Trouble Within Paris

Chapter 1

Today I've been trying to lay low and stay inside of my motel. Something tells me he found me and knows where I am. This gut churning instinct I have had ever since this morning has not gone away. I wish that I could reach my family but the only phone number that I knew by heart is no longer connected and he took my cellphone. Everyone around me is a stranger, and I know nobody except one person.

I befriended the maintenance guy at the motel and now he helps me stay here for free. I've been here for a couple of months, and up until now I have felt safe. He always tells me here nothing bad will happen. Sometimes he brings me food from the kitchen, but I haven't seen or heard from him in a couple of weeks. The first time that I met him he showed me a picture of his daughter overseas, and said I reminded him of her. The last time that I saw him he seemed afraid, and wouldn't tell me why.

Even with closed blinds I can feel someone's presence watching me. It is always that same sensation it has ever been. The kind that makes me shiver up my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The only thing that I can do is wait, law low and wait. Someday I know that my life will be normal again, and I won't have to run anymore. The day that he is dead or slips up and is put in jail is the day I will be free.

My gun and my disguise are the only things I have close for comfort today. I've been sleeping like crap and there's no good food around me. Lately I've only been eating pizza and Chinese and have been paying online for delivery so they can't see me. There is no telling what he'd do, or who he'd pretend to be. At this point he would do anything and everything to catch me,

Everyone was too blind to see who my stalker really was. At school they told me how cute we would be together, and how cute he is. They all said how he has the hots for me, and I should give him a chance. That year I was blinded too, but after three weeks into the relationship I started seeing the truth. Something, someone I've been running from for a year. He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants even if it means going on a wild goose chase.

It all started on my 18th birthday after he gained my Grandma and mothers trust. My dad passed away when I was young, so he wasn't in the picture. That summer that I threw a big graduation birthday party I invited all of our friends, family, and neighbors. We lived close by and have known one another for years. Ever since I was ten when I moved down the street from him we've been in the same private school. Little did I know that this party was the beginning of something that was going to change my life forever.

My party was a lot of fun and stayed that way throughout the night. Me and my friends were all excited about going to college and sharing dorms. I was finally going to be on my own for the first time, and I was excited. Everything was going according to my plans I made since the beginning of high school. I was ready to spread my wings and fly! I soon found out that he was not on the same page, and didn't want any of that for me.

After the party slowed down a few of our friends and family members had a bonfire. We had all been enjoying the night and perfect weather. I still remember the crackling of the fire, and the buzz of the crickets. The whistling of the wind through the trees in my backyard and the stars in the clear night sky. The night was nothing short of ideal and it still is to this day one of the best birthday memories that I have.

That night he got up unexpectedly and made an announcement. Everyone looked enthusiastic as he told us in a sing song voice that he had a surprise for me. This was true as I was certainly surprised, and nervous at the same time. At first I took it lightly when he said it'd be life changing, and there I was naively falling in love with him. That was until I realized that he was a lying monster, and that I never liked him. That is the only thing that never changed for me while everything else did.

I remember being distracted listening to the sparks of the fire as they danced in his bright blue green eyes. He had pulled something from his pocket and I barely noticed. I was starting at him innocently curious, but I wasn't paying attention to his hands. I quickly snapped out of it as I heard everyone exclaim excitedly by what he was holding.

My mother was staring at me eagerly and smiling and she appeared more excited than I was. He had gotten her permission ahead of time and removed all doubt from her mind. There was a glimmer in his eye as he held up two tickets from his pocket and got down on his knee as everyone watched. What I thought was playfulness was the look of a sick and deranged sociopath.

Onyx had took my hand in his while putting the tickets in it. He leaned over and kissed me before asking if I would join him in Paris that summer. I had always wanted to go, but that wasn't the way I imagined it. The first semester in college I was majoring in French, but unfortunately hadn't been studying. My plan was to travel there completely fluent in their language. Still I was ecstatic and amazed that he had gotten my mom to agree and say that I should go.

Little did I know when I said yes that his plan was to take me away from my plans forever. I hugged and kissed him back as everyone excitedly clapped for us. Leaning in and whispering in my ear he told me that he promised that he would get me back in time. Sometimes when I have nightmares about him it's like I can still feel his warm breath on my neck and it gives me the chills. That night was the first time that I got that feeling, and how I was wrong. What I perceived as butterflies was just fear.

As the flames of the fire reflected in his eyes I had secretly been brushing away feeling like it was a bad idea. Every day since than I've wished I said no. There was so much pressure to say yes and not ruin the pleasant time that we were all enjoying. How could I have possibly turned the opportunity down? Everyone was thrilled for us, and he already bought the tickets. He knew how badly I wanted to go, but I wasn't even ready.

My mom knew of his plans and gave him permission without me knowing about it. She was always overprotective, but if she didn't want me to go there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it. Although since she was going to be paying for my college I wouldn't have argued with her if she said no. She was the one who was helping me make my dreams come true and Paris wasn't going anywhere.

What I did with my summer break was partially dictated by what she would allow me to do, and I trusted her judgement. I can't blame her for trusting mine too even though now I wish she hadn't. Today is one of those days that I wish she would have said no, and that if she had I would have listened. In my defense she knew a lot better than me, but it doesn't matter anymore. It is what it is, and I am where I am.

Chapter 2

The following week I was packed and ready but did I mention that I was totally freaking out. I had recently just gotten my passport and had never left the country. The only time I had even left the state was when I was very young and went to Disneyland. It was going to be my first plane ride lasting longer than a couple of hours and flying over a large body of water. I was scared of going over the water, and so my stuff was ready but I never was.

After that night something was off and Onyx started acting differently. No one else seemed to have noticed as far as I could tell, and I assumed that I was just overthinking it. Perhaps you're just stressed about going across the world is what I repeatedly told myself. He made me feel safe, and like I could really trust him. I told him how I felt about the trip and all he did was comfort me.

Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary until the night before we left. I had been sleeping deeply until I abruptly woke up to the sound of crunching leaves and breaking twigs. Startled I had jumped up from my bed and noticed that my window was open. Thinking nothing of it as I usually slept with it that way and it didn't seem strange at the time.

After I checked outside there was no sign of anyone, but I felt what is now a familiar feeling. That feeling you get when you know someone is watching you, but don't know where from. I ignored that feeling and assumed it was animal or something. Once again I told myself I was just being paranoid. There is nothing to worry about, and everything is going to be fine are words he said that I kept replaying in my mind as I fell back asleep.

The next morning he came and picked me up and it feels like yesterday I was looking outside the window and waving goodbye to my family as we drove away. They saw me smiling and waving back at them, but they didn't know all of the questions going through my mind. That was the last time I saw my family and neighborhood. Had I only have known that the feeling of home and familiarity would become something so distant from what I know now.

We rode in the car for what felt like two hours and I started getting antsy. When I asked him why it was taking such a long time he told me there was only one airport we could use. I thought I told you, he had said agitated. That was one of the biggest red flags that I missed that day. I assumed after he said that that there was nothing for me to worry about. If I would've just had the courage and intuition to open the door and get out, but I didn't.

Little did I know that the car that he recently got was a stolen vehicle that he was ditching. That was his intention of going so far and I never had any idea until I saw it later on the news. Apparently it was a get away vehicle in a bank robbery and I assume to this day that he was the perpetrator. Since recently he's had a lot of money, but all I've had is the money I had saved for my college intuition. Luckily I kept it saved when I found out my mom was going to pay for it.

That day when we finally arrived at the airport he starting telling me what to do and where to go. He gave me my ticket and said he was going to go park and he'd be right there. All he told me was that we needed to hurry, that he couldn't find his phone and would need mine to find it while he parked. Don't question me. Just hurry or we'll miss our flight. I'll see you soon. He had told me.

At that time I figured I just had to go in there and get in the line with my luggage quickly. I'll be there in no time. That if for some reason he had trouble parking and I didn't see him to just ask for directions and find the gate after going through security. Everything inside of me knew that something wasn't right but I ignored the feeling. I didn't even know what city I was in, and I believed him.

Driving off he said I love you, don't worry. For some reason I listened to every word and did what he asked. I knew if I needed to get in contact with him that I could try and use a phone at the airport, and so there I was. Walking into the airport watching a sea of people around me, and feeling lost. There wasn't a whole lot that I knew but my mom had told me half a dozen times what I supposed to do.

My forehead was perspiring and my hands were shaking because I was stressed and anxious. Something inside of me told me to call my mom, but I didn't. I was embracing finally being an adult, and told myself there was no time to be a chickenshit. After I checked my luggage the line was going by quickly. Nervously I was looking over my shoulder wondering where he was and how long he would take. When I do that now a days it is in hope that he is no where near.

When I got to the front and went through security I had that feeling in my stomach. That feeling you get when you forget your homework at home the day it was due. It was a bad feeling, but not as bad as getting caught cheating on a test. Amidst all of this I managed to use the bathroom while calming myself down. There was something that told me that it was more interesting this way. This is just an a part of becoming a legal adult I told myself, but I was wrong.

When I was done I went to go board the plane and relaxed a little bit hoping that he had already boarded. They were calling peoples seat assignments at the desk for us to board the plane. Even though I figured that he would have waited for me I decided he already got on, but still asked to use a phone before I boarded. The lady sitting behind the desk kindly gave me the phone so I could call him.

When I dialed the number he answered immediately. He told me he found his phone and told me to meet him on the plane so I didn't miss our flight. I can still hear him telling me that he didn't see me so he got on thinking I already boarded. In my mind I saw him waiting for me to come sit in front of him on the plane. There wasn't a single shred of doubt that it wouldn't be the way I imagined it.

Chapter 3

When I got on the plane I didn't see him anywhere. It didn't make any sense, but I naturally assumed he was close behind. How it was taking him such a long time I didn't know, but I wasn't worried. I stopped overthinking about it and sat down waiting while I watched out the window. The sun was shining brightly and the sky was my favorite color blue. It would have been the perfect day for swimming at the beach with my friends, but there I was.

I closed the window and was dozing off waiting for him despite the noise. When I woke up the plane was already moving, but not yet in the air. The lady on the speaker was telling everyone to make sure that they have their seatbelts on. Because the plane would be taking off shortly and any requests would have to wait. A baby started crying loudly in the seat behind me and I couldn't get her attention. There was still no sign of him anywhere and I was practically in tears.

I politely asked the people around me if someone had a cellphone that I could use, but the stewardess said no telephone calls aloud. All mobile devices have to remain in airplane mode until we were up in sky sorry for the inconvenience. I was trying to tell her what happened while everyone looked up at me confused, and someone laughed. Suddenly I started feeling like I was in a nightmare, and I didn't know how to wake myself up.

By that time I was panicking and trying to get up, but she told me to sit down. Instead of arguing I sat and looked through all the funny looks I was getting. Around me was a bunch of strangers and no Onyx. No one seemed very friendly and no one seemed to care, or listen. It was like I was in a bad dream where you can't get your words out, and you can't scream. I remember I started feeling dizzy and sick and sat down.

Eventually I found the words to speak when the stewardess came to talk with me. She seemed like she believed what I was saying, and told me that when we landed she would get me some help. I remember her saying that he was probably somewhere on this plane in a different class and that it would be fine. It happens sometimes. She said, and I was convinced. The remainder of the flight I fell asleep with my headphones in listening to my MP3 player.

When I woke up it was to the feeling of turbulence in the airplane, and I was startled. Finally the plane landed and we were instructed to take off our seatbelts before de-boarding. When I got up there was no sign of Onyx anywhere and I went on to gather my personal belongings and my carry on bag before following the line in front of me. There was a quiet voice telling me that I would run into him in no time, and that soon we would be laughing this off over a cup of tea at the café.

There was no sight of him anywhere around me, and the lady who had approached me never came back. I soon acquired assistance from someone else who told me where to go. They stated that when I was to exit the plane into the airport I could wait or try finding them at the luggage carousel. Waiting seemed like the best option, but I didn't see him. There was just a sea of different people and than there was me. Secretly inside I hoped I would see him standing there with a sign saying my name, and that would be that.

After I made my way to get my luggage there was nothing, and I was on my own. I didn't have my phone, and my French was broken. Anytime that I would go and ask for help people were pointing me in different directions, and it was chaos. Eventually I got a hold of a phone and call my number, but this time there was no answer. My only thought was how could this possibly be happening? When I tried calling my mothers landline it just beeped because it wasn't an international phone line.

The only choice that I had was to talk with the police. It wouldn't be that hard for them to help me. There's a lot of crazy things that go on in airports I am sure, and this is just one of them. My gut instinct told me that day someone would help me. It was just a matter of finding the right person in the right place, and at the right time. The crazy story I had made me feel like I was losing my mind, but someone would have certainly believed me.

I walked around and found someone that spoke English to translate for me. It was a middle aged man in his late thirties early forties, and when I told him the story he looked at me sideways. I even tried telling him in French, but he raised his eyebrows at me. He asked me if I had anything to drink on the plane, and being that I've never had a single drop of course I hadn't. The way that he treated me was like I was on drugs or that I was intoxicated, but I wasn't.

The man escorted me into a private office in the downstairs of the airport, and there was a guy sitting facing the wall waiting at the desk. He looked unfamiliar from the back, and on the desk there were two pill bottles that stuck out to me. When the guy who brought me downstairs said some words in French I was completely unprepared for what was to happen next as the gentleman sitting in the chair turned around.

Onyx was sitting in the chair wearing a disguise and I could barely recognize him. In his hands he was holding a pen and signing some paperwork while nodding to the gentleman and responding. I was unable of making out what either of them were saying, except something about medication, and being past the hour. It was obvious to me that they were saying that I missed my dose past the hour, and I had no idea what they were talking about.

Upon trying to respond in French to implicate that I knew what they were saying Onyx tried to hush me. He grabbed me by the arm roughly and made me sit down in the other chair. A lady came in the room and handed a cup of water and instructed to take my medicine. Nothing made sense, and I tried arguing that I didn't know what was going on. There was nothing that I could tell them because they would just shake their heads.

The paperwork that was on the desk was written in French, and I couldn't make it out. I made out the words possession and custody. I knew this wasn't right because as a legal adult no one had or ill ever have ownership of me. Staring at Onyx bewildered I got up and acted quickly. Everyone in the room reacted as I took my bag and ran. I heard one of them use a walkie talkie, and tell someone.

Somehow this made them believe Onyx's' lie even more, and eventually a security guard caught me and stopped me. They were following behind and Onyx had my stuff, and they handed me over to him. I was terrified as he dragged me out from the airport towards a taxi cab. He told me in front of the driver that I had better listen to him and take my medicine. He pulled it from his pocket with a small bottle of water. Do it or I'll kill you and your family. He had whispered.

Before I got in the world around me slowed down, and the buzz of the traffic in the streets around me was a blur. There I was in the beautiful city of Paris next to the guy who I had thought that I loved threatening me and my family. When I came dizzy with terror to I told myself that it wasn't going to end like that and kept my eye open for an opportunity. In the same minute as the taxi had come to a rolling stop at a light, and me looking at him nodding with my head a rush of adrenaline overwhelmed me. Go, I told myself, run.

Never in my life did being in track come in as useful for me as it did then. Before he could react I opened my taxi door backpack in hand and I ran. I ran as fast as I could somewhere I knew no one and was unfamiliar with everything. I was an adult and no sociopath was going to threaten me and my family. That was the day that I learned who the real Onyx was, and ever since that day I've been running. Running for my life.

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