Hit Rewind

Michael

I'm glaring at him from the floor of the dumb van he shoved us in.

Not that he's paying any attention to me or my unconscious Caitlin, who's laying on the rubber floor mats beside me.

After I lost my peanuts inside, he picked my girlfriend, revealing that the nerd did have muscles, and prodded us both out the door.  However, I didn't think the duct tape was necessary.

"You don't understand what's going on, Michael," his voice says from the driver seat.  "You think I'm nuts, but once you see what I've been seeing for the past two years, you'll understand why I'm doing this."

I'd love to shoot back a witty retort, but it would be lost in the three layers of duct tape slapped across my face.  Instead, I focus back on Caitlin, wishing I could smooth the hair away from the lump growing on her temple.

"I have the approval of someone very high up.  He's been helping me formulate this plan for the past two years.  It's been like working with myself."

He barks out a short laugh like he made the most brilliant joke in the world, but I think I just felt the breeze from it flying over my head.

Caitlin groans and shifts slightly, her hands grope for something next to her.  I wonder if she thinks she's still in bed and if it's me she's looking for.

"Mmh," I grunt through the tape, pounding my feet against the back of the seat.  "Mhmm hmmh amm."

"Just one more stop.  I promise, and then you'll see everything that you need to," he says as he parks the van and hops out.

I'm so sorry, I whisper to Caitlin silently as her entire face scrunches up in pain.  I should have protected you, but I fear I got you into a more dangerous situation.

I hear a thump, and the passenger door of the van opens.  Apparently, whoever we just picked up doesn't get the same treatment as the rest of us.

"Hey, Michael, why do you have duct tape on you?" Leslie asks, looking over the back of the seat as the other gets back into the driver seat.

I gesture towards him with my head, and she blinks at him like she's seeing a new person.

"Why does it look like we're kidnapping them?" She narrows her eyes at our driver, who is turning crimson under her gaze.  "I thought that I was getting involved in something important, but I didn't think kidnapping.  You better not be taking me with you to help bury the bodies."

"Of course not, Leslie!" He bursts out.  "We're not going to kill them.  There was just no other way I could think of to get them to come, and he resisted."

"Would you have done that to me if I had refused to come with you?  Goodness, there's a giant lump overtaking Caitlin's face!"

Despite the fact that the vehicle is moving, Leslie unbuckles herself and crawls over the seat ungracefully.  She carefully touches the mountain on my girlfriend's face, and I wish it was my hands.

"Mmmh!" I protest, and she looks over at me.  Sympathy glows in her eyes, and the younger girl starts peeling away the tape securing my wrists.

At the sound of tearing duct tape, the kidnapper stomps the brake.  "What in the world are you doing back there!"

"I'm freeing him.  Michael only wants to comfort his unconscious and hurting girlfriend, which should I mention, are both because of you."

As soon as Leslie breaks through the last layer, she reaches for the tape over my mouth, but I shake my head.

With a deep breath through my nose to brace myself, I unpick a corner and pull with all my might.

A scream tears out of my throat as I remove both the three layers and my skin.  Blinking back the tears of pain, I reach out and pull Caitlin closer to me.

"I'm so sorry, honey," I whisper, letting my fingers run lightly over the lump.  "This is all my fault."

Just then, her dazed eyes blink open, and the van lurches to a stop.

"We're here!"

Progress with 2746

Note: This is dramatic even for you.  Do you hear me?

Do you know how much trouble you get in with the Agency?  It's one thing to bring them someplace to explain everything to them, but it's a whole other issue to kidnap them!

Figure out what you're doing, or I'm turning in my letter of resignation!