2

“Wow, a limo?”

Nora asked when she saw the car that was waiting for them. She didn’t know what she had been expecting but a limousine was beyond anything that she would have imagined. She has only ever ridden in a limo once in her life and that was for prom. Her dad had gone out of his way to make the day special for her and she could still remember how she felt till this day.

“Get in,”

The unfriendly man stated in a rather harsh and heavily accented voice that almost made Nora change her mind about getting in the car, she didn’t like the energy that the man was giving at all but against her will and resolve and yelling at her overthinking side who was telling her not to get in the car, she entered the car and the door closed almost immediately.

“Don’t fucking overthink this Nora, he is just doing his job,”

Nora scolded herself as she brought her phone out of her bag and call the research center just to be sure she was on the right ride. She should have done it before she got in.

“Way to go girl, you are already in the car, why didn’t you think of calling before getting in?”

The annoying tiny voice in her head which becomes louder when she over thinks scolded. Nora rolled her eyes. She just knew when she was overthinking and she knew the same voice would mock her for overthinking once she arrives at the hotel she was supposed to be using safely. On second thought, she kept her phone back in her bag and rested her head on the car seat, she had a long flight and couldn’t wait to be at the hotel, she would have a long warm bath and then order the most expensive meal on the menu, she could already picture herself enjoying her time in the hotel before she would move to the research center, she is expected to arrive there the day after tomorrow. The music playing inside the vehicle was boring. No, it had nothing to do with the fact that it was being sung in a foreign language, she listens to music from different languages but the song was just bad and it was off-putting. She couldn’t stand it and had to say something for her peace of mind.

“Can you turn down the music please, it doesn’t sound good,”

She told the man who was seated in the huge vehicle with her, he glared at her and didn’t even react.

“Don’t you understand English? Turn. It. Off.”

She let out making sure to make hand gestures just in case he doesn’t really understand English but why would the research center send a non-English speaking person to come get her when they know she only knows how to speak in English, it was weird but he did signal for the one driving to turn off the music.

Nora looked out of the car window as it zoomed out of the airport, Italy was a beautiful country and she read a lot about the country in the past few months leading to her getting the offer. She wasn’t here to explore but if she does have the time, she would do a little of that, her phone started ringing and she lifted her bag to pick it up, it was the number of the person whom she has been in contact with since last week, the one who told her they will send someone to come pick her up. The one she had been about to call but changed her mind.

“Maybe he is calling to know if I already got picked,”

She let out as she took the call.

“Hey, Elio,”

Nora said with a smile waiting to hear the heavily accented Italian voice of Elio whom she has been in contact with a good number of times since last week.

“Hey, Nora, where are you?”

He asked.

“I am in the car going to the hotel,”

Nora, from the corner of her eyes, could see the big unfriendly guy making a call too, he had a stone-hard face, she ignored him and listened to Elio.

“What? Which car?”

Elio asked which got Nora on alert. He shouldn’t be asking her which car when he was the one that sent the car to her.

“What do you mean which car? The one you sent, of course, a Limousine,”

Nora stated.

“No, that’s not the car we sent, why didn’t you call me before getting in? get down from that car right now, my people are still at the airport waiting to pick you up. They called me that you haven’t shown up, it was taking longer and we assumed your flight got delayed. I decided to call you to find out where you are. You shouldn’t be in that car, get off now,”

Elio stated. Nora tried to laugh off what he was saying, maybe he was joking or maybe he got it wrong because there was no way this wasn’t the car she was met to go into, she turned to the unfriendly man with the phone still in her ears, he was frowning at her and gesturing for her to give him the phone, her heart skipped multiple beats, she could barely hear what Elio was saying over the phone.

“Can you hear me, Nora?”

Elio echoed over the phone but Nora had her eyes on the big man who was moving closer to her, he looked so scary right now. She looked around for a way to escape but realized she was trapped. There was no way out unless she can open the door and jump out of the vehicle while it was still moving.

“Elio, please help me, please you have to help me,”

She managed to say before the phone was snatched from her hands, she let out a scream and tried to get out of the moving car but the big man stopped her and passed something over her nose, she struggled to break free from him but whatever he had over her face made her feel dizzy and before long she lost the battle and gave up. The last thing she remembered was being pushed back to her seat.