The blindfold took my vision away. Something rough and ball-like had been shoved into my mouth, stopping me from screaming. My hands were tightly tied behind my back, the rope burning my skin.
All I wanted was to see.
Yell.
Use my hands to rip and claw.
And fight.
But I had been plucked off the street and thrown inside a vehicle.
The feel of the road, normally something that soothed me, felt like needles stabbing beneath my nails. Each bump made it even harder to breathe. Tears dripped, soaking my cheeks, as anxiety gnawed at the rest of my body.
Who is this man?
Why did he abduct me?
Where the fuck is he taking me?
And how the hell do I get out of here?
One minute, I had been walking to grab a snack from the twenty-four-hour bodega down the street. The next thing I knew, something was placed over my mouth, stopping me from shouting, and I was being lifted into the air and tossed inside the back of a van.
That was when he had taken my sight away and shackled me.
When my senses were suddenly on overdrive.
Fear was eating at me, as though I’d never fed it any food before.
I kicked what I thought was the door, wishing for it to open, but it didn’t budge. I kicked again, wiggling to the other side to try that wall, and turned more to attempt again. Something had to open. To pop. For a burst of light or air to rush through.
But nothing.
Just the steady hum of the road.
I didn’t know how far we had gone—seconds felt like years—but there was slowness.
And then a stop.
I sucked in a breath as the engine turned off. A car door quietly opened and shut. Feet softly shuffled across what sounded like pavement. Keys jingled as they hit together, and finally, there was the swish of air I’d been waiting for.
But it had come because of him, not from me.
My body tightened as I waited for what was going to happen next.
“Kerry …” His voice was like a cough, a hundred packs of cigarettes burning the back of his throat.
I’d never heard him before tonight, but I still tried to place him, digging through my memory. For a time. A place.
“My sweet, beautiful Kerry …”
Tears soaked in through my lips, my mouth now filled and salty. Even my fingernails were quivering, as though they were loose in my fingers.
A sob came shuddering through me, escaping whatever he had placed in my mouth, and something hard and relentless slapped my face. When it happened a second time, I realized it was his hand. Skin on skin. A movement that created even more agony.
My cheek felt like it had been lit on fire.
Right before another sob had the chance to form, he was gripping my face, his fingers like clamps, holding me as though I were corn on the cob, pressing so hard that my teeth ached.
“Never speak unless I give you permission. Understood?” When I went to make a sound, he pushed even harder on my cheeks. “Asking you a question is not permission. Nod your head, Kerry.”
He was even taking away my voice.
I didn’t know what I was agreeing to, but I didn’t want to get slapped again. I didn’t want to be hurt in any other way. I just wanted him to let me go, and maybe this was the first step to make that happen.
I nodded.
“I’m going to carry you out of this van, and if you make a sound, I’m going to knock out every single one of those pretty teeth. I won’t repeat myself. Nod your head if you understand.”
Why do his threats sound so permanent?
Where the hell is he carrying me to?
I was holding back the sobs, but they were ravaging the inside of my body.
And I was holding back the urge to fight because my feet could only get me so far, and I needed my eyes and hands to get past him.
I nodded.
“Now, it’s time to go to your new home.”