Safe Haven

three

Rocking.

I was rocking like a boat at sea; back and forth, back and forth, dipping up and down. It was peaceful, like sleeping in Sage's hammock.

Sage...

She wanted to go to this stupid party...she was sick, and...wait. Didn't I have something to give her?

And just like that, the memories came back just as abruptly as that punch to the face. The pain, Walmart, those thugs, that man! Where  was I?

I lifted my head and attempted to open my eyes, but they were swollen shut--along with the bridge of my nose--from the sock in the face. My arms were tied behind my back but my feet were free.

"She's up." a voice announced to my right, and I squirmed, my movements fueled by panic. We went over a bump, and I realized we were in a car, and judging from the open space of the floor I was laying on, it must of been a van.

"Let me go!" I pleaded, struggling and writhing away from bottles and cups that littered the ground.

"Shut up, or I'll come back there!" one threatened, and I quickly lapsed into a fearful silence. 

While they drove, I fought hard to contain my tears and keep hysteria at bay. Only a few hours ago, I was having a good time with my Sage at my first party, enjoying my first drink. If only we didn't go. If only we went bowling! If only I didn't offer to help her. The urge to blame Sage for my current problem was over whelming, and try as I may, tears squeezed their way through my swollen eyes. I cried softly in the utter silence of the van, and tried to ignore the occasional sounds of squeaking leather whenever someone would shift in their seat.

Horrible scenarios of my death sent tingles of fear slithering up my spine. I prayed for help--for anything to come save me. Despair shrouded my thoughts as ice cold doom settled in my gut. The vehicle lurched to a stop, causing me to slide across the grimy floor.

"Bring her in." Someone ordered, and hands grabbed me. I panicked and squirmed away but failed from my awkward position. I was slung over someone's firm shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and I didn't bother with struggling since I was outnumbered and bound. I deflated and let whomever it was carry me to my fate.

Sage had to have noticed that I never came back, and if she didn't, then my parents would have, and they'd call the police, and someone would find me.

What if they don't? a nagging voice in the back of my mind whispered, and hopelessness settled around my neck like a rusty chain.

A door opened and closed, then I was dumped onto something springy--probably a mattress. I scrambled away blindly and ended up ramming into a concrete wall. The door opened and closed again, and in the security of finally being alone, I tried my heart out. I curled up on my side and cried and cried and cried and cried, until all I could do was dry heave and then I fell into a tortured sleep and pretended for the life of me that this was all just a bad dream.