12 Days to Find a Husband

Chapter 3 - Blackout

Anna-lea felt disoriented. She hadn't opened her eyes yet but she already felt wrong. Her mind was slow from the hangover her head was carrying and it took her a minute to figure out why she felt like this. It was the sheets. They felt different. They felt like silk; beautiful cool, smooth, skin caressing silk. The only problem was, she didn't have any silk sheets. There lay the problem and the cause of her disorientation. At this conclusion Anna-lea opened her eyes.

She found herself in a room she didn't recognize, in a bed she'd never laid eyes on before.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked herself out loud.

Anna-lea sat up and was quickly overcome by dizziness. She cradled her head in her hands momentarily until it passed. Looking down at herself she realized she was not in her own clothes. She was wearing a cotton white and blue striped men's business shirt.

Alarmed at waking in a strange bed in strange clothes, Anna-lea was immediately on guard. She tried to think back to the night before but trying to recover any sort of memory brought on a stabbing pain in her head.

She wanted to forget her problems last night but, in doing so, it seemed she had created a whole lot of new ones.

Two questions popped into mind. One; did I come here on my own accord, and two; was I drugged and brought here against my will? Anna-lea couldn't answer either of those questions. She had no memory of last night's events after the first few rounds of drinks.

This had never happened to Anna-lea before. It was new territory to her and it disturbed her greatly. She didn't know what to do. Should she call her best friend, Tracey, and ask her if she'd drunk dialled her last night to see if she knew anything? Should she call the police and report her own abduction? Should she search the house to see if anyone was here? What would she do if she found someone? The questions kept coming but Anna-lea was temporarily frozen in fear and couldn't answer any of them.

"Okay woman, pull yourself together. Just breathe," she told herself, taking a few deep breaths in and out to try to recover from her anxiety attack.

She made up her mind to call Tracey first. She figured if she was that drunk she may have called Tracey and she could fill Anna-lea in. If she hadn't called Tracey, at least then someone would know what situation Anna-lea was in. If Tracey couldn't help, she'd search the house for answers.

Another thought occurred to Anna-lea. If she was brought to the house against her will and she was wearing men's clothing, was she sexually assaulted? The thought made her heart beat rapidly and anxiety reared up again. She quickly checked herself for any sign of sexual activity and was relieved to find no bruising, no marks and no bodily fluids. She didn't know she had been holding her breath until she let it out.

"Thank God," she muttered out loud.

Right, now she had to locate her bag so she could call Tracey. This was an easy task as it had been placed neatly on the dressing table over by the window.

Slowly Anna-lea made her way out of bed and across the thick, plush cream coloured carpet. It was soft under foot and she couldn't help thinking what nice carpet it was. She swept up her bag and took it back to the bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she was relieved to find her phone was where she usually put it and quickly rang Tracey's number. She answered on the third ring.

"Oh, thank God you picked up," Anna-lea said in a whisper.

"Anna-lea, is that you?" Tracey asked. "Why are you whispering?"

"Yes it's me and I'm whispering because I don't know where the hell I am. Did I ring you last night?"

"No, you didn't. What do you mean you don't know where you are?"

"I woke up in a strange room, in a strange bed, wearing a strange man's shirt and I don't know how I got here," Anna-lea responded nervously.

"What? I'm not following. How don't you know how you got there?" Tracey asked, still trying to understand Anna-lea's situation.

"I went to a bar last night to drown my sorrows and next minute I'm waking up in a strange house. Trace, I'm scared."

"That's not like you. Why would you do that? You know you can't handle your alcohol."

"Yes, I know. But I've never had a blackout before. I've never been that drunk, obviously. Now are you going to keep criticizing me or help me?" Anna-lea asked aggressively.

"Well it's true and of course I'll help you, but I don't know what you want me to do. Um. Let me think. Oh, I know. Where are you? Do you know what suburb you're in?" Tracey asked.

"No."

"Okay. Is there a window? Have you looked out the window?"

"No."

"Well go on. I'll wait," Tracey suggested.

Anna-lea kept the phone up to her ear and went over to the window. The window faced out to the back of the house. Looking out she saw a large parcel of land with a few horses grazing in one of the paddocks. There was a double garage located at the back of the house and one of its doors was up. There was a red sports car parked inside it. She thought she'd seen this car before.

"Well, what do you see?" Tracey asked, jolting Anna-lea back into the conversation.

"There's a red sports car in the garage. There's land and horses," Anna-lea answered.

"Okay, so you're in the country. Do you recognize the car?" Tracey questioned.

"Sort of. I think I've seen it before but I'm not sure," Anna-lea answered.

"Do you recognize the suburb?" Tracey asked.

"No, I don't think so."

"I know. Use your GPS on your phone!" Tracey exclaimed.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Anna-lea asked.

"Probably because of the situation you're in. It must be pretty stressful for you."

"Yeah, that's an understatement. Hang on," Anna-lea said as she started to fidget with her phone to get her GPS app up. "If I hang up on you it's because I'm playing with this app and I don't know what I'm doing," Anna-lea told Tracey before pressing the app button and accidentally disconnecting from Tracey.

"Trace? Are you there, Trace?" she questioned.

No response.

"Damn!" she said and quickly went back to her task to try to find out where she was.

As the app loaded on her phone, Anna-lea heard footsteps approaching the room.

She threw her phone into her bag and quickly ran to stand behind the door, thanking God that the carpet was thick and muffled her footsteps as she moved. She grabbed a can of deodorant as she headed past the dressing table. At least if she didn't know the person who was about to enter the room, she could spray him in the face with the deodorant and run. Anna-lea quickly checked that the deodorant was ready to spray and held it up, finger on the nozzle, ready to use.

Fear rose in her throat as the footsteps came closer to the door. They were heavy and Anna-lea was sure they belonged to a man. The footsteps stopped. The door handle slowly turned. The door quietly swung open. Time seemed to stand still for Anna-lea. One of the man's shoulders and his face came into view. In Anna-lea's fear, she didn't see it. All she saw was the person that stood before her and her escape. The desperate need to run overcame her and she pressed the nozzle on the deodorant can. It aimed true and the man copped a good spray of spray straight into his eyes. He automatically covered his face, screaming in the process, as the chemicals stung and temporarily blinded him. Anna-lea dropped the can and ran.