TURNING POINT

CHAPTER 1

MIA'S POV

I sat and waited at the red light as I lightly tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. It was a cold, November night in Boston and all I wanted to do was get home, get a hot bath, change into my cozy pajamas, and sit in front of the fireplace while I drank hot chocolate.

The light turned green and I slowly turned onto my street. I put my turn signal on before I pulled into the Mini Mart, which was not far from my house. I pulled into an empty parking spot, grabbed my keys and purse, and got out. I made my way towards the entrance of the building and headed inside.

"Hey, Mia," I heard a voice say and I looked over to see Jim, the regular cashier, standing behind the counter with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Jim," I said as I made my way to where the milk was.

"Long day?" He asked as I grabbed a half gallon of 2% and made my way towards the front.

"Yeah, you could say that," I said as I set the jug down on the counter. "Oh, one more thing," I said as I turned around and looked around for a bag of Peanut M&M's.

Just as I found them, I heard the door chime and guys coming into the place, shouting at Jim. I looked over, but quickly ducked down when I saw that the one was holding a gun, pointing it at Jim. My heart started to pound inside my chest and I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that they wouldn't know I was there.

"GET THE FUCK DOWN OR I WILL BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!" I heard the one guy shout and I placed my hand over my mouth as I continued to wait there.

"HE'S GOING FOR HIS GUN, BILLY!" Another guy shouted and then I heard the gunshot go off.

A sob escaped my mouth and I covered my mouth with my hand, hoping that they didn't hear me.

"Well, what do we have here?" I heard a man ask and I looked up to see a guy standing there with a ski mask covering his face and a gun in his hand. "Get up!" he shouted and I slowly stood up and I held my hands up as he continued to point the gun at me.

"P-Please...don't hurt me," I stuttered as I felt a couple tears go down my cheeks.

"What do you want to do with this one, Billy?" The guy asked as he continued to point his gun at me.

"Grab her. She ain't getting away," the guy, known as Billy, answered.

"NO!" I shouted as the guy grabbed my arm. "LET ME GO!" I shouted as he roughly pulled me towards the front of the store.

"Shut up, bitch!" The one guy said as he continued to roughly pull me outside with them.

"Spink, get her in!" Another guy shouted as I we approached two cars, one was black and the other was red.

I noticed that both cars had tribal markings on them. They must be gang related.

"PLEASE! NO!" I shouted as I was shoved into the back seat of the black car and I went to go to kick the guy, but he stopped me from doing so.

"BITCH! KNOCK IT OFF!" The guy shouted as he held me down and I winced as I felt slight pain. "I will fucking blow your brains out! DO YOU HEAR ME!?" He shouted in my ear and I squeezed my eyes shut as I slowly nodded my head. "Good!" He said as I adjusted myself and slowly sat up.

Another one of the guys must have grabbed my keys because they were driving my car out of the parking lot as the car I was in quickly started to back out of the parking lot. Tires spun as we headed down the street and more tears came out of my eyes as my heart pounded in my chest.

"Got a hot one here, Billy boy," the guy in the passenger's seat said, referring to me, as he lightly hit the driver's arm and they started to pull their ski masks off.

Billy pulled out a cigarette and placed it in between his lips before he lit it while he continued to drive. I felt more tears go down my cheeks as I glanced out the windows and then up in the rearview mirror. I saw Billy glance up in his rearview mirror and his blue eyes had an evil look to them.

Not too much later, we were pulling into a parking lot. Billy slammed on the brakes and everyone started to get out. I continued to sit in the backseat as the guy that shoved me in the back was trying to get me out.

"LET GO OF ME!" I shouted as I tried to get away from him, but he roughly grabbed my arm and dragged me out. "STOP!" I shouted, but the man placed his hand over my mouth.

"LET'S GO!" The guy shouted as I struggled against him while he forced me to walk towards the entrance of the apartments.

I looked over and watched as Billy lit up another cigarette and took a long drag before he took it out and blew the smoke out of his mouth. I continued to struggle with the guy as he forced me to go up the steps. We started down the hall and I noticed that it was a run down apartment. There was graffiti all over the walls, lights flickered, and it smelled terrible.

The guy shoved me into the apartment and I fell down to the floor as the rest of the guys came in and shut the door. I turned my head to look around and the guys stood there and looked at me. Billy continued to smoke his cigarette while tears streamed down my cheeks.

"What do you want me to do with her, Billy?" The one guy asked as Billy blew the smoke out of his mouth.

"Get 'er in my room. I'll deal wit her later," Billy answered and the one guy grabbed my arm and dragged me across the room to a bedroom.

"Get in there!" He shouted as he shoved me in the room and I landed on the floor by the bed.

I lifted my head up as tears continued to go down my cheeks and he slammed the door shut. I sat up a little and let out a sob as I looked around the room. The walls were a dark black color and there was a busted up blind covering the small window. I slowly got up from the floor and wiped the tears from my cheeks as I looked around. How did I get myself into this mess? I was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I'm goin' to run my corner. Don't fuckin' let her out of that room!" I heard Billy shout.

"You go it, dawg," I heard another guy say and I sniffled as I sat down on the end of the bed that was in the room.

I looked around the room and there wasn't too much too it. A dresser with a couple broken drawers to it, broken mirror hanging on the wall, empty bottoms of beer, an ashtray filled with ciggarette butts, and other items scattered around on the floor.

I don't know how long I was sitting there for, but I looked over to see a younger guy coming into the room with spiked black hair with red tips. I stood up from the bed and back away from him as he quietly closed the door.

"Don't hurt me," I said as I wrapped my arms around myself and stood there looking at him.

"Shh, I'm not going to hurt you," he quietly said as he looked at me and slowly approached me. "I'm Joe, Billy's younger brother," he started to say and I noticed that he didn't seem as mean as the others. "I just...I wanted to come in and see if you needed anything," he said as I reached up and wiped some tears away.

"N-No," I stuttered as I shook my head. "Pl-Please, just ...just let me go," I started to plead with him. "I...I won't say anything," I said as more tears came out of my eyes.

"Do you know who my brother is? If he found out that I let you go, he would kill me," he said with a small smile and slight chuckle.

"Please," I said through tears as I continued to look at him.

"YO! JOE! DON'T BE MESSIN' WIT' BILLY'S GIRL!" We heard a guy's voice shout from the living room and then laughter erupted.

I watched as he opened the door and stepped back out of the room before he closed the door behind him. I brought my hands up to my face and started to sob. I couldn't believe that this was happening to me.

Later that night, I was sitting on the bed in the room as I continued to hear laughter from out in the living room area. I had tried to look around for some place to get out, but there was no use trying.

"YO, BILLY!" I heard the one guy say and I knew that he had come back from wherever he had gone.

"Joe here tried to mess wit your girl," another girl said.

"Man, I did not," I heard Joe's voice say. "Billy, man, I didn't. I swear."

"Get the fuck out of here, guys," Billy said as I heard his voice getting closer.

My heart started to pound in my chest and I looked down as the bedroom door opened. I continued to sit there as the door shut and I heard Billy blow smoke out from the cigarette that he was smoking. My eyes slowly went from his boots up his legs to his black t shirt and then his face. He took another long draw from his cigarette before he blew more smoke out, which filled the room. I noticed that he had icy blue eyes, a few scars on his face, and tribal tattoos that started in his neck area and must have went down his back or shoulders.

"What's ya name?" He asked before he blew more smoke out of his mouth.

I looked away from him for a moment as my heart continued to pound in my chest. He roughly grabbed onto my jaw and I let out a yelp as he made me look at him.

"I asked ya a question," he said as he gritted his teeth together.

"M-Mia," I quietly answered as I looked into his icy, blue eyes.

"When I ask ya a question, ya better answer me," he said as he roughly let go of my jaw and I winced.

Billy put out his cigarette in the ashtray that was sitting on the stand and placed a hand gun in the drawer. He removed his boots and peeled his black t-shirt off over his head. My bottom lip quivered as more tears came out of my eyes. He roughly tilted my head up and pressed his lips against mine as he pushed me down on the bed. I tried to break the kiss and push him off of me, but he was too strong. He roughly grabbed my wrists and held them down on the bed as he continued to kiss me. I could taste some type of alcohol and cigarettes on his breath as I struggled to get out from under him. He broke the kiss and started to kiss the slide of my neck as he continued to hold my arms down. I let out a sob as I squeezed my eyes shut. This couldn't be happening to me.