Kidnapped

I couldn´t see anything. There was a bag over my head that made it almost impossible for me to breath, making me panic. Every breath hurt in my chest like fire, but the fear made me hyperventilate. I couldn´t think. 

I couldn´t move. My hands were tied behind my back and my feet were tied up as well. I was sitting up in a chair, I think. Everything hurt. My face was swollen from all the crying and my throat felt sore from all the screaming. What I wanted was to scream a little more. Just a little bit more and then maybe someone would hear me. But I didn´t scream. I just didn´t have it in me to scream anymore.

I thought that I was going to die. Every part of my body screamed it. I was going to die. That´s what happens when you get kidnapped, right? The victims get raped and then they die. You never hear of stories were people actually survive. Maybe in movies, but movies aren´t real.

I was exhausted. My heart was beating like crazy, so hard that it actually hurt my bruised ribs. In my mind I could see my family back home in Sweden. They were probably having dinner or something and my mom would say, "I´m wondering how Amanda is doing". My dad would say that I was probably having a blast and that they shouldn´t disturb me on my trip. Oh, how I wanted them to disturb me. I would have given anything for them to disturb me at that moment. I wanted so bad for my dad to burst in and remove the bag from my head and take me in his arms. I wanted to go home. I wanted my own bed and I wanted to hear my brother´s footsteps as he were sneaking in to my room in the middle of the night to sleep next to me. I wanted that so bad ...

"Hello? Anybody there?"

The voice came from somewhere quite close and it woke me from my daydreams. It was a male voice, soft and filled with pain. I tried to answer him but my throat was to dry. I coughed desperately and tried again.

"Yes! Yes, I´m here", I cried.

My own voice was filled with dread and fear. I didn´t recognise it. It was a voice I had never heard before and that I never wanted to hear ever again.

"Do you know where we are?" asked the voice. "Can you see anything?"

"No", I said  coughed again. "No, I can´t see anything. I think I´ve got a bag over my head."

"Yeah, me too", the voice said and my heart dropped in my chest. "I can´t move, my hands and feet are tied. I´m stuck in some kind of chair."

"Me too", I said and I felt how the tears started to flow quietly down my cheeks.

Everything was just so hopeless in that moment. I was glad that I wasn´t alone in all of this, and that the man spoke English, but everything felt absolutely hopeless. I decided to at least try and figure out more about what was happening by talking to my new friend.

"Do you have any idea of what we´re doing here?" I asked him and I hated the sound of my voice. It was so obvious that I was crying and I did my best to sound brave. Pretty stupid really. Brave is the last thing you are when you´ve been kidnapped.

I heard him cough draw deep breaths before he could answer me, and somewhere, deep in the back of my mind, I thought that I recognised something about him.

"I think they want money", he said bitterly.

"But I don´t have any money", I said confused. "Do you have money?"

It was quiet for a while but I knew he was stil with me. I could hear his breathing. It sounded like every breath caused him a lot of pain.

"I´ve got money", he simply said and I could hear pain in his sad voice.

That was when we both could hear a door open. I froze up and started to get shivers all over my body. I was shaking so much that I could hear my teeth clattering against each other. The door sounded old and rusty and made awful noices as it was opened. It caused the hairs on my arms to raise.