Waiting For Winter

Prologue

"We got her."

That was first thing I heard when I woke up. It didn't take long; the throbbing pain on the right side of my head made sure of that. My eyes opened and I saw a man dressed in white. Yeah. He was wearing all white. As confusing as you'd think it would be, it wasn't. It was winter, of course he'd be wearing all white. White was the perfect color for kidnapping in winter. Just perfect.

I was scared. My hands were trembling, my teeth were clattering, my legs wouldn't keep still. My eyes searched for anything familiar. There was nothing. All I remember was walking in the woods alone, the snow slowly falling down, melting on my warm skin. Someone was calling my name. A female voice. Abnormally high-pitched. Kimmy! Kimmy! Kimmy! I turned around. That was it. That's all I could remember. I looked up at the man sitting in the passenger seat. He was smiling down at me as he spoke into his cell phone. He held it in his left hand while he tapped the dashboard with the excited fingers on his right. My breathing accelerated when he winked. That made him chuckle.

"Don't worry, baby girl," he said to me in a gruff voice. He pressed a button on his phone, ending the call. "I don't get to have you. Those are the rules."

What was he talking about? He didn't get to have me? What rules?

The man cocked his head to the side, searching my face with his mint green eyes. As if reading my thoughts, he said, "I'm not telling you what those rules are. You'll find out soon enough." His gaze clicked to the man sitting beside him. "Move."

I heard the engine start and we began to move steadily forward in the thickening snow. The man turned his attention back to me, staring at my body. "So your name is Kimmy, huh?"

At the sound of my name I jumped. I couldn't stop shaking. Why was I here? Why wasn't I in my bed at home? What was I doing by myself out there in the woods? Who was the girl who was calling my name? Why did it have to be me? I stared down, terrified, at my hands.

"Kimmy, honey, look at me." His voice sounded so kind.

I closed my eyes tightly.

"Kimmy."

I covered my ears. I wouldn't let his kind voice deceive me.

"Let her be, Tim," a barely audible, deeper male voice growled at the man who I now saw had raised a hand to strike me. "If you hit her again, we'll really be in some deep trouble. We were told not to hurt her. You just had to knock her out with your fists." We turned sharply to the right. "How are we going to explain her bleeding head? Say she fell?" He just shook his head. Tim sighed and turned back around.

I let my hands fall down to rest on my knees. No. Wait. I was bleeding? Frantically, I reached up to touch the bump forming on my tender head. It was wet but starting to dry. I looked back at the man who'd said my name. Tim. That was his name. Tim took off his winter hat and shook out his short blonde hair. He dropped it in his lap and proceeded to breathe on his cold hands, rubbing them together quickly. He kept his eyes on the road.

"W-Why don't you tie me up?"

The man driving glanced up at the rearview mirror. His dark brown eyes were staring intently at my face. "Would you rather we tied you up, then?"

Tim smirked.

I held his gaze. "No. I'd rather you let me go."

We slowed at a red light. An elderly couple slowly crossed the busy street. He watched them silently.

Tim spoke up. "Okay." He turned around in his seat. He was grinning devilishly. "You can leave right now."

Somehow I wasn't reassured. "I can?"