How my best friend almost killed me

CW: This is a fast paced thriller that contains dark themes like kidnapping and violence.

Reader discretion is advised. It is marked mature.

A/N: Welcome to my story. This is a betrayal and survival story. If you enjoy the story, please do not forget to a leave a vote and a comment. Enjoy!

I had a friend who was closer to me than my family.

We often went out to parties, and we would buy all kinds of drinks we wanted to try. We could roam the streets, buying midnight kebabs and spaghetti from a spaghetti vendor to satisfy our cravings for spicy foods. I could borrow her clothes to go to nightclubs with her, since I had a few nice outfits. She would lend them out easily without complaining.

Honestly, I borrowed clothes and bags from her closet most of the time. One minute I had her Gucci bag, the next I was in her clothes. I could even take her shoes and wear them to lectures. After class, I put the shoes somewhere and forgot. Not that I wanted to do it on purpose, but it was just my nature. Just careless, she would say.

“Where did you put my shoe? I cannot find it.”

“I have no idea where it is.”

“Again?” she would yell at me.

We would tear apart the bedroom to look for her shoes. We started by lifting the mattress, checking the wardrobe, then sweeping the whole room only to realize her shoes were in my backpack all this while.

“What is this, Linda?”

“Oh, I must have forgotten I kept that in my bag.”

“Hmm...”

“Forgive me. You know I am a mischievous brat,” I would say to keep a smile on her face.

It rained during our class hours, and to keep her shoes from getting soggy, I bought a pair of flip-flops from a store nearby and kept her shoes in my bag.

“Sorry, Jessica.”

“It’s fine.” She would respond.

Jessy was my emotional support. I would tell her everything that hurt me, and she would make me regain my spark within a second.

I remember when I got heartbroken by a biochemistry guy in his fourth year, she was there to wipe away my tears, cracking jokes here and there to cheer me up. Jessy was older than me. She was in her final year. She had stayed an extra two years to clear some failed courses.

Jessy was like a sister to me.

That was until one night when I was fast asleep and heard someone whispering my name. I woke up abruptly with a hypnic jerk, trying to shake off the sleep.

“Did you call my name, Jessy?” I preferred calling her Jessy rather than Jessica.

I turned toward her in bed, but she was fast asleep. I turned on my phone’s flashlight to check for any shadows or ghosts nearby, but there were none. It seemed like I was just being delusional.

I sat upright and turned on the lamp beside our mattress. Jessica adjusted herself slightly.

“You’re awake?” she asked me.

“Yeah.”

“Is it 6 o’clock?”

“No...”

“Then why are you sitting that way? Do you have something on your mind?” she asked.

“I thought I heard a voice calling my name,”

“At this time? Sister, lay back down and sleep. You were just dreaming,” she said loudly to me.

“Maybe.”

“Sleep, okay,” she said, patting my back.

I turned off the lamp, and slowly lay down on the bed.

In the morning, I was still thinking about last night’s incident. I knew I had heard someone calling my name, but I had no evidence.

As the day went on, I borrowed some clothes from Jessy and went to class. It was not that I was poor, but her clothes were so eye-catching: Gen Zs would say her clothes were “classic,” and that was why I borrowed them so often.

Our lecturer was strict, and he had told us that he would be conducting a test that day, so I needed to have a clear mind for the exam.

When I came home later that day, Jessy was back from class and had prepared braised rice with fried egg, complete with freshly ground pepper to garnish it.

How could I resist my favorite food?

Without even washing my hands, I sat on the floor, forming a V-shape with my legs to keep the food between them.

I ate every bite and burped right after.

I did not realize I had fallen asleep, but through a heavy fog, I heard someone saying, “She’s asleep now. We’d better hurry.”

I was half-unconscious at the time.

As I lay there helpless, two arms lifted me up onto someone’s shoulder as our door screeched shut. Then the person dropped me into the back seat of his car. I was nervous, but I could not move or talk.

I just listened to them.

“That was a wonderful job. Well done,” a bass voice said to a feminine figure.

My vision was blurry so I could not see them clearly.

“I told you to leave everything in my hand,” the feminine voice said.

She sounded familiar, but my hazy mind could not process exactly who the voice belonged to.

Immediately after she left, the man slammed the car door shut and stepped on the gas.

The engine roared continuously, and I could tell it was going to be a long journey. He drove past many cars, cursing at some of them. We made many U-turns, and the car hit potholes in the road, making it shake violently. When we finally reached our destination, I heard cries coming from a wooden house. It was as though there were humans there who were being tortured, I thought.

The man then grabbed me by the waist and walked toward the house.

Am I going to die? I said to myself.

Did Jessica do this to me?

The man threw me onto the grassy floor, where I could hear other women like me crying for help. Those women pleaded with some tall, muscled men to spare their lives.

I got scared when I heard a wild cry. It echoed once through the room with agonizing pain attached to it. I fell silent. Soon after, I heard a sharp sound like an axe cutting into wood, or a tree trunk. If I were reading the sound correctly, they were cutting bodies into pieces. I became terrified as my brain screamed that I was in grave danger. Just then, another man walked over to me.

“Hey, wake up.” He slapped my thighs so hard that I felt them getting sore.

Then, one guy came with a syringe filled with some liquid. He grabbed my arm and injected it. I had no idea what it was, but my body slowly gave in. I became drowsy, my vision blurred, and my limbs felt as heavy as metal. Both my hands and legs became numb.

As for what happened next, I did not know.SSSSSSSSSSSSSS