only one card to play, his most powerful one.

"If you want money just lemme call my mother and she'll send it to you." Hearing his own voice talk back to him was nerve wracking. "Just don't hurt me."

"Money has no value here, Adam." 

Speaking calmly from within the darkness, a deep older male voice shook the ground underneath him. As he heard his name a cold chill froze his stomach. 

Money always worked. What kind of thug didn't want money?

"I can give you whatever you want, just lemme call my mother." 

Even if he was frightened, Adam was glad he was not alone anymore, at least he could try to convince the guy to take the money and let him go.

"What I want doesn't matter." 

The thunder voice echoed into infinity, insinuating they were in open space. Adam felt a powerful presence getting close to him.

"Fuck you, get me out of here!" The Young man shouted, in a mix of angst and fear as he faced the unknown trapped and unable to feel his limbs.

What happened? Where was I last night? Adam tried to push through the pain to recover any memory at all, until a flash popped into his mind.

Adam don't!

It was his mother's voice. She was begging him to stop but he couldn't see what he was doing or where they were. All he knew is that she was frightened but why?

"I didn't bring you here." The voice was close, bringing back the boy's mind. "You did. You got yourself in this position, Adam."

The dodgy attitude and the charades were more stressful than being paralyzed in the dark. 

Helpless, with no clue if the voice was evil or not, Adam's mind started to get taken over by despair, until a light popped out in his brain.

"Holy shit!" He said in a mix of excitement and surprise. "This is a dream."

As if he had found gold in the trash, Adam felt like the brightest person in the world. To regain conscience in the middle of a dream was not for everybody. 

"Sorry, man, keep going. I'll play along." Said he, fixing himself to get comfortable in the restraints.

Adam relaxed and took a deep breath to get back into character. 

"You are not gonna get away with this, fella!" Deepening his voice to sound more heroic. He had assumed a theatrical stereotyped hero personality. "You should get out while you can. I'm not gonna be merciful when I get rid of these ties." 

Breathing heavily in a forced way, he paused dramatically waiting for the man to do his line. 

After a while in complete silence and darkness, the voice didn't reply.

"Hey!" Adam whispered loudly in his usual voice. "It's your line. Oh, and take out my blindfold!"He continued his act, excited for the action scene that would come next. "Look me in the eyes, if you are man enough." 

"This is not a joke Adam. You can't run away from this." The voice was blunt and dry, making the boy fall into silence. 

Worried that was really happening, Adam didn't know what to do. If they didn't want money and that wasn't a dream, he was in big trouble. That would explain the weird sensation of shame he had, as if he had disappointed his mother somehow.

"What happened?" Adam asked in a somber tone, ready to face reality. 

"You died." 

Easily the man answered, as if it meant nothing special but still it made Adam's heart pound.