Hand In Hand

TWO

2.

It took exactly twenty-five minutes for her to figure out where she was. She was not pleased with her answer.

She was in Virginia; Virginia Beach to be precise. It not Mystic Falls but it's way too close for comfort. At the moment she was still at the beach but miles away from where her kidnappers were. Faith stopped the car to clear her head before her less than perfect driving got her pulled over. She pulled off her soggy socks as she wasn't wearing shoes when they kidnapped her.

How'd this happen? She wondered. When you've been kidnapped as many times as Faith has you get into a kind of routine when these things happen. For Faith she made it a point to keep a diary and write down everything that happens down to the smallest detail, then she writes about how she could've prevented it.

Obviously it's her fault for getting kidnapped in the first place. If only she was better this it wouldn't have happened. Or at least that's how it sounds when she has the "I've Been Kidnapped But It's Too Much Trouble To Compel A Therapist" Talk with her parents which they rarely have anymore.

Faith was sitting in the sand under the rising sun practically watching the sea water dry on her skin. She felt icky. Her jeans wouldn't be drying anytime soon and even if her shirt did it still smell like sea water.

"What are you gonna do?" Faith questioned herself. She'd never been kidnapped and taken this far away from home before. New Orleans was over fifteen hours away and she didn't money, her phone, or any patience.

Standing up she decided to search the car. It was pretty dark in the trunk when she was in there so she didn't get a very good look at things. Maybe they left a couple bucks so she could buy a candy bar for breakfast.

Opening the trunk all she found were your basic kidnapping items: the cuffs and shackles she broke out of, some tied up rope and some jumper cables. What she found in the big compartment underneath all that crap, however, was definitely something she could use.

"Holy crap that is a lot of money." She said dazedly. And then she chuckled. And then she downright roared with laughter. "Oh yeah the near death experience was definitely worth this."

With a new found hope she grabbed one of the many stacks of money before closing the compartment and then the trunk. Formulating a plan would be easy now that she had some wiggle room, but it might be easier if she had an end goal.

1. She could go home, get kidnapped again a few weeks later.

2. Stay here and pray her kidnappers don't think she's still alive.

3. Run as far as she can as fast as she can.

There were problems with each of these plans.

With plan number one, as complicated as her relationship with her family is, she doesn't want to just disappear from their lives. Always and Forever applies to her too, no matter how human she is or how much they ignore her. And although getting kidnapped again doesn't seem ideal, her parents would find her wherever she went. Her Aunt Freya could easily do a locator spell to find her.

In plan number two she couldn't be certain of what her kidnappers knew. The beach they took her to was deserted and they had to have made sure it would be deserted when they brought her there. There was a very little chance they'd assume someone else stole their car.

And finally with plan number three... well running wasn't really her thing. And she's tried. She tried running track her first year of high school and sprained her ankle an hour into practice. She tried running from her babysitters one day after school and got grounded for a week. She even tried running for a place in the student council at school. Needless to say it's a popularity vote.

So maybe if she tried walking it would work, but then she wouldn't be able to get away fast enough. Her father may not love her as much as he does Hope but he doesn't like to lose. Losing Faith would hurt his ego and pride so badly who knows what he might do.

So all her options had their side effects...but all that money. That money was a way out and lord knows she needed one of those. So maybe she'll keep it tucked away until that brain of hers spits out something she can work with.

"What to do, what to do." She muttered to herself. This whole talking to herself thing was becoming a habit and she didn't know how to feel about. All she was feeling at the moment was exhaustion. Unconsciousness is not sleep. Faith was 90% sure it was Saturday and the sun was barely in the sky. What she needed right now was a bed...probably a shower too...a change of clothes definitely. Luckily the stack of money in her hands could help with that.

/

Two hours later Faith spent two hundred dollars on clothes, shoes, food, soap, shampoo and a seedy motel room that didn't even ask for an ID. She'd also hid all her money minus the stack she took before.

In her motel room all she wanted to do was crash on the bed after her shower but that was before she noticed the cut near her scalp and the bit of blood trailing down. With a sigh she ignored the possible concussion and flopped onto the bed. Six hours later it was three o'clock in the afternoon and time to move on. 

__