Burning Desire

I've been standing at the school gate for more than two hours, trying to call Mackenzie — my mother — who doesn't answer the phone and lets all my calls go to voicemail, it's been twenty-three so far.

I decide to give up, the sun is setting, so I choose to walk home, although it's almost two hours of walking, it's better than staying here waiting for her infinitesimally. Thanking you for this being my last school year, before I finally enter college.

My feet are starting to hurt, and I'm not even halfway there yet. I decide to change direction, turning right and following a narrow, not very busy alley. Normally, I would avoid passing by at all costs, but I'm exhausted, hungry, thirsty and my feet are throbbing. All I want is to get home, take a shower and eat something.

I walk more slowly when I hear some voices, which get louder as I get closer. My instinct tells me to run, but my curiosity keeps me going, and it wins. As soon as I turn left, into a dead-end street, I come across seven men, five of them armed, who start shooting at two beaten and bleeding bodies on the ground.

Taken by surprise by the first shots and with fright I end up screaming, putting my hand over my mouth, drawing their attention to me. It's at this moment that I realize I have become a witness to a crime they didn't want. They all wear black clothes, with long overcoats, exposed faces and drawn weapons.

I prepared to run, when I heard one of them voices and the sound of a gun being loaded.

— Stay where you are, sweetie. If you run, I'll shoot you and blow your brains out on those walls — terrified, I obeyed, shaking and crying. And the first thing I notice is their accent, they're not from here. — TSK, TSK — he says, shaking his head as he approaches me. I want to run at the same time, when I can't move — What bad luck, sweetie, wrong place and time to be. Unfortunately, we can't leave loose ends, can we Heros?

— Get it over with, Luther! We don't have all day. — The gentleman who is taller than the other four and has light eyes is in charge. That must be their leader.

The one in front of me, a brunette with dark brown hair with some sunburned highlights, and amber brown eyes that shine with amusement as he looks me up and down, mutters: “What a waste” and points the gun at my forehead. . Sh*t! Where did I get myself? I will have to beg and plead for my life. So I start:

— No! No, no. Please! Please, I promise not to tell anyone what I saw here. I beg you! — I fall to my knees, starting to beg for my life to this Luther guy, since he is in charge. As shitty as she is, I still don't want to die at eighteen, and as a virgin! — I… please, I just don't want to die yet. I'm so young! All I want is to just go home, rest and soak my feet.

I remain there on my knees, crying and begging them. I look at the one with light eyes called Heros, who has blond hair, and now noticing his blue-green eyes better, besides being the tallest, he is stronger than everyone else.

— I just turned eighteen, I haven't even lived my life yet, please, just let me go. My family must be terrified behind me. Please. I didn't see anything, I swear! — I keep begging them. — Why is everything going wrong for me today? I should have gone the other way, accepted the d*mn ride from my colleagues when they offered it to me and I refused, so I could wait for my mother who said she would pick me up, so she would end up forgetting me once again. Drug!

I sob and start to cry desperately.

One of the men, the one closest to the leader, whose name I still don't know — he has tanned skin, small, grayish-blue eyes — takes a step forward and holds my arm tightly. Cold and sadistic eyes, and all my instincts tell me that I shouldn't provoke him, as much as the green-eyed one.

— We can't let you go, girl; you know too much. We're not just anyone to make a beginner's mistake like that — he strokes my face with the tip of his pocket knife — But I confess that it will be a shame to have to part with something so beautiful.

— Please, I promise that nothing that happened here will come out of my mouth. I just want to go home and be able to take a shower and rest — I keep crying, trying to gain their empathy. They wouldn't kill a defenseless teenager and woman, or would they?

“Let's see what we do with you,” he says, a cruel smile forming on his face.

The others laugh, and my heart squeezes in my chest. Noticing the others approaching, surrounding me like helpless prey to a pack of hungry wolves. I swallow hard, preparing myself for the worst. My legs are shaking, but I need to stay calm if I want to get out of here alive, even if I have to humiliate myself and keep begging them.

— Please, I just want to go home — I repeat, trying to hold back the tears.

I try to think of a way to get out of their clutches. If I say that my family has money, they can take me hostage, even though they have already noticed that my school uniform is from a private school. I can lie and say I'm not a scholarship holder. And so being, in fact, poor, with a single mother who takes care of me and five other children, which could make them discard me right here because my mother will be busy taking care of my brothers, so if you want to feel my lack.

— Let her go! — the blonde says, and I let out a relieved sigh, already getting up and picking up my backpack that I had dropped on the floor.

— Heros, are you sure about this? — another one who hadn't said anything until the moment he asked the question, he has slightly darker hair, falling into his eyes, messy and brighter blue eyes than the other two.

— Let her go. Go, run! — Heros, he shouts, scaring me. — NOW!

I just get up, feeling dizzy, turn around and start running, but the moment I reach the corner, my hair is pulled and my back collides with a hard body behind me. The other hand came to rest on my waist, with the tip of the gun pointed at me. Drug! One wrong move could end up killing me right here, or leaving me unable to escape, stretched out on this floor, in agony with pain and bleeding, alongside the other bodies, waiting for help that may be too late.

I need to be smarter and smarter than them and I can't do anything while he has the tip of his gun pressed against me and my body is pinned to his.

— On second thought, you're coming with us, sweet — he says, running the tip of his tongue over my ear, before biting, his voice sounding hoarse next to my ear. My heart races as he approaches abruptly and the cold of the gun barrel touches my hot skin. — Take care of her! — Suddenly I am released by him, being thrown into the arms of Luther, the dark-skinned man with dark eyes. I almost fall, but he catches me by trapping me in his arms, circling them around my waist. I feel his tongue running across my cheek, collecting one of my tears.

— If you cooperate, no one will get hurt. Did you understand? — the brunette says, and I nod, trying to control my panic. I have to remain calm and not try to act impulsively, they are armed and would not hesitate to shoot me, regardless of whether I am a woman or a simple teenager. Considering the bodies lying and shot on the ground, they are not men to show mercy to anyone.

They are not Russians, so whatever reason they are here in Russia has been resolved in this alley, and now I find myself in the hands of five ruthless killers — who are probably English — without knowing what they will do to me and where they will go. Take me.

When we get into the car and I am thrown into it, before it starts moving and the door closes, I try to throw myself out of it, but a hand comes from behind me and puts a cloth over my face, making me inhale a strong smell. . I squirm desperately and in seconds, I feel my vision start to cloud and darkness takes me.