Threatening (Chapter-1)

I was eighteen years of age. It was 2021 and a month after the covid nineteen pandemic ended when humanity went back to normal. I was finally free, ready to view the world the way that I had wanted to ever since I had become old enough to be able to leave my city. I lived in Liverpool and was getting ready to travel to Manchester with two of my friends. We had always wanted to visit the shopping center, but our parents told us that we weren't allowed until we were at least sixteen. The pandemic struck which then got us placed into lock down by the government a couple of days after my birthday. I had turned sixteen on March 27th, 2019. So, the day had finally arrived. That day where I finally got to go on my girl's day trip with my friends. 

I was short, five feet to be precise. I had distinctive blonde hair with pink tips at the bottom. I loved to listen to boy bands and wear black. I didn't class myself as an emo but many on lookers would think that I was. I loved to wear fish net tights, black heeled boots, black short skirts and tight crop tops. I would cover my eyelids with black eyeshadow creating a smokey eye, not that they were the best. I wasn't very good with applying makeup and never did understand how to contour or make myself look ten years older. Still, I loved the way that I looked, and I was only trying to figure out who I truly was. When I was in high-school I didn't have my go to group of friends and would bounce from person to person. That was because I wasn't a girl who would judge others because they were having a bad day, or they didn't wear their blouse. 

My upbringing wasn't the best. My dad left when I was two and my mother would spend all of her money buying alcohol to feed her addiction. I wanted out of that lifestyle, and I was desperately trying to find it not that I ever did think that the day would arrive. To help me through my hard, dark days I would draw pictures that would show my feelings. I would reflect on them and still to this day I look back on them and remember all of the emotion that I placed in each one. I shouldn't have had to live my life the way that I did but we all learn from our past experiences. I don't blame my mum for her addiction. In my opinion she was sick and couldn't find the help that she desperately needed. She would give the drink up and then go searching for a bottle when her life would get hard. That could be a bill being posted through the letterbox to not having enough money to buy that night's tea.

I left my childhood home when I turned seventeen and moved into a one bedroomed bedsit by myself. I worked hard to support myself financially. I would work as a shop assistant and later on in the night I would go to work in a gentleman's bar collecting glasses. I would collect glasses, clean up spillages on the floor and tables as well as helping on the door till on the odd occasion. I didn't do much with my life. I would work and sit at home. I did have to do shopping but that was normal day to day life so going to Manchester was a great treat especially when we knew that we didn't have to fear catching a deadly virus. I was excited to explore another city.

We were browsing through the clothes, and I was trying to find a short black dress for the clubs. I had sent the money off for a fake ID and needed to get an outfit ready to go and see what life had to offer. I didn't even know what it felt like to get drunk. I did have a small sip of beer when I was ten but that was about it. I was finally able to give myself something to look forward to in my unplanned future. 

Time was moving by quickly when we realised that we needed to grab a bite to eat so we decided to make our way over to a small cafe inside the shopping center. It was a warm day, and we were exhausted as we placed all of our bags down on the floor next to the red booth, we were sitting in. We ordered our food and when our drinks arrived, we downed them because we were thirsty. 

I felt a soft touch on my right shoulder. "Are you Miss Trinie?" I heard a gentle, calm, soothing voice and turned my head to see beautiful green eyes staring down at me. He had a neck filled with tattoos and a piercing in his left ear. A boy not too much older than me stared down at me. He looked harmless as my eyebrows tried to connect together. I didn't know what to think or say. He was asking me if I was who I am. This is a boy who I have never met in my life, he's from a different city three hours away from my hometown. My eyes rolled down his clothing of choice. A red round neck t shirt, black jacket, black tight jeans and black trainers. Not my type but he did have a beautiful smile. He pushed his brown almost black hair back and waited for me to answer what he had asked. I could tell that he went on holiday more times than many and attends his dentist appointments frequently because he carried almost bright white teeth. That made me feel slightly self-conscious as I glided my tongue across my not so white teeth. I must admit, I didn't have the most perfect teeth. My mum being a recovering alcoholic meant that she brought me drinking fizzy drinks and not your better option: water. 

I stopped breathing. I didn't tell myself that at the time. He smiled at me again and I shook my head horrified before dropping my head down. I didn't know how long I had been staring at him for. I brushed a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear and opened my mouth ready to speak. I blushed and gave him a slow nod as I raised my head to look up at him. In that moment it was the correct answer to me. I was in a trance, hypnotic carnation. My eyes were blinking and all I could manage was a smile as I snapped my mouth shut. I asked myself, how does he know me? I didn't know but I wanted to find out, so I answered his question vocally. To me it was the correct answer.

"Yes. Do I know you?" 

He glanced over his shoulder holding his thumb up. I didn't see who he was looking at. I narrowed it down to a group of friends as he slipped his hand inside his black jeans and pulled out a white piece of card. 

"A woman, Lizzy contacted me. She said that your great with drawing. She said that you can do an advertisement for me. She told me that I could find you inside this shopping center." 

I didn't think nothing of it. My mum talked to anyone and everyone about me. This wasn't the first time that I had been approached by a stranger. I would be stopped in my hometown frequently by other women asking me questions about what she had previously told them. What didn't sit well with me was that he had come all of the way to Manchester in search of finding me. Still, I took the card and said goodbye. I didn't expect to see the boy again because I wasn't going to contact him. Well, that wasn't my plan.