Mark’s vision was blurry and his head rang with a terrible headache. He squinted his eyes till he could make out the figure of the tattooed man in front of him.“You would let us go first, before I..” He tried to bargain but was shut up by another hard slap from Donnie, that sent his chair flying backwards, and crashing on the floor with a loud thud.“No! Please stop!” Karen cried in anguish. “Please, don’t hurt him anymore. You’ll kill him!” She cried in frustrated anger.“Get him up”. Mark heard the tattooed man instruct Donnie.“Let them go at least”. Mark said, spitting out some blood after he spoke.The tattooed kidnapper walked up to him and crouched low till he was breathing hard into Mark’s face.“You don’t get to make any requests or demands for that matter.”Mark looked away in defiance, the metallic taste of blood mixing with a bitter anger and an equal hunger for revenge, inside his mouth.“Please, I beg you. You've hurt him enough. Just let us go!” Karen cried.“Please, l

Brown hesitantly lifted the lid of the cardboard box, his heart pounding wildly against his ribcage. He had almost let out a sigh of relief, after the package didn’t explode in his face, when he discovered a sight that froze him in his tracks. A miniature brown coffin lay inside the box with a note secured to it by a red ribbon. Brown lifted the coffin and placed it on the desk.“What the hell?” One of the officers gasped in shock.Brown gulped down nervously and pried the note loose from the coffin. He lifted it up to the light instead, with his hands as though it weighed a ton, and squinted to read the words drawn in neat cursive.“The soul that sins shall die.” His breath caught in his throat and a wave of anxiety engulfed within his soul. With trembling hands, he dropped the note, his eyes scanning the room frantically, every shadow now a potential threat, every creak of the floorboards became a haunting echo of his fear.***Mark slowly emerged from the haze of unconsciousness,

Time flew by in a flash, and evening descended upon them. The place was starting to fill up with customers looking to get a quick dinner before heading home from work. The quiet and tranquility that they had enjoyed when the crowd was less had been rudely snatched away from them.“I think we should get going,” Charlie suggested and rose up to his feet.They stepped out of the restaurant and on to the street, only to be welcomed by a gust of cold winds. A family of dark clouds had covered up the sky, blocking out the orange light of the setting sun.“Would you look at that,” Charlie shook his head with a smile and turned to find her shivering slightly.“Here you go,” he took off his jacket and hung it over her shoulders. “Thank you,” Jennet hugged the jacket tightly, looking away to hide her blush at the gesture.They walked on in silence, comfortable with enjoying each other’s company. Jennet got so comfortable in fact, that she failed to notice how far they had walked, when she noti

Elena watched Larson as he shifted his glasses till they sat perfectly above the ridge of his nose. He flipped through the documents on his desk quietly. “I had my secretary print out the documents you sent to me via email,” he turned to address Elena and she replied. Mark’s brow quivered in curiosity, but vanished before Larson could notice. Elena wondered what his reaction would be when he eventually learned of the adjustments she had made to the divorce papers.“I believe that at this point, it’s only out of mutual consent that both parties are seeking to separate from each other?” he looked from Mark to Elena through bespectacled eyes.“Yes,” Elena nodded, and felt her heart beat differently at the idea. Why did she suddenly feel uncomfortable with getting divorced from her husband? Even the concept of their marriage seemed so far away, like a very distant memory, but why did she feel uneasy at the thought of it finally coming to an end?She stole a quick sideways glance at him a

Mark picked Karen up from her workplace, completely enamored by how easily beautiful she was in her suit. She didn’t have to try so hard like any other lady he knew. Being beautiful was just something she could do with her eyes closed.He called the manager and made a reservation for them at The Spice, an Asian themed restaurant that had just recently opened and serviced only high paying clientele.“Went all out of your way to impress me, huh?” Karen teased Mark as he helped her into a seat before turning around to take his opposite position.“What do they say? You’ve gotta put in some work, right?” He joked with a wink.Their evening went seamlessly well, flowing from topic to topic without ever seeming like too much.“So, how’s work coming?” Mark asked Karen.“Well, I’m still trying to pull the company out of the mess it’s currently in. That’s not been half easy, believe me. But we’re making progress,” she ended with a smile.“You know, if you take up my offer of a loan, you should