‘He is missing,’ One of them said and I swallowed my breath. ‘Stop. Stop.’ The vehicle came to a halt. I could hear their feet hurrying to the back of the truck. My body trembled from the stiffness of my neck. My hands weakened from holding the metal edge of the cargo bed. My feet hung far above the tarred road.

The flashlight came on. They shone so brightly that my tightly closed eyes could not dispel the brightness. I was surprised they searched inside the cargo bed. They did not see me. I tried moving towards the front of the truck but the light came on my fingers.

‘I found him.’ he said.

The other man came around. His torchlight focused on my face. It’s over. I had given up hope when something miraculous happened as they waited for my stuck self to climb back up or jump down. A police vehicle came along. I could see the red and blue light flickering atop their car but the alarm wasn’t on.

The flashlight came off and my heart raced as the engine roared. With the police car right behind us and seemed as though they were about to overtake the truck and not stop it. The cops weren’t aware of what was going on. If they passed the truck, I would be in deep trouble. I needed to do something. I needed to release the truck and crash on the road. Whatever happened to me, would be better than having the vicious men take me to where they called the slaughterhouse. I jumped to the roadside and felt my ankle snap. The police vehicle sped past the truck and it halted in the distance. The flashlights swept the back of the truck and the road. I limped into the bush and waited. The engine roared and they were gone and thinned out.

After what seemed like an hour later, I limped along the road. I did not know where I was or where I was heading to but I knew I was free from the vicious men who caught me two months ago and couldn’t get my poor family to pay my ransom.

© Fiez