Consequences

Chapter Four

I scrunch my face in discomfort as I woke up. I could barely open my eyes as sunlight directed onto my face. Slowly I managed to squint, taking in my surroundings. I was in a small shed, crowded with tools, fishing equipment, and right above the door was a small dirty window. And of course, three men wearing black ski masks were standing around me.

"How's the rope around your wrists, darling?" One of the men teased, crouching down slightly to be at my eye level.

I whined looking down at my wrists, they were tied with a scratchy old rope. I noticed a rash starting to form on my skin, but my blood circulation seemed to be perfectly fine. I looked back up at the once crouched man, then at the two others. They seemed to find this amusing, watching me sit there. Though they just gazed, not saying anything.

After a few minutes of silent observation, I took a deep breath, and asked the inevitable question.

"What do you want from me?" I murmured, my voice still hoarse from screaming with my mother the day before. They didn't answer, they just looked at each other knowingly. The feeling was quite unsettling, and the silence wasn't making anything better.

"Why did you kidnap me? Why am I here? What did I do?" I inquired desperately, almost begging. My throat felt impossibly tighter, as they all just silently looked down at my vulnerable state. "Give me answers!" I choked out loudly, seeming to startle them slightly.

Without another word, one of the kidnappers grabbed duct tape and walked over to me. I started complaining, shaking my head. I realized I wasn't tied to the chair, so I started to stand up and move away. But the men grabbed me and shoved me back into the chair, and I felt duct tape getting wrapped around my head and over my mouth.

I don't know how many hours passed, but eventually the sunlight stopped shining into the shed. My stomach wouldn't stop making noise as I felt starved. The men noticed this, and thankfully they sent one of them to get themselves and me food. Successfully soon coming back with plates of food. They cut off the duct tape, ordering for me to stay quiet, as they fed me the food.

It was a chicken casserole, a dish my mother always made me. The thought felt weird in my stomach, as I thought about my mother. I wondered if she was worried about me, perhaps have called the police for me already.

As I ate the casserole, I could so easily taste the cinnamon flavor that always lingered in the meals my mother prepared me. I grimaced at the taste, hating that even in my worst moments my mother's curse seemed to follow me everywhere. She was always a part of my worst days, and now it seems I can't even escape her negativity in this scary experience.

As the plates got emptied, the sun settled down completely, the only light in the shed was the moon and a dusty lamp by my feet. The men eventually decided to part ways, leaving only one kidnapper to watch over me, as the two others exited. 

"You appreciate your home now, don't you?" One of the two men exiting prompted, awaiting my answer. I opened my mouth, but my jaw just stayed slacked, no answer to give. I didn't appreciate my home, not even then, so I was rendered speechless. "Thought so," he chirped seemingly, though he couldn't have been more wrong.

Sometime after the men left, an idea hit me. I was alone with only one man, who was sitting down barely paying me attention. There was fishing equipment laying around everywhere, so obviously there was a lake nearby.

Without even doubting my strained energy, I bolted out of my chair and shouldered open the wooden door with my hands still tied. I sprinted down the hill past the trees with only one thing on my mind, which was to follow the moonlight I could see in the short distance, illuminating a lake.

I ignored the loud protests of the men, demanding I return. I ran and ran, praying that I'd make it to the lake and be safe. Hoping to see my best friend Alex again one day..