Growing uneasy with each moment, Jean felt completely helpless and unsafe.
'I don't like this.'
With a suppressed groan, Jean cursed in his head.
Some seconds later, he smelled the outside fresh air. He was out of the vehicle but still in the hands of the stranger. From the way the stranger lifted him, he looked like a puppet in his grip. The stranger was indeed too strong.
At that moment, a strange voice echoed next to them.
"This way!"
In the next moment, Jean felt being moved in a certain direction that he wasn't sure of.
***
In an empty room, Jean sat leaning back on one of the walls. A slightly relieved expression on his face.
Though he was still tied, he was in a better posture than before.
'At least for now.'
Seconds past and merged into minutes, minutes merged into hours. He was growing tired with each moment, uncertain with what will follow next.
Tiredness and hunger were taking the better part of him. He was finding it difficult to figure out the solution to his current problem. The more he thought, the dizzier he grew.
The room he was currently in, was submerged in darkness, though it was daytime. Something else also felt strange about the room. It was the silence that settled within its confinement. It suggested loneliness and emptiness. It seemed like there was no hint of life within the room, except for Jean.
This had just come to his realization, when he was laid in the room by the stranger that carried him into the room some moments ago.
At first, he had thought that people within the room that he was put in, were just mute for a certain reason that he wasn't aware of. But as time went by, he was hit by the realization that he was alone in the room.
Although, someone could have mistaken the hint of relaxation on his face, to comfort, but that wasn't the case. The relaxation was just a sign of relief from the body aches that had accumulated on the muscles and joints of his strained body. But that didn't mean that his body was completely free from pain. It still hurt though with a slightly small margin than before.
Struggling with a yawn, Jean pondered.
'What is that final destination they were referring to? People are truly wicked. From the way they were discussing my fate, you could think that it was an item that they were planning to dispatch. And on top of that, leave me struggling with hunger. Maybe is one of their tactics. Leave their victim hungry and grow weak for them to handle with ease. I am not a fan of that thought at all.'
With each passing minute, Jean was growing weaker and weaker. His stomach rumbled from time to time, clearly indicating that he was extremely hungry. His body muscles were growing numb and painful with each moment. This was as a result of him remaining in a motionless state for quite a long period of time.
'When is this arduous experience going to end. It is a taxing experience, indeed. What if death is the one to mark the end of this? …. let me just not think in that direction.'
Throwing all the thoughts out of his mind, Jean tried relaxing himself. His eyes though not visible, gleamed with faint light of hope behind the linen rag. He was still clinging to hope despite his situation growing dire with every passing second.
'There must be a solution to this. I just need to relax myself and think better.'
With that thought still lingering in his mind, some distance conversations fall on his ears. They were sounding from outside of the room. From the way the conversation sounded, it seemed like it was coming from a small group of people. It also sounded louder with each moment. It was clear, the source of the conversation was approaching the room that Jean was contained in.
This revelation disturbed Jean's peace of mind.
'Which peace of mind? The whole situation is a menace to my state of mind… I can't wait for this to end. But on a positive note…. for me of course. Else who wishes his adversary success. If that is not suicidal then what could it be?'
While still pondering on his lingering fate, the voices echoed from the room. This was after a rattling sound of a wooden door. Jean noticed the former, but the latter caught him by surprise.
Tilting his head towards the direction of the sound, his face paled. Almost simultaneously, the voices died down and dead silence settled in the room. The voice owners seemed to have noticed Jean facing in their direction.
Lowering his head dejectedly, Jean pondered on the reason behind the strangers' sudden silence.
'They must have noticed me facing them. Or maybe I was just imagining things?'
As if answering his thoughts, some footsteps reverberated from the room's floor. Jean could have flinched, only if he was not tied up.
He perked-up and tried to assume a reserved state, though his emotions stated otherwise. The more the footsteps drew closer, the more dreadful he became.
'How stupid is it, fearing what you don't know? As if fearing would reduce the impact of the unknown danger. As if I even have a choice. Hopefully they are not up for no good. As if the whole situation is even meant to work in my favour.'
At that moment, the footsteps which were approaching him resounded once more and randomly came to a halting stop. This suggested only one thing. The footsteps were coming from different individuals.
'…What are they up to? Oh, maybe they are here to take me to my final destination that I heard one of them mention.'
Jean was right with his guesses. These were strangers that were assigned the task of taking Jean to the so-called 'final destination'.
Although, he wasn't sure what the 'final destination' was meant to be, he was sure that the destination bore no good for him. Therefore, when he thought of this, he gritted his teeth, hoping he never gets to that 'final destination.' Although he wasn't sure what could prevent that from happening, he still remained positive about the whole situation.
He was taken aback by the whole turn of events.
He remembered when in school, he used to hear rumours, tales and stories about kidnaps, and he used to enjoy them. But now he was on the receiving end, and he was not enjoying it at all. Maybe if he lives to tell the story, he will be forced to change the whole experience of the narrative.
'If only I'm lucky…'
At that moment, somebody slapped across his face, cutting his thought mid-way. Jolting to the side in the direction of the slap, Jean struggled to catch a breath.
Immediately an angry voice resounded:
"What do you think you are doing?"
Another voice answered jokingly:
"Testing the test subject."
"See how stupid you are. Do you know how important he is to us?"
"Of course, I know."
"Rascal! If you really knew, that idiotic action of yours couldn't have crossed your scattered brain."
With that, silence settled in the room.
Jean let out a frustrated sigh and gritted his teeth.
'How I wish I could set my eyes on this idiot… even for once. That would be the moment he would regret his actions.'
A few moments later, the angry voice resounded once again, this time in a more reserved state.
"You, go pick the required items in the back chamber before we leave."
"Okay, sir!"
With that, swift footsteps reverberated on the floor. The stranger was heading towards the door way. This gave Jean a clue that the back chamber was located somewhere outside the room he was currently in.
Immediately the leaving footsteps died down, the angry voice resounded again:
"You, did you feed him?"
This statement made Jean to smile faintly.
'So, they are humans, after all.'
At the same moment, another strange voice answered.
"Who, sir?"
"Him of course."
"Oh, wait!"
After that, a couple footsteps resounded closer to Jean. A few breathes later, Jean felt a hand with a weird texture grasping his chin. In the next moment, he felt his head being forcefully tilted in a certain direction. Although he felt unnerved by this act, he didn't have a choice but to tilt his head in the direction it was being tilted to.
'Hopefully, it is not another slap coming.'
At that moment, a strange voice sounded in his ears,
"Have you eaten?"
Jean was puzzled instantly.
'This must be that scatter brain. He is totally unreasonable. How is he expecting me to answer such a question with a sealed mouth? Even if my mouth was not sealed, I don't think I could have answered this question. Instead, I could have given this idiot's a dead slap. I am too angry to answer such stupid questions. It just makes sense that it is coming from an idiot.'
Jean thought angrily.
After a short moment of silence, the angry voice echoed in the room again.
"What are you trying to do?"
"I am asking him if he has fed."
"And you are waiting for an answer…. How stupid! Blockhead, how do you expect a person with a sealed mouth to answer you?"
"Oh, I see. Should I remove it, sir?"
At that moment, some swift footsteps resounded from the door way.
"Everything is set, and it is time to leave, sir."
"Is the vehicle ready?"
"Yes, sir!"
"If that is the case, then transfer the subject to the car."
With that, the room was submerged in a commotion of random footsteps. Some moments later, Jean felt being lifted off the ground.
((:-☺️