I move my body languidly, stretching until a wave of serenity swells throughout my body. Silk caresses my skin as I stir, waking. The scent of clean cotton and citrus overwhelms my senses. I rub my eyes until my vision whirls and dances before me. I look out into my bedroom staring out at the pink hue of the sky. My gaze falls upon my photo frames sitting on the wall to my left.

Oh. Thats odd.

why are they all in perfect lines?

I jump out of bed to peer closer, are my eyes just decieving me?

Okay this is weird, I hung those myself, their slant was a permanent state, why are they all perfectly aligned?

I look around my room to check if anything else is different.

Nothing.

I check my draws and my heart stutters before i can even register what sits before me.

Hundreds, easily thousands of dollars of my favourite beauty products sit perfectly in my draw, this has to be a joke.

I moved just over 100 miles away from my family and friends when i started my new job, this can’t be them, so how on earth did this get here?

I brush it off, i have to, logic has escaped me. I decide to shower the strangeness away. As the water cascades down my back i sigh a breath of relief, allowing it to scold me as my muscles relax. I grab my favourite shower gel, ready to tip the remenanents into my hand. Confusion fills me as i feel the weight of the bottle. This is brand new. I would bet my life this was nearly empty yesterday.

As I step out of the shower, I cling to my towel as if it were a lifeline. My heart begins to thump a little harder as i scan my room, inspecting it with a magnifying like stare. Yep, ive officially lost my mind.

Only explanation.

I change and head downstairs, needing some food to line my stomach. A weight pounds my chest as my handle stops two quarters into turning it.

Ive never had a lock.

I use all of my force in an attempt to open my door, deluding myself into thinking that maybe its jammed.

Okay these aren’t just silly coincidences now, this is real, someone is doing this,I tell myself.

In a panicked state i scramble to find my phone, dialling 911 my fear worsens as i read my screen.

No sim card.

I have no way to get out and no way to contact anyone. Wait, the sky. I practically bolt to my windows, to find that they too are locked.

This has to be a dream, this just doesn’t happen.

Any minute now brain, don’t take your time.

I pinch myself, botching my arm with how much i want this to be false .

My gaze turns to my chair, fine I’ll smash my way out. I do a run up to gather some momentum, using every ounce of strength to obliterate the cage i have found myself in. And nothing, not even a sound comes from my efforts to smash it. I stand dumbfounded.

My mothers words flood my mind, If nothing else, scream. And so i do just that, i scream with eveything i have.

And once again, nothing.

I back up until my legs hit the bed, sitting on the silk i loved moments ago.

Confusion and fear flows through me, i try to rationalise everything before i go completely insane.

My room has suddenly been altered to absolute perfection with not even a margain of error, i now have locks because of course thats normal for them to just appear. My phone is missing its simcard, i lost that stupid tool years ago i couldn’t have even done that myself. And now my windows are reinforced.

This cannot be real.

After an hour of staring at my floor deluding myself that what seemed to be happening, wasnt happening, I weep, uncontrollably. I wished i was one of the strong women who ultimately faced situations head on and tackled anything effortlessly.

If i was, id have a plan by now.

But some of us arent.

Okay lets get this straight, some creep has put locks on my door, fitted my windows with some reinforced whatever, and made it so that i have no way of contacting anybody.

Who the fuck would do that, what happened to simple kidnapping?

_Oh but at least I have showergel._

I suppose i would rather have my room than some dingy cellar.

You know what no, i’ve seen too many films to become just another statistic, if i can’t get smart, fine. Ill just get angry. I smash my beauty mirror across my desk, and of course it doesnt break, what the fuck is this made of, cement?

Ding!

My head whips to the sound, borderline snapping my neck in the process.

A noise similar to an airline tannoy sounds throughout four black speakers placed in each corner of my surroundings.

My heart picks up pace rapidly, thumping against my ribcage

“Behave, or i wont be so kind as i have been, sweetheart.”

The voice drags and husks as he speaks with an agonising pace.

This is really it, this is actually happening. If I was panicking before I don’t know what the fuck I’m feeling now is called.

He sounded, young?

I thought greying 50 year old men did this kind of shit, not men with _that _kind of voice.

Not the time, soph.

God I’m gonna get Stockholm, I know it.

I laughed internally, kind?!, he must be joking.

I suppose he did buy me all those things.

But I can’t bask in my delusion any more.

Someone has actually fucking taken me.

My stomach falls as i realise this isn’t some random guy with low intelligence, he’s contructed it for me, solely me. He knows my room by the inch.

The intimacy of the act churned my stomach, i sprinted to the toilet emptying everything from out of it. I jumped back horrified, the liquid I spew being pure black in colour, what the fuck has he given me?

I feel my heart slowing, myself sinking, the walls swirling, as my body gracefully hits the ground of my bathroom.

Fuck my eyes feel heavy.

I swallow to rid the dryness perched in my throat. It feels like days have passed.

I suppose I wouldn’t know.

No soph! Enough with the self pity.

I force my eyes open, is that? No it can’t be.

The roar and crackle of a fire burns to my right. I appreciate the warmth, whatever shit came out of me earlier had me hypothermic.

I stretch my body to rid myself of the gnawing ache in my joints, how long have I been out?

“Feel better baby?” The sound husks over me, through me.

That didn’t come from the tannoy.

I sit up immediately, with a militant pace.

I keep my eyes to the bed, my peripheral catching the figure to my left. I force my eyes up, the suspension of not seeing the figure worsening my panic.

He sits arrogant, relaxed in the chair beside my bed. His Jean covered legs spread, my eyes don’t miss the weapon placed atop of his thighs. His hand grips the piece , I hone in on the tattoo of his tanned flesh, the veins prominent, something swirls in my gut, fear? Has to be.

My eyes travel to his biceps, straining against his black shirt, fuck he could actually do some real harm to me.

Yeah no shit soph, he does have a gun.

I hesitate to bring my eyes up fully, but I suppose I might aswell, it might be the last face I see.

A whimper escapes my lips as I see the man infront of me. Really see him.

His eyes pin me with their intensity, a silvery grey that in turn makes me shiver.

His full lips form a smirk, he darts his tongue out to lick them as he watches me. His dark hair tousled, and yet every strand still sits perfectly in place.

We sit there watching each other, pray and predator.

“Not so talkative when you’re conscious huh? I’d kill to know what you dreamt about,angel ”

He spoke in a low husk, leaning forward. My nose found his scent, it somehow matched him, matched his voice.

I cleared my throat forcing myself to speak, “what do you want from me?” I pulled my knees impossibly close to my chest.

His eyes glinted with mischief and something else, was that warmth?

My eyes darted to the sound of his gun clicking , I inched away screaming into a pillow.

And when nothing came of it I peered back at him, ”Easy baby, just putting the safety on, I have no wish to harm you. Ever. So please rid that notion from your mind.”

I forced my eyes to meet his, refusing to cower.

“ kinda hard to do when you’re holding a beretta, you didn’t answer my question either.” I said on a whisper, I had courage, but little of it.

His eyes darkened at my words, if I wasn’t mistaken they swirled with a certain heat.

“ You know your guns princess?” He leaned further forward, leaving half a foot between us. He smelt spicy, the rich scent infiltrating my airways.

I shrugged a shoulder, half thankful the conversation had veered to something that could calm my rampant heartbeat, something constant. Something normal.

“A little yeah, from my dad.” Why on earth did I just tell him that?

“What did you give me?” I blurted out before I could consider my words.

“Give you?” He questioned, genuine confusion displayed on his face.

“ I was sick earlier, it was black”, I said meekly, the memory resurfacing alongside with the feeling.

A rage took over his face for half a second before I blinked and it disappeared.

“Do you really want to know?” He asked, severity colouring his tone.

I’m not sure if I did. But I couldn't stand this uncertainty, the not knowing was worse.

“Yes just tell me please.” Of course I still had manners in a hostage situation, always a people pleaser.

“someone attempted to rape you. The black vomit was from the rohypnol you ingested.” He said, the words escaping his mouth as though they were shards of glass.

His words echo through the room as though they’d come from the tannoy. I couldn’t process them. I couldn’t whole heartedly believe this was happening, moreso I didn’t want to.

I had to know.

“How far did he get?” I didn’t need him to tell me it was a man, that was an unfortunate given.

His eyes portrayed confusion momentarily, quickly retaining their usual state of calm.

“He lost his hands long before then, mi amor.”

The sincerity his eyes held struck me like a punch to the gut.

“How do I know you’re not lying? What if it was you that drugged me, you that raped me? I’ve been out cold for god knows how long. You still haven’t answered my question, So I’ll ask you for a third time, what do you want from me?” I huffed out in a fear fueled rage. The adrenaline surging throughout my body was truly the only thing keeping me coherent right this minute.

The silver of his eyes fled, disgust read through his expression. And fury, so much fury.

“You think I?… you actually think I could?” He spat out, his chest heaving.

“ what do you expect me to think?! You’re giving evasive non-answers, why should I think any different?” I matched his volume, equally furious.

And before I could get in another word he rose from his seat and left, closing the door with an unexpected calmness.