Don't Blame Me | Charles Leclerc

Chapter 15

All Diana could feel was a pulsating pain in her head. And cold. Before she could even open her eyes, she tried to rub her scalp but her hands and legs were tied, making her unable to do so. That's where the panic started kicking in.

The last thing she remembered was talking with Charles and promising she's going to grab some bread on her way back to his place. After that it all became completely blurry. She had her phone with her, but she couldn't feel it anywhere on her body.

Slowly blinking, Diana realized she's in a dark room, the only light she saw was from underneath the door up the stairs. The floor was hard and with her back against the wall, she started shivering from the low temperature. Her running outfit was definitely not warm enough for now.

Diana could hear a steady buzzing from across the room, she guessed it was coming from a freezer. That was the only thing in her surroundings she was able to identify, it was way too dark for her to see anything else. She scratched her nail on the floor and the wall to confirm her feeling that it was all concrete.

Hyperventilating from the situation, the Brit fought with every ounce of her willpower to steady her breath but with a tape around her mouth it wasn't easy. She felt like she was suffocating, that her life was ending right then and there and Charles would never know what happened.

Charles...

She began to wonder if he noticed she didn't even make it to the bakery. Did he try to call her? Did he think she bailed on him and just left without a word of explanation? For how long was she even unconscious? Was it already late enough for him to notice she's not coming back for too long? And what about her parents? They can't lose another child.

At these thoughts, Diana decided to fight tooth and nail to see her loved ones again. Wherever she was now, she had to come back to them.

She started rubbing her tied wrists on the wall, hoping she would be able to break free. After a few minutes she could feel the blood dripping down her fingers. The only thing that came out of her effort was ripping her skin open.

Diana tried really hard to focus. She watched true crime documentaries, read crime novels and have seen one too many movies about abductions. And she always felt if it would have been her in the place of the kidnapped girls, she would've been free by dinner.

Well, turns out it wasn't that easy.

The one trick she remembered was to try and lick the glue from the tape on her lips. The problem was, she was always thirsty when she was stressed, and adding that to her post-run state she had a Sahara Desert in her mouth. Either way, she had to try. Every little bit of saliva she really wanted to swallow, she pushed with her tongue to loosen up the tape glue. It took a while, but seemed to work since she could open her mouth more and more. She helped herself with her shoulder and was finally able to peel off the tape from one side, leaving it hanging from her cheek.

When she could finally focus on something else, she realized someone is upstairs. She could hear scraps of conversation. It was really quiet and she couldn't understand a single thing, so she assumed it was French. Two voices, male and female.

She had the opportunity to scream for help, but she didn't know who did this to her. Maybe her kidnapper wasn't home and it was her chance to free herself? Or maybe they both did it and she would only let them know she was awake and fighting?

"Help! Please, help, I've been kidnapped!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, coughing uncontrollably after. "Help, I'm in a basement, help me, please!"

The conversation upstairs stopped, so she tried again, hoping it would be even louder than before. Soon enough she could see a shadow behind the door blocking the light and two raised tones, appearing to be arguing.