31
Moscow, Russia
4,664.21 miles From New York
Walking together side by side together, Daisy tried to keep her focus on her feet, the snow was falling heavier but not faster, so that every snowflakes seemed to count as it settled onto the ground. Daisy couldn’t tell if they were traveling back the way they had come or not, she could barely remember the route, it was all new to her. After a while, still walking side by side, but still being led, they crossed a road that bought them into a relatively busier part of Moscow again, where the night time and the snow didn’t seem to matter to those around. Wrapped and moving, Daisy looked around them, it was a trendy part of Moscow, definitely somewhere they hadn’t been before, the people around them wore less winter-worthy clothes as they walked from bar to nightclub to bar to nightclub, around them christmas lights and general festival winter jolliment was being had.
James, took hold of Daisy arm, gently and subtly pulling her nearer to him, Daisy caught a glance of his face and could see how uncomfortable he was, though this environment was far less dangerous than the theatre bar they had been in before, he was far less in control here.
Moving further in, trying to get through what was basically the hub of night-time partying district, James kept his eye focused, his head high and his sense keen. Trying to keep her feet in check, against the surrounding people and the falling snow, Daisy didn’t seen as a crowd of happily drunk gaints Russian man came walking from a bar, there was 7 in total, but because of their size there may as well have been 12, a few of them had an equally drunk girl on their arm, falling out of the bar with them. Only just having time to register them, she didn’t notice as one of the largest of the happily drunk man picked her up the waist and begun to hold her up and spin her round, laughing as he did so, with his friends cheering drunkenly.
Daisy felt her kidnapper let go of her arm and saw for a brief moment his face as she was spun away from him.
More than likely it was because the festive season and the lateness of the hour, but those that were in that area begun to join and follow the happily drunk crowd of gains man as they moved back in the hub of the party district.
The hand of the man holding Daisy were huge, he didn’t squeeze her or man handle her, he was so strong and she was so small he was holding her as she was a toddler. Getting a look at his face, she saw he was bear of a man, with a massive grin, neatly red short cut hair and muscles from neck to feet, there wasn’t an ounce of threatening malice on his face as he held her. Spinning her around and around as they moved down the street in a different direction than to where she had come from, the people in the following crowd begun to clap and cheer. From all the spinning Daisy couldn’t see where her kidnapper James was, she begun to feel worried, worried because even though she was still a kidnappee and being held against her will, she was alone in Russia and with no idea what to do.
Looking at her face, the giant red haired happily drunk Russian man could see her face distorted with fear and worry, he stopped his spinning and placed Daisy gently down on the ground as if was child, he bowed at her and said something in Russian to her in a kind voice and then gave her a single golden wrapped little chocolate that he placed in her palm with a smile as he leant down above her. The gentle sweetness of his nature and the sheer size of him as he did so made Daisy smile as she looked at the chocolate. With a nod the giant man and his friends begun to dance away down the street to continue the merry drunken festivities for the evening, the sound of clapping going with them.
Watching them as they went, Daisy then looked down to the small golden chocolate in her hand, wondering if it was some Russian custom she didn’t know about or the dancing men were just doing this for the evening to every random stranger the took to pick up and spinning around. Holding the chocolate, something caught her eye, looking up she could see a figure of a man walking frantically around, moving from door way to door way and straining his neck to look around and above the people in the crowd.
Her kidnapper was desperately trying to find her.
Closing her hand around the chocolate, Daisy pushed herself backwards against the wall behind her, trying to make herself disappear.
She was free.
Knowing full well that she had to move fast, Daisy pulled the hood of her coat over her head, crouched down and shoot herself through the crowd away from where she had spied her kidnapper. Daisy was only a metre away from her kidnapper when she slipped past him.
James was panicked, he knew with the space of those few seconds she couldn’t of gone far. At a distance, James saw the giant man and his friends outside a bar nearby, pushing his way through the crowd James was in front of the man within a moment.
Instantly James was shouting at the man, asking him where Daisy was, looking annoyed and vexed but not to the point where he was going to try to fight the man. Taken back by the appearance of James before, shouting and asking about what had he done with Daisy, the man held up his palms and apologised, telling James he meant no offence, he saw a pretty girl and danced with her. Looking to where he had come from he pointed in the direction and told her he last seen her, extending his giant palm outwards doing so.
With his keen trained eyes James stared out to the direction and didn’t see Daisy, however, he did saw a figure further way moving fast away from that direction. Saying no more James dashed and moved towards where he saw the figure.
Standing there the giant happily drunk Russian man watched James as he went. Though he was giant man who could install fear and take on anyone, he was not a man without heart or caring, to this man he didn’t like how the man had come to him, asking about where his girl was, something about it seemed possessive and unnerving. Having held the woman in his hands, he knew she wasn’t a strong woman and something inside of the man knew that the girl couldn’t be the sort who would willingly be with a man like that. With a stern thinking look on his face, the giant man watched at possessive man run after the girl, though he could easily have turned away and carried on enjoying the night with his friends, he knew couldn’t have a good evening worrying about the girl, after all she was someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s wife, and to leave if she needed help, that was not something he could not do.
Turning back to his friends the giant red haired man, said simply in Russian. “Come, we need to see whats happening.” His friend didn’t protest, the looked over at the man walking away and nodded, knowing full well what their friend was thinking.
Not knowing at all where she going, Daisy knew she had to get as far away from there as possible, when she was at a good distance she would try to find a police station or try to find the American Embassy, she’d get in contact with Bruce and she would be alright. There had to be an embassy in Moscow wasn’t there? There had to be…but there was definitely a police station, she knew that. She’d explained, she was kidnapped and held against her will. She would be back home…or she would be back in New York to her apartment, or that place she lived.
Squeezing on the golden wrapped chocolate Daisy walked through the crowd, finding the snow had stopped falling and she could see more clearly where she going. She reached a main round, cars and buses were going up down, crossing the road she moved quickly, she was no longer in a crowd, she was exposed and out in the open, she had to get somewhere where she could hid or be out of view. Ahead of her, she saw a square, with a specular lite christmas tree in the middle, surround by large building that were either hotels or business offices and shops/restaurants, all very large and grand window and entrances, all covering the square, none modern and very typical of Russian Architecture. Moving closer she saw the sign for the Metro Subway and she begun to move quicker towards it, the thought occurring to her she could stay there for a while in the warm, stay there for a while and make sure she wasn’t being followed by her kidnapper.
With more determination she run toward the station, past the existing people of the station and through the double doors of the entrance way, passing through the festively decorated windows and entrance, into the yellow lite halogen lights of the subway in Moscow.