Stephanie almost screamed her lungs out but her abductor was deaf to her cries and pleas as the huge man carried her down the stairs on his broad shoulder as though she was weightless. When he got to the living room, he dropped her and moved to the darkest corner of the room and just then the lights came on.
Steph had spent the whole day at school pondering on what gifts she would receive for her 17th birthday and as Ms. Paddington finished her lecture in History, her excitement welled up. Last year she had received a gold necklass from Ricky, her boyfriend. Her dad had sent her a voucher to go shopping and mum was never around to attend the small party that usually took place at her aunt's house. Although she looked forward to the merriment and fun, she had this strange feeling that something was going to go wrong but she wouldn't know why she was feeling that way on her birthday. As she walked back home on the pedestrian lane, some good memories came to her. Her mate (Larry Craig) at school who had been invited to attend the party by Rick got drunk and became the John Legend of the night as he sang the famous "all of me" in his drunk baritone voice and Rick had to pretend to be drunk because Larry needed a backup singer and she wondered what they had in store for her today.
She got back home and found a piece of paper neatly folded on the dinning table and she unfolded it, it said:
"yeah, sure." she said to herself, that explains the uneasy feelings that she had in school. After having something to eat and cleaning up the whole house, she lied down to rest a bit totally oblivious of how much time had passed by since she arrived home. Rick hadn't called and it was already 6:35 pm, she was sure to spend night alone.
A cool breeze blew gently into the room from the open window leaving the room cold and airy.
Steph woke up with a start, it was 11:50 pm. She had fallen asleep while listening to a song playing on her mobile phone. It felt strange she really wasn't a deep sleeper but she had slept soundly for a long time. A figure moved in the dark corner of the room or so she thought, she was alone and in a semi-dark room. "its nothing, Steph" was all she could muster to say to herself but her eyes widened in fear as the figure moved towards her. It was a huge man with a hood covering his head, he caught her left leg and dragged her towards himself from the bed.
"let me go please, i'm just a small girl. i have no money" she cried out but the huge figure clearly wasn't interested in any sort of dialogue as he carried her effortlessly on his shoulders and down the stairs. With her hands that now seem small compared to that of her assailant, she hit hard on his back but it was as though she was knocking on a door.
Stephanie almost screamed her lungs out but her abductor was deaf to her cries and pleas as the huge man carried her down the stairs on his broad shoulder as though she was weightless. When he got to the living room, he dropped her and moved to the darkest corner of the room and just then, the lights came on. To her bewilderment, all her friends, Rick, dad and other family members were all present including her journalist mother who rarely ever had time for anything other thing other than reporting news wherever she found herself.
In unison, they all shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH" , she got up slowly and managed to ask with a grin on her face "whose idea was this?".