On a dark, cloudy evening, I was curled up on a sofa, reading my favourite novel. My parents had not yet returned from their work and my sister had gone to her French lessons.

Suddenly, the shrill sound of the bell brought me out of my imaginary world. I got up to open the door but soon remembered that my mother had told me not to open the door under any circumstances. I ignored the door bell, but it went on and on, therefore, I decided to find out who it was. I asked hesitantly, “Who is it?” I asked.

A man’s voice answered, “Open the door, sweetie, I am your uncle.” What I did after that will shock me my whole life.

I was stupid enough to open the door and the last thing I remembered was a man with a big hat that almost covered his face, suffocating me with his handkerchief and the thud of the book in my hands falling.

When I woke up, everything was blurred. The air was stuffy and there was not enough oxygen to breathe. I struggled to find my spectacles and tried to move but soon found myself in shackles. I blinked a few times and things started to get clearer. There was nothing in the room, except for a dirty old mattress and a dim bulb.

Suddenly, the door started to creak open, I was terrified, the same man appeared but this time without a hat. He had a lot of odd tattoos on his arms and a stern face, with a scar running from his forehead to his right cheek.

He spoke in a raspy voice, “Give me your dad’s phone number or else you will never see your precious family again.”

I decided to protest, but the man’s scary expression quickly silenced me. I gave him the number, as I had no other option but soon regretted it as the man disappeared from the room again.

I tried to hear something, anything, but only succeeded in hearing a faint ten thousand euros from another room. The man came in again but this time with an injection in his hands. I tried to shout but no one was there to help me. The last thing I remember was me screaming and then everything went black and I fell unconscious.

I woke up, winced and soon saw lights and white sheets, it was a room in the hospital and my family was gathered around me. All of them looked worried. I blinked once, but soon fell asleep again.

Later, I got to know the whole story. My father and his friend, who was a policeman, traced the man when called them to ask for a ransom. The man who kidnapped me was a well-known criminal with a police records. He had tried to stalk my dad a few times before in order to steal money, but he was not successful so he decided to kidnap me.

After I had a full medical check up, I went back home and was very glad to see my safe haven again. This made my beliefs firm that we should never trust any stranger.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 27th, 2019