Back & Forth | Book 1 of Back & Forth Series

It’s finally nighttime now and my cousins and Luciano are preparing themselves before going to the warehouse after we all finished eating our dinner. I’m not really sure what they’re doing now. They just left my room a few minutes ago. I kinda feel sad that they won’t let me go with them. I’m sure I’ll have fun reading everyone’s mind and we’ll definitely get to know who are the moles sooner and we don’t have to deal with this security problem that cause the drugs to get ‘stolen’.

Having nothing else to do, I lie on my bed over my stomach. My legs are swinging in the air behind me as I swipe my thumb mindlessly over my phone screen. My eyes catch the sight of a cool handmade necklace. I view the post and swipe through the pictures. The necklace is a chainmaille type of jewelry. It looks pretty easy to make. I just need the materials and tools and that’s it. I don’t want to ask my cousins or anyone else for money to buy what I need though. I’ve already spent too much money from Uncle Emiliano and Aunt Emilia for everything in my closet including this brand new phone. Asking anyone money for a my new potential hobby just doesn’t feel right.

The door to my room swings open. I look up from my phone and find Alessandro in the doorway. His hand not leaving the door handle as he looks back at me. Probably he just wants to let me know that he’s leaving now and then he’ll be leaving the house in a minute.

“We’re leaving now. Be careful.” Alessandro said. See? They’re leaving now.

“I will. When will all of you get back?” I asked.

“Around twelve or one.” Alessandro responded. That’s pretty long. It’s not like I’ll notice it anyway. I’ll probably already be fast asleep when they’re back.

“Okay. Bye. I’ll see you in the morning.” I said.

“Alright. Good night. Lock the door. Don’t wait for us. Just go straight to sleep.” Alessandro said.

“Okay.” I said.

Alessandro closes the door again and now I’m left on my own again. I stare at the door, wanting to lock it but too lazy to get on my feet and go there. Fuck it. I’ll do it later. Nothing’s going to happen now, right?

I continue to scroll through my Instagram explore page and find more cute and cool necklace designs. Now I seriously want to make necklaces. I’ve always been a fast learner so I’m sure jewelry making like this would be easy to do. I just need the materials and the tools but I don’t have them now and it kinda sucks.

Okay. I guess I better get ready for bed now. I don’t want to spiral and get obsessed with the one thing that I can’t do right now or anytime soon. I just need to wash my face, brush my teeth, and change into my pajamas. That’s it. I’ll put away my phone and go straight to sleep.

I roll over to the extra bed next to my bed and then go to the bathroom. I stand in front of the sink, staring at my reflection as I gather my hair up into a bun. I let the water run and start brushing my teeth. I then wash my face quickly and dry off my face. After that I rub a bit of moisturiser onto my face and some lip balm on my lips.

After I change into a set of pajamas with short sleeved shirt and long pants, I turn off the lights and get on my bed. I go under the duvet and close my eyes. I don’t know how long it has been but I haven’t slept yet. I sigh in exasperation and reach for my phone. I guess I’m just going to doomscroll until I get sleepy enough to actually go to sleep.

I go straight to Instagram and then click on a post from the explore page.

How to not get kidnapped

Instagram should’ve shown me this post before I got kidnapped. It’s too late now. I’ve been kidnapped by my own cousin. Not that I mind this now that I know the truth. I don’t even care about getting kidnapped since Luciano abducted me from my campus.

I feel the room getting brighter. I look at the door and it’s already opened. Someone quickly jumps over the bed and straddles me while he covers my mouth tightly. Shit. I’m going to get kidnapped again.

I look up and see that the man is wearing a black ski mask. I can only see his eyes. He quickly pins my hands over my head and then I feel someone holding down my legs. Fuck. Now I can’t do the move. I can’t get away from them now.

How did I forget to lock the door? I should’ve locked it after Alessandro left. Even if I locked it, I never thought I’d get kidnapped from my own bedroom like now. Who are these people? Where are the guards? There’s no way these men aren’t from here. They have to be the traitors. Why the fuck are they kidnapping me now? Are they going to take me to Federico? Oh no. Hell fucking no. I don’t want that to happen.

What should I do now? Alessandro, Alessio, and Luciano just left the house ten minutes ago. They won’t be coming back anytime soon. Shit. I’m fucked.

I keep straining and flailing against the men but they barely budge. I look at my left and see another man approaching me. He crawls over the extra bed and pulls out something from his pocket. I look at it and see a syringe in his hand. Fuck! They’re going to drug me!

The man flicks the syringe a few times and then moves closer to me. My eyes widen but I can’t really move away since the man above me holding me in place and the man with the syringe holds my head in place. I feel the sharp needle pierces through my neck and I scrunch my face at the pain.

Fuck. I just remember I have powers. I don’t think I can use it now. I’m not focused enough. I’m literally panicking. There’s no way I’m getting out of this. I’m screwed.

I’m sorry, guys. I forgot to lock the door and now I’m getting kidnapped by three men from my bedroom. I’m absolutely fucked. I can’t fight them anymore now that they’ve drugged me.

I start to feel sleepy. This drug works faster than the one Niccolo used on me. What the fuck did they use? I don’t think I can fight this drug any longer.

“Allura? Are you okay? What happened?” Alessandro asked.

Wait what? They can actually hear me? I didn’t even try to communicate with them. Shit. I better tell them what’s happening before I fall asleep.

“They’ve drugged me and going to kidnap me. I don’t think I can stay awake any longer-“

I stop fighting the men as my eyes close themselves despite me fighting them to not do so and now I’m surrounded by darkness.

I breathe in sharply as I feel a piercing pain in my head. Damn. That drug is so much worse than what Niccolo used. I don’t feel this much pain after I wake up from it. This one is seriously potent. I finally experienced a drug that can put me to sleep almost immediately. The ones people used at the hospital didn’t even react this fast. Well actually, considering they use this illegally, they won’t really use the recommended dose. They probably used too much of it. I feel like my head is going to explode right now. As cliche as it sounds. Wait. Did they succeed in kidnapping me?

“Allura?” I heard a familiar voice said. Oh. Thank god. They failed in kidnapping me. My cousins and Luciano got back here in time. Or maybe they told someone in the house to protect me.

I open my eyes and my sight is immediately invaded by the bright light from the table lamp. It’s not usually this bright. Why is it so bright now? Fuck.

I close my eyes again and rub my eyes. I shift and feel another pain in my head. Great. It’s getting worse. Seriously though, what did they use on me? And who the fuck try to kidnap me? Is it actually Federico’s men? Or maybe Federico himself? Nah. I don’t think he’d do it himself since he has men ready at his feet for each of his order.

I swallow my saliva, just realising how dry my mouth and throat are. I really need a glass of water right now

“Can I have a medicine and a glass of water, please? This headache is killing me.” I said with my forearm over my eyes.

“Here.” I heard someone said along with the voice of soft thud on the nightstand. I open my eyes and push myself up to sit weakly. With my back against the headboard, I look up and see my cousins and Luciano already staring at me with obvious look of worry on their faces. They must’ve been so frightened about what happened earlier. Wait, what time is it now?

I look at the clock and see that it’s already 2.12. Damn. That was long. That means I was out for like five hours. That drug is crazy.

I take a tablet of whatever it is from the bottle and pop it into my mouth. I quickly drink down the glass of water, immediately emptying it. I put down the glass with a sigh, still feeling a bit detached from reality. I blink a few times and then look at everyone.

“Who tried to kidnap me?” I asked.

“It was Salvo. Enzo and Carlo helped him with his plan so you were right about them being the traitors.” Alessandro said.

“What?! Salvo was the one behind this?” I asked.

Damn. I didn’t thought Salvo would be that reckless to kidnap me from here. He’s probably desperate, but for what? He’s the one who’s in charge of the drugs so he has access to it already. That’s also why he’s able to fake the theft. What else does he want? Wait. Does he know already that we’re suspicious of him? I feel like he wanted to kidnap me just as his warranty to not get fucked up by Alessandro. I’m not really sure about that now though. I don’t think I can trust my intuition now after what just happened and how tired I feel right now.

“Salvo already knew that we were onto him. He knew that we’re suspicious of him for the drugs theft. He wanted to kidnap you for ransom for him to escape abroad.” Luciano explained.

Ransom? Huh. Interesting. Why would he need me for ransom? Where the hell is the money he got from selling our drugs as if they’re his own stuff? Isn’t all that money enough for him already?

“Did you find out if he has direct connection with Federico?” I asked.

“No. Thankfully he’s not working with Federico. It was just him making poor decisions. However, I have a bit of suspicion about Carlo and Enzo influencing him to kidnap you. We’re still not sure if the two of them are connected with Federico. They haven’t said anything related to him yet but we’ll try to get something out of them tomorrow. I’m sure a little bit of pain will break their silence.” Alessandro explained.

“Thank God.” I said, sighing. Now that we’re sure that the only traitor between all of the capos is Salvo, we don’t have to really worry about the drugs getting stolen again. I hope that it won’t happen again now the main problem, which is Salvo, already got caught. Even if there are more traitors here, I hope they won’t be crazy enough to attempt stealing the drugs again without Salvo’s help.

“How did you communicate with us? All of us can’t do that if we’re not at least in the same building or area.” Alessio asked.

We can’t do that? I thought that was possible. That’s interesting.

“I didn’t even try to do it. I was just panicking and talking to myself in my head.” I explained.

“This is new. None of us can do that before. It’s good that we discovered this. You can reach us easily in case you actually get kidnapped by Federico or anyone else.” Alessio said.

Alessio is right. If something happened to any of us, I can be the medium to communicate with everyone else. Not only when I get kidnapped.

“Yeah. You’re right.” I said. I jerk as my head falls from almost falling asleep. I blink my eyes rapidly. The heaviness over my eyelids is getting worse. I really need to go back to sleep now.

“You better go back to sleep now. It’s still too early in the morning. You don’t have to wake up early like yesterday for training. You need to get more rest after what happened. Salvo used a bad drug to sedate you.” Alessandro explained. What was it anyway? Fuck it. I’m too dizzy and sleepy to even find out what the fuck he used on me.

“Okay.” I said, yawning.

“Please don’t forget to lock your door again. We’re not sure if someone else in here going to take you away again.” Alessandro said with a frown.

“I won’t.” I said sleepily. Alessandro stares at Alessio and then at Luciano. He stares at him for a while. Alessandro then turns to me again.

“You know what? Starting from now on, Luciano will be your personal bodyguard when Alessio and I are not around. I have a lot of things to do this week but I can manage everything on my own without needing to have Luciano on my side all the time. I’ll also consider stationing Sebastiano and Niccolo outside your room to prevent you getting outnumbered.” Alessandro explained. Damn. This is so extra but it’s for the best. I can’t really rely on my powers just yet. We can’t let what happened a few hours ago happen again.

“Okay.” I said, trying so hard to keep myself awake.

“Alright. Now you can go back to sleep. You look like you’re drunk from trying to stay awake.” Alessio said, grinning a bit at how stupid I probably look right now.

“Okay. Good night everyone.” I said.

I slide down and get under the duvet again, tucking it under my chin. I sigh to myself as I put my head on the soft pillow. Everything instantly turns dark as I fall unconscious from the drowsiness I’m experiencing. I hope nothing bad won’t happen again anytime soon.