Empowered by the rush of determination, she intended to tell them just that, but the words waiting for her almost knocked her off her feet.
You’re in danger.Go.Home.Now.
“What?”She actually asked the word aloud, even though doing so made no sense.
There was no danger, save for the ice and the distraction of their messages.More to the point, there was no way they could have known where she was, or whether she was in trouble or not.
“This madness has to stop.”She paused her pursuit of pizza again to tell them so.
I don’t know who you are or why you’re doing this, but stop.
She hit the send button before starting to type a short conclusion.
If you’re trying to frighten me, then it’s not working.I—
“Hey, darling!”
Her fingers stilled over whatever she was going to type next, the thought obliterated when she glanced up and took in the three men suddenly looming around her.
“Are you lost?”The dirty blonde one cocked an eyebrow at her, his lips twisting into an ugly smirk.
“No,” she replied, fumbling her phone back into her pocket as the three of them moved in closer.She should have been using it to call for help, but in the haze of her rising unease, she didn’t think.She’d taken a few steps on from the front of the newsagent’s and found herself trapped against an unforgiving brick wall.“I’m fine, thanks.”
“You look lost.”The darker-haired guy flashed a grin.“And, you know, it’s getting late.Probably best that a pretty young thing like you isn’t out on the street on her own.”
“I’m fine,thank you.”Her tone was firmer that time, belying the panic shooting fireworks into her mind.
She despised situations like the one she’d inadvertently fallen into, moments when she felt forced to be polite to people who almost certainly did not have her best interests at heart.But what other choice was there?As a woman, she was physically smaller and weaker than all three of them, let alone the fact that she was outnumbered.Life had taught women like her that the only hope of worming their way out of hazardous settings like that one was to play along and smile, praying they wouldn’t provoke the angry bear, but deep down, she was angry at the inference.Fed up with Shaun, her mysterious messenger,andthe morons surrounding her.
“I’m almost home.”
“Oh, you live around here, do you?”the third, and stockier, one asked in a wry tone.“Then, shouldn’t you know better than to be out here on your own, love?”
“Can you move out of my way, please?”Scanning all three of them, she sharpened her tone as much as her galloping heart would permit.“I have somewhere to be.”
“Yeah.”The blonde took another step toward her, his comrades mirroring the deed to ensure the semi-circle around her was slowly reduced, as well as any possible escape routes.“But we reckon we have somewhere better for you to be.”
“That’s right.”The stockier one laughed.“We can get you out of the cold and make sure you warm up nicely, darling.”
“No, thank you.”
Her voice was alarmingly squeaky that time, the demeaning tone only amplifying her nervous powerlessness as the dark-haired one in the middle pushed her against the brickwork.
“Yeah, well, we ain’t fucking asking.”His voice lowered to a growl, its timbre escalating her urgency.
I’m in trouble!The words pinballed around her head as though they were mocking her.Oh my God.It’s just like the message said.
Cold alarm seeped through her body, turning her legs to lead and irrefutably ending any chance of slipping past their encroaching bodies and fleeing.
What am I going to do?
“Don’t worry, darling,” the one pinning her against the cold wall snarled.“We can’t promise to be gentle, but we might drop you off back here once we’re done with you.”
“No.”She forced out the cry, trying to push past the prison of their bodies and make a break for freedom, but the sound emanated as more of a pathetic whimper as she was smashed back onto the brickwork.“Don’t, please!”
She loathed herself then.The fearful way she pleaded when she should have been fighting back, but at the sharp end of her swelling alarm, there didn’t seem to be any other choice.Fear had become less of a foe and more of a friend, wrapping her in a perturbing state of comforting numbness that meant she felt little in the way of pain when the stocky one on her left shoved her harder and slapped his dirty palm over her mouth.
“Shut it, bitch.”He was right beside her, they all were, his breath reeking of cheap booze and old cigarettes.
