Chaotic Confusion
Her eyes darted in confusion and her breathing hiked. She slowly got up, trying hard to place the puzzle pieces together. But her jumbled mind refused to assist her. She closed her eyes tightly, willing her mind to focus, but to no avail.
Something in the back of her mind nagged her incessantly. She knew it was the missing puzzle piece. She knew it was the only piece she needed to regain normality. She closed her eyes again, trying even harder to focus on that nagging feeling.
She tried to reach for it, grasping the air, hoping to grab the missing piece.
There was a car. It was black with tinted windows. There had been a familiar face revealed when the window went down. She tried to remember the face. Was it a man? A woman? She couldn't quite remember. There had been a scream but she couldn't remember whether it had been hers or a strangers.
She sighed in frustration and opened her eyes. Maybe if she gained her bearings, she'd be able to make sense of everything.
She squinted in the darkness but it made no difference. She couldn't see anything, not even the shadows that hugged her.
She tried to rub her eyes and then frowned in confusion. Her hands were bound tightly in front of her. How had she not realised that the moment she had gotten up? She tried to wrench her hands free. What was it that had her bounded? She brought her hands to her face and felt the material with her cheek. Rope? It sure felt like rope. And it was too thick to escape from. She groped around in the darkness to feel her legs. There was something soft that held them together. Too soft to be a rope.
She fiddled with the material and to her astonishment, she felt it loosen. The material was too soft, it had to be a scarf.
After a few minutes, her feet were freed. She stretched it out in front of her and wiggled her toes. She needed the feeling back into her feet. Slowly, she got to her feet, grabbing at nothing in particular.
She took a cautious step forward and bumped into something. It groaned and moved and she jumped back.
"What?" The somewhat familiar voice croaked. "What's happening?"
She gasped. It was her sister that she hadn't seen in over three years.
"Ara?" She asked, referring to her sister's nickname. "Is that you?"
The figure grunted in pain and then stopped short. "Layya?"
"It's me!" Layya replied, dropping to her knees. "What happened?"
Ara grimaced. "It hurts so bad."
"What hurts?"
"Everything."
Layya felt around and when her hand met her sister's, she felt a spark of hope. She could see the outline of her sister's sprawled body and quickly made her way to the feet. She needed to unbind her. Working quickly and carelessly, she loosened the scarf that had held her sister's legs together.
Then she grabbed her sister's hands and tried to loosen the rope. After what felt like hours, the rope came loose.
"Thanks." Ara croaked. "Let me untie you."
Ara took forever to loosen the rope and finally, Layya's hands were free. She impulsively hugged her sister and was surprised when her sister hugged her back.
"I can't remember what happened." Layya said.
"All I remember is that our long lost Aunt called me from a black car."
Layya could feel the puzzle pieces slowly falling into place.
Her long lost Aunt had called her too, but she hadn't been with Ara. She had been with her best friend who had urged her to greet her family. She had been reluctant though. She didn't trust her Aunt and she had been right not to. The skinny lady had told her that there was an emergency and had lured her into the vehicle. Layya couldn't remember what had happened after that and she had a sneaky suspicion as to why. She had been drugged.
"What's going on?" Layya asked.
Ara related her story which sounded much like Layya's.
"But she isn't really our Aunt, you know?" Ara said.
"How do you know that?"
"I remember mum and dad talking the day before they met up in that accident. They didn't trust her. She had been mum's unofficial adopted sister. And she's evil. She just wants our inheritance now that we both have rights to it."
"How do you know all of this?"
"I've been doing my research. I didn't mean to stay away for so long. After our fight, I was supposed to come back but I was so close to finding out everything that I couldn't just leave it. I wanted to come back but I always felt like I was being watched. It seemed like I was. Two weeks ago when you turned eighteen, I had to see you, I was so careful though. I thought I was clever enough to escape them, I thought they lost me. I saw you with your friends from the restaurant window. My heart yearned to get closer to you but I couldn’t. Not until I knew you were safe.”
Layya stared at her sister and a feeling of warmth spread through her.
“Before I get sentimental, let’s get out of here!”
The two sisters slowly made their way out of the abandoned warehouse. When they finally got out, the light almost blinded them. They squinted in the brightness, trying hard to adjust the the light.
•
A year later, and Layya and Ara’s aunt was behind bars, keeping them safe from the evil woman. The sisters had spent most of their time together, making up for the years that they had lost.
They truly believed that they were safe, they even stopped looking over their shoulders and locking their doors.
But it was a mistake. Because this world is rife with evil and evil doesn’t just disappear...
Disclaimer: I tried to rework this ending but it just didn’t want to go anywhere. Apologies!
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