Silver Lining

17. Bridges and Captors

The first day

By the time I woke up, Theo had already left. I wasn't surprised that he didn't wake me up, I was a pretty heavy sleeper. He was at an all day yoga and cooking course, run by one of his friends on Instagram. They had invited me as well, and while I really like yoga, cooking isn't my strongest point. So I politely declined, and used the 'sorry, I'm busy' excuse. It's not like it was a lie, though. I was going to one of the local schools to give a talk about internet safety. The principal was one of my mums friends, so I said I'd do it.

I walked to the kitchen in search of some breakfast, and opened the fridge. I grabbed a pot of blueberry yoghurt, and set it on the bench. I turned around to grab a spoon from the drawer behind me, and there was a plate with a pile of fresh bread rolls sitting on the bench. I touched a roll. Mmmm, still warm. Theo must of got up early to make bread, the cutie. I put the yoghurt back in the fridge, and got a plate to put the roll on. Usually I'd have jam on bread, but these rolls were so nice I liked eating them plain. Theo still had jam when he made the bread, but I think that ruins it.

I still had three hours before I had to be at the school, so I got dressed and took Asher for a long walk in the park. There's an off-leash area at the back of the park, and there is always a couple of other dogs in there. Asher loves being with other dogs, and there was a brown miniature poodle named Nala there today that Asher chased around in circles for ages. It was so funny watching the two little dogs run around in circles.

Nala's owner, a guy about my age, and I talked about dog groomers while the dogs played together. We we considering finding a new groomer for Asher because the one he usually went to had moved to a new place in the city, and it was pretty far away. Bichon Frises, the breed of dog Asher is, have to get their hair cut reguarly because they don't shed. The breed is hypoallergenic, which means they dont shed, so their hair just grows and grows and grows, just like a humans. Also, Asher has white fur, and he likes rolling in mud, which isn't a great mix. Just like he's doing now. "Asher! No! Not the mud," I called out. I gave an apolegetic look to Nala's owner and went to take Asher away from the mud. "You'll get all messy, bub," I told Asher. Ha, not that he cared.

I walked a now very dirty Asher back home, and got changed because I had mud on my pants. "As soon as I get home, you're having a bath," I told Asher as I tied my hair into a high ponytail.

***

As I walked out of the school, I couldn't help feeling proud of myself. Speaking in front of crowds was not my favourite, and even though I had improved since I started talking at events like PlayFest, I still got nervous.

The school was pretty close to the apartment, so I had walked. On the way there, I just went the short way so I wouldn't be late, but since I wasn't in a hurry I decided to go through the park.

It was empty, which was unusual for the middle of the day. Even though kids are at school, there's still people here. It was surreal, being in a place that I knew as busy and full of people, that was empty and abandoned. Then I started to doubt myself. Maybe there was an event on, and I shouldnt be here? Or prehaps the city was evacuated, for some reason? No, don't be stupid. You're not a conspiracy theorist, I told myself. I crossed lock bridge, runnng my hand along the padlocks that people locked to the chain link fence on either side of the bridge. I always ran my hand along the locks when I crossed it, hearing the heavy metal locks clang together reminded me of the day Theo asked me out in year twelve, and we had come to this park after school. We crossed the lock bridge and all of a sudden Theo suggested we put a lock on the fence. We went to the shops and bought a big silver padlock, wrote Madison + Theo on it, locked it on to the fence and threw the key in the river. Whenever people asked how we met, I couldn't help smiling because that day was just so much fun.

Out of my peripheral vision I saw a blur of a person, someone behind me. I spun around quickly, and scanned the park. Still empty, I just imagined it.

I started walking again, and even though I knew it was stupid, I felt a bit anxious.

I started to walk a little faster, but had only gone another five meters or so when I heard a twig snap behind me. I began to walk even faster, nearly at a jogging pace. I would of usually gone around the pond back to the apartment, but it was quicker just to take a shortcut through these trees, and I wanted to get home as quickly as possible. It was like a mini forest in the middle of the park.

I ducked under a low branch into the shade created by the canopy of leaves, and continued walking fast, the dry leaves crunching underneath my feet.

I guess I didn't hear the second pair of feet crunching on the leaves, or put it down as my own footsteps.

A strong pair of arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me off my feet. I started to scream, but a large hand slapped over my mouth, nearly covering half my face.

I tried to fight, I really did. I bit the rough, foul tasting hand covering my mouth, and I kicked and kicked, and wiggled around, but it was no good. I was just too little to go against this guy.

He was in control.