‘You must walk one hundred steps now, don’t do anything stupid like turn around, run, or scream,’ he said. ‘Or, a bullet would perforate the back of your head.’
As he spoke, he gave me back my briefcase by pushing it against my chest while pointing in the direction of the darkest street anyone can imagine. I started walking and counting the steps. Every step meant I was closer to my freedom.
One, two, three, four. My eyes started to adjust, and I could see the tip of several ciga-rettes and their smoke diffusing into the air. It was dark, late, and I had no idea of where I was. How many people were there smoking leaning against the wall on the other foot-path across from me? I didn’t want to know. I tried to walk faster, but I couldn’t. I was counting, I was told one hundred steps and I was going to walk them all, without scream-ing for help.
Hours earlier, I had had a wonderful dinner with a dear friend and, after hailing a taxi downtown in Mexico City, my fate had changed.
In the distance, I spotted a little boy playing with a ball under a street lamp. That boy has a mother, and that mother is going to help me out for sure. Why wouldn’t she? I am a woman, she will understand my situation, I thought.
I heard whispers and laughs coming from the men smoking. What did they say? I wanted to run but couldn’t. I was told not to run. 65, 66, 67…80.
I was getting closer to the boy. I couldn’t see his mother or anybody else. He would be my hero … 90, 91, 92, 93 … I started walking on the actual road towards him when sud-denly, when I reached 100 steps and I could finally talk to someone, a female figure came out of nowhere and grabbed the child and ran towards a door that was shut in my face. I managed to scream, ‘Please help me!’
‘Go away lady, go!’ she yelled at me.
‘Please, I have been kidnapped and robbed just then! Please!’, I tried again.
‘Fuck off woman!’
I knew my chance had vanished.
A taxi came around the corner and I almost died in fear. ‘It is them again? Will I be taken again?’ A hole in my stomach opened, I froze, my heart raced and my legs shook. I blinked in slow motion to see the taxi driving by very slowly, the driver looking at me with no expression.
A sign on a corner gave me the strength I needed to continue: A convenience store. I regained hope.
I tried to compose myself. I was alive, I was free, but not safe yet. I was in no-one’s land. I kept walking, further into the wolf’s mouth.
Burnside Writers Group 