Julia

Opening my eyes, I gasped in pain as I had a throbbing headache. I felt like my head was going to explode. I started by curling my fingers in and out. My entire body was numb and my vision was blurry. I tilted my head slowly to the right side to see if anyone was beside me, but I failed miserably. My vision didn't allow me to see anything clearly. After a couple of minutes, my headache started to heal bit by bit and my vision became clear again as I blinked my eyes a couple of times. I lifted my weight on both of my elbows and looked around me. My friends were lying next to me. "Where are we?" That was the first question that came to my mind as soon as I realized that we weren't at our dorm. We were in a large semi-dark room. Dull and dingy. A small window was on my left, but it was locked and blocked by wooden bars. There was nothing in the room. Literally nothing. Just some old blankets and a couple of pillows in the corner. The walls were painted in gray. It smelled awful. It seemed like fresh air had never visited this room before. My lungs started to burn as my face became sweaty. I rubbed my head, trying to remember anything from the night before. All I could remember was that I drank a lot and ran to the bathroom to puke, then a couple of minutes passed before I felt someone grabbing me from behind and putting a strange drugged substance on my mouth. Shit! We were kidnapped. Finally, my brain could process everything.

I crawled to reach Sally. My legs were too weak to help me stand up. I shook Sally gently, trying to wake her up. She was unconscious.

"Sally," I called in a low voice as my throat was dry and sore.

She didn't move. "Sally, please wake up."

I kept shaking her and moving her head with my hands. She finally opened her eyes slowly after the seventh time of calling her name.

"What happened? Where are we?" She asked, lifting her head up to look around her.

"I don't know. I can't remember anything clearly."

"The last thing I remember is that I entered the bathroom to look for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere. I felt someone pulling my hair from behind then put a piece of cloth on my mouth which had a drugged substance on it. I can't remember anything else," Sally muttered in tiredness.

"That was the same thing that happened to me. I want to get out of here," I sobbed.

"We should call anyone for help."

We searched for our bags and phones everywhere, but couldn't find anything. "I can't believe this!" Sally gasped before bursting into tears.

I looked at Nick to see that he started to move his body slowly. I rushed towards him to help. I kneeled down and lifted his head softly. Sally went to help Josh and Daniel too.

"I have a headache," Nick groaned as his voice was hardly audible.

"We're kidnapped," Sally huffed.

Josh panicked and coughed a couple of times. Worry took control of him and fear conquered all of his emotions. I knew that he was worried about his family more than himself. I felt so bad for him because I knew how much it hurt when you lose your older brother and try your best not to lose yourself too, in order to save your family from acute depression.

"We should do something. I don't wanna stay here for long!" Daniel rebuked, running towards the locked door. "Open this door!"

We joined him and kept shouting and banging on the door with all the strength that we had, but no one answered us. Shit! My hands hurt and I felt dizzy from screaming at the top of my lungs. My throat became sore and dry.

"I wish I hadn't moved here. I want to return home. I want to see my family again," Sally slowly slipped down as her back was pressed to the door, then she hugged her knees and wept.

"Sally, please calm down. We will get out of here very soon. Trust me," I sobbed, pulling her for a comforting hug.

I didn't mean any word I had just said. I wasn't even sure if we really could get out of here. I had to say these words to her anyway for comfort.

A lady's voice yelling broke the silence. Her loud screams echoed in the whole place which caused a shiver to run down my spine. We pressed our ears to the door to be able to hear her more closely.

"No! Please, leave me alone! I have kids!" The lady blurted.

I felt a tug at my heart and my legs became like jelly beneath me. My heartbeats raced as I felt my head spinning. No. No. It must be a nightmare.

"We must find a way out of here as soon as possible. This is crazy!" Nick stuttered.

The boys ran to the window and tried their best to break it, but no result. The wooden bars were hammered too well. It was impossible to remove them. There were no tools that we could use. No tools. No hope. Nothing at all. I couldn't imagine living here for the rest of my life. I never gave up that easily in my life, but this time I felt so weak. So vulnerable. So hopeless. So scared. We all panicked and didn't know how to escape from this creepy place. The lady outside stopped screaming and silence ruled the place once again. I hoped that they didn't kill her or something. I wondered if they were going to do the same to us.

We had no other choice but to sit down on the cold floor, put our faces in our hands and cry. For me, I didn't want to do anything other than this. Mum had always taught me that crying was only for weak people and cowards. She wasn't completely right though. She just wanted to help me become a wise and a tough girl since I didn't have any siblings and my father was out most of the time. I never had anyone to protect me in hard situations. Our heads were snapped up as soon as we heard someone unlocking the door from outside. A tall burly man showed up. My heart fell to my knees as soon as I realized the man. He was one from the strange group of people who walked on streets with black masks covering their faces. Were they a mafia? Were they going to kill us? Were they going to torture us? An uncountable number of unanswerable questions flooded in my mind. I couldn't see his facial features clearly as he was wearing the same peculiar black mask. His large angry hazel eyes sent sparks into the air before getting closer towards us.

"Get up. Our leader wants to meet you," The man ordered us in a hoarse voice.

We didn't have enough courage to look straight into his eyes. We just nodded and stood up. We didn't do anything other than obeying him because we didn't have a death wish. He guided us outside and we silently followed him. The place was huge. Rooms were everywhere and guards stood in every corner. A large bar counter lay in the middle and tons of different alcoholic beverages lay on the shelves. Everyone in this place was wearing that familiar black mask. We arrived at a large room before the man knocked on the door three times, and opened it. He pushed us to get inside by force. Sally almost tripped over her own feet, but I managed to catch her and helped her regain her balance. It wasn't exactly a room. It was an office that was well-illuminated and walls were painted in dark colors. A man was sitting in his office. He flashed us a devilish look with his blue eyes as soon as we got in.

"Well, well, well. Finally, Nick, Daniel, Josh, Sally and Julia are here. What a dream come true!" The leader said sarcastically, getting up from his seat and walking towards us.

"How did you know our names?" Nick asked sternly as he had enough courage to look straight into the leader's eyes while talking to him.

"I know everything about you. Don't be that naive," The leader smirked.

He suddenly looked at me and stepped closer. My brain told me to scream, beat him, and run away. But my body didn't obey. I froze in my place, scared and anxious.

"What a pretty girl," The leader smirked, tucking a lock of my hair behind my ear.

I couldn't stay strong anymore and tears found their way out on my cheeks.

"What do you want from me? Please, take everything you want from us. Just let us go, please," I sobbed.

"Are you crazy? I have been waiting for this moment for ages. The boss won't believe it when we tell him that we found you," The leader raised his eyebrow, leaning closer towards me. He got so close to me that there were only a couple of inches between our faces. He lifted my chin up to force me look at him. He wiped my tears away for me before moving his thumb in circular motion on my cheek. I tried to get his hands away from me, but he managed to curl his fist around my arm, tightening his grip.

"Don't you dare to reject me. You're mine now," The leader cautioned as he leaned forward and gave me a small peck on my lips.

I couldn't resist him anymore. I felt paralyzed as my body refused to move.

"Don't touch her!" Josh yelled and ran towards me to help.
The leader punched him so hard that he spat a lot of blood. "No, Josh!" I wept, running towards him.

"Fuck you! You're crazy!" Daniel scolded.

"Johnny!" The leader shouted.

A couple of moments passed before another man swung open the door and showed up in the office.

"Yes, leader."

"Take them all and leave this girl here with me," The leader ordered him while grabbing my arm to stop me from running away.

Johnny got his gun out of his back pocket and didn't hesitate to shoot a couple of bullets randomly in the air. Just to terrify us. Sally's screams echoed in my ears. My friends exited the office as Johnny pointed his gun at them. They had no power to do anything. They gave me a sad look before the door was slammed shut again. I and the leader were alone inside this office. The idea alone caused my body to shiver from fear. I stepped backwards as the leader got closer. My back was pressed against the wall and it seemed impossible to run away from him. I tried to look more confident and stronger. I looked straight into his eyes to scare him, but his hungry eyes looking at every detail of my body forced my eyes to become glossy. My stomach twisted into a knot and a lump was formed in my throat. I tried to swallow it as hard as I could, but it didn't work.

"Please, leave me alone," I begged him in tears.

I wasn't even sure if he heard what I had just said. My voice was so shaky and pathetic.

He put his hands around my waist. I tried to push him away but he was much stronger than me. He pressed his lips to my long neck and gave me random kisses. I wanted to resist him, but I was too weak. His lips travelled from my neck down to my chest. He tore my dress to see my naked body. I couldn't stand it anymore.

"No, please! Don't do this to me!" I yelled, wrapping my arms around myself to cover my body, but he removed them and pinned me to the wall.

His lips touched my neck again, and this time he kissed me more harshly. He grabbed my waist once more and pushed me hard, so I fell on the floor. I couldn't see clearly from my watery eyes. He hastily took off his T-shirt and mask, then climbed on top of me. I couldn't even focus on his facial features. I was too distracted shouting and yelling for help. He pinned me down to the floor before sucking the skin of my neck. He gave me random kisses on my neck then down to my breasts. I yelped in pain as his teeth dug into my skin. Fuck! I never felt that disgusted and used before. After almost ten minutes of raping me, we heard a knock at the door. He got away from me and put on his T-shirt and mask again before opening the door. I curled myself into a ball and couldn't stop crying and sobbing so hard.

"The boss arrived and he's waiting for you," The man who knocked on the door stated.

"Okay, I'm coming."

The leader pulled me up and guided me back to the room. I tried my best not to let him touch me again. I had enough. I pulled my dress together, trying to cover my body. As soon as we entered the room, I could see my friends standing in shock.

They ran towards me for help. My own legs couldn't support me to stand up anymore. Daniel took off his jacket and swung it around my shoulders. A medium-height man who had brown hair and eyes was standing in front of us. I assumed that he was the boss.

"I can't believe that finally my dream came true," The boss smirked, stepping closer.

"We don't know who the fuck are you! Just leave us alone for God's sake! Take everything you want from us, but let us go!" Nick shouted.

"Nick, don't put your expectations too high. Once you get here, you can never see the outside world again," The boss said, putting his both hands on Nick's shoulders.

My eyes formed more tears again for the hundredth time today.
"Who are you?" Nick rebuked.

"Oh! Where are my manners? We are the Black Cult. The biggest cult in all of Chicago. Thirty years of kidnapping, stealing, raping, and brainwashing. And guess what? The police couldn't find us until now and they never will because we have spies everywhere," The boss stated, leaning too close to Nick's ear. "everywhere," He whispered.

"What do you want from us?" Nick asked after swallowing hard.

"You only have two choices, whether to join our cult or we are going to torture you in every way possible and make sure that you won't die to feel pain as long as possible."

"It's impossible to join your goddamn cult! Why did you choose us? Why us?" Nick yelled.

"Because we want to take our revenge."