You Can Run To Me

Twenty-Nine

Except she didn't get that far.

The first sign of trouble was someone calling out loudly from behind her. It wasn't a voice she immediately recognized, so she ignored it. They probably weren't talking to her, after all, and it wasn't as though they'd said her name. Then they shouted it again, and it seemed closer this time. And finally, accompanied by a few people disgruntled protests, it came a third time.

"Hey, bitch!" This time it was partnered with someone's razor-sharp grip on her arm, yanking her back slightly. It took all her concentration just to not fall over, especially as they yanked her bag off her shoulder.

She turned around very slowly, as if trying not to startle a wild beast, to see her attacker. The grip on her arm tightened even more, and they turned her back again before she got a chance to see their face. Some of the other people in the corridor were slowing to a halt, staring at the mini-commotion. A face rammed up to her ear and hissed into it, "Smile and act normal or this will be even worse for you."

Natalie wanted to be brave and refuse, but this was too much. Trying her best to pull a convincing smile, she stayed silent as they cheerily told the growing group of Samaritans that this was some kind of in joke and she and Nat were BFFs really. Seemingly glad to have their excuses covered, they all nodded along and left, clearly not genuinely convinced, but willing to overlook their gut instinct when it made life easier.

The mystery then forced Nat down a quiet side corridor which eventually led back to the dormitories. Natalie could now hear a couple more voices behind her, meaning there must have been a whole group of them, but whoever had hold of her arm now had in some kind of martial-artsy hold that made it nigh-on impossible for Natalie to turn around enough even to catch the slightest glimpse of their faces. Eventually, they came to a halt at one of the doors and there was a sudden flurry of whispers that Natalie could only partly make out.

"Shouldn't we ha... It's all well and ...eeing our ...sure knowing... room we ... hint...."

"You ... blindfolded her ...supposed to... and that..."

"Well... now then ...looking, and ... is the right corridor or not."

"Yeah! ...little walk-about and then-"

"But... no one sees..."

"Do we really ... her a bit... I really don't think ...this."

"Oh... deserves this. ... hurt her badly ...crystal clear that ....absolutely immoral."

"...stop now... won't know what ... wrong."

"What?"

But she heard the last bit, as it came from just next to her ear. "Never mind, let's just hurry up and cover her eyes already. My arm's beginning to ache like hell from holding her like this."

A flurry of movement above her head was shortly followed by almost complete darkness as some kind of makeshift blindfold was pulled roughly down over her eyes. Someone ran their hand along the bottom and top edges, presumably checking the blindfold was on properly, which it was. Next, her other hand was yanked behind her back and both her wrists were tied tightly together. The person who had hold of her pushed her on down the corridor. Natalie was completely petrified, constantly worried she'd trip over on something or they'd make her walk right on into a wall. She briefly tried keeping track of the turns they took, but they kept suddenly stopping and spinning her around, and quite soon she was struggling to remember (more than usual) her left from right.

Finally she heard a door unlocking and they shoved her inside so she landed on something thankfully soft, almost certainly a bed.

"Feeling comfy there, Natalie?" one of the asked, their voice dripping with cold sarcasm.