Narrate an incident when you land in trouble due to a misunderstanding. Describe in detail what occurred and how it all ended.

I had just moved to the Philippines, and I still hadn’t learnt the language well enough. Construction on my house was almost over, and I was to move into it in a month. I lived a mediocre life by myself- I lived a single bedroom apartment, went to work by bus, came back in the evening, and played video games until I went to bed, only to wake up the next morning and repeat the same. It had been 6 months since I moved there, and I had finally saved myself enough money to move into my own house.

The phone rang. “Where is the money”, a crackly deep voice boomed into my ear. “Come to Chowking tomorrow by 12 pm”, I replied.

I drew the curtains apart to an overcast day, and packed the money into a Duffel bag. I closed the door behind me. It was sultry, humid, but nothing out of the ordinary for a Philippine Afternoon. I got off my bicycle, locked it to the fence, and headed to the Restaurant. It was a small, shack like establishment, with two tables and one chef/waiter/cashier standing behind the counter. On one of the chairs sat a man, clad in all black, behind a pair of silver reflective shades. I sat down and shook his hand. “Mr Tsu”, he said. I dropped the bag under him, and he proceeded to unzip it. He opened it. He picked up the money stack by stack, carefully checking for legitimacy. He looked up at me, pushing his sunglasses onto his nose.

“There’s fifteen thousand”

“Yes sir”

“Where is the other forty-five?”

“Forty-Five? We agreed on 15”

“Deal was for 50”

“Your boss said 15 on the phone yesterday”

“No, my boss said 50”

“But I only have 15”

I could see two tall dark shadows appearing from behind me. My entire body was frozen. I could not move. Pearls of sweat ran down my temple. I tried reaching for my phone. My hand didn’t move. I felt two strong palms on my shoulder, and I could smell a hint of chloroform in the air. Black.

I woke up to pitch black. It was cold. I was shivering. The bag on my head got pulled off and a small moving blight light blinded me. As everything slowly came into focus, I could see around me an abandoned warehouse. Broken pipes whistling. Lights flickering. Raindrops rhythmically pitter-pattered on the metal roof. It was all going to end today – Abruptly, because of something so silly. My hand was chafed from being tied by rope, but a slight tug and it gave way. My hands were free. I looked around. Nobody to be seen. I crept slowly to the side. My whole body tingled with numbness. I could hear every creak and crack that came from my ankles. I sighted a rusted ladder in the corner. I dashed the last 10 metres and jumped atop the ladder. The rain splashed down on my face. My heartbeat steadily dropped. My legs lost feeling. I was alive.