Akatsuki Princess

“It’s a damn cold night. I’m trying to figure out this life.” I sang under my breath, my head bobbing along to the beat. I walked along the old beaten trail listening to my recently swiped iPod. The girl had good taste in music, I can say that much. I was contemplating actually running away from the orphanage again or staying put for once. I figured it’s no use to go alone. I rarely got farther than the last stop on the E-train. Running away in a group was always better. Unfortunately, anyone who wanted to get away from the wretched orphan home had either turned 18, or was adopted. Except for me; I was only 12 and all my 18 year old “friends” never came back to get me. I didn’t really expect them to. None of them had really been my friends. I had one real friend here. Other than that, I had only me, myself, and I to rely on.
I had reached the graveyard. I stopped the music and took some flowers out of my backpack: dandelions, our favorite. I stayed for a few minutes talking to the headstone. “God I miss you,” I whispered.
I turned back to return to the Smee’s Home for Abandoned Children. As I neared the building, however, I felt rough hands grab me! Before I even had the chance to scream, I was gagged and shoved into a large sack. Terrified, I felt myself being tossed around and heard the roar of a car engine. Then, I felt the rumble of the car as we started to move.
We finally came to a stop and the sack was turned upside down. We had gotten to an airport. “Don’t say a word,” a male voice warned me in a Japanese accent, “or I will kill you.” I nodded, terrified. The man that had threatened me took the gag from my mouth, and led me out of the car.
My captor led me toward the gates. We went through the security inspection and continued on to Gate A 114. I checked the departing tracker: Tokyo, Japan. Why the hell am I being kidnapped to Japan? I wondered. Please don’t turn me into a sex slave…
Within 15 minutes we were boarding the plane first class. The numbness was wearing off and I was terrified. As soon as the seatbelt signs turned off, I turned to my captor. “Excuse me, sir. I need to go to the bathroom.” I kept my voice steady and spoke with conviction. The man stared at me for a few seconds, and I held his gaze. Finally, he grunted and picked me up over his lap into the aisle. I walked to the plane’s restroom and locked the door.
Once I was sure of my privacy, I allowed myself to freak out. I curled into a ball and rocked back and forth; tears fell freely from my eyes. I felt like a child hiding from the monster in her closet, but I needed to calm down and get out of this situation. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes tightly.
I can’t do anything while in the air, I reasoned, but once we land, I’ll make my move. If he’s holding onto me in the airport, I’ll wait till we get in the car. Then, I’ll jump out. I smiled to myself. All those years being a rebellious orphan was finally paying off. I washed my face and left the small restroom, returning to my seat. I decided to get some sleep so that I could pull off my escape plan as effectively as possible.
Shortly after I closed my eyes, or so it seemed, I was being roughly shaken awake. “Get up. We’re leaving.” The gruff voice reminded me where I was. I was led out of the plane by the man, his grip like a heavy-duty staple. We got into a limousine, and I was immediately handcuffed to the seat in front of me. So much for my plan; I started to hyperventilate, but forced myself to take a deep breath. I wanted to be ready for any chance of escape, and passing out was definitely not in the cards.
We drove for about 2 hours in complete silence. I tried to pay attention to where we were going, but the driver kept making so many turns that it was an impossible task. The car finally came to a stop on a dirt road near a dense forest. The driver got out and looked around, as if searching for someone.
Suddenly, a man jumped down from the trees, almost directly on top of the chauffer. I watched as they exchanged word that I couldn’t hear. The door of the car opened and the new stranger peered in at me. “You handcuffed her to the seat?” He asked in Japanese. I pretended not to understand him.
My captor shrugged. “She tried to run away four times,” he lied. “She’s a problem one.” Tree man glared at my kidnapper, who merely smirked and unhand cuffed me. “You’re lucky I didn’t do anything else. I could have knocked her out.” He switched to English and whispered, “good luck. This one’s a lot worse than me.” My new captor took me by the hand and began to lead me through the dense forest. Feeling no resistance, he finally let me walk by myself. I waited about 10 minutes before I ran. All I could think of was survival. While I ran, I remembered my first attempt at running away with my best friend.
“Zigzag!” He said as the cops chased us. “Like a bunny rabbit. Turn down alleys, climb fences, whatever you can think of. We’ll meet at the train station when we lose ‘em!” He turned sharply down a dark alley, I continued straight, ducking through crowds and dodging street vendors. The city was going to be easy to lose these cops. Or so I thought.
“Zigzag, zigzag.” I muttered to myself jumping over rocks and swerving around trees. It didn’t take long before my new captor cut me off.
The man grabbed me and picked me up. “My, you are trouble,” he spoke in Japanese, but a look in his eye told me he knew I understood him. “We can take care of that.” The man pulled a large sack out from under his cloak and shoved me inside. He tied the top and began to carry me towards our destination.