Bind

Capture

I noticed a few things when I came around. The first was the swelling headache that throbbed mercilessly in my skull. Second was how terribly cold I was. Third was the overwhelming dread that coiled in my middle. I took a few more moments to collect all the facts and clues before I figured it out.

Where the hell was I!?

My eyes shot open, looking around franticly. The movement wasn’t something that the pain in my head approved of. The sudden upset sent me flopping back to the floor.

Ok, that was a bad idea. Take it slow Tai, don’t freak out just yet, have a look around and think it out before you lose it.

I squinted at the area above me, taking it slow. Alright, I see ceiling tiles, should I count the dots? My humor crawled at the edges of my mind, trying to soothe the nervous fire that was threatening to burn me down. I widened my view. More ceiling tiles. No lights, how odd. There was light coming from somewhere, if it wasn’t the ceiling, then where? I turned my head to the left with a groan. Nothing over here but a bunch of boxes and packing peanuts. I felt the stiff joints of my neck click as I turned my head to the right.

Ah! There’s the light! There was a window with a large poster almost blotting out the whole frame, letting light leak in through the sides.

My breathing started to hitch as my nerves reminded me of the danger I might be in.

That’s right… That man…

I tried to think harder, forcing the memories to be seen. It was after the movies with Marilyn. I walked back to my car and some stranger tried to creep up on me… I had an episode.

I felt the urge to leap up again and defend myself from some unforeseen foe but with knowledge from prior events I found it best to control the instinct. I was still alive, and by the way I could freely jump up, it was clear that I wasn’t being tied down or hand cuffed.

Was this room locked? I looked for a door. There was a desk by the window, and a door to its left that was ajar. Doesn’t look like I’m locked in.

My hands fished in my pockets. My wallet was still in place, but my keys were missing. I tried not to laugh as the thought struck me. He stole my car? Wow… he must have been desperate to steal that hunk of junk.

Reason dawned on my little internal joke. Why would he take me all the way here if he just wanted to steal my car? That didn’t make sense. Why not just leave me there or kill me and throw me in a lake? There were plenty of those around here. I paused. Was it sane to think of how people could have disposed of me without much concern? I’d have to figure that one out later, I had a lot to consider before I indulged my mind in morbid thoughts.

Well, I couldn’t see the man in the room. There was light outside and I wasn’t in any immediate danger that I could tell. I must have slept off my mental collapse and it was hopefully the next day and not another stretch that I was now missing.

Fear sprang to the surface of my mind. Wait… What if I wasn’t anywhere near my home, or even the movie theater? What if he had taken me with him, and drove to another state, took the car and left me here? What if I had lost days… or even weeks!? I could be anywhere! I felt my form start to shake.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a voice. “Are you ok?”

I flew to my feet. My gaze met his instantly and remained locked until my mind was able to start up again. I began to fire off questions, each one with a step in his direction, as though that would help me get closer to the truth.

“Where the hell am I!? What day is it!? Where’s my car!? What do you want from me!?” I would have screamed more but I was at my threshold for the amount of pain in my head. In my fright I hadn’t noticed the brown paper bag he had in his hands, but I saw it fall to the floor next to me as I found myself slouching to the ground, holding my head in my hands. My breath caught when I saw a second pair of hands meet my arms.