Black Rose

The Upperhand.

The man just smirked and shut the door. I wriggled and managed to try the handle, but it wouldn't open. Child lock. The man turned and walked across to the front of the truck, which was still beside us, and the woman trailed him awkwardly. I reached across and tried the other door. No luck.

I was just considering climbing into the front and trying those doors when my captors returned and they opened.

"Alright, girls. Let's go home."

So he pulled off the side of the road and started driving.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to speak. "What... what are you going to do to me?"

The man glanced back at me in the rearview mirror and I gulped. A sinister smirk played across his face.

"Oh, my rose. What will I do with you?"

But then he returned his gaze to the road and chuckled.

I bit my lip and blinked back tears. I wanted to cry, to scream at them to let me go, but I also needed to make sure I kept a cool head. I needed to wait for the right opportunity.

Like when I saw a car approaching on the other side of the road.

I glanced up at my captors, then skittishly watched the car getting closer. When we were close enough, I started up the theatrics. I started screaming, crying out, and leaning against the window, trying desperately to catch the attention of the other driver. But they didn't so much as glance at me and were gone in a matter of seconds.

"Would you stop that please?" The man said in a clipped voice. "The glass is tinted and soundproof, so the only thing you're doing is annoying the shit out of me."

I glanced back at my captor, biting my lip. He didn't look at me, his eyes focused on the road.

The woman beside him let out an annoyed sigh. "She's going to be like that the whole way. I thought you said the chloroform would knock her out until we got back."

"I probably got the dosage wrong. I'm not the one to usually do... this." He waved a hand indicating in my direction. Then he glanced back at me in the mirror, catching my gaze. "Rose was the exception."

"Why do you keep calling me that? That's not my name," I muttered.

The man just chuckled and shook his head.

I let out a frustrated sigh and looked away, returning my gaze to the window. Despite what he'd said, when I saw another car come along, I carried on with the same theatrics as before, hoping against all odds that they might hear.

Then I did the same for the next. And the next. Until finally, when another car was approaching, the woman spun in her seat and snapped, "If you don't shut up I will make you shut up, and trust me, you don't want that."

The man beside her chuckled darkly, and though I didn't know what that meant, I didn't want to find out, so I shut my mouth.

We drove for a long time, through stretches of uneven mountains, foothills, and valleys, all the while listening to alt rock songs and sitting in silence. Some of the drive was marked by snow-covered trees and foliage, it being late January. I got more and more nervous the longer we drove, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, who these people were and what they wanted from me.