Through a small part of the window she saw the sky. She had no way of knowing what the time was. As so many of her contemporaries did, she relied on her iPhone for the time nd so never wore a watch. The iPhone was nowhere to be seen, nor was her purse.
She feared what would happen when he came back. He hadn’t molested her in any way, yet but she was sure he would. Why else would he have taken here?
She tried to work out why he had taken her. Was there anything about him she recognised she asked herself. Yes, there was something in the smile, or was it the inflection in his voice, but something definitely was beginning to feel familiar. Had she met him and known him at some earlier time? Perhaps once she managed to free herself, if she managed to free herself, she could spend time working out why he seemed familiar. But now, she had to concentrate on getting free.
She hadn’t heard the door being locked or unlocked so obviously he thought it completely unlikely that she would be able to escape the bindings he had applied. But she would listen hard the next time he came and make sure that the door wasn’t locked.
He had shown up earlier at what she guessed was his lunch hour, although time had become rather undefined for her. He approached her “Well Sarah how’re you doing”. He released her feet. It took a while for the circulation to return so that she could walk rather than stagger. He took her out of the room into a hallway where there was a bathroom where she relieved herself. He then took her back to the dark room but instead of laying her on the bed he sat her in a chair and proceeded to bind her hands to the arms of the chair. He left her feet free, which gave her some hope that she might eventually be able to escape. When he left her she took particular notice of the door as he closed it. She was sure he hadn’t locked it. Was there a way to get free and out of the room into the hallway? Who knew where that would lead?
Some time later he returned with a bread roll and a takeaway cup of coffee. Of course it was difficult to eat with her hands bound and she asked him to release one of them. Surprisingly he agreed and as he undid one of her hands his cellphone rang. Turning away to answer it he left the room leaving her with one hand free.
He didn’t return and after what she guessed to be an hour, she decided he had taken off again. So with one hand free she set about getting the rest of herself free.
With her free hand she picked at the duct tape on her other arm. It was hard and there was so little light, but bit by bit she felt the tape giving way. She couldn’t hurry this but she knew that at any time he could return and when he did he would bind her other arm to the chair again.
After what seemed a very long time her arm was free. She stood up and steadied herself against the chair as the circulation returned to her feet. She felt light headed and wondered what he had put into the coffee he had brought her earlier. Obviously he had drugged her at the bar so it was conceivable he would do so again. But there was little time to dwell on this question. He could return at any time and she just had to escape.
She found her shoes at the side of the bed and gratefully put them on. She then crept to the door. Hearing no sound from the other side she slowly opened it. To her delight there was a light on in the hallway and it took a few seconds for her eyes to accustomise to it. She saw she was in a long hallway with doors leading off each side. She tried the first door and it opened into a bedroom. Working her way down the hallway she came to the last door on the left. This opened into a kitchen with stairs in the corner leading upwards.
She had no time to think where the stairs might lead. She just knew she had to take a chance and get away…..
I choose how I will spend the rest of my life 