Trapped

Chapter 1: Today's The Day

As Anastasia walked forward through the trees they were parted before her, the man leading her by the hand moving them aside, she couldn't help but wonder where he was taking her.

"So where again did you say we were going?" she asked him.

"I didn't", he replied, "and you know that, so stop trying to get me to talk." He kept going in silence, keeping stride; he knew exactly where he was going and how to get there, as if he had traversed this path many times.

"I'm serious, can you at least give me a hint?" She pouted, subconsciously sticking out her lip slightly even though he couldn't see her behind him. He thought for a second, taking in her begging tone.

"Nope, no hints. That would ruin the surprise" he decided finally. They walked a couple minutes more, the trees started to thin and Anastasia could see the beginnings of grass starting to dot the brown dirt they had been walking on. The sun shone a bit brighter and the heat reached their skin more and more as they moved forward; him navigating, her following along. She could smell flowers and knew they wouldn't be in a forest much longer, when suddenly he stopped and turned around to look at her.

"Ok, now close your eyes" he said to Anastasia, a hint of excitement that brightened his normally dark blue eyes. She did what he said, slowly closing her eyes. He walked behind her and covered them with his hands for added security. She jumped slightly even though she had heard the sound of his feet crunching dry dirt as he walked, but having your face touched tends to make one jump.

"So you don't get the temptation to peek" he whispered seductively in her ear. She could hear the smile on his lips through his voice. She didn't say anything as she let him steer her forward out of the forest. She could see through his hands and her closed eyelids the difference in light and knew they were now fully out in the open, and by the sweet smell of flowers she imagined they were in a meadow. He walked Anastasia further out, the crunch of the dirt faded away and the silent footsteps of soft grass replaced it; occasionally pierced by the high chirps of birds sitting in the trees they had left behind.. Anastasia was growing more anxious the longer they walked, what was he planning?

Finally, he stopped. He uncovered her eyes but for some reason she felt like it wasn't yet time to open them yet.

"Ok," he said, grabbing her upper arms in his hands and squeezing them gently, "open your eyes." She did, then she gasped. There on the grass, in the middle of a meadow hidden in a circle of trees, was a red and white checkered blanket. On it was a basket filled with yummy food, a bottle of merlot, and a present suspiciously the size of a jewelry box wrapped in bright white paper. Anastasia drank it all in, not fully believing it for the first couple seconds, before spinning around and throwing her arms around the man who led her here.

This man was her boyfriend, and they had been together for just over a year. He first asked her out the summer before her senior year of high school with the largest bouquet of roses Anastasia had ever seen. They had to keep their relationship a secret for while, since she was still only 17 and he was almost 22, but she didn't mind. She thought it was fun keeping it between just the two of them. Only recently, after she had turned 18 and graduated, did they decide to bring their relationship out into the open. Her parents were clear enough that they didn't approve, but they didn't know him. Julian was an adventure, he was like having all the gravity sucked away and feeling free. He was a wonderful, spontaneous free spirit, and somehow he was hers.

"You did all this for me?" She whispered, pulling away just far enough to be able to look at him, their foreheads almost touching. He pulled her back into a tight hug, lifting her off the ground an inch and planting a kiss on her forehead.