“Ah, you do remember.” Vince places an arm around me. “And I hope you remember what I said before we got in the van, too. We’ll repeat what we did here last time, but with a little twist.”
He goes to the cabinet, inserts a key into the top drawer and pulls a whip from it. I whimper, remembering how much that hurt.
He gets something else from the drawer – a coil of rope and a syringe on a tray. A drug?
He holds the syringe, grinning. “This will paralyze you for a little bit. You won’t be able to move, but the good thing is you will still feel everything. In fact, you’ll feel everything more intensely.”
I shudder.
He takes a step forward, and I step back, afraid. He laughs.
“As much as I’d love to do it now, I’ll wait until you’re rested.” He puts everything back in the drawer and locks it. “I’m tired, too.”
I heave a sigh of relief.
“But later.” He touches my cheek. “We will play.”
Laughing, he leaves the room.
Once I’m all alone, I go to the window to look outside, trying to get an idea of what time it is. It looks like the early afternoon, which means…
Shit.
I sit on the floor, burying my face in my hands.
More than eight hours have passed. I don’t even know where we were at eight hours. Were we already in Mexico then?
Maybe not.
I’m screwed. There’s no way Randall will be able to find me now.
Randall.
He looked so anguished when he was driving me to Vince. I hope he’s okay. I hope that, in spite of those punches, he’s okay. I hope he’s found David.
Imagining them in each other’s arms, I smile. That image is my only comfort in my dire situation.
I look around the room. Now that I’m on my own, I don’t know what I should do. Should I try to escape? But there’s a ravine below the window and the door is locked. Even if I manage to get out of the house, Vince’s thugs will be after me.
There’s no escape.
As my gaze falls on the curtains, the thought of hanging myself with them comes to mind. I did say I would rather die than be Vince’s prisoner again. The thought of the syringe in that drawer makes that idea more tempting but I shake my head.
If I do that, I will really become a nobody, and worse, David and Randall will be sad.
Funny, I was thinking of filing for a divorce since Randall doesn’t love me, but now all I want is to be with them. I don’t care if Randall doesn’t love me. That’s love. It’s unconditional. I just want to stay by his side and make him happy.
To do that, I have to get out of here.
I have to fight.
My gaze falls on the cabinet.
I need a weapon.
***
When night falls, the door to the bedroom opens.
The first guy to come in is one of Vince’s thugs with a plate of food so I don’t act, knowing I don’t stand a chance against him. Instead, I eat in order to have some strength.
Then, an hour later, Vince comes in. I wait for him in bed, hiding my weapon under my pillow.
“What’s this?” He gives me a look of surprise. “Did you actually miss me?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “This place brings back memories.”
He grins. “It does, doesn’t it?”
He sits on the bed, stroking my cheek and then pressing his mouth to mine.
I try not to gag.
“I’d love to be good to you,” he says after breaking the kiss. “I was going to be. I was going to ask you nicely to come back and promise to be good to you. But what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
He slaps me. “You betrayed me. You chose that man over me.”
“How could I not? You saw him.”
He slaps me again. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll never see him again.”
“Why?” I ask him. “Why do you want to keep me so badly when you don’t even love me?”
Vince laughs. “What does love have to do with it? I saw you first. You’re mine. I don’t want anyone else to have you.”
“Is it because of your mother?”
He tenses.
“Do you want to lock me up because your mother locked you up when you were a kid? Or is it because your mother left you and you don’t want me to leave you so—”
“Be quiet!” he shouts.
It seems like I’ve hit a nerve.
“It doesn’t matter. You are mine. That’s all.” He glances at the cabinet. “Now, where are my…?”
As he turns his back to me, I hold my weapon against him.
It’s only a small stick, no bigger than a toothpick, but I know it will do the trick.
“One wrong move, and I’ll inject you with this,” I threaten.
“You have the syringe?” He sounds surprised. “But how did you…?”
“Pick the lock? Easy. Now, if you don’t want to be paralyzed, you will tell your thugs that we will take a walk outside.”
“Okay. Okay.”
I hold the stick to his side, covering my hand so no one can see my trick, while I push him out the door.
“We’re just going for some air and some outdoor action, so don’t follow us,” Vince says as we go downstairs, passing by the living room where the thugs are.
Three of them.
They look at me suspiciously, but, thankfully, they don’t approach me.
Good.
Finally, we get outside. It’s dark and I can hardly see anything. I suddenly feel afraid but I tell myself I have to be brave if I want to see Randall and David again.
We walk for a few feet. This is far enough. Too far and the thugs will be suspicious.
Hiding in the shadows, I prick him as hard as I can with the stick then punch him in the stomach before laying him down on the ground.
“That’s for Randall,” I whisper. “Did you feel that intensely?”
He doesn’t answer, worried.
“What? Can the drug make it impossible for you to speak, too?”
The placebo effect is working.
“Goodbye, Vince.”
I run off as fast as I can.
Hopefully I can remember the path we took the first time and find my way to a village where someone can help me.
After a few minutes, I hear him shout.
“Sabrina!”
Shit. He’s discovered my plot. At least I was able to get out of the house, though, and even get a head start. Now all I have to do is run.
Run.
***
I can’t run any longer. I rest against the roots of a large tree, gasping for air as I rub my aching feet.
If I survive, I promise I’ll do cardio regularly.
Suddenly, I feel a rustle nearby.
Shit. Have they caught up to me already?
I force myself to get up and continue but then I hear a bark.
A dog? As I turn my head, I see a black dog with glowing, yellow eyes.
At first, I tense in fear then I realize I know those eyes.
“Zombie?” I hug him.
Thank goodness he’s here, which means Randall is, too.
He’s come to save me.
Suddenly, I’m filled with new strength.
I stand up and gesture to Zombie. “Come on, boy. Let’s find Randall.”
***
After a while, with Zombie’s help, I find Randall behind a bush.
“Randall!” I throw myself at him.
“Sabrina.”
“How did you know I was here?” I ask him curiously.
“Ask Gil.”
“I thought the pill was only good for eight hours.”
“It is, so Gil tried something else. I’ll explain later. For now, we should—”
“Going somewhere?” Vince interrupts, shining his flashlight on us at the same time as he points his gun at us.
Shit.