21 Shades of Love

It all started when Emma Tyler woke up in a place where she does not know and the place looked very abandon and eerie. It also reeked of a terrible smell with a hint of sounds from many sorts of insects. Emma also found that she had been handcuffed to a metal pole in the centre of that eerie room, she tries her very best to unlock it but all her escape plan went down the drain. She cried for help, but no one heard it because the place was empty, and it was infested by rats and there were spider webs all over the place. It was clear that no one would ever come to such place and it was probably not even anywhere near her neighbourhood or the town. The only thing Emma was able to do is pray to God and hope for the best.

After a few gruelling hours, she hears footsteps and some guys talking, so she pretended that she was still unconscious. She knew she was in a basement as she heard the guys walking down a stair and talking about what are they going to do about her. She took a quick peek and found 3 guys standing and talking. To add to her horror, she knows one of the men, it was Jaden. Emma was devastated and scared of what might have happened to her when she was unconscious, as she remembers the last thing was that she was in her room getting ready for her date with John.

Emma Tyler is a 21-year-old girl who studies at University of Cambridge pursuing her degree in journalism and is taking up French language. Emma’s sister, Sasha is 25 years old who works in an editing company just around the block. Emma had a huge liking towards John Smith when she was in high school and she always tries her best to get close or at least spark a small conversation with him. John is a popular guy in high school and all the girls are always around him, he is good looking and friendly and is also caring towards people. He was studying medicine because he wanted to become a doctor in the future.

One day as usual Emma was walking towards her class and John was rushing somewhere and he accidently bumped into her, she fell on her back and her backpack dropped with her. John gave her his hand and pulled her up, then carried her bag for her and said,” I’m really sorry, I will make it up to you sometime” and Emma said, “Thank you very much and it is not a big deal”. They both gave each other a warm smile as John rushed to wherever he was going he turned behind one last time to look at Emma. Emma headed to her class not realizing he looked at her again as she was with an adrenaline rush and a big smile on her face. She felt as if she was in heaven, she was blushing till her cheeks turned red as roses and having butterflies in her stomach. Emma went inside her class and sat, even as the teacher was teaching, she could not imagine that she ran into John Smith and he also said something sweet, the most popular guy in school today.

While Emma was in her dream world dreaming about how tall and handsome John was, not to mention he was an athletic guy who plays rugby for the school team and practices mixed martial arts, suddenly she was interrupted by an annoying guy whose name is Jaden Waters, Jaden were studying in the same class with Emma and he is known for getting others attention by bullying and annoying all his other classmates especially the pretty girls. Emma Tyler was one of those girls in the class which would turn any guy’s head, with her friendly attitude, a long beautiful blonde hair and a slender cheerleader body. Jaden has had his eyes on her since the time she came to the high school.

What Jaden had on Emma was nothing normal as she was pretty, caring and loving compared to other girls in the school but he did not know how to approach or talk in a good way. Jaden sometimes follows her around everywhere and just stares at her for extended periods. Emma knew all about all his actions and not say a thing to him about his acts and behaviour as she does not have a high temper but everyone do have their limits, one day as she was going for a

singing class in the evening in her neighbourhood with a slow walk, she saw Jaden waiting outside her singing class waiting for her as usual, at this point she asked him,” Jaden, why are you waiting here always? Do you have a sibling who attends this singing class?” Jaden said,” Oh hello there, I’m just waiting to see you and I don’t have any siblings”. Emma asked with a slightly harsh tone, “Why are you always following me around, why do you even do this? Are you like my secret admirer or something else”? He replied, “In fact yes indeed I’m your admirer and I’m trying my level best to get you to notice me, now I have got your attention, may I ask you something?”

With a slight hesitation, she nodded and said yes. Jaden then asked her if she will be his girlfriend. Emma was shocked upon hearing the words that was uttered from his mouth and she lost her temper. She scolded him to not follow around others and go up to a girl and ask her to be his girlfriend without getting to know each other better with a very angry voice. Instead of going for her singing class she stormed back to her house in anger and tears.

That night when her parents came back they asked her why did she not attend her singing class because the singing tutor called them up to ask about the incident as she has never missed a single class. She did not want any trouble with outsiders and her family, so she just told her parents that she suddenly felt nauseous, dizzy and pain in her stomach. Upon hearing that her parents quickly brought her to the nearest 24 hours clinic nearby their house to get her checked for any signs of virus attacks or illnesses.

After her check-up, they all came back home relieved that it was just a normal thing that occurs every month to all females, maybe undergoing some kind of stress and lack of body fluids. The doctor prescribed some medicines to ease the pain, urged her to drink more water as its hot this time of year and needs more rest. Emma took her 1 of each pill from the 2 type of medicines given and gulped them down with a glass of warm water and kissed her parents good night.

After her parents left, she thought about the incident that happened in the evening and just tried to forget it and she dozed off.

The next morning at the school gate, she sees John walking out from the bus; she slows down her pace in order to have a chance to be close with him, to her surprise he calls her name “Hey EMMA, good morning and how are you”. With a very cheerful face she turns around and says in reply to him, “Well hello there John, good morning, I’m fine thank you. And how about you John?” He says he is fine and asks her why she looks a little under the weather, as they were walking to their classes, but by then the bell rang and John said it’s ok and we will talk about it after school for a cup coffee. Emma agreed with a smile on her pretty face and walked over to her class.

After school was over, Jaden was leaning towards the lockers waiting for Emma and at the same John was waiting around the same area, as Emma came out she did not even look at Jaden but smiled and greeted John and they walked out together. Jaden started to feel jealous and hatred against John filled him, he swore to himself that he would do something about it.

Later that evening, John drove up to Emma’s house and rang the doorbell, Emma’s mum attended the door and greeted him, she also asked who is he and what he wants in a very polite and humble manner. John replied, “Hi ma’am, my name is John Smith, I’m schoolmates with Emma and I promised her to bring her out for a drink. May I bring her out, please?” in a very polite way. Emma’s mum was pleased at how good the boy was that she agreed and invited John to come in. Emma’s mum asked Emma to dress up nicely and come down. When Emma was done, she came down and saw John sitting on the sofa; she was very surprised to see him and started blushing but came and greeted him and asked her mum if she can go out. Her mum without hesitation agreed, both John and Emma wished farewell and left.

John was chatting happily in the car and exchanging information with Emma while driving to the coffee shop. They realized they have a lot in common and started to feel a connection between them when they were having their coffee. John actually had started to fall for Emma even more, he even invited her to come over his place to practice singing and play musical instruments as he is a good drummer and guitarist. She was amazed on how he is also into music and agreed. After an hour or so, they were done with their coffee session and John sent Emma back home and said thank you for her time and he really wishes to have another outing. He also thanked Emma’s mum for being a very awesome person. He then drove off with very happy mood.

On the other hand, Jaden was in his room at his house shouting like a person who has lost his mind and trashing all his stuff around the room. He was shouting, “WAS I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER? WHAT DOES THIS STUPID AND USELESS JOHN HAVE THAT I DON’T HAVE?! LOOKS? RICHES? ARGHHHHH I HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!”

Jaden was already becoming close to a psychopath with negative intentions and started to mix around with the wrong group of people around the neighbourhood. He started to gamble at illegal places and with the money he won he started to use them for bad purposes. Jaden even joined gang fights to earn some money. He took up the habit of smoking, drinking and even abusing drugs. His drug selling business was giving him the large amounts of money and he had gotten addicted to it.

Years passed by as Jaden continued his immoral acts that made him get kicked out his house and his parents disowning him. He currently lives with all his other gang members and continues to wreak havoc.

On the bright side of the story, John and Emma were already in a very happy and healthy relationship, they were both committed to each other. Despite studying away from each other at different colleges, they still kept in touch and often come back to their hometown to meet each other and meet their families. When they came to their hometown one day, John called up Emma for a dinner date that he had arranged earlier. Emma’s parents had also gone out on a dinner date that exact night, so she was all alone getting ready for the special occasion.

She took a warm shower and after that she dried herself up and helped herself to some fruit juice. She then changed to her black evening gown that was bought by John. Then as she was applying her makeup, all went blank. The next thing she knew was that she woke up at the abandoned place. Emma is now handcuffed to a metal pole in the centre of the room, she can’t free herself. She cries for help but no one hears it because the place was probably not even anywhere near her neighbourhood or the town. The only thing Emma was able to do is pray to God and hope for the best.

Few hours passed by and Emma heard some footsteps and she pretended to be still unconscious. When the guys came down and stood beside her body talking about something, she sneaked a peek and found out Jaden was one of the guys. She overhears Jaden saying that the drug should have worn off and she should be conscious by now and one of those guys answers, “What if she is dead of drug overdose or something Boss?” Jaden replies, “This is my turf, I know what I’m doing and I’m good at it. This drug that I spiked into her juice earlier does not kill her it just makes her unconscious but it also depends on one’s body effect to it”

Earlier, Jaden had been watching on every moves Emma and John made, he even sent people to watch over the house when Emma comes back from college. When all the circumstances were right and well planned, Jaden broke into Emma’s house when her parents were not in silently. When Emma was bathing, he spiked the fruit juice she made for herself and waited

somewhere where she would not see him. When she drank the juice and the drug took its toll on her a few minutes later she dropped down, which was the sign for Jaden and his guys to kidnap her. They put her in a van and drove off quickly. Jaden was in the van happily in an evil tone saying that the plan he had for years has finally come true and they said it was a time to celebrate. After handcuffing her to the pole, they went out to celebrate their victory and came back drunk.

As they were talking about what had happened to her, Jaden asked one of them to bring a bucket of iced water. One of those drunken guys went and fetched a pail of iced water, while swaying and pouring the water here and there. Jaden was shouting at the guy, “YOU STUPID FOOL, DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO CARRY A BUCKET OF WATER

PROPERLY!” The 2 guys then took the pail of water and splashed it onto Emma, the freezing water shocked her and she woke up screaming.

Then Jaden said, “Ha-ha I see you have woken up from your slumber how was it?” “JADEN LET ME GO NOW”, pleaded Emma. Jaden was acting all proud that he got Emma under his control and he asked her to keep it low. “How long has it been Emma, about 4 or 5 years? You look even more beautiful now, especially when you are sleeping”, said Jaden. Emma shouted, “YOU CREEP! LET ME GO! The past is past, let it go, move on with your life” Jaden then replied with, “Ahh you want me to let you go that easily? Ha-ha no way, you were my dream girl and now I have you in my grasp I’m not going to let you go away from me and you will have no other choice than to stay with me forever”.

Meanwhile, John already drove over to Emma’s house to pick her up and was waiting at the front door with a bouquet of roses. He waited for a sometime and started thinking maybe she slept off or something, so he called her. The line did not even reach in, he called a few times to make sure Emma takes her phone but all in vain. He finally thought of going to the back of the

house and calling her through the back window. John jumped over the gate risking tearing his new suit that he just bought for the special occasion. As he walked to the back, to his surprise the door was ajar. He ran inside the house screaming, “EMMA, EMMA, EMMA” and he only found her black evening dress on the bed and all the makeup set thrashed.

He called up Emma’s dad and told him about the situation and also called up the local police. 10 minutes after both the police and Emma’s parents arrive devastated and crying. Even John could not imagine this happened to his sweet heart. The police officers did an investigation around the house and they found out the fruit juice that was in Emma’s bedroom was drugged. Emma’s parents got even more devastated and worried, that her mum fainted. Emma’s mum was sent to the hospital as her blood pressure was increasing, and her dad followed and before leaving to the hospital said to John to find the culprit and make them pay for the wrong doings.

While all these were happening, at the abandoned place Emma was dehydrated, scared and cold. Jaden lit a cigarette up and started talking about how he loved her and used to follow her around, look at how beautiful she was and how sweet her voice is, and asked her to be with him. As we all know by now Emma’s hatred on Jaden had increased so much and she just said to Jaden that she hates him and doesn’t want to be with him and she is already with John Smith.

Jaden was so angry upon hearing that, that he took his cigarette and burned her palm and said, “YOU SEE I HAVE MARKED YOU AS MINE NOW, YOU CANT ERASE THIS AND IT WILL BE IMPRINTED ON YOU FOREVER AND EACH TIME YOU LOOK AT THIS

MARK YOU WILL REMEMBER ME” Emma was crying in pain, the burn was excruciating and she wished to just die rather than live a suffering life. He spit on her and fled off in anger, bashing the walls and kicking the boxes around going up the stairs, the 2 other drunken guys in the house came down to see Emma and wanted to rape her. When they came close enough Emma gave them both a hard kick to their groins that they fell on their backs unconscious.

At the other side, John took the drug from the fruit juice in Emma’s bedroom for testing, since John was doing his degree in the medical line, he had some acquaintances who would help him out .So he called one of them to test out what was the drug that was put into the juice. After getting the results of the drug, he went over to the police department to get more information about the said drugs. By this time we all know that John is not letting the problem go as simple matter and is taking it into his own hands. He is not going to let anything up to chance and he is not going to let his future father in law down.

Emma just found out that she had her phone on her the whole time and it was on silent mode, so she tried to bring it out so she could at least make a call but luck was not on her side as she remembered that she did not have enough credit on her phone to give and outgoing call. She still tried to bring her phone to a more comfortable position but still out of sight from those 3 guys, if 2 of them ever manage to wake up.

John searched through the whole police database on drug related criminals. He got a list of dealer’s names and their locations which would somehow help him pinpoint to the culprit. When he was going through list of names, he saw a very familiar name, Jaden Waters. He then remembers the stories told by Emma about this disgusting person. At about the same time he received a message on his phone stating that the number he called previously is available and could be called. Without any hesitation, John called to Emma’s phone and to his surprise the phone line went in and Emma picked up the call.

They were both so happy to hear each other’s voice; Emma was sobbing while John held it in and wanted to give a strong image to her so that she will also stay strong. The dilemma right now is that neither John nor Emma knows where the location of this house where she is trapped at is. John gave her an idea that she has to follow in order to find the location. So she left her

phone in hidden sight from any of those abductors, she screamed as loud as she can that Jaden came down and the 2 others guys woke up.

Jaden was like, “Why are you shouting like a mad person? People will know you are here” and the 2 other guys just nodded their heads while still in pain holding on to their private parts. Jaden asked them what is their problem and as they explained it he laughed at them for not being able to handle a handcuffed girl. Emma then said, “No one would hear us even if I scream, I just wanted scare you guys, we are just in my neighborhood” These 3 guys were still drunk and on some kind of drug so they tend to give away information that they are not supposed to give away. “We are just on the outskirts of town near an abandoned house, who is even going to come near this place?” As all these conversations are going on, John on the other side had to hear and record his beloved girl negotiate with the criminals, he also already had a rough idea of where he had to search for Emma.

Emma again tried talking out information from Jaden; she asked how she arrived at this place since they can’t have just carried here from the house, he replied saying that a kind gang member was willing to lend his purple van to kidnap you and that was good enough for John to track down the place where Emma is at.

In no time John started the engine of his Ford Mustang which roared into life with full power and took off to the outskirts of the town in search of an abandoned house and hopefully a purple van outside. He sped through the town until he reached his point and he searched for what he wanted and also called his friend who is a police officer to bring down a backup squad ready near the outskirts. He told as soon as he finds the house he will inform them. He also informed Emma’s parents about the thing that is going to happen. Emma’s mum is in a stable condition and Emma’s dad wished him luck and to be careful.

He arrived at the place and made sure it was an abandoned house and the purple van was there too. He looked through the window inside and found Emma’s black shoes that he bought for her and this made him even more furious. Inside the house, the guys could hear the Ford Mustang arriving as it’s a very loud car, Emma told them all to give up because her guy was there and he is going to save her. Jaden screamed, “THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE, HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT WE ARE HERE?” Emma smirked and said her phone was on call the whole time and John had been listening to everything the guys have been speaking. By then the 3 guys got their weapons ready, Jaden got his machete and the 2 other guys got their balisong or also called a butterfly knife that originated from the Philippines. Where else John came without a single weapon in hand and had just called the backup police and informed them about the location.

After Emma said about the phone incident, Jaden was so angry at Emma that he slapped her hard; she screamed in pain and fainted. John had heard Emma’s scream and broke the door open by ramming his shoulder about 2 times into the door. The 3 guys got ready in their position to attack John. John was a much disciplined martial arts person that he would not kill someone but only disarm them and hurt them slightly so they would not be able to attack back. As he came down the stairs to the basement, he saw Emma all exhausted, fainted and handcuffed. The view he got on his girl made his blood boil even more he screamed and at the same times the 2 guys attacked him with their knives.

John is a double black belt holder in mixed martial arts and practices regularly and his studies in the medical line help him understand how human body works. He easily dodged the knife slashes and did a movement that disarms the weapon, threw it far away and dislocated their arms and legs so they would not do anything else while he deals with Jaden.

As he got close to Jaden, Emma woke up and saw John a bit scuffed with some bruisers, she called out John with a very weak voice, he turned around and when he turned back to finish off Jaden, Jaden was holding a gun. Jaden did not compromise or speak, he then pulled the trigger of the gun and a loud bang was heard and John fell to the ground. Emma started crying as she thought she had lost the one guy who loved her so much and cared for her, that he was willing to risk his life and limb to come and save her all by himself.

As she was crying in the middle of the room with John’s body down there, Jaden slowly walked up to Emma and said to her, “What a clever guy you have there, comes to my turf with no backup or no weapons what so ever and tries to fight me? Ha-ha I’m always the Boss around here”. As soon as he said that, John pulled Jaden down by his leg and he fell including the gun which slipped from his hands, John takes the gun and dismantles it and throws it away far enough so Jaden would not be able to get it and use it on him again.

Emma was so surprised when John woke up, earlier when he went to meet the police officer regarding the list of criminals dealing and abusing drugs, he was handed a bulletproof vest to ensure his safety. Jaden shot John exactly in the chest but the Kevlar bulletproof vest had stopped the bullet successfully. Right now Emma is shedding tears of joy knowing that John was not killed by a gunshot but still is in danger because Jaden fell near his machete.

They woke up and fought, Jaden swung the machete towards John but again his disarming techniques are so good that John got a hold of the machete. By then the backup squad had arrived but John was not in a good condition or mood and he just slashed Jaden’s right arm, causing him to bleed quite a lot and he fell down screaming in pain. The squad came and took the criminals away to the medic to be treated before bringing them to justice. One of the police officer came with a huge metal cutter to free Emma out of those dreaded handcuffs. She ran

towards John almost tripping and hugged him so tight and said, “ I LOVE YOU JOHN, THANK YOU FOR COMING FOR ME,DON”T EVER LEAVE ME!”

The police officer came to John and said even though they were criminals, what you did to them was against the law. John was also taken into custody and Emma was again very disappointed and was willing to follow him to jail but the offices pulled her back and John said, “I will be back for you baby”. John was placed under probation for 2 months and if his behavior was good, which everyone knew was good and he did it for the sole purpose of love.

2 months later, John was released free of charges and his name taken off. He was also able to join his college back again to continue his studies and John also received a medal of honor for bravery. Emma on the other hand went for a minor surgery to remove the burn on her hand because the burn would heal but the scar would give her a mental torture every time she looks at it, she is also continues on her degree in journalism and has already published a book on life based on what she had gone through. She is already a rising star and she attends to traumatic victims to bring them back to live a normal life.

Few years later, this time they were all working at around the same area and John called up Emma and informed her about a date he arranged for the both of them and asked her to wear something nice. That evening, he came in his Audi R8 to pick up his date and she looked gorgeous and stunning. He opened the door for her and she sat and they drove in a slow cruise to their destination.

They went into the exclusive diner and sat at their booked place and the waiter came with 2 glasses of champagne and served them. They cheered for their everlasting relationship and sipped on their drinks and waited for their food. Suddenly, John woke up and walked towards

her; he stood beside her and went down on his knees. He took out a tiny box and opened it in front of her and asked, “Will You Marry ME?” and there it was a shiny diamond ring. Emma was so amazed at how lovely and romantic it was that she could not say no for an answer.

After a few weeks, they got married and they lived happily ever after.

The END