Trust Me

Chapter 20

The car ride was longer than I expected it to be.  They played crappy music on the radio, and they’d talk to me simply to mock the fact that I was temporarily mute. 

“Don’t worry,” Evan pointed out.  “Aidan’s not dead.  He’s just got bullet wounds in his shoulder and leg.  So, assuming he doesn’t bleed out, he should be fine.”

Both of them shared a laugh at the comment, but I didn’t find it the least bit amusing.  They were only adding insult to injury.  Literally.  If I had the opportunity, I’d make them pay for messing with Aidan like that.  For hurting him.  For almost killing him.  No one got away with doing anything to him on my watch.  They’d pay.

The car finally stopped after eons of driving.  As soon as the door opened, I was being roughly pulled out of the car.  They pressed me against the back of it, ripping the burlap sack off of my head.  We were somewhere dark.  The air was fresh, though, but all I could see was the car with the way they had me trapped. 

Evan flicked open a pocketknife.  My pulse leaped.  I could just see him sending it through my back fifty times, leaving me on the ground as nothing but a corpse.  But, to my relief, he only used the pocket knife to cut the duct tape on my legs apart.  Samantha ripped it away, leaving my skin stinging.  It was like having a hundred band-aids ripped off simultaneously. 

They lifted my head from the car, allowing me to get my first glimpse at my surroundings.  The moon illuminated a vacant parking lot behind me.  Before me was a large cluster of trees that I was being led into.  The Fawn Hollow Forest!  I had been here to go hiking with my mom before, as well as with Persephone and her family.  If you hiked far enough through these woods, you’d come out to our high school on the other side.

We walked past hundreds of trees.  Deeper and deeper into the woods we traveled with the sounds of small animals rustling in the dead autumn leaves, owls hooting from their branches, and shadows of trees like jagged knives that could end my life at any moment.  How long were they planning on dragging it out?  The longer they did, the more a chance I had at being rescued.  Did they realize this?

It had been awhile before we reached a spot in the woods where Samantha shoved me onto the ground.  I stared back up at her while Evan disappeared, returning a moment later with a black box.  Both of them rummaged through it when he set it down.  This was it!  My chance to escape!

I silently backed away from them.  If I could just get a little bit further, I could outrun them.  Then, I could call for help. 

Before I knew it, Samantha flung her hand out and grabbed onto my ankle.  I was dragged back to my original spot, unable to escape.  Oh, no.  I was done for!

“You know, I love a good fight,” Samantha commented while she was still rummaging through the box.  “Maybe we should unbind her and let her defend herself.  It’s not like she can escape us.  It could be fun.”

Evan glanced up at me.  A sadistic grin spread across his face. 

“I like the way you think, Samantha,” he commented. 

He flipped me onto my stomach, and used the pocketknife to cut the duct tape on my wrists.  He ripped the tape from my mouth and removed the saliva-soaked sock, leaving me able to speak once again.

“So, how are you planning on doing it?” I asked.  Samantha pinned me against a tree.  I refused to struggle against her.  I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. 

“Not sure yet.  There are so many different places we can go with this idea.  I mean, there’s always the ever-classic noose.  It’ll make our clean-up much easier, and render us less responsible.  It’ll look more like a suicide,” she explained.