Alana was surrounded by darkness. She could feel the floor beneath her, which was a good sign. The mist that had surrounded her was now gone and she could see faint lights flashing and people moving. She was in a club, she realised. The sound slowly came and the familiar pounding noise filled her ears. The song was in another language, French, she recognized, but she hadn’t heard the song before. The walls were all black, as well as the floor, which felt sticky as she lifted her shoes. Alana was holding a glass that was still full of bright blue liquid, although she wasn’t conscious when she had picked it up. Not wanting a drink, she placed in on the nearest surface, the bar, and pushed through the crowd of dancing people. She squinted because the neon lights flashed on and off too fast for her sensitive eyes. Alana continued to push her way through until she reached a wall.

She stared into the crowd, trying to collect her bearings. Then she noticed the man. It was the same man from before, when she was in the street. She looked frantically past the horde of “dancers” and saw a door. She sprinted towards the door, pushing through the clubbers, not stopping to apologise. She reached the door a few minutes later and yanked the door open triumphantly.

When Alana stepped through, she was blinded by light. She slammed the door behind her shut and faced her new surroundings. The clubbing music had stopped and the walls were painted a pale green. She was in a convenience store. She shook her head, which was becoming a regular occurrence. “This can’t be real.” She told herself. “You’re still dreaming, right?” She didn’t have time to answer her question though because someone was banging against the door behind her. She turned towards the door at the front of the store, near the cash registers and ran. To her disbelief no one was working. She had just entered the aisle when the door slammed opened. Uncontrollably, she turned around to see who had burst through the door. It was the man from before.

She rushed down the aisle, pulling items from the shelves and onto the floor, to create obstacles for her pursuer. The man jumped over the “obstacles” easily and caught up to her. He grabbed her arm with a look of satisfaction. His grip was strong, so strong that no amount of struggling seemed to loosen it. Alana scratched at his arm like he was some sort of vicious infection when another person appeared behind him. The new man also seemed to be the same age as her, but he was more slender and feminine looking than the other man. He had a worried expression on his face. Her pursuer turned around to face his friend which was Alana’s chance. While he was shouting things at his friend in Korean, she bit his arm and he screamed in pain. She kicked him in the shin which made him fall to the floor groaning and she ran towards the exit. She smiled to herself, not so strong now, are you?

It was nighttime outside but giant lights filled the sky with brightness so she couldn’t see the stars but could see everything else clearly. Although, there was nothing. There was nothing there but concrete and wire fences. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had just left a convenience store, she would say that she was standing on an airport runway. Alana was out of breath but she kept running towards the fences because she could hear the two men chasing again. She wanted to scream at them and ask why they were chasing her, but she needed to keep her concentration on getting away. Her pace had slowed by the time she was over the second set of wire fences, the men had jumped over the first and were running towards the second. Alana laughed out loud, to try and taunt them but one of them yelled, “Why are you laughing!?”

“It’s funny!” She said, trying to emphasize the last word. She knew she needed to sound confident.

“Is she okay?” The same man asked his friend while Alana started to climb the next fence. She stopped briefly. Was it just her, or did he actually seem concerned? No, she told herself, they’re trying to kidnap you. She kept climbing. She swung her right foot over and was just about to fling the left one, when someone grabbed her.

Her heart stopped. All the adrenaline she had previously had stopped and a new batch of panic kicked in. Her purser’s friend held her foot. His grip was gentler than the other mans. Although she would have preferred to not have her foot held at all; it was nicer to have blood circulation. She realised that he was actually quite good looking if not for the kidnapping part. He looked Korean and his dyed brown hair was styled nicely across his face. She stared until his grip tightened.

“Come down!” He pleaded as she kicked at his face.

“Let me go!”

“Don’t let go!” Her first pursuer demanded. His blonde hair was a mess and he seemed to be standing uncomfortably because of his shin.

“LET GO!” Alana screamed, giving one last kick toward the brown headed man. She kicked him in the face and his hands reached for his nose. Blood trickled through his fingers; the blonde pursuer crouched over his friend.

“You kicked him in the face!”

“Don’t touch me.” She threatened, while holding up her left foot. She was still sitting on the fence and it was taking almost all her concentration to keep her balance. It was only then that her mind was becoming clearer that she noticed that the men were speaking in English.

“Get down!” The blonde man yelled with an American accent that she didn’t notice before. He started to climb the fence. Alana tried to kick at him but lost balance.  He reached out to catch her but failed. She landed on the concrete with a sickening crunch but couldn’t feel anything. The bright lights seemed to fade and her breathing slowed. She was getting sick of seeing this man every time she closed her eyes.