A Cry For Help

Chapter 2 - Gotcha

Crash!

Rabia woke with a start. What in the world?

Bang!

Her heart started pounding in her chest. Not again. Surely Ginger wouldn't be knocking down a bowl two nights in a row. She sat up in her bed and watched the door. After a few minutes, when nothing happened, she lay back down on the bed. She was just being silly. Why would there be noises in the house? She fell back asleep but was woken up again a few minutes later when she heard the room door open. She turned her head to the side. Entering the room were three people. It was dark, so she couldn't see them too clearly. She closed her eyes for a moment, maybe she was hallucinating. When she opened her eyes, still looking at the door, the people were gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and then cast her eyes around the rest of the room. Her heart stopped. There, at the foot of her bed were the three people. She could just make out that they were male. A blood curdling scream came out of her mouth. What are they doing in here? She thought to herself. She stopped screaming to take a breath and then started screaming again. Before she knew it, one of the men had her mouth covered with a foul tasting glove. She felt the roughness of the glove scratching her face and tried not to breathe in the nasty odour. Another man grabbed her hands and tied them with a white shoelace. They dragged her out of the bed and forced her to walk forwards.
"Please don't hurt me." she begged pathetically.
"Shh!" one of the men hissed.

Rabia kept quiet but she felt tears prickling at her eyes. As they walked down the passage, one man gripping her arm painfully, she could feel the presence of the two others behind her. The led her to Ahmed's mum's room. She was forced to the side of the bed. Rabia looked on the bed, Mariam, Ahmed's mum, was sitting there, coughing and wheezing. She looked scared out of her wits. A few minutes later, Ahmed also came in, looked dishevelled. His eyes were wide with fear. He cast a quick look at Rabia before he was forced to the other side of the bed. There was another man, in a leather jacket standing at the door. He said something to the others in a foreign language and the three men started searching the room. One man came towards Rabia.
"Where's the money?" he snarled.
"I don't know." Rabia whispered.

His eyes fell to her neck as he spied her necklace. His hands went to the necklace around her neck and ripped it off her. Rabia felt a pang in her chest. The necklace was a birthday present from her sisters. The man looked at her arms and took her watch off. She felt another pang. The watch was another present from her uncle. She felt anger suddenly blaze in her. How dare they? How dare they come into her house and just take what they want? A few tears leaked from her eyes. Her lips felt so dry and cracked. She was about to lick them when she remembered the foul smelling glove. Who knows what they put in that glove or where it has been. She watched as they rounded on to Ahmed and took the chain from around his neck. She saw his eyes flash and his hands curl into fists. That chain was his father's. His late father's. One man dragged Mariam to the edge of the bed, ripping her necklace off and trying to get her bangles off of her wrist. Her face scrunched in pain.
"Hold on a second. Let me take it off. Untie me." She said feebly.

The man hesitantly untied her and Mariam took the bangles off. A few tears dripped down Mariam's face. Rabia knew how much they meant to her. The necklace was passed down to Mariam from her great-grandmother and the bangles were a wedding present from her parents. Rabia felt another surge of anger.

"Where's the money? Where's the gold?" the same man aggressively growled.
"We don't have gold or money in the house. You took the only gold we had." Mariam whimpered.
"Come with me." the man said, grabbing Rabia's arm and started to lead her out of the room.
"Wait! Take me, don't hurt her!" Mariam protested.
"Don't you move!" another man shouted. Mariam shrunk back.

Two men, the one who did most of the talking and a light skinned man, led her back to her room.
"Where's the money?" he asked.
"I don't know." Rabia replied weakly.
"Where is the bloody money?"
"I don't know."
He gave her a dirty look and searched the room.
"What's your name?" the light skinned man asked. Rabia considered lying, but then decided against it.
"Rabia." she said quietly.
"What?"
"Rabia." she repeated, just as softly.
"What school do you go to?" he asked.
"Northlands High." she told him.
"Hmmph." was all he replied.

Rabia looked around the room, and saw the other man take her laptop bag with her laptop in it. Why did she decide to bring it to Ahmed's place?
"Is the charger in here?" he spat.
"Yes." Rabia reluctantly told him. Why couldn't she lie to them?
He slung the bag onto his shoulder and came round to her.
"Come." he said and grabbed her arm again, leading her back to Mariam's room.
He pushed her to the side of the bed.
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Mariam asked me. Rabia nodded.

The men continued to search the room. Then one of them found a key.
"What's this key for? Is it for a safe?" he asked in a rush.
"No, it's for an old safe, in my old house." Mariam said.
"Is it for a safe? Where's the safe?" he persisted.
"It's not here. It's for an old safe." Mariam told him. He pocketed the keys.
Rabia looked at the men. There were four of them. All of them had gloves on and scissors and long metal sticks hanging from their pockets. She focused on what seemed like the leader of them. They guy in the leather jacket. She could just make out a gun in his hand. Tears gathered in her eyes. What if he shot them? She started panicking.

"Come with me." the man who did all the talking said, taking Rabia by the arm and led her back to her room.
"What does your mother do?" he asked her.
“She’s a teacher at the local pre-school." Rabia didn't dare correct him and tell him that Mariam wasn't her mother.
"Where does she keep her money?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want me to bring your brother in here? And show you how I kill him? I can shoot him, slit his throat or spray this in his eyes." Rabia gulped. He looked so menacing as he shook pepper spray in her face. Oh my God. Please don't spray that on me. She thought.
"I don't know." she looked at the clock, and saw that it was quarter to three in the morning.
"What are you looking at? What's there?"
"I'm just looking at the time."
He scoffed. He tried again,
"Where's your baby?" he asked.
"I don't have a baby." Rabia said, trying not to sound surprised.
"Where's your boyfriend?"
"I don't have one."

He grabbed her arm again and pushed her out of her room, taking her to the empty guest room, where Mariam and Ahmed were. Mariam was praying softly.
"What are you saying?" the man asked.
"I'm praying." Mariam whispered.
"Don't pray. I'm here. I'm also Islam. I will protect you." he told them. Rabia felt a surge of anger pulsing through her body. How dare he? How dare he just waltz into her house and not only take her precious things but claim he was a Muslim too? How dare he!
"See, Tabark Al Lathee." He started and recited the beginning of a few other surahs. Rabia felt another surge of anger.
"The others are angry; they want to kill you because you don't have anything for them. But I won't let them, because I'm Islam too," the man said, "my name is Muhammed."

Rabia could see that Ahmed was getting angry. Another man came in and said something to Muhammed in another language.
"I'm going to lock you in the room." he said, turning and leaving with the other man. They heard the door click shut and the lock turning. Then whispers. The lock turned again and Rabia held her breath. Then they heard running footsteps and then silence. They gave it a few minutes and then Ahmed got up and untied Rabia and Miriam. Miriam untied him and he went to the door, opening it. That's when Rabia broke down into sobs. Hysterical, gut wrenching sobs.