Kidnapped

Genre: Thriller, comedy(?)

…

It was another boring day. The semester at the university progressed slowly and late autumn colored the sky a dreary gray every day. Everything seemed cold and desolate. Like in a bad crime novel.

I was just standing in my regional bank because I had submitted some forms too late and was of course summoned here immediately.

I sighed in exasperation and stretched out in the uncomfortable plastic chair.

I could really imagine better things to do on a Friday afternoon. For example with a good book or my favorite series. Or at least something more productive, like doing my homework.

Besides, those bank teller bastards have been keeping me waiting here for far too long. Apparently I had made an appointment on the phone for nothing. After all, this appointment was overdue for an hour.

I groaned in irritation and tucked a strand of pink hair behind my ear.

To make matters worse, I had left my cell phone at home and couldn't even distract myself in this way. I was so bored that I couldn't even sit still. So I got up and paced back to a counter.

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude... but I've been waiting here for a solid hour. I don't have time to sit here and wait all day either, okay?" I couldn't quite keep the anger and frustration out of my voice.

The woman at the counter seemed to notice that too. She eyed me once disparagingly.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to be patient for a while. We're very busy here right now." She then replied snippy.

I felt like grabbing her pathetic bun and dragging her across the foyer.

Nevertheless, I pulled myself together and took a look around instead.

Besides me, there was only one old pensioner here. I snorted once disparagingly.

"Yes...you seem really busy." I replied sarcastically. The woman in front of me grimaced in anger and was about to retaliate.

But before she could reply anything to my cheeky statement, the front door was suddenly opened with a powerful swing.

Shortly thereafter, there was a bang that made me jump. I turned in shock to see three men in black ski masks pointing their guns menacingly at us.

My heart dropped immediately.

This was a bank robbery as it was written in the books.

My pulse inevitably quickened and my breathing became shaky. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins.

"No one moves!" barked one of the men harshly.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed how the banker woman behind me stirred a little anyway. She probably wanted to press the panic button under the bank counter.

But before she could even do that, there was another bang that made me jump again.

She was hit by the projectile and shortly afterwards cried out in pain.

My blood froze in my veins.

A few inches further and the bullet would have pierced me instead of the woman.

I didn't dare to move.

"I said don't move!" repeated the bank robber.

A little more energetic this time.

The bank clerk just sank to the floor, whimpering in pain. Meanwhile, the three men came into the room and sounded out the situation.

"Get down on the floor, grandpa." One of the the ordered the old man, who then just knelt on the floor with a pale face. Shortly afterwards he was tied up.

I was just about to get down on the floor as well when suddenly a large hand grabbed my arm.

"Not you." The man next to me growled, sending a shiver down my spine.

Shortly thereafter I was taken hostage.

I gasped in shock when the cool barrel of the gun was suddenly held to my head.

"Do as I say or she dies," the man threatened the bank teller on the floor, putting the gun even harder on my head to emphasize his words.

I just managed a shocked whimper. Tears were beginning to gather in my eyes.

The woman got up slowly and with difficulty. The gunshot wound in her shoulder must have been in excruciating pain.

"How many employees are working here right now? And it would be better if you were honest." The man hissed seriously.

The woman didn't answer directly and pressed a hand to the wound in fear.

"Well, will you answer me? Actually, I don't want to kill such a pretty girl here." I closed my eyes in desperation and hoped that everything would be over quickly.

My whole body was shaking with fear. I didn't want to die yet.

Not here. Not so.

"T-there are only four of us a-at the moment." The bank clerk managed to whimper.

"Go to the back and tie up the others too." He ordered his two accomplices, who immediately followed the instructions.

After a few nerve-wracking minutes, three tied up bank employees were pushed into the foyer.

"Sit down with the old man on the floor." He instructed the tied men, who, terrified, obeyed his command.

"So and now: Take me to your safe." Was his next imperious order.

"O-of course." The bank clerk managed to choke out and immediately led our hostage taker to the safe.

"Open it and give me the contents of compartment number 2378." The man growled.

It sounded dangerous. It sounded like he was running out of patience.

That wasn't a good sign for me. I bit my lower lip nervously until I tasted blood.

When the woman unlocked the safe and the compartment with the said number, I was rather surprised.

There were just some documents in the compartment. There was no sign of valuables or money.

I didn't seem to be the only one who was puzzled either:

"Is that... all you want?" the woman asked confused.

"Yeah, and now shut up and give it to me." The man behind me snapped.

The bank clerk then jumped in fear before handing him the documents with trembling hands. My hostage-taker energetically snatched it from the woman's hand.

"Okay, we're going to leave now. To be on the safe side, I'm taking this girl with me. So if you should still get any stupid ideas, the girl here will have to die." The man threatened seriously.

Suddenly panic crept up in me again.

He wanted to take me with him? What did that mean? I didn't want to go with these criminals!

The man behind me then pulled me backwards out of the safe.

I didn't even bother to flee. My life was too valuable for me to do that. So I did whatever he wanted. After all, I wasn't completely stupid.

When he got back to his accomplices, they also withdrew from the hostages as if on command.

Now we walked together a little faster in the direction of the exit. The handgun was still aimed at my head.

Attempting to free myself would probably cost me my life.

When I got outside, I was immediately pulled into a black station wagon.

It all happened so fast that I couldn't even call for help.

Now I was sandwiched between two men in the back seat of someone else's car.

It smelled like cigarettes in here.

The fear inside me grew and grew. Meanwhile, thousands of questions shot through my head:

What were they planning to do with me? They actually had everything they wanted, didn't they? So why did they take me?!

"Jim, why did you take a girl with you?" the driver then asked, both confused and angry. He too had a balaclava on.

"Shut up. Just drive." snapped my captor.

The car was immediately set in motion.

I was still a little in shock.

What were these men up to with me? Why did they kidnap me? They had everything they wanted. Why did they take me anyway?

That didn't make any sense to me at all.

I wasn't able to say anything. I didn't know what to say either. Or if I was allowed to say anything at all. So I preferred to keep quiet.

"And... what are we going to do with her now?" the man in the passenger seat asked after a while, while we drove through the city in a normal way, as if these men here hadn't just robbed a bank.

They probably didn't want to attract attention. But then maybe they should take off their ski masks first. They were much more noticeable at the moment. But maybe that was a good thing. Because if I hadn't seen their faces yet, they might as well set me free.

"Dunno man!" snapped my captor to my right.

"Why did you have to take her with you?" the guy on my left snapped.

"I was panicking, okay?" He sounded quite stressed.

That was strange. Just now in the bank he'd somehow seemed quite menacing and professional. But now he gave me a rather harried and awkward impression. His voice also sounded much more youthful than before.

I wondered how old my kidnapper actually was. Was he even older than me?

"What will the boss say about that?" the driver mumbled thoughtfully.

Now there was an awkward silence in the car.

My stomach almost turned at his words. Apparently these guys weren't your run-of-the-mill, seedy muggers.

If they had a boss, this was probably an organized crime gang. I tried in vain to suppress my trembling.

"Fuck, I can't breathe under this balaclava." The driver mumbled and unceremoniously ripped his mask off his head.

I reflexively put my hands in front of my face and closed my eyes in fear.

"Tell me, what's going on here, little one?" I heard one of them ask with a smile.

"I-if I haven't seen your faces, you can set me free, right?" I asked scared.

"Nah, it's too late for that anyway. If we released you now and reported to the boss, you'd probably be dead within the next twenty-four hours." The man on my left said. He sounded almost nonchalant.

I swallowed hard and looked around the car with great displeasure. The four men had all taken off their masks by now.

Most actually looked like street thugs or dangerous criminals. Just men with whom one did not want to mess directly. Men you didn't want to meet alone at night.

"What... will happen to me now?" I asked cautiously.

The restrained facial expressions of the men actually spoke volumes. A bad feeling stayed in me.

"We'll take you to our boss. He then decides what will happen to you." The driver finally explained.