270

She swiftly walked past the groups of people, her eyes stared straight ahead acting as warning signs to anyone who crossed her path. They all walked past her without a second thought. You think they would’ve noticed her, but they didn’t. The truth is in London, like most places, people might give each other a subtle smile while passing and occasionally a wave, but they never really notice. If you would have noticed her walking, you would have seen that she had been walking around in a circle for an hour and half, that’s ninety minutes. Her jet black boots stomped into the pavement of Piccadilly Circus. The heels had begun to wore out after about a half an hour, and now they were cracking at the edges. Tempting to give away at a moments notice. The bright lights of the buildings cast shadows across the sidewalk. It was nine o’clock in the morning.

Her sleek black hair outlined her face. Her straight-edge bangs hung low to the tops of her eyelashes. If you didn’t notice her before, you did now. The truth is in London, like most places, a familiar face might not mean much. If that familiar face can pull off a look you can’t, you automatically feel the need to stare. You may start thinking, Wow, that looks amazing on her, or something along the lines of, If I ever did that I would never be able to look as good as her. You may spend nine minutes on the topic, but then after you focus back on where you were going, you would forget all about her.

It was nine o’clock in the morning, and she had nine minutes left. Her thoughts were pouring out of her head almost palpable to bystanders. She resisted the urge to bite her nails, but if you had been noticing her you would of seen her do it nine times before. Her eyes dropped from their vacant horizontal stare and she looked downward. After walking for this long, she knew her path by heart and she turned her feet over to memory.

Looking down was her first mistake, if you don’t count her biting her nails. As she walked her familiar path at the same swift pace she didn’t notice the large man who had stepped in front of her. He was wearing a tightly fit black suit. The crisp white wrinkle-free shirt underneath made him look more important than he actually was. His glasses covered his eyes and his bald head caught the breeze as it blew across the circle. If you would’ve been paying attention, you would’ve seen her trip. She stepped on the man’s large shoe and stumbled into him. Her delicate fingers smashed into his chest and the impact caused her small, fragile body to bounce back. If you would have noticed her trip you would’ve seen the fear in her eyes when they met the man’s. She tried to mumble a sorry, but no words came out. Instead she slowly side-stepped him and continued on her path at a faster pace. It was two minutes after nine o’clock.

The man stared after her as she quickly walked away, looking up every few seconds. He lifted up his left wrist, where a gold watch sat. The watch ticked the seconds away and he took in his surroundings. People were rushing by not noticing him, he had had nine minutes but now he had seven. He walked over to a near park bench and took a seat, carefully avoiding the bird residue they lay on top. His elbows took a place on his knees as he looked out. His eyes focused on the girl who had stumbled into him earlier. She had had nine minutes but now she had seven.

If you had been paying attention you would’ve noticed how the man had gotten to Piccadilly Circus. He had pulled up in a black Range Rover with tinted windows. The spokes on the wheels were a bright gold that contrasted with the dark car. When he stepped out of the back seat you would’ve seen what was inside, but you didn’t. Nine different machines lined the walls of where seats should’ve been. Nine machines that decided what happened next.

The girl’s pace had increased. She knew that she was running out of time. For the past ninety-two minutes she had done nothing but worry. Her ice blue eyes snuck glances at the man she ran into only a few moments before. If you would’ve noticed her, you would’ve seen that every time she looked his way he began to count down on his fingers, starting from nine. She tried not to think about it, she didn’t want to know what happened when he hit zero. She knew she was in danger, she had known for a while now but she thought that he would at least be here by now.

She kept walking while keeping a close eye on the man on the park bench. One more finger dropped from the original nine, six minutes. She passed women in peach dresses, blue hats, and a group of nine children laughing with balloons. She noticed the tiny cracks below her feet and the birds that flew overhead in flocks of nine. The sun was rising faster over the neat rows of colorful houses and the tall electrifying buildings. When she crossed another street for the ninth time that morning, a car pulled up to the curb. She kept walking, but if you had been watching, you would have noticed it was the same car that dropped off the previous man. The car door slammed open and out walked eight men. They came out one by one and all looked around. They adjusted their suits and ties, trying to blend in like business men, but they didn’t know that they didn’t need too since no one was paying attention anyway. The girl looked back and saw them, things had gone from bad to worse, and now she had five minutes. She fiddled with her gold chain that loosely hung around her neck. She wanted to stop, but knew that if she did they would grab her. Where was he? was all she could think as she kept glancing down side streets.

The group of eight men walked off in the opposite direction and stood around the park bench. They carried on fake conversations and small talk appearing to be waiting for a bus, but to the girl the nine men were her death sentence. She decided to not pass them, just in case if the nine men grabbed her right then and there. She cut her path into a half circle, spinning on her heel and walking away from them. She repeated this around nine times until she had three minutes left. She focused her attention to the cars that kept passing, looking out for the old banged up 1990 Jaguar that Carl drove. It never came. She kept pacing in her now half-circle. Until she spotted the nine men sitting around the park bench. His hands were clenched into fists, and she noticed her time was up. Panic rose from her body and she searched the streets looking for Carl, Why hadn’t he come?

If you would’ve been watching you would have seen what happened next. The nine men all cast nine evil grins and all got up at once. They pushed their way through the crowd as the black Range Rover pulled into the lot. You would’ve seen them circle the girl and shoving her lightly, all nine of them laughing. You would’ve seen the tears that poured down her face as she realized that Carl wasn’t going to come and help her. The tears fell into her mouth as she realized that the nine thousand dollars she owed these nine men wasn’t going to be payed in time. She yelled out to passing by strangers, but like we already know. You or anyone else didn’t stop to see what was going on. She saw the flock of nine birds fly overhead one more time and she stared at the ugly men's watches which all read that it was nine minutes after nine. She knew that she couldn’t escape and she knew that no one was coming, because like we already know, no one noticed.