Chapter 5- Bump in the Night

Bella couldn't sleep.

She could still feel Leo's hands on her and the moment kept replaying over and over in her mind, like a scratched CD. No matter how many times she twisted and turned in bed, hoping to tire herself out, it was useless.

She forced her eyes open because she knew that as soon as she tried to stay awake she would fall asleep. That was just the way her body worked when she had a busy mind.

Her eyes began to itch and droop as Bella laid her head back against her pillow. She curled herself into a ball and allowed herself to drift slowly to sleep.

Just as the darkness crept into her mind peacefully she heard a door click shut further along the hall. It was just Melanie going to get a drink or go to the bathroom, she told herself, nothing to worry about. And with that last reluctant thought, she gave herself over to sleep.

Ignorance is bliss.


They were all dressed in black so that they blended into the shadows around them. As they crept stealthily along, towards one of the nearby villas, their own shadows leapt and danced across the ground with as much ease as their owners.

They slowly slipped up the steps leading to the door, not making a single sound for they were well-trained and well-practised. The leading man stepped up to the wooden barrier blocking their way and pulled from his belt a set of small tools.

He crouched down so that he was at eye-level with the lock and slid two tools into it. He jimmied the lock quickly and opened the door without so much as a squeak. He had been trained for every circumstance; a mere lock wasn't going to stop him.

He motioned for the other men to follow him down the hallway of the rental villa, hearing the soft click of the door as it closed behind them.

'Sir, we need to disable the burglar alarm. Just in case.'

The leader turned to the man who had whispered to his right and signalled his approval. All his men were trained not to disturb a burglar alarm, but there had been...certain incidents in the past, and he wasn't about to repeat any old mistakes.

Several men parted from the main group to help disable the alarm, whilst the remaining men split off into the different rooms of the villa, none of them daring to make a sound on the slick wooden flooring.

Gentle snores could be heard as one of the doors was opened.

'Is it the girl?' The leader murmured.

'No. The mother.'

The leader nodded and the man at that door closed it as quietly as was humanly possible before entering another door to his left. Men who had ventured to other rooms came back to report them empty. Which left only the door at the very end of the hallway. All eyes turned to it as the leader approached it very carefully, so as not to make a single sound.

He turned the handle slowly, hearing the soft click as the door left its frame. He signalled once more and his men filed into a neat line outside the door. The leader entered the room, sticking to the shadows, his men following his lead. He knew exactly what he was doing.

The girl in the bed mumbled in her sleep, her hair strewn across the pillow that supported her head. Her lips parted and she let out a sigh, before turning to lie on her side, facing away from the men now infiltrating her room.

There was no sound. It was as though time stood still for a moment or two as the men contemplated their next inevitable move. The apartment was silent. No animals or insects could be heard through the open window. The only noise was the faint whisper of air leaving the girl's lips.

The men looked to their leader, seeking permission to carry out the next stage of their mission. He grimaced and made a mock salute. Two men positioned themselves at the end of the bed, ready to take hold of the girl's feet. Another two men went to stand at either side of her bed, ready to take an arm each. The last remaining man other than the leader stepped forward, holding a bunch of material in one hand, and a small black sack of cloth in the other.

They all waited in anticipation as he neared the bed and readied himself to gag the girl. This was the tipping point of the operation. The moment when everything could go very, very wrong or flawlessly. It always depended on the person in question, in this case the girl on the bed. The man took a deep breath and nodded.

At once, the other men seized a limb each, putting all their weight onto it so that she would not be able to move. Her eyes darted open, taking in the men in her room. But before she could scream or even attempt to make a sound, the man had shoved the bunch of material into her mouth, gagging her effectively but not permanently. He took care to make it quick, so that she wouldn't have the chance to bite him.

She tried flailing her arms and legs wildly, her head swinging from side to side in confusion, fear and anger. Her eyes were wide and she made muffled noises through the gag, not loud enough to alert anyone, but loud enough to make the men even more cautious.

In their efforts to secure the gag even more, trying to tie it around her head, she managed to get one leg free and stabbed it roughly into the air, eventually making contact with bone. The man who had been holding that leg down cursed as blood ran from his nose, where her foot had made contact. He gained control once more, holding down the leg even more firmly this time around. Drops of his blood fell onto the exposed skin of her calf.

The leader stepped forward calmly and trapped her head with his palm, placing pressure on her forehead so that she couldn't turn it from side to side. With his remaining hand he brushed aside her hair to reveal her ear. With his index finger he searched until he found the spot he was looking for. The girl's breathing was getting heavier and heavier with fear and it was only made worse when he looked down at her and smiled grimly. He applied more pressure to her forehead, whilst doing the same to a spot behind her ear.

Her reaction to this was instantaneous. Her breathing automatically got lighter and resistance drained from her extremities. Her eyes rolled in their sockets and her head slumped back on the pillow as the leader removed his hand from her forehead.

He nodded to his men and the one still holding the small sack, placed it over her head and took a plastic secure from his pocket. He put it over the sack, around the girl's neck, tight enough that the sack would not come off unless removed by someone other than the girl but not tight enough to strangle her.

The man hoisted her onto his shoulder like a limp doll and followed his leader out of the room. The other men followed systematically. The last man in the room was the one to tidy up, making the bed and removing all traces of signs of struggle. If the mother thought her daughter had gone out on an urge to see someone they would have more time to cover their tracks.

When he was done, he looked around one last time in case he had missed anything. He hadn't. He left the room, slowly shutting the door behind him. The other men had already left the apartment. Before he left to join them, he fixed the burglar alarm. It was as though nothing had been disturbed.

The front door shut almost silently as he left and silence seemed to emanate from the surrounding air. If searched, only the most observant of people would realise the girl's disappearance was wrong staged.

A distant sound of an engine started, and then tyres over gravel.

The neighbouring villas were silent, as was the one where Melanie Walters slept on, oblivious to the kidnap of her daughter Bella.


Hey guys, I know this has been a very long time since I published anything and I'm really sorry for that!

College/exams/family have been a nightmare lol but thank god for snow days :D Gave me some time to work on chapter 5. Hopefully I'll get Chapter 6 done soon, but don't get your hopes up :(

Sorry this is short, wish I could've written more but I've had writers block for about 6 months and it's not going anywhere fast lol!

Anywho, enjoy and thanks for reading!

Nat xxx