The Unseen Road

Chapter Five

By the time the girls were fast asleep, the air had gotten slightly chillier and a cloud had blocked the moon's light. Regardless, everything seemed perfectly peaceful; while the girls weren't perfectly aware of where they were, they still couldn't deny themselves the comfort of rest.

However, just when the night had reached its peak, a noise began to creep its way to the girls' unknowing ears. At first, it was a more distant sound, like the rustling of a mouse; then, gradually, it grew louder and louder.

The sound stopped.

"What do we have here?" a sinister, snakelike voice asked as a looming shadow fell over the girls.

"I don't know. They look like angels," another responded.

"Angels? Such a rare sight, here? But where are their wings? ... Should we take 'em hostage?"

"Perfect." A perverse chuckle.

Rough hands jostled Amina. "Wake up, wake up, li'l brat," the first sneered, beginning to rob her of whatever objects she had on her, which happened to only be her phone.

Mina groaned, and had been about to rub her eyes just as she registeredthat she was being assaulted. Her eyes snapped open. "Aaaaah!" she yelped, flailing against the hands that grabbed hersmall upper arms, unable to see anything else but the silhouette of a man'sface. The smell of filth quickly permeated her senses, which screamed againstit. "Let me go!"

"...Mina?" Kylie mumbled as she stirred- and then jolted awake. She sat up, eyes wide and panicked as she looked around in the shroud of darkness. "Mina!? Where are you!?"

"Shut up," the second spat, seizing her by the waist as well.

There was more shrieking. Celeste, having heard her sister, finally awoke, fully alert. She immediately jumped up and assessed the situation; and under the faint moonlight scattered by the clouds, she saw a tall, gaunt half-lit figure struggling with her sister over its shoulder.

"Let go of her!" she yelled as she flung herself at the assailant, latching herself onto its bonelike arm. From the weight, both Kylie and Celeste clumsily fell down on top of each other, hitting the ground and dispersing dust around them.

Kylie rolled off of Celeste, and the two sprung up and repositioned themselves so that they were back-to-back.

"What was that?" Kylie asked as she faced away from their attacker, panting and looking into the darkness ahead.

"I don't know," Celeste replied, and narrowed her eyes at the figure that was now approaching them once more.

To Celeste, the assailant had an odd resemblance to both a homeless man and an assassin in costume. Dressed in rags and fingerless gloves and skin with no muscle, the man had long haggardly, uncouth black hair that fell around his face in clumped strands. And to Celeste, that meant trouble.

"We're going to be kidnapped!" Celeste gasped, cupping her hand up to her mouth. "That homeless man is gonna take us and ripe- what's that word- rape us and..."

"God damnit, shut up!" Another voice yelled, but this time it was familiar. "Nobody's getting raped!"

The voice belonged to Beatrice. She threw herself in the way between the man and the twins.

"Beatrice?" Kylie asked, looking around everywhere to try and see the face that belonged to the voice, but she was facing in the opposite direction. "Beatrice! Mina needs help!"