Wind

• • F I V E • •

"It's a right here," I said when we reached the intersection with Cornwall.

Joshua didn't turn. He didn't even slow the car down. He just kept driving straight through the intersection.

My stomach dropped, and my heart pounded faster. The blood pulsing in my wrists and temples pressed against my skin heavily with each beat.

Joshua wasn't taking me home.

A million thoughts screamed in my head as the vision of Joshua's haunting gaze at the farmhouse flashed through my mind. I'd been kidnapped. Where was he taking me? Why was he taking me there? What was he going to do to me when we got there?

I imagined being locked in a dark basement somewhere, my foot chained to a rusty pipe. Beaten. Starved. Tortured. Murdered. My body turning up ten miles down a river somewhere in twelve different pieces, bloated, covered in mold and rot and unrecognizable. Fish chewing off my toes.

I froze. I glanced at Joshua out of the corner of my eye. He was focused on the dark road ahead of us, not even looking at me.

Maybe I could surprise him, knock him unconscious while he was driving and grab the wheel.

Too risky. I couldn't even see straight, let alone steer a car from the passenger's seat. We'd end up crashed in a ditch on the side of the road.

Maybe when he finally stopped the car I could jump out and make a run for it. I was pretty fast, but the ground wobbled and shook so much I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it more than a few yards without tripping and falling on my face.

Overpowering Joshua was out of the question. I wouldn't be able to take him in a physical fight even sober. Joshua looked like he had maybe sixty or seventy pounds on me at least.

I clenched my hands into tight fists and gritted my teeth. My head spun as blood pulsed through it. I drifted in and out of lucid thought. I couldn't come up with any other plan for what I would do. I felt like I was going to faint. I focused on keeping myself awake. I couldn't pass out. I'd be completely defenseless.

After what felt like ages, Joshua slowed the car down. With the rain and my blurred vision, I wasn't sure where we were for half a minute.

The farmhouse.

Joshua pulled the car into the dirt driveway. Lightning flashed outside, followed by a growl of thunder. Dogs barked in the distance, and rain pelted the car.

I placed my left hand on my seatbelt, my right hand inching towards the door, ready to make a dash for it if it came to it. I knew it was a long shot, but it was the only hope I had.

Joshua shut off the car engine, and the entire night went silent for a second. He turned and faced me.

"I saw you and your friend here earlier today." Joshua's dark eyes bore into mine. My mouth slacked open, but no words came out.

"Why were you following me?"

My mind faded in and out. I couldn't focus on what Joshua was saying. Things began to blur together.

I felt like I was falling.

"Harper." I heard Joshua address me. I snapped my eyes to him, trying as best as I could to focus.