Jade's eyes fluttered open, and the room was pitch dark. Well, that is one way to write a compelling story, but let me rephrase and return to why she was in a dark room without sounding too cliché.
Jade had been up late, staying longer than she normally would at the café to finish inventory on her boss's behalf. The "open" sign flickered endlessly on the window while the rain tapped gently against the glass. Needless to say, the rain was yet another reason she chose to stay back that night.
"Don't walk home alone." This was Pascal, her favorite co-worker. His warning was firm, yet his smile was soft.
"It's just three blocks." She laughed it off, opened the umbrella, and stepped outside. The city was quiet, as expected on a rainy night. Even Jade could not wait to curl up under a blanket until morning, but little did she know about the danger lurking in the near future, eventually leading to why she was in a dark room.
Her sneakers splashed softly in shallow puddles. She had taken the umbrella but not a jacket, an honest mistake, but home was close by. She could endure that long enough. Then her phone buzzed. Careful not to let it get wet in the drizzle, Jade picked up the call.
"Hello?" Her tone was curious. It was an unknown number, and given how unsafe the city was at the time, she could have ignored it. "Hello," she said again. This time, a frown appeared on her face because she never got a reply from the caller. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and increased her pace, suddenly regretting her decision to stay back at the café. She had walked for a few minutes and had not spotted a single person on the street. Even the streetlights that night appeared like something out of a crime scene, literally.
Just when she thought to increase her pace and make it home quickly, a black SUV came hauling along the street. It looked normal at first, and Jade kept her eyes off it, until it stopped right next to her and the headlights went off.
"Hmm." She was not comfortable with this and did not stop moving. Although it was nothing unusual, she crossed the street, pretending not to notice the car. Still, nothing seemed out of place. It looked like a random vehicle that had just stopped by the side of the road, but she had every reason to be worried and increased her pace so quickly that she was panting in no time.
She lost sight of the car in the distance and thought she was safe until she turned the corner toward her apartment. She exhaled, thinking that she was home at last and safe from whatever danger was outside. However, the streetlight above her flickered once, then twice, and went off.
Could be electrical issues, she thought.
Before she could take another step, footsteps rushed from behind. There was no time to react when a hand clamped over her mouth and another arm locked around her waist, yanking her backward.
The umbrella fell to the ground. While she tried to scream, and the hand on her mouth tightened, forcing her to swallow the sound.
"Stay quiet," a voice hissed near her ear. "Don't worry, we are not going to hurt you. It will be over quickly."
Panic erupted inside her chest as every terrible possibility flashed through her mind. She could barely struggle against their strong arms and could only fear for her life or her dignity, whichever one the monsters were after. They dragged her farther from her apartment and into a dark alley, so dark that she could barely tell if it was the path between Mr. Pam's family house for both his wives or Karen's backyard warehouse.
The second she got a chance, Jade kicked violently, biting and clawing at skin she could not see. Her nails scraped across one of their clothes and dug into flesh, and to be honest, it hurt her almost as much as it hurt him.
"Shit," the man cursed, yet he did not budge. She bit the hand covering her mouth, and the man swore, pulled his hand away, and smacked her across the face.
"Hey," his fellow scolded him. "She is not to be manhandled, got it?" His partner did not respond. "At least not until she gets to the rightful owner."
Jade's heart sank even further listening to these men converse. Her fate seemed tied to something more devastating, and these men were not the masterminds, just pawns in the game of the man who truly wanted to use her. But who was he? It did not take long before she felt herself surrendering to the possibility of her fate. It was either kidnapping or something worse, and without anyone to get ransom money from, she was as good as dead.
Eventually, they took her through the alley, passing several shortcuts until they arrived at a street she barely recognized. Right in front of her was the SUV she had avoided the entire time. The window rolled down, and a flashlight was pointed at her face. She could not make out the features of the figure staring at her, but he saw everything he needed and nodded at the others.
"Get her in. She's good cash."
Jade interpreted that as one thing. Kidnapping. There was no time to process the entire scenario. Her heart throbbed in her chest. She wanted to scream, but her mouth was sealed shut by a powerful hand. She wished to break free but felt too weak to do anything.
The next second, she felt a sting on the side of her neck, sharp and almost painless. The first effect of whatever was injected into her was numbness, she was paralyzed from the neck down almost instantly. Then came the dizziness, and finally her eyes were too heavy to remain open, so she snapped them shut. The last thing she saw was the faint red glow at the end of a cigarette held inside the car, a detail that meant nothing to her at the time.