Black Rose

The Upperhand.

I remember barely waking up, the world in a haze. I could feel arms wrapped around me, carrying me like a bride over a threshold, bringing me out of the darkness I had been trapped in and into daylight. With half-open eyes, I saw trees and rocks. I heard a muffled voice, but I couldn't figure out what they were saying.

My surroundings confused me, and for a moment I was brought back to times long ago, road trips as a kid when I would fall asleep in the back of the car, and my father would gently carry me into our house, or a hotel bedroom, and tuck me into clean sheets on a fresh bed.

But, as I slowly realised, it was not my father carrying me.

It came back to me in a rush. Jordan, the truck, the woman, that man–

It was as though suddenly, the air was pulled from my lungs and I could no longer breathe.

Then, I started struggling. Squealing, thrashing about, trying to get out of the stranger's arms. But I was bound and gagged, and I couldn't do more than wriggle violently.

"Woah woah woah, my rose. If you're not careful, I'll drop you in the dirt on the side of the road, and we don't want that."

I stilled, breathing heavily, caught off guard. Blinking, I looked up, twisting to see the face of the man from the truck, smirking down at me.

"See, that's better. We wouldn't want to ruin your pretty little dress, would we?"

I blinked, tears filling my eyes, and frantically looked around

We were buried in the mountains, surrounded by looming cliffs of rock and thick forests. The road we were on was small and quiet, probably an access road somewhere off the highway. I was confused for a moment why we had stopped, as there was nothing around. My mind started going to the worst places, and I started struggling again, trying to get away somehow.

"Jesus, Rose, relax. We're just changing vehicles."

Sure enough, he walked across and turned me so I could see a car parked nearby the truck. It was a sleek white minivan, and it scared me how normal it looked. It looked like the kind of car my mum would drive, not a psychotic kidnapper.

The woman from before was standing at the side of the car, the door to the back passenger seat. She stared at me with a look of disdain, then glanced at the man holding me and tried to mask her features.

"She's awake," she said curtly.

"How very observant of you, Iris," He muttered.

Iris. I thought, at least I know one of the names to tell the police when this was all over. Although, admittedly just the first name Iris wasn't much to go off.

The man carrying me gently placed me down in the back seat and stepped back. Breathing heavily, I stared at him.

"Now, if you promise to behave, I'm going to take the tape off your mouth, for your comfort while we drive the rest of the way."

I didn't make a sound. If this idiot was dumb enough to give me my voice back after kidnapping me, who was I to stop him?

Sure enough, leant forward, holding a pocketknife. I flinched as he reached for me, but he just reached out and picked at the end of the tape on my cheek then slowly unwound it from around my skull until my lips were finally free. The moment they were I started to beg.

"Please, let me go. I don't know why you're doing this, but I promise that if you let me go right now, I won't tell anyone. Please."