A light shined on Anaya's face as she woke up. Her neck strained and paining from the side they had injected her. As soon as she gained consciousness her panic rose, as she shot up straight.

Her hands were still in a zip-tie and her mouth was still covered. She looked around, and she was in a chair that was in an unfurnished room, with no windows, and no tiles. Just bare cement, and her metal chair. It was cold, as Anaya's body began to shiver.

She tried to get out of the chair but then realized her feet were tied to it. So she stilled to not tip over along with the chair. She tried breaking the tie from her hands, pulling them apart, but it didn't work, and now her arm was bruised. So now she threw her head back and cried, praying to Allah for help.

And then she heard a door open and close from outside. She tried silencing herself, but whimpers still left her mouth involuntarily along with her tears. She heard muffled voices from outside, and she was certain the voice was men- which scared her.

Anaya began to read the kalimah over and over again, as she was convinced something bad was about to happen to her. And she wasn't wrong.

The door to the room she was in yanked open, as a tall brunette man came and ripped off her duct tape.

"Don't you dare scream, you're four floors down. No one is going to hear you." He said, without giving her a chance to even breathe after he had viciously torn off the tape.

Anaya's lip quivered, as all she could do was cry.

"Please let me go, please. I didn't do anything wrong. Please, Please-" She began to beg.

"Shut up. We only have one thing to ask you, so you better cut to the fucking chase." He said,

"Where is Abdul?" He asked, word by word.

Anaya's mind came to halt, as she apprehended his question.

Her father?

What do they have to do with him? or her?

"I-I don't k-know," Anaya spoke, timidly.

It frightened her to her core that the one piece of information they wanted, was the only one she didn't have.

Why don't you tell me where my father is? She wanted to ask because she didn't know but she couldn't speak to save her life, literally.

"Do you want to do this the hard way? Or the easy way?" He threatened.

Anaya let out a sniffle, shaking her head.

"No! No! Y-y-you, d-don't u-understand. I don't know! I rea-" She tried to explain.

But then he came forward and stepped on her toe, as she shrieked.

"PLEASE! I-I-I," She tried to make words, but then the pain shot up from her toe making her shake and her fear made her weep.

"Look you should just tell us. Because when the boss comes he's going to show you no mercy." He said.

"I-I-I can't. M-my d-dad d-doesn't even talk to me," She tried to explain, overwhelmed by her emotions.

He nodded almost disappointedly.

"Boss is going to have to deal with her." He said, to the man who guarded the door as they both left Anaya alone again.

Now that the tape was off, Anaya tried to breathe.

She tried to wake up, not believing what was happening to her. It felt unreal, like a dreadful nightmare.

"Crying isn't going to help you, Anaya." She thought.

She tried to think of a way to explain to their so-called boss that she and her father lived two different lives. That she didn't have what they were looking for.

"Just tell him, where you saw him last. Tell him you don't know." Anaya thought.

And then Anaya paused for a moment.

Why were they looking for her dad? Who were they? A gang? What did her dad do?

Then she remembered the alcohol bottles and white powder she saw in her father's room.

A gang.

White powder and alcohol.

Ya Allah, could Abbu be drug dealing?

Is this why she is here?

Caught in her thoughts, she heard the door open and shut so lightly that it intimidated her. She didn't look up and stared at her bruised toe.

And then she felt a pistol on her chin, lifting her head so slowly. She let out a small gasp as she felt what it was, she began to panic uncontrollably.

She shut her eyes closed, as she trembled.

"Open your eyes," She heard a deep voice say.

Small whimpers began to leave her mouth, as she opened her eyes to avoid angering the man. She stared right into his dark brown eyes, and she had never seen anything so utterly simple yet petrifying. She had never imagined what it would feel like to actually have someone stare into your soul, she thought it was just a saying. But this felt so real, terrifyingly real.

She began to panic just by looking at him, breathing hard and quickly.

"Oh, did that scare you?" He asked,

"Here," He said putting the gun into the front of his waist.

She tried to look at the man, and decipher who he was. But she had no clue. He wore a classy suit, which confused her. And his face was youthful and personable yet so daunting to look at for more than a second.

"Now tell me. Where is Abdul Qadeer." He asked, tenderly.

Anaya cried and shook her head, not being able to say the sentences she had prepared to respond to him with.

"Please." She let out, in a whisper in the middle of her cry.

"I will not harm you unless you tell me where your damn father is." He said, in such a low voice it was enough to make her faint out of anxiety.

"I-I-I-I" She tried to speak, but she couldn't because of her hiccups and labored breathing.

She shook her head continuously, trying to let him know she was oblivious to her father's location.

The man shook his head and kneeled to her to meet her eyes.

"I don't like pauses. The longer you take, the more you risk my temper." He said.

"T-t-the l-last t-t-time I s-saw him. W-w-was a-at o-o-our h-h-house." She said.

"Tsk. Not good enough. Tell me where does he trade?" He asked.

"Trade what?" She whispered.

"What the fuck do you think?" He answered.

Abbu is indeed a drug dealer, Anaya thought.

"I-I don't know." She replied.

"Is this your shit?" He said, taking her purse that was given by his men.

Anaya nodded.

He dumped the handbag on the ground, all of her stuff falling to the ground. He took hold of her phone and unlocked it by her face.

He scrolled through it for a moment and then dialed a number.

"Anaya, I don't have time-,"

"Hello, Mr. Qadeer." The man said.

"Who is this?"

"I am going to give you two hours to make your way to the location I send. Or-," He paused, bringing the phone to Anaya's ear.

"A-abbu?" She whimpered.

He took the phone back and put it back to his ear.

"Two hours." He reminded, before pressing end.

"Romano!" He shouted.

"Yes, Boss?" A boy came inside.

"Tap into her phone, and track him down. Send him the location to the lot behind this building." He ordered.

The man came to Anaya and bent down on his knee to meet her eye level. Her eyes were red and strained and she was still crying, letting out small sniffs and hiccups here and there.

He looked at her for a moment and then got up and left her there.

Anaya let out a deep breath and calmed down a bit now that he was gone.

She tried to comprehend what just happened to her, but she was too weak to even think.

Her head throbbed from all the crying and her eyes felt irritated, so she closed for a second leaning back. Reading Ayatul Kursi silently.

"Ya Allah, please save me."