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by Leona Keyoko Pink

  I glanced at it. It was something. There was a winding path that led down to a beach. As far as the eye could see there was ocean. It reminded me again of my dream. The beach, the stars, that man.

  It took me a second to catch myself and I wondered what I was doing. I didn’t come here to look at a view. I clenched my fists and turned away looking at him, “CALL DAMN IT,”

  “Fine,” he said and then took his phone out. My heart quickened. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. We locked eyes as he pulled it apart. He removed the battery without looking at me and turning away he threw it as hard as he could off the small hill.

  I turned around, watching it soar through the sky, “What...what,” I said. I found myself in shock.

  He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed the back of my neck as I tried to understand what just happened, “You threw your phone,”

  “I don’t need it anymore. I have everything I want right here,”

  I came to my senses as anger rushed me. I pulled from his grasp and turned to face him, “What about my brother...YOU BASTARD. You said-”

  “About that,” he interrupted, “I lied,”

  “Lied?” I said confused.

  “I didn’t take your brother,”

  “What?” that didn’t make any sense.

  “But the photos-”

  “Yeah, those were pretty good, weren’t they?” He smirked, rubbing the back of his neck, “I took some pictures of him at day camp and then digitally manipulated them,”

  I listened to the words he was saying but it took time for them to sink in, “You...what?”

  “I faked them,” he said.

  “I don’t understand. Where is my brother?”

  “The fuck if I know. Probably at home watching Captain Cord,”

  “You didn’t...you didn’t take him? He’s not tied up somewhere?” I just couldn’t...

  “Fuck, Bec. If I had the cops would have been everywhere.”

  “But you said...”

  “To get you to listen...and obey,” said Lynn. “Either way I was gonna bring you here. It was the plan all along.”

  The plan...his plan. He’d lied to me and manipulated me. I’d fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker. He knew I loved my brother and he’d used it against me. I moved, darting past him. I scrambled to get back to the cabin, the gun. Emotions swirled within me but my plan was clear. Get the gun, kill him, get out of here.

  I got back to the cabin and half expected him to be right behind me but he hadn’t moved from the hill. He looked back out at the view. He seemed pleased with himself. He must have forgotten about the gun. I picked it up. I didn’t know much about guns but I knew they had something called a safety.

  I’d seen enough movies and TV episodes to know first time users often forgot to turn it off. I looked for a switch and moved it. Then I held the rifle under my arm and in my hands. I marched back up the hill. His back was to me but as I approached he turned to me.

  His eyes widened when he saw the gun. I saw the sheer terror, the surprise on his face. How did it feel you piece of shit? I bit my lip and pointed the gun at his middle. He put his hands up, taking a step towards me, “Bec...Bec,” he said, his voice trembling, “Think about this,”

  “Oh, I have,” I said.

  He took another step towards me. I moved my finger to the trigger. “I told you to back off. I told you to leave me alone,”

  “I love you,” he said, as if that would convince me not to shoot. He didn’t love me.

  “You don’t know what love is,”

  “I do...from the first moment I saw your picture I knew...” he got closer, “I knew you were my everything,”

  Funny how it changed from ‘you were mine’ to ‘my everything’. I was still curious what picture he was talking about but I wanted this to end.

  “It’s over,” I steadied myself.

  I could see it in his eyes. The fear...the realization I wasn’t gonna hold back. “Becca,” he cried out and I pulled the trigger. I held my breath as I heard something click...but nothing happened. He was still standing there. Alive. I clicked it again. Nothing. I swallowed hard looking at it, trying to figure it out.

  His posture changed dramatically as he swaggered over to me. I was so focused on trying to make it work I didn’t realize how close he was. He grabbed the end of the gun and calmly suggested. “Bullets might help,”

  Before I could respond his face twisted with contempt. He ripped the gun from my grasp. With ease he came back at me. I saw the butt of the gun just before it hit me.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I was in the field again at night. I ran my hand through the tall grass. I realized that it was a deep azure. When I moved through it, white fireflies burst into the air all around me. It was breathtaking. I knew I had to be dreaming because I had seen nothing like this in reality.

  I basked in the beauty of the stars and made my way onto the beach. I could hear the waves as they crashed against the sand. It too looked like another shade of blue. I stood for a moment taking it all in and then I turned to see him only a few feet away. I smiled when I saw him.

  He didn’t look happy to see me yet again, “Go away.” he said calmly, “Leave me alone,”

  I don’t know why he was so angry. Angry...? No, he was hurt. We both were. He turned from me and began to walk down the beach. I followed. After a few steps he paused. He didn’t turn around, “Just leave. I want nothing to do with you,”

  He continued again but I didn’t follow. I didn’t know who he was or why I was here but I felt such a deep sadness. The farther away he got the sadder I felt. I burst into tears and thought it wasn’t fair.

  “Nothing is fair,” he said as if he could hear my thoughts.

  Again he opened a door that appeared out of nowhere. This time I could see beyond it to a room a ceiling. I just knew he was waking up.

  “Wait!” I thought but he didn’t.

  I was alone again in this beautiful place. I wanted to stay. I wanted him to stay with me.

  **********

  When I woke I found myself tied to a chair. My face hurt really bad. I could hear Lynn humming to himself. The room was dimly lit. The only source of light came from a fireplace. I could see Lynn’s silhouette as he was crouched in front of it stirring a pot of something he was cooking. I looked down and saw blood on my dress. My nose must have bled.

  I shifted around in the chair trying to get free. I could move my feet but my arms were bound to the chair with rope. I moaned in frustration.

  Lynn spoke softly. He was almost too quiet for me to hear, “Welcome back. I missed you,” I didn’t respond. He poked the fire some, getting it to blaze up, “It wasn’t loaded,” I assumed he was referring to the rifle. Obviously I knew that by now. If it had been I’d be free and he’d be dead...so dead.

  “It’s for bears, or hunting if we need it. I don’t, and won’t, keep it loaded,” he continued. “The bullets, along with anything else that would interest you, are also safely tucked away,”

  I just sat there. “I have to say, I was going fifty-fifty if you’d go for the gun or try to push me off the hill.” He sighed, “The gun was probably the better choice. The hill isn’t that steep, might have sprained something at most.”

  I groaned, wanting him to shut up. My face already hurt and now my head was beginning to pound. I pulled at my ropes again, wanting to get free. Free. My eyes opened wider as I remembered that my brother was free...No. He hadn’t taken him in the first place.

  Lynn had lied to me, manipulated me, but not anymore. I glared at his silhouette. There was nothing stopping me from fighting now. Nothing keeping me from escaping. I moved my shoulder and attempted to get free but the rope was just too tight. Instead of continuing to struggle I settled, saving my energy. At some point he was going to untie me and I was going to get him.

  Whatever he was cooking must have been done. Lynn poured it into two wooden bowls before bringing it over to the ta
ble. He placed one for himself and one for me. I could smell it, and saw that it was some kind of beefy stew.

  He went over to a mini fridge and pulled out a small bottle of wine. Then he grabbed two wine glasses. Again he set one for himself and one for me. He was going to untie me. I looked at the stew and wine glass. A plan was forming in my head.

  He went over to a drawer that had been built into the wall. He pulled out two spoons and returned to the table. He placed the spoons and then sat down. He took up his wine and swirled at for a moment, just staring at me. He took a sip and seemed to be thinking. Every second felt like an eternity. I was ready to go, ready to fight. I didn’t want to lose my nerve.

  He set the wine glass down and tapped his fingers on the table. I watched them, focusing on the sound. Finally he spoke, “Before I untie you, you should know the door is made of reinforced steel. It locks automatically and only I know the code to open it. If you’re thinking about attacking me or killing me, know that you would never get out of here. Even if by some miracle you did get outside, I doubt you could find your way back to the car. If you survived the wilds of the forest. The route we took was intentionally misleading. There were a few times we doubled back and went in the wrong direction.”

  Bastard…more manipulation. But it could have also been more lies. Either way, I wasn’t gonna trust a word he said. I knew that now. He’d used my brother to get me here and was now trying to discourage me from escaping. It wasn’t gonna happen.

  “You should also know,” He continued, “If you do try to hurt me, or try escaping, I’ll have no choice but to restrain you. You can relax and enjoy this or you can spend all day locked up. Either way is fine by me as long as you’re with me,”

  He got up then and walked over to me. He crouched down, slowly untying me. The rope fell to the floor and he waited as if he assumed I’d attack him first thing. The thought had crossed my mind but I needed to be smart about this and patient. I knew I was probably only gonna get one good chance so I just set my hands in my lap and waited.

  Eventually he stood and went back to his seat, sitting down. We sat there in silence for several minutes and then he picked up his spoon. As he ate I calculated my moves as if I were playing chess. I imagined what I was going to do, from start to finish before I made my first move.

  I reached out for my wine glass and he watched me. I sipped it slowly and then put it down closer to me. He watched as I picked up my spoon and then put it in my stew. He took another spoonful of his own, blowing on it before he ate it. I picked up a spoonful and he said, “Careful, it’s hot.”

  “I know,” I said and then moved. I took the bowl with my free hand and quickly thrust it forward. Though we had been sitting for a few minutes, I knew it would still be scolding hot from the fire. He reacted faster than I’d hoped, seeing what I had done. He raised his arm to brace the impact of the stew and shot back in his chair.

  I reached almost in slow motion for the wine glass as the table moved. His screams filled the air as his arm and other tender flesh burned from the stew. I emptied the wine from my glass and shattered it against the table. I’d planned to use it as a weapon but it didn’t break like in the movies.

  I ended up cutting myself on the glass and what was left couldn’t be used for much. I abandoned it and moved to the door. Lynn tore his shirt off, using it to clean up the stew. I made it to the door and pulled on the knob but it didn’t budge. It was hard to see in the dim lighting of the room. I could feel it was a metal door...like he’d said. There was a keypad beside it. I could probably figure out the code…if I had enough time.

  I turned, wanting to see if he was still distracted, if I still had time to garner another weapon. He was shirtless...breathing heavily a few feet away. The fire blazing behind him made him look like a monster. A monster that wanted to kill me.

  Chapter Fifteen

  At this point I was rethinking my plan. I’d thought it was pretty solid. Distract and burn the crap out of him with the stew. Break the wineglass, keep it as a weapon. Go for the door, see if he was bullshitting me again. I mean, who seriously has a coded door on a fucking cabin in the middle of the woods?

  This guy, of course, who planned for fucking everything. I thought he was just lying again. I could picture him opening the door normally and laughing at me later. I looked around the room frantically as he slowly approached me, his muscles flexing with rage. Maybe I should have gone for the spoon as a weapon but seriously, what could a spoon do?

  I guess it would have been better than nothing. I looked around for something, anything I could use to fight him, but it was so dark. I had no idea where anything was. Maybe I could dart past him and go for the other wine glass on the table. I could throw it at him and go for the drawer he’d pulled the spoons from. Maybe there was a knife inside. Of course, planning on an assumption is what got me here in the first place.

  “BECCA,” yelled Lynn, throwing his wadded up shirt to the ground.

  I knew my time was up. Frightened, I turned my back to him as my heart began to beat a million miles a minute. Every hair on my body stood up. I needed to do something. I needed to fight. The fear was getting to me, crippling my logic and reason.

  He was nearly to me. Tears welled up in my eyes. I could hear his footsteps. I needed to get out. I needed to get out of here now. I put my hands on the doorknob and turned it as hard as I could as if it would somehow magically be unlocked now.

  From behind he grabbed me around the waist. I let out a blood curdling scream. He lifted me off my feet. I held on to the doorknob as long as I could. He yanked me from it and I began kicking and screaming uncontrollably.

  I could feel him shaking with rage as he squeezed my waist tighter and tighter. I felt like he was going to crush me. I struggled to remove his arm as he placed his other hand around my neck. He began to squeeze it while continuing to crush my waist.

  Soon it became hard to breathe. I gave up on my waist and attempted to pry his hand off my neck but he wouldn’t let go. The room started to darken and I stopped fighting. I nearly passed out before he removed his hand. He dropped us to our knees but didn’t let go of my waist.

  He moved the hand that had been on my neck to my left breast and squeezed. Tears streamed down my face as he seethed in my ear, “This doesn’t have to be a bad thing, Becca. I really don’t want to hurt you...I love you,”

  I wheezed, gasping for air before I cried out, “You don’t love me! If you loved me you’d let me go!”

  “No,” he said shaking me, “When you love someone you don’t ever let them go,”

  He kissed the back of my neck before I heard him smell my hair. I cringed, disgusted as he continued, “I know...I know you’re nervous. Everyone is their first time. But I’ve had a lot of practice. Especially with virgins. If you calm down and obey me, I will make love to you,” And then his tone shifted, his anger rising. “But if you don’t then I will FUCK YOU!” He breathed me in again and I could feel something poking me from behind. “You’ll find there’s a big difference. As always, the choice is yours,”

  Choice...What choice? I didn’t like either option. I shook, sobbing. I knew I needed to fight, to get free, but then what? I felt pathetic. I’d seen movies where the girl has been captured and she just breaks down crying. I didn’t understand why she didn’t fight harder, karate chop her attacker, bite his dick off, stab the crap out of him with her high heels. Whatever it took to get away.

  He moved his hand from my breast to between my legs. He loosened his grip on my waist and it ached. He lifted the bottom of my dress and ran his fingers through my pubic hair. I grasped onto his hand and attempted to pull it away. He dipped a finger between my lips and stroked my clitoris.

  It felt rough and painful. I attempted to squirm away, digging my nails into his arm. He just laughed and stroked it again before kissing my shoulder. He pressed his teeth against my tender flesh and bit down. Lightly at first and then harder. I cried out, “Please Stop!!! Please,”


  He pulled his hand from between my legs and let go of my waist. I knew better than to think he’d listened. He grasped the bottom of my dress and without warning yanked it up. I tried to stop him with my arms but he pulled so hard that the fabric tore and the pressure lifted my arms.

  When my dress was off, he threw it across the room. Naked, I fell forward on my hands. I quickly moved to sit on my knees and tried to cover myself. He seemed content to just let me sit there. He stood and said, “Things don’t have to be hard if you just submit,”

  I heard the buckle of his belt. The pull of his zipper, “NO, NO, NO,” I cried, “PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE,” It was all I could think to say, to do.

  When I heard his pants drop, something inside me snapped. In desperation I turned to face him. He was leaning down to remove his shoes and I lunged at him with all I had. He was caught off-guard and I sent us both falling to the ground. I leapt at him then, scratching and punching.

  He lifted his arms to keep my hands from grasping his neck so I went for his eyes. I clawed at one, leaving long bloody streaks down his face. I sought to tear his eyes out but he began to fight back.

  He didn’t hold back. The first blow hit me square in the jaw. My head snapped back as the second blow crashed into my shoulder. His fists felt like hammers. In my adrenaline fueled desperation I attempted to keep fighting. He grabbed the left side of my head and then slammed me to the ground. My shoulder popped and nearly broke.

  I cried out in agonizing pain as my head collided with the floor. I nearly passed out but horrifically only found myself dazed. I stopped fighting but he didn’t let up punching my arm shoulders and sides. He punched my face and my lip slip open. The taste of my own blood filled my mouth. He kept on hitting and got one of my eyes. My blurry vision turned red. I coughed, gasping.

  At some point he must have stopped. I wasn’t sure when. Lying on my side I whimpered incoherently as my ears rang. I saw a shoe fall to the floor and another go flying past. He reached out, tugging my arm. He lifted me up into the air. I was in so much pain I couldn’t take it all in. My senses overloaded. My head felt foggy and I longed to just let go.