Joining the Lost

The Ride

When I regained consciousness, my head was pounding and I felt nauseous. I had no idea how long I had been out, because there were no windows in the back of the van. Go figure.

I could feel myself being thrown around in the back of the van, getting knocked from side to side and banging into the walls. My hands were bound tightly behind my back, so tightly that it was pointless to even try and free them. I was gagged with a stale tasting rag, and a dirty piece of cloth was wrapped around my head, acting as a blindfold.

I tried in vain to spit the gag out, but it was wound around my head in a way that takes practice. Seeing as there wasn't much else to do, I began to imagine scenarios for what would happen next.

Would I get raped and left for dead? Maybe my captor had a bigger plan in mind, holding me for ransom and claiming I was alive, but then killing me. I shook the thoughts from my head. I had been watching too many crime shows.

Surely the police would be notified of my absence, and they would find me quickly. They always seemed to find the criminal. But the more I thought about where I had been kidnapped, the less likely this prospect seemed. There were no witnesses, because the stretch of road I had been on was enveloped by trees, not houses. The rain would probably wash away any physical evidence.

My eyes began to water and I started trembling. The blindfold absorbed my tears, the gag stifling my sobs that were quickly becoming hysterical.

"Get it together," I mumbled to myself. At least I tried to, but it's pretty hard to talk with your mouth bound in place.

I eventually stopped crying enough to listen to the sounds coming from outside the van. I could hear other cars, lots of them. We must have been on a highway. This was hardly valuable information, I could imagine the call to the police now:

"911, what is your emergency?"

"Uh, hi I've been kidnapped, I think I'm on a highway."

My town was surrounded by a web of highways, all leading off into different parts of the state and country.

I'm sure your asking yourself, "why the hell hasn't she tried getting her phone???" Well, I'll tell you why. I, Rylee Kalman, had chosen the worst possible day to leave my phone at home. I could picture it now, lying on my bedside table, mocking me in my imagination.

As I was cursing at myself for this inconvenience, whoever was driving found it necessary to stop as hard as possible. I was catapulted into the wall of the van, landing with a loud crash.

I sat there in shock, trying to recover from a) the fact I was in the midst of being abducted and b) getting flung into a metal wall. I noticed that I could no longer hear any cars, or any noise for that matter.

I strained my ears, and heard a car door open and shut. I heard faint footsteps, and a loud bang as the back of the van was opened.

I pressed myself up against what I assumed to be as far away from the doors as possible. I was still blindfolded, so stayed hunched in my personal darkness until a pair of tough hands grabbed my ankle.

The hands yanked me out of the van, and I hit the hard ground with a painful thud. I was pulled to my feet, and my blindfold was ripped off. The sudden light caught me off guard, and I squinted.

As my eyesight returned to normal, I glanced up at the man. He was still wearing the ski mask, but his eyes looked cold and merciless.

As I surveyed my surroundings, I realized I was in the middle of a field. The long grass came up just past my knees, and I knew this would be the perfect place to hide a body. I began to mentally prepare myself to die, when the man started pulling me gruffly towards a muddy clearing in the field.

"I'm about to die. He's gonna rape me. No one will find me. He's going to kill me," I thought to myself. My friends called me a pessimist, I like to think of myself as a realist.

We reached the clearing, and I noticed a small patch of wood, what looked like a trap door covered with dirt. I was right, and the man opened it.

"Kneel down. Now," he commanded. I did as he said, and knelt at the edge of the hole.

"They'll be waiting at the bottom," he informed me. Who "they" were, I had no idea. He kicked me in the upper back, sending me tumbling down the narrow shaft.

I hit my head on the side of the hole on the way down, getting knocked out for the second time that day.

AN: I'm so sorry ik that was boring but it will get better soon (I hope) and I'm typing this on my phone so sorry for any typos