Her mother's voice woke her from a dreamy sleep. She smiled as her eyes opened. The dream had been about him, again. All of her dreams lately had been about him. She sat up in bed and her hand unconsciously went to the small chain around her neck. She felt the small T and smiled. Again, her mother's voice called her, this time more urgent. Eyebrows above brown eyes furrowed, there was something in it that was strange, something she'd never heard before. Gabriella shook her head; it was too early in the morning to be worrying about her mother's tone. She glanced at her clock, eyes growing wide.
7:10.
She was going to be late for school! Jumping out of bed, she sprinted into her closet. It was too late to choose anything coordinated or cute, so she threw on some jeans and a white t-shirt with black tribal designs on the front and back. It would have to do, she thought to herself. Her eyes took one last look around the room before leaving. She shut her door and smiled at the picture on the front.
"And he said he wasn't photogenic," she laughed to herself. The walls to the stairs were covered in family pictures, some Gabriella had put up herself and others, she had protested to. Like the picture that had been taken during one of her youth bath times. She glanced at the picture that showed her younger self, naked, and smiling toothlessly in a bathtub. One word defined the picture. Embarrassing.
She started her descent down the stairs, pausing halfway next to her junior year school picture. There were voices other than her mothers coming from the kitchen. Male voices. She didn't recognize them. She inched down slowly, skipping over the one squeaky step in her stairs and paused at her kitchen archway. She quickly glanced around the corner, the sight making her breath catch in her throat.
Miss. Montez was sitting at the end of the kitchen table, a man in a black mask on either side of her, recent tear stains evident on her face. Taking a soft, deep breath, Gabriella placed her head against the wall. Maybe she should make a break for the front door, but they would surely see her, and what about her mother, she couldn't just leave her! She exhaled in annoyance, what the hell was she going to do! She now understood the tone that was in her mother's voice earlier, it was warning.
"Damn it," she cursed under her breath as she glanced around the corner again. This time, she caught her mother's eyes, which grew wide with fear. Gabriella realized her mistake a second after making it. The men on either side of her mother stiffened, their heads whipping around to face her.
"No, Gabriella! RUN!" her mother yelled, tears streaming down her face.
Gabriella hesitated for only a second; enough for her body and mind to register that one of the men had advanced towards her. That they wanted her. She turned and sprinted, dashing through the hallway towards her front door. Her mother's screams were her adrenalin. She had to get help, for both their sakes.
A corner and three long strides would put her at the door. Her mother's silence made her glance back over her shoulder. Worry rushed up inside her and tightened around her heart. The silence, however, was ruined when yells and crashes came from behind. Gabriella lengthened her stride and smiled when her front door came into view. The thought never crossed her mind that it would be the closest she would ever get to actually escaping.
She was almost there when a fist blindsided her, coming from her family room and connecting with the side of her face. The attackers ring cut relentlessly into the skin next to her right eye with scaring force. She hit the ground hard, the wind knocked from her lungs. She could feel something wet running down the side of her face as she looked up into the emerald eyes of her attacker. The man smiled from beneath his mask, showing a row of perfectly, straight, white teeth. She looked away, a shiver running down her spine.
"I got her." His smooth voice called back into the kitchen as he advanced forward.
Gabriella lashed out, catching him on the shin. She was not going to make this easy for him, them, whoever they were. His grunt of pain made her smile, but it only lasted for a moment. The man cursed and brought his fist down on her stomach, hard. Her vision tunneled as her breath left her once again. His arm curved around her throat and he lifted her to her feet in one motion. She dug her heals into the hardwood; he flexed his arm in response, cutting off her air supply as her hands tried to pry his arm away from her throat uselessly. She was dragged, kicking and clawing back to the kitchen where the other man was. She saw her mother on the floor, unconscious, a bruise forming on the side of her head.
Gabriella was about to scream when the man dragging her sent his hand to cover her mouth. Her adrenalin was fuelled by anger now and she used it to bite down on the man's hand. He screamed and let her go, but his buddy was right behind him. She got only two steps before she felt hands on her shoulders. Gabriella was jerked backwards and thrown into her kitchen table, her side slamming into the end with a painful crack. She slumped to the floor as the emerald eyed man's ringing laughter filled her ears.
"Smile for me," the one not laughing asked; his orange envi cell phone out in front of him.
She looked up at them weakly; her breath coming in shallow pants. She sent her right hand to her ribs and her left to the edge of the table. She hauled herself up, every breath making her chest burn. With her hand still on the table she glared at her attackers with hate filled eyes. The one with emerald eyes looked to the other, who smiled and shrugged, pulling out his phone again. Before Gabriella knew it, a foot connected with her right knee and she went down again with a scream of pain, her hands automatically reaching for the injured joint.
"You know Gabriella, you're very photogenic," the one with the phone chuckled out. She was trying to keep the tears of pain from leaking out of her eyes. Weakness was what they wanted, and that was the one thing she was not going to show them. They could try and take everything from her, but they weren't getting her spirit. She was a fighter. She fought the status quo. She fought for Troy's love. And she was going to fight for herself.
But, maybe after a good nap.
She rested the right side of her face against the cold of her tiled kitchen floor, the side going numb and the pain decreasing. She took a deep breath, only to choke on it, her chest tightening up and feeling as though it was on fire. Breathing in general was becoming hard; the same fire would flare up in every breath. Multiple bruised, possibly broken ribs, she thought to herself. She opened her eyes a fraction of an inch and glanced at her throbbing knee, it was defiantly dislocated, maybe a torn muscle somewhere. She took a lighter breath, trying to get a hold of herself.
"What…do you want…with me?" she managed to rasp out. The one with emerald eyes smiled and bent towards her. He brought his fist forward and Gabriella flinched before glanced at his class ring. The stone was blue, she couldn't make out the writing, but the graphic was defiantly a basketball. Her brows pushed together as the man's fist loosened; letting the small chain slid down from between his fingers. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the small T. Her hand up to her neck. It was gone. Realization struck her and her chest tightened. Her head throbbed, her chest burned and her knee ached. It was all becoming too overwhelming and she was having trouble keeping a hold on her precious conscience.
"You…don't want…me," she whispered, black dots taking over more and more of her vision. "You want…Troy." His smile crushed her fighting spirit, her determination, and her will to stay conscious. She let her head roll to the side, eyes closing as darkness and pain consumed her.