Chapter 4 Rufus

Skylar groaned in pain as she felt a sharp pain in her head, she slowly opened her eyes and sighed in relief seeing everything was dark. "Where am I? Mum where... " She trailed off as memories of what happened came rushing in. She slowly burst into tears and tried standing up but she discovered she was tied up. "Hello!" She yelled. "Is anybody here?" She yelled and the door suddenly opened, the room suddenly became bright and she closed her eyes immediately. "Please turn off the lights, please." She said and groaned in pain as her head was starting to hurt.

"I think we should turn off the lights." She heard a man say. "Shut up dweeb, how are we supposed to see if we turn off the lights?" "Then dim it, please." She cried and one of them rolled his eyes before dimming it. "What is with the act? Turn the lights back on." Another man said. "Na, I don't think we should. Seems like she has photophobia." Skylar slowly opened her eyes but her head was hurting. "Please let me go, I did nothing wrong to deserve this. Buster did nothing wrong too, my mother also did nothing wrong." She said and they burst into laughter. Rufus suddenly walked in and the men kept quiet immediately. "Why are the lights dimmed?" Rufus asked. "She has photophobia boss." One of them replied and Rufus smiled. "Well, that is interesting." He said and bent in front of her. "You killed my mother, what did she do to you?" Skylar cried and he smiled. "Oh dear, you see. Your mother owe me a lot of money and she couldn't pay me. So I had to do what I had to do but now that she is dead. Guess who is going to pay me my money?" "What? Why will my mum owe someone like you a lot of money? No matter the amount she owes doesn't give you the right to kill her." Skylar yelled. "You know what pretty, yelling at me can't be the best option for you now, I can turn on the lights and you will get a migraine or probably burn up and if I want to make your death faster I can actually pull a trigger into your fucking brain right now." He yelled and Skylar flinched. "Great, we are starting to get along. As I was saying, you will get me the money your mother owes me and a lot more." He said staring at her body. "What you did was not fair, you killed my mother and my best friend." Skylar cried and he turned to the men "You killed another girl?" He asked them. "No, we didn't kill anyone else." One of them answered. "Yeah, we didn't. Just her dog." The other one added. "Oh, the girl's best friend is a dog." Rufus said and laughed, the men also joined him in laughter and more tears rolled out of Skylar's eyes. "You know there is a saying that says, a man's best companion is a dog." Rufus mocked and Skylar glared at him. "Oh save your tears darling, you will still have a lot to weep for." He said with a smile and stood up. "Give her some food and get her ready by Dusk, we will move by then." Rufus ordered and walked out. Skylar cried as she thought about her mother and Buster, they were the only people in her life and they meant a lot to her. So sad they died in the hand of heartless men, they didn't deserve this. "You heard him right? You should save your tears." One said and dropped some slice of pizza and a glass of juice in front of her. "I don't want your stupid food." She yelled in tears and the men scoffed. "Eat up girl, crying and acting tough won't solve anything for you." One of them said. "Yeah, he is right. If I were you I will eat the food and stay strong, Rufus is a heartless man, you don't know what he is planning to do with you." The other said. "What? What is he going to do to me?" She asked in fear. "Well, we don't know yet, all we know is that Rufus is a mean and greedy man, he can go to any length to make money." "Yeah, and he is also crazy. He can just walk in and kill you." The other one said and her eyes widen in shock. "But he won't kill you if you don't give him a reason to or frustrate you. You are safe as long as he is willing to use you to make money." He added and she nodded. "Just a quick piece of advice girl, your mother, and best friend are dead, that hurt a lot. They are gone so just move on and accept what life has in store for you, who knows maybe you can survive it?" Skylar sighed and nodded, she glanced at them and the food. "Can you guys loosen the rope on my hand so I can eat?" She asked and one of them smiled. "Na, sorry. I will feed you, Rufus will go crazy if anything goes wrong." He said and she nodded. She opened her mouth and he fed her with the slices of pizza, he gave her the juice and she sighed in relief as she felt filled. "Thank you." She said and he nodded. "I don't like you though." She said and the man chuckled. "Because I shot your dog." He said and she nodded. "Sorry about that, I had no choice." "I don't think you should be talking to her, she is making you soft. You are apologizing for what you did." The other one said and he laughed. "Am not getting soft because I apologized, I just know how it feels to lose your only friend but you are right. I shouldn't be talking to her." He said and moved away from her. "Get some sleep girl, it is going to be a long journey." "Are we going somewhere?" She asked. "Seems so." He replied and she nodded, she sighed and closed her eyes. "Just take life simple Skylar, everything is going to be fine." She muttered with her eyes closed.