Escape

Jenny resigned from her job and came out of the office, totally engulfed in her own thoughts, walking merrily towards the bus stop. Suddenly, the car stopped and she was forced into the car while her screams were muffled by a hand over her mouth. Next thing, she remembered was shutting of the car doors before she collapsed.

When she gained conscious, she found herself tied to a chair. She had no idea where she was and how much time had passed. She started struggling with the ropes on her wrists tied at her back. She shouted but her voice echoed through the big hall room. The room was nicely decorated with expensive crystal pieces and classy furniture. She tried to remember what had happened but she couldn’t even think of anything except that her head was still spinning due to some drugs she was infused by the kidnapper.

Many hours passed, at last, she heard the key moving into the lock to unlock the door. She looked towards the door and was astonished to see a graceful, well-dressed young fellow looking at him. She did not know him for sure and was wondering why she was kidnapped by him. His eyes were transfixed on her until a smile came on his lips, a lazy insolent smile, sending shivers down her spine.

After a long silence, except for the deep heaving breaths of Jenny, he came closer, leaned over and whispered very close to her ear, “Jenny, do you know, why?” She felt her heart pounding while she could sense his warm breaths on her cheeks. She felt her lips moving but no sound came out of her mouth and she shook her head. She had no clue as until yesterday, she had been living a normal life. He brought her some food from the kitchen and untied her. Looking at the food, she realized, she was hungry, so she started eating without saying a word. The man introduced himself as her well-wisher and promised her to help her family if she doesn’t try to escape. She didn’t know his motives yet but finally, he told her that he had seen her at a high school program. He proposed a good life for her and financial support for her family.

She started thinking about her past life. Her life was completely changed after the death of her father. She was only bread winner for the family of five, including her mother and three younger siblings. At the age of eighteen, she couldn’t imagine how other girls were enjoying their lives while she had to work really hard by doing a tiring job of a sales girl at the departmental store along with the exhausting evening school.

The store manager seemed to be very nice to her but she could feel that his intentions to keep her on the job were not fair. Several times, he had showed interest in her dressing sense and way of conversation. She was ignoring his advances and pervert nature for a long time.

Entering her old, wrecked house, she heard her mother calling out for her siblings to gather for dinner. The family could barely afford the furniture therefore the mat was spread out instead of dining table. Jia, who was the youngest of all, left her place and ran towards Jenny, who never forgot to bring her candies while returning from school. Everyone cheered up seeing their eldest sister. “Come, my dear Jenny, I have cooked your favourite lentils soup today with boiled rice along with mustard and mint sauce,” her mother remarked pleasingly, seeing Jenny at the door step.

She wanted to tell her mother about the store manager but knowing that her mother was already worried about less income and problems, she kept it to herself. However, she made a mental note to search for another job. Her school friend, Susan, had told her about an online job. She had asked few of her friends to give her loan to buy the laptop to start the work but she had no idea, how she’ll be able to do it.

Next morning, she stayed absent from her job and went to know about this new job. Mr. Shaun was running his online cosmetic business and gave complete information about how it worked. He also promised to provide a laptop with good internet connection. Jenny was very happy and contented now. She now hoped to increase her income and provide better for her family. Next day, she had resigned but this incident totally changing her life.

She felt totally devastated, knowing her mother will be so worried due to her absence. In her bewilderment, she thought several times to run away from this place but had no idea where she was. She was so frightened but had no other option except approving his proposal. She knew it would be difficult to forget her family but this was the only way, she could help them progress in their lives.

Soon, he brought her new dresses and a lot of jewellery. She didn’t want to accept this but also didn’t want to go back in that life again. She always wanted to enjoy her life and had planned of getting married to someone wealthy but never in her wildest dream, she thought of getting all this that soon and so easily.

Soon, she realized that Michael was a filthy rich man and owned a large fortune. However, Jenny didn’t know why he chose her to be his life partner. She had no idea why he wanted to keep her away from her own family. She just knew that he was madly in love with her and wanted to forget her past. He had started helping her mother by sending her money in her account from Jenny’s private account. She wanted to meet her family and used to cry in private but knew that it won’t help them. Her absence could make their lives easier than her presence, so she left the thought of escaping from Michael’s secret den.