Camille
It's been a couple of days since the incident at the club and thankfully I haven't run into any more scary men. I enter the bank for work Thursday morning and get my usual hellos from my usual people.
"Camcorder!" Richard exclaims. I roll my eyes, now I think he's just making up names. "It's Camille."
"Take these files to Mr. Tomlinson upstairs." I grab the files and head up the stairs to the private area of the bank. I knock on Mr. Tomlinson's door and I hear a deep voice tell me to come in.
"These are from Mr. Louie. " I say putting the files on his desk. He smiles, "Thank you Camille." I smile back at him, I like Mr. Tomlinson. Even though I only see him once every few months he still always remembers my name. Unlike dick. He's also the head of this bank, which gives him the power to fire Richard too.
"Anything I can do for you?" I offer. He shakes his head, "I'm fine Cam, just tell Mr. Louie to watch out today." My brows knot in confusion, "Oh okay, may I ask for what?"
"It's better if you don't get involved." I nod, "Of course sir."
I head out of the room and back down to the main bank. "Mr. Tomlinson wanted me to remind you to watch out." I tell Richard. His eyes widen, "I almost forgot." He begins going through his drawers looking for something.
I just walk out of the room and head back to my desk to finish my work. A few hours into working I notice someone approaching my desk. I look up to meet the eyes of Tyler.
"Hey." He greets.
"Hi." I say quietly.
He runs his hand through his hair nervously and looks around the room. "So um, I was wondering if maybe you would like to, you know have lunch with me or something?"
My heart stops and all of a sudden I can't breathe again, "Together?" I ask.
"Um yeah, unless you don't want to. I completely understand."
"No of course I'd love to. Um when?"
"Um, are you busy after work today? Or maybe tomorrow during lunch break?"
I almost squeal, "Um yeah today after work would be great."
"Okay I just have to run home and change first so I'll meet you there?" He asks. I nod and he smiles, "Great see you then."
After he walks away Susan comes out of nowhere with a wide smile on her face, "Details now."
"He asked me out for dinner!" I exclaim. She squeals and the whole office is looking at us. "You're going to go home and change before right? And did you get his number?"
"Oh no I completely forgot about that. I don't even know where we're going." Suddenly Tyler comes up again, "Um hey I forgot to get your number."
I smile and recite it to him. "Thank you."
"Boom, you are so in. Just remember, don't be boring. Always smile, but not too big. Show me your best smile."
I smile widely for her and she frowns, "Too big, no teeth during dinner. Otherwise whatever you eat might be on full display for him to see." I quickly shut my mouth and smile. "Good, just like that. Ooh, I'm so excited for you."
"I'm excited for me too, my first date."
She pauses, "This will be your first date?" I nod slightly embarrassed, "Oh honey nothing to be ashamed about. You're young."
"I'm 23."
"Exactly my point, now go get to work so you can end your shift."
I laugh at her before heading back to my desk, another smile on my face.
-
By the time the workday is over, and the time of the date creeps closer in even more nervous than ever. I'm one of the last to leave the building because Richard gave me more work to do. I leave around 7 today and walk out into the city. As I walk down the sidewalk I pass an alley where I hear strange noises.
Me being the curious cat I am decides to check it out and get closer. "Where's our damn money?" I hear someone grunt out. I see a man on the floor being jumped by a group of men. I recognize the man as Richard and gasp silently.
I feel someone come up behind me and grab my arm, "What've we got here?" The man holding my arm asks. The other men jumping Richard turn around. The main one smirks at me, "What's a pretty thing like you doing here?"
"Please let me go, I didn't see anything I swear I won't talk."
He chuckles, "That isn't our decision to make, you have to come with us now." My eyes widen, "Wait no!" The man behind me puts a cloth over my mouth immediately making me lose consciousness. The last thing I saw was them drag Richard's body behind the dumpster.
-
When I woke up I had a headache3. I was in an unfamiliar setting and I was tied to a chair. No no no no, this can't be happening. I can't die like this, I've never done anything with my life. I'm all Elijah has left, I have to get out of here.
I look around for something to cut the ropes with and notice a blade on the top shelf. How am I supposed to get that? Maybe I can break the chair?
I try to stand up with the chair and surprisingly I did. I walk over to the shelf and hit it hoping to bring down the blade. The blade surprisingly drops and I bend over to pick it up and sit back down on the chair and begin cutting the ropes. I release my arms first and then my legs and throw the ropes to the ground.
"She's in here boss." I hear someone say outside of the door. I grab the blade and look for somewhere to hide, I hide behind the shelf near the wall. I can see the men come into the room through a hole in the shelf. A couple of men walk in but only one stands out, he's tall, handsome, and dressed better than the other men. "Where is she?" One of the men asks.
The nicely dressed man walks around the room looking completely unbothered. "Come on out, I won't hurt you. Yet." He says in a deep voice. The voice sounds very familiar.
He continues searching the room with his eyes while the rest of the men go to check the rest of the place. He finally looks at the shelf and I swear he's looking right at me. "She's right there." He says in a bored tone as he points to the shelf. My eyes widen and I close my eyes hoping this is just a nightmare and that I'm not going to die tonight.
The shelf is moved and I'm on full display for everyone to see. One of the men grabs me, "Sneaky little one."
The nicely dressed man looks at me and smirks, "You again."
"Have we met?" I ask quietly. He gives me an amused expression, "You don't remember spilling your drink on me?"
I gulp, Josiah Wells. Aka big Jo.
"Oh, hehe hi."
"Look I'll let you go." My heartbeat fastens excitedly. "But not until I can be sure you won't tell. You need to be shown what I'm capable of. You got that?" He asks.
I gulp and nod. "Take her to the other room." The man holding my arm leads me to another room. "You're gonna sit still this time alright?"
I nod and he plays a video on the screen. "You're being shown this video today as a warning, next time you won't get a say." The voice on the video says.
On the screen, a man shows up. "Whatever you saw today, you didn't see. If you did see it, you won't be around to tell anyone. We know everything about you, from your name to your social security number. Don't risk it, if you do we will find you. This is what happened to a man who we let go who still attempted to snitch on us."
Surveillance camera footage shows a man laying on a table brutally beat up. There were other men around him holding weapons of some sort. The one holding a blow torch slowly began to burn the man's legs. He screamed out in pain and I tried to cover my eyes but the man behind me made me watch.
After burning his limbs they cut off pieces of his body, such as ears and skin. The man was still alive screaming out in pain, my eyes watered and I wanted to look away but the man-made me keep watching.
The video ended with them torching his body and storing the ashes. By the time the video was over, I had tears streaming down my face. Something else popped up on the screen and I noticed it was my picture with my information. It also had a picture of my last two living family members, Elijah and my uncle. It had pictures of Mitchie and Rosa and their family. My eyes widened in horror.
The man behind me turned off the screen, "Got the message?" I nod weakly before letting out a silent sob.
He escorts me out of the room where I come face to face with Josiah. "We've come to an agreement correct?" He asks holding out his hand to shake. I nod and look away from him while shaking his hand. His other hand goes under my chin and he forces me to look into his eyes. "I need to make sure we have an understanding." He says in a low scary voice. I look into his eyes and nod vigorously.
"Good. Take her home." He says to some men. They nod and put a sack over my head and escorting me out.
The car ride was silent, besides my sobs the men said nothing. They dropped me off not too far from my apartment building and handed me my phone. They sped off down the street and I walked toward my apartment in the opposite direction.
When I get inside I try to clean myself up so it doesn't look like I'm crying and I turn on my phone. It was 1 am and I had several missed calls from everyone. Including my brother, I notice a couple from Tyler too which gets me excited but reminds me that I missed our date. He probably thinks I stood him up.
I open the door of our apartment to see Mitchie pacing around the room and Rosa on the verge of tears on the phone. They both look up and look at me, "Camille!" They both exclaim running up to me.
"Where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick!" Rosa cries out. "We were in the process of calling the police!"
"We heard you had a date with Tyler from Susan but he said you never showed up! Where were you!"
I looked at my friends, so happy to see them again. But I also felt bad that I had to lie straight to their faces. "I was walking around looking for a cab and somehow I got lost and I didn't know where I was and my phone died and I just now finally got home." I'm not a very good liar.
They both look at me skeptically but shrug it off anyway. "We're just happy you're home."
"I'm happy I'm home too." I say hugging them again letting the tears fall.
"We called your brother. Sorry." Rosa said.
I smiled "It's alright, let me go charge my phone and call him back. " I head to the room and dial my brother's number, he answers before the first ring finished. "Are you okay? Where have you been?" He asks.
I smile, "I'm okay Elijah, I just got lost and my phone died. I'm fine okay?"
He sighs, "You had us worried sick Cam. Please be more careful okay?" I nod putting my head down, "I will I promise."
After a long conversation with Elijah, I get ready for bed and go to sleep. Reliving today's nightmare in my head.