The Abduction of Stephanie

Chapter One

Stephanie can hear the breathing of her captor. With the creaking of the stairs she knows he is getting closer. What is he going to do to me? She wants to run, but can’t. Her naked body is restrained, chained to a wall. She wants to scream, but the gag in her mouth won’t allow her to. Why is this happening? Why now? She should be at home relaxing. Tomorrow will be her eighteenth birthday, and her Daddy has promised to buy her a brand new cherry red Corvette. Instead she is locked up in a cold, damp, basement. The room has a familiar smell to it, almost as if she has been there before.

Moments from now she could be dead. She would miss her Prom. Stephanie is most definitely a shoe in for Prom Queen. She will miss her graduation. She won't get to go to college. Stephanie has gotten a full scholarship to Yale, but none of that matters now. She can see the piercing blue eyes of her captor staring at her. He is standing before her now, tears roll down her eyes, as she fears the worst. She is shaking, partly from fear and partly from being cold. The room is dark, making it impossible to identify him by anything other than his eyes or height. He isn’t very tall, maybe five foot five or six, a good four inches shorter than Stephanie. “Is he just going to stand there and stare at me? Is he going to kill me? If he is going to kill her, she just hopes it will be as quick and painless as possible.

Stephanie has no idea how she got here. All she can remember is walking home from Cheerleading practice. She tries hard to think but her head hurts. It feels like she has been struck by something. She again tries to break free from the chains but no luck. She wants to go home. She wants to see her Mom and Dad; she wants to see her friends. She has to get out of here. “You’re not going anywhere”, says the man.

“Ray. Dinner” calls a screechy female voice. The woman shuts the door at the top of the stairs. “Help! Help!” Stephanie again tries to yell; the ball gag still in her mouth prevents her. She hopes the woman upstairs will come and save her. No luck. Screaming isn’t going to work. She has to find a way to free herself from the chains. “Screaming isn’t going to help you little lady. This room is soundproof.” Ray picks up a pair of drumsticks and bangs away at an old set of drums in the corner. He chuckles and heads upstairs to wash up for dinner. Stephanie is safe for now.

Alone in the basement, Stephanie’s eyes adjust to the darkness. Still shivering, she looks around the room, a pit growing in her stomach as what seems like days without food settles upon her. In the left corner of the room she can see a bed. The mattress is exposed with no sheets to cover it. On the other side of the room across from the mattress she can see a workbench. There is a saw sitting on top of it. “If only I could reach that saw” thought Stephanie. “What happened? How did I get here?” Her head begins to throb in pain as if she had been hit with a Louisville Slugger. A glimpse of earlier that evening passes through her mind. She can picture a car, a tan car of some kind. There are two people in it. That’s all she can remember.

While Ray is upstairs having dinner, Stephanie has to focus on her escape. She knows it will only be a matter of time before she sees him again. She trembles, fearing his return. She again tries to free herself from the chains, but there is no possibility of breaking free. There isn’t anything useful within reach to cut them off. She is forced to stay put, chained to the wall, her naked body exposed, freezing, starving. She again begins to cry. “My boyfriend Billy hasn’t even seen me naked yet but some strange man has”, thought Stephanie. Feeling disgusted, a nauseous Stephanie tries hard to keep herself from throwing up. She can barely hold it in. She again tries to scream, knowing it won’t do her any good. “Why won’t he just let me go?”

A door opens; Stephanie again hears the creaking of the stairs. Ray is walking down them, carrying something that looks like a doggy dish in his right hand, the left hand gripping a sharp object. Ray sets the dish down in front of Stephanie. It is filled with ground meat. “You must be hungry”. He looks her in the eyes and says “If you promise not to scream, I will remove your restraints so you can eat. “Do you promise not to scream?” “I promise,” says Stephanie in a muffled voice. “Ok, but one sound and I cut your throat. Do I make myself clear?” Stephanie nods. Ray begins to undo the restraints and as soon as the gag is free of her mouth, Stephanie lets out an ear-piercing scream. Ray presses the knife against her throat, and says, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you princess”. Stephanie falls silent, more scared than she has ever been in her entire life.