Content Warning: Kidnapping

*****

New week.

New day.

New opportunity.

But a new day also meant newer theories that could be formed.

Zara couldn't let go of the image of that man with a rather very important briefcase. She reached home late at night and when she brought out the food for her aunt and her to eat, Aunt Jean grabbed a hold of her wrist as she brought them out. "Are those two sandwiches, two fries and two milkshakes?" She asked, her voice a little shaky.

"Yeah, why?" Zara chuckled at her aunt's sudden uptightness.

"No reason." Aunt Jean cracked her knuckles as she took a seat, as if determined to do something important. "Is it vanilla?" She asked, picking up one of the cups.

Zara frowned at her aunt, who would never ask for vanilla as long as chocolate was an option. "Chocolate," she replied and saw a sudden flash of terror on her aunt's face. But it couldn't have been so. Why would her aunt be mad at her bringing home food from Shot Drop? You are simply tired. You are seeing things that are not there. Remember not to get yourself in trouble, she told herself.

And the next morning, her aunt had left for work before she had woken up.

But it was a new day after all.

Zara always wondered why her aunt chose to work at the café rather than at a big company where she could easily get a job. She was smart and talented, but Aunt Jean always shook it off when she brought it up. "I'm happy where I am," she would tell her.

Working at the bar, Zara was building up the courage to walk to the office in the back of the shop to talk to Mr. Kadumba that she was ready to leave the job. She was forming a kind speech in her mind as she cleaned the top of the counter. "Howzit, sir. I know that I've worked here for more than a couple of months and I want to thank you for taking me in as your family....no. Thank you for considering me your family and making me feel like one of your own. I really needed this job and you had a rule about letting people work here till late at night. I'm extremely grateful for your kindness but I'm afraid that I have to-"

A creaking sound broke her train of thought.

Zara looked up from the counter and saw her next customer take his seat at the counter. He was dressed in a casual black tee and leather jacket, one that resembled a lot like her own. He rested his hands on the counter and waited for her to take his order. She did not know why she was thinking about his set jawline and had to pull her thoughts together before she spoke. 

Not everyone could be suspicious, she told herself. 

Because that was one of the downsides of working at a famous bar in lower Manhattan.

Anything could happen at any time.

"Good afternoon, sir." She greeted him as she took the pencil and sketch pad out of the pockets of her navy blue apron which was decorated in tiny stars, always being fascinated by the outside universe. "What would you like to have?"

"Ah, yes." He sat up straight and hunched his shoulders slightly to seem casual. It seemed to her as if he sat before a laptop for a really long time for him to immediately take that posture. "I would like to have a glass of water."

She raised her eyebrows at him. Nobody ever ordered just water. What was wrong with this man? "Are you sure?" It was such an unusual order for someone who seemed like he was from around the neighbourhood. "We have great ale if you would like to try that."

"Water is fine." He smiled a smile that was so warm that it was enough to knock Zara out.

"Alright." She nodded. "One water it is."

She walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "Who the hell ordered water when we have the best ale?" The cook, Sweta, asked.

Zara shrugged. "Beats me."

She walked out holding the cold but not too cold water bottle in her hand, half expecting to see an empty counter like she had seen the previous week. But the man who looked her age still sat on the counter, looking at her as she walked out. Zara set the bottle before him. 

"What's your name?" He called out before she could continue to clean the counter. His eyes were studying her like she was the reason and cause of the universe, which should have made her uncomfortable. But there was something quite familiar about the man, as if from a dream.

Zara had to make sure that she wasn't blushing, although it wouldn't show anyway. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't give out my name to strangers, especially customers like yourself. This is a workplace and it may seem inappropriate."

The man nodded and leaned back in his seat, giving Zara the perfect opportunity to take an excuse to continue doing her work. She had to resist the urge to look at him as she was already suspicious about the man with the gray suit yesterday. Maybe it was her paranoia getting to her, but she could feel a stone cold gaze on her. She looked up for one second and caught him looking at the painting above the banister. She flustered as she immediately turned her head to continue working.

"I think I've changed my mind." She heard his voice as she wiped the glasses under the counter with a towel. She looked up to see his bottle untouched and his leather jacket on the seat next to him. "I would like to try that ale that you mentioned. And maybe some cheese corn balls?"

Zara's eyebrows almost knitted together in confusion. Who was this guy?

"Alright." She took one of the glasses from the shelves and filled it with the ale from the beer tab. She looked at the man looking at the ale filling up the glass. Once it had filled to the brim, and the frothy bubbles disappearing slowly, she placed it before him and walked into the kitchen to get his order.

It was a standard order for people to get cheese corn balls with their ale, which was why it was always prepared. Zara took one of the plates with the hot food and took one of the balls from the plate that was meant for employees. But walking out of the flapping doors, she found the counter empty. But it wasn't exactly empty. The water bottle was missing, and the perfect amount of the bill was under the empty glass of the ale. "What the lamb, man!" She exasperated, her hands waving around in the irritation that yet another customer had done this.

"What happened, Z?" Leo asked, walking out of the doors that would lead to the back office. He had never seen his best employee so annoyed at someone, and that too with a plate of their best order in hand.

"You need to put up a sign saying that people cannot leave after ordering food. We need a guard, I'm telling you."

"Oh no. You got stood up again?" He teased her, poking her elbow with his.

She rolled her eyes. "That wouldn't hurt this much, would it?"

Zara took up the courage to talk to Leo and his father but it all went down the drain after what had happened with the black tee guy. She couldn't have her last order be like that. She wanted to get out with a great final order. She didn't know why it mattered to her but the Kadumbas had become her extended family of sorts.

And so, it was her turn to lock up in the week.

The front door was locked up and pulled once to make sure that it was done properly. She pulled the shutter down to the floor and locked it as well. She couldn't take any risks, although Leo never did it. She hit the cold steel of the shutter with closed fists once for good luck and sighed. The dark alley took up the rest of her thoughts along with Buddy, which was the name Mal had given to the puppy. She wanted him to give him a nice name like Bruno, but Mal was set on his name. They had taken the dog to get him vaccinated and had registered him in one of the animal clinics around the shooting range.

It was awfully cold that day, Zara realised. She buried her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket as she tried to increase her pace of walking. She turned a corner where the old lady Marge always left the orange porch lights on to illuminate the front cameras, which did not make sense but it always gave Zara confidence that people would know of her routes, which would keep her safe somehow.

But the sound of screeching tires broke through the icy atmosphere as it came down the alleyway. Zara looked around as she increased her pace. She prayed that the van that was heading down the road would turn a right or a left and get into a different alley.

She couldn't run because that would only instigate them.

So she held the pepper spray in her pocket with a tight grip.

She would fight them down.

At least the boxing lessons and self-defense classes would work out now.

The van stopped and three men got out, wearing masks to hide their cowardly faces. Zara's eyes opened wide as her legs immediately broke into a run. She kept her gaze ahead as she ran in the direction of the main road. She needed to get home soon. No matter what.

But the man got to her and pinned her to the ground, making sure that she didn't hit her head too hard. "Get off me!" She shouted, pulling her spray out and aiming it right in his eyes with hers closed.

"Ahhh!" He screamed as he staggered back, giving her enough time to get out from under him, but his friends had caught up to her.

One of them reached to grab her arms, receiving a kick in the groin from her. He stumbled back and helped her get free once again but there was still one more person that she had to beat. The three of them had a van and they could find her any time that they wanted, but Zara did not want to think about that. Adrenaline got to her as her face heated up with her heart beating at its top speed. "You shouldn't do this, pal," she said as she stood up to face the third kidnapper. Her hands were scratched and bloody from hitting the concrete. She brushed it against her jacket and pulled her fists forward.

The man waited for her to strike, biding his time. And she made her mistake by aiming for his face because he tucked his leg behind one of hers, making her trip to the floor. He was immediate in grabbing her hands and pinning her to the ground. "Help! Help! Help me!" Zara screamed, hoping that old lady Marge would hear her through the cameras.

But the man closed her mouth with his gloved hands. Zara bit hard on it, tasting the leather. "You bi-"

But he had no time to finish that sentence.

There was a loud clang from top of her. The kidnapper's head pulled back as he held the back of his head, getting off of her. Zara's eyes opened wide at this as she pulled back. "You alright?"

The black tee man from the bar.

He crouched before her and checked her hands, the soft touch of his hands making her flinch along with the weather. "I got here just in time, I see." He spoke as she pulled back from him.

"T-thank you," she mumbled as he helped her up, his grip on the arms of her leather jacket. "I don't know what would have happened...." A void started to fill in her chest as she wanted to cry out. Her chest was heavy with the burden of the pain that she would always carry with her. "I...."

"Shhh," he said. "Don't worry."

But that was it.

Zara felt a sharp pain on her neck as the man injected something into her. "You assh-" She whispered as her control over her own consciousness was taken from her and a black endless void took over her dreams.