A Kidnappers Twist

] Gen heard a groan coming from somewhere close. It took her a minute to realize that the groan was coming from her. She then noticed that something was wet and dripping from somewhere above her forehead. As she tried to reach up and feel the spot that was dripping, she grunted because she could not move her arms; at first, she could not figure out why. Then she realized that they were tied to the chair on which she was sitting. The realization forced Gen to wake up quickly and come to terms with her surroundings.

 She tried to open her eyes slowly; everything was blurry and of what she could make out; it was all dark. She gave her head a little shake to try and clear the cobwebs and immediately regretted it. Her brain felt as if it was on fire in the middle of a Jello mold. She then tried to sit up straight but with the angle of where her hands were tied to the chair was forcing her to remain folded over.

Gen opened her eyes again and tried to focus on what was beyond the dark. She could barely make out a shadow of another figure that also was sitting in a chair hunched over like her. Hello” she whispered fervently trying to see if the other figure was awake. No answer. So, she tried again a little louder, she didn’t want to be too loud because she was still unsure of where she was and how she got there, if it was at the hands of someone else, she certainly didn’t want to alert them to the fact that she was lucid. Still, no answer.

Gen closed her eyes and shook her head again, a bit more gently, this time careful not to shake her brain too much. When she opened them again, she noticed that the figure in front of her still had not moved. Forget it for now she thought they were not going to be able to help, she was going to have to help both. This time she looked around carefully at her feet to see what she could recognize. The first step to getting them both out was to figure out where they were and what they were being held with.

 She was indeed sitting on a chair, she noticed which was metal. On the ground she noticed dirt and wood chips, so far nothing standing out that could help her predict where she was or how to get out of the situation. She tilted her head slightly to the right and from that vantage point she could just barely make out and old rusty nail. She tried to look down at her wrists to see what kind of binding was holding her there but from the way she was tied up she was unable to tell.

 She then had the thought of looking at the figure sitting across from her, odds being that they were both tied up with the same bindings. Gen squinted as much as she could to focus her sight and saw that the figure across the way was being held with what looked like old twine, like the kind you would find in a barn. Step 1. Check. Now that she knew what kind of binding it was the next step was to try and figure out her surroundings.

Gen lifted her head up as high as she could to look at what was in her eyesight to see if she could make out any markings or logos, but it was too dark. In one corner of the room, she did notice a small sliver of light that seemed to emanate from above her. So, she deduced that it was in fact night outside and that was a part of why it was so dark inside, the light must be coming from the moon outside or a streetlight.

This thought presented Gen with another conundrum though; did she want to wait out the night until she could see again giving her a better chance at finding a way out of here or…. Did she want to risk it not knowing who it was that had put her there and whether they were going to come back to finish the job? Gen thought about it for a second but then every nerve in her body was telling her that she would be stupid to try and wait it out, so she quickly dismissed that idea and decided she needed to focus on finding a way out. For both of them…

 Since she could not pinpoint exactly where they were being held; Gen decided that her next move would be to try and get out of the chair. The only tool she saw that could help her was the rusty nail. She looked again and figured that it was about five feet away from her current position and if she could scoot the chair over closer then she might have a chance at getting it up off the ground. The tricky thing was going to be moving the chair over as a whole with her body on it without just tipping over to the ground and being stuck on her side.

 Gen thought about it, she was not some small dainty thing of a girl, she had some curves on her and that could either work to her advantage or against it. She first tried to scoot a little to the right and almost topped over. She quickly managed to adjust her weight and stay upright in the chair.  So that is not going to work. She thought. Gen let out a frustrated breath and waited a second to make sure she did not hear anyone coming in to look for her.

She then decided that it would be best to adjust the full force of her weight up to the front of her chair as much as she could. She was able to scoot a little using her butt and thigh muscles to propel herself forward a bit. She then took a moment to tilt her head to the left again so that she could see exactly where the nail was. Folding herself all the way over she shifted her feet in the direction she hoped the rest of her would go and slowly started to turn the chair so that she was now facing the nail.

She paused for a second to listen to any sounds then as soon as she felt it was safe she slowly shifted her way closer to the nail until she could reach it with her hand. The whole ordeal felt like it had taken over an hour and it had left her feeling used up. Her head was still throbbing and the wetness that had been dripping earlier was now feeling like it had congealed into a clump on her forehead.

Now that she had the nail in her hand Gen felt like she had a real chance of getting out of there, or at the very least of getting out of the chair. She first tried pointing the rusty end of the nail into the knot at her wrists to try and undo it but from her position was not able to get enough momentum to make anything happen and in trying so she had almost dropped the nail twice. She then decided to pivot and try to use the nail to unravel the twice that was just tied around her ankles. If I can get it loose enough, she thought then maybe I can wiggle my ankle free and that would allow me to lift my right arm and get a better angle at the knot on my wrist.

She worked on the twine at her ankle and was able to loosen the threads enough to wiggle her right foot out. Since her foot and wrist were no longer connected to each other this gave her the freedom to raise her right arm up to her hip. With the little bit of extra rope, she gained from releasing her ankle she was able to put the nail in between her thighs pointy side up and work the rope over it back and forth until it gave way. From there all Gen had to do was free her other side, she worked as quickly and as quietly as she could. Once she was free, she fell to the ground on all fours to quietly shuffle over to where she thought she had seen the other figure.

Since it was so dark in the room still and outside, she thought it was best to stay low, so she did not run into anything inadvertently and hurt herself more. She moved closer to where she thought the other person was being held, she reached out in front of her trying to feel a foot or a leg or at least a chair leg and she felt nothing. Gen did not panic though; maybe I got turned around and went in the wrong direction she thought. Without a bright light source and with her blurry vision it would be easy to get confused.

She decided then to shift her focus on finding a way out; if she could find the door then she could let light in the room and she would then be able to go out and look for help. Gen kept moving forward until she reached what felt like a wall, only then did she feel safe enough to stand up. Once upright she let herself have a good stretch, every muscle in her body screamed at her. Who knows how long she had been folded over in that position?

After stretching she stood there for a minute and tried adjusting her eyes again but still nothing. Everything was so blurry that she could not see more than two feet in front of her. She turned to face the wall again and started moving to the left, feeling along with her hands looking for a door or an opening. After what seemed like an eternity and half the space, she finally felt a doorknob. Gen yanked at the door with all her strength, which turned out to not to be needed as the door flew open, knocking her back on her butt.

How weird that the door would be unlocked with two people tied up inside she thought. This thought scared her because if whoever had kidnapped her and held her didn’t feel the need to lock the door that meant they didn’t perceive her to be a threat. Who knows what they had in store for her? Gen took a second to collect her thoughts and to again check to make sure she didn’t hear anything.

When she felt like the coast was clear she peeked her head around the corner to check to see if she saw anyone. That is when she discovered a second weird thing; there was nobody around. All she heard was the usual sounds of nighttime. What The Hell Happened Tonight?! She thought. She gingerly stepped outside, glad to feel the air and have it confirmed that it was dark outside. Some good news she thought, at least I am not completely blind.

 She reached up and tentatively touched the left side of her forehead where indeed there was congealing happening. When she brought her hand down from her face, she could feel something sticky and noticed dark liquid on her fingers. Blood. She thought. Okay. Now that she had determined that the area was clear she could go back in and try to look again for the other person she saw but when she opened the door wider to let more light in, she looked.

 What she did not see terrified her the most that night. She looked through the whole room and there was not one other person in there. No other chair, no other bindings, no other hostage. What she did see was a line of mirrors covering the walls. In horror Gen realized that the other shadowy figure she had seen tied up with her had been her own reflection. That was all she needed. She quickly turned around in the other direction and started running. Where she was going, she did not know, nor did she care. What she did know was that she was not going to stick around that funhouse of horrors to wait and see what her kidnapper had instore for her.

The End.