I quietly watch Jake rip off a piece of duct tape off of the large roll and cover my closed mouth, inwardly sighing at the uncomfortableness of the phone in my bra.
"I can't help wishing you hadn't said anything", he sighs, redoing the knots around my wrists. "I really loved you, I hope you know that."
I shake my head, trying to kick him, but the man just slaps me in the face, hard enough to let me know I'm doing something wrong, but not hard enough to really hurt.
"I really am sorry about this", he says, grabbing his gun, digging it into my neck as he yanks me to my feet. "But just remember that it was your fault when you're dying."
I make a grunting noise through the tape as I stumble into the other room, where Zack quickly takes me from him and ties a blindfold around my eyes before shoving me along with him.
When it's removed, I find myself strapped into the backseat of a helicopter, Jake in the pilot seat and his friend in the chair beside him.
My ex turns back look at me.
"Comfortable?", he asks, almost genuinely. "You better be, because it's a long flight back to New York."
-----
I lean my head back against the headrest, closing my eyes for a second, starting as the helicopter touches earth.
My eyelids snap open as Zack gets up and unstraps me, yanking on my wrists to pull me to my feet.
"Let's go", he snaps, dragging me out of the machine, barely breaking a sweat as he holds me fast while I thrash around. "And I'd stop that useless struggling if I were you, at least, if you actually want a bullet through your brain."
I immediately freeze and let him throw me onto the cement ground, whimpering as my skin starts to sting with fresh scrapes.
"Why can't we just shoot her?!", Zack shouts at Jake. "We need to get it over with!"
"No!", he yells back. "The cops don't know who we are, and she doesn't know our full names! She gets a fighting chance! We need her!"
"Fine." Zack crouches down and rips the duct tape off of my mouth before untying my wrists. "This is how it's going to go down", he says to me. "We are going to count to thirty, and you are going to run. If you're gone by the time we reach the end of our counting, you get to live."
"If not", Jake adds, holding up a shotgun. "You get a bullet in the back. Do you understand?"
"Yes", I say quietly, nodding my head.
"Do you have any questions?"
"No", I say softer. "But can you at least count to a minute?"
"No", Zack says. "Thirty."
"If you give me thirty seconds, I don't have a fighting chance", I point out. "I thought that was the point."
"She's right", Jake sighs. "Fine. You have one minute." I nod again and unsteadily rise to my feet, shoving fear out of my mind as he adds, "Go in any direction you want. Our eyes will be closed, so we won't see which way you go."
I nod and take a deep breath.
"Your minute starts now."
I take off running in a random direction, pulling the phone from out of my bra as I sprint towards a forest, clicking on my father's contact and holding it up to my ear.
"Help me!", I yell into it as soon as he answers. "I'm in New York; track the call!"
"Are you alright?"
"If I don't keep running I won't be", I say loudly, dashing into the woods and weaving between delicious smelling evergreen trees. "I have to get out of their sights or I'll get shot."
"You're going to be okay", Jonathon assures me. "The FBI are tracking this as we speak and sending people to help."
"This is going to sound dumb, but I don't remember what the FBI means", I say, feeling my cheeks get warm. "A- Are they good?"
"It means Federal Bureau of Investigation", he explains. "They are here to help, I promise."
"I never should have told Jake I knew", I say to myself, temporarily forgetting who I'm talking to. "Then I wouldn't be in this mess."
"What? Who the hell is Jake?"
"My ex-fiancé who did this to me", I say in monotone, tripping over a tree root. "They gave me a minute to run. If I'm out of sight, I don't die and they won't try to find me."
"And if you're not?"
"Bullets to the back." I trip again, my ankle twisting as I fall in the dirt. "Oh fuck", I whisper, pain shooting up my leg as I get back onto my feet, leaning on a tree trunk for support.
"Baby, are you alright?", the man asks worriedly.
"Doesn't really matter", I pant. "Can't stop moving."
Bang. Bang. Bang!
Gunfire.
I close my eyes for a moment, then open them, peeking out of the forest to see what the hell is going on.
Men in suits, firing at Jake and Zack.
This is my chance.
"Theresa, are you still there?"
I don't answer, dropping the device onto the ground and run back the way I came.
He needs to die.
YOU ARE READING
Insanity
Mystery / Thriller"Oh, my God." I look up from my hands, the blade wet with red liquid. "Hi", I say cheerily, giving him a wave, laughing as more drips onto my lap. I gently set the knife down on the counter top beside where I'm sitting, my legs covered in knife mar...
