Chapter 2: KELLY

Of course, I wanted to curl into a ball and cry until he came and got me, but I could hear his strong, reassuring voice in my head. Yelling at me to use everything I had in my power to survive. Fresh tears started as I envisioned our nighttime ritual from my youth.

Ever since I was old enough to remember, daddy would tuck me in. Whenever he was at home, that is and not off saving the world.

He'd sit next to my bed and read to me before brushing the hair back from my face with his reassuring hand.

Then he'd lean in close and kiss my forehead before whispering in my ear what a precious person I am, how no one was better or stronger, how I could do and be anything I want because I was made special and there was only one me.

Those words always made me feel taller, stronger braver. Like I could take on the world. Thinking of him and mom, the strength they'd tried to instill in me, made me all the more determined to fight. Though my mind struggled to sway from one thing to the next, I fought to concentrate on the here and now.

There was no point in wondering 'why' this was happening. No point in berating myself with 'what ifs.' Now was the time for me to formulate a plan that would see myself coming out on the other end of this thing, with myself intact.

The chances of me being able to talk myself out of this one didn't look too promising, so it's elbows to ass time, as daddy would say.

Since my abductors were out of sight, for now, the best I could do was plan for what came next. I've always done dry runs in my head of what I would do if I found myself in any kind of life-threatening situation, but I had nothing for this scenario.

I'd always envisioned myself fighting off my assailant and kicking the shit out of him. But I'd never imagined anything remotely close to this shit show.

My mind wandered again, and I recalled my day from the time I woke up this morning until now. It sure hadn't felt like today was the day I was going to die. So I won't; I refuse to. Back to work, Kelly, don't be maudlin.

Since I didn't have much to go on, I just kept repeating the same questions in my head over and over as the wheels of whatever vehicle was hauling this thing sped through the night, heading to who knows where.

The one question that stuck out the most is, just what the hell is going on? How could a person just going about their life, minding their own business, end up in a situation like this?

I guess it's a myth after all that if you live your life a certain way, avoid murky situations, and just be an all-around decent person; you'd avoid evil. Thanks to dad, I've never been that gullible, though I did operate under the assumption that at least part of it was true.

Even with my straitlaced lifestyle, I still knew to look over my shoulder and to be super vigilant about my surroundings, especially after going away to college.

With all my years of informal training and the instilled self-preservation that my parents had taught me, security was ever uppermost in my mind.

I never in a million years would've seen myself here, in the belly of a container, at the mercy of obviously unscrupulous men.

It was the surprise and suddenness of the attack that had caught me off guard and led to my being here. Had I been aware from the get, they would've never got the drop on me.

Silly me, because I was back in my hometown where the streets were usually safe, and everyone knew each other, I'd let my guard down.

One minute I was leaving my best friend's home on the way back to mine after a night of girly fun and games, and the next, someone was putting a bag over my head and dragging me off.

At first, I'd thought it was just one of my silly friends playing a trick on me, though this one was a little out there even for them. Besides, they usually kept the scarier pranks for around Halloween, which was months away.

They usually pull less macabre tactics when they want to torment me with their teenage antics on a day-to-day basis.

I'd been expecting them to pull some kind of stunt to welcome me back into the fold, so though I was caught asleep at the wheel, it was all in good fun.

After the initial shock had worn off, I'd cussed at my friends in between bouts of laughter and trying to catch my breath. I even started to tell them how cool it was that they'd finally found a way to get the better of me after so many failed attempts in the past.

I was all set to congratulate them on getting one over on me after years of me having the upper hand in the pranking game, but my alarm bells had started ringing.

Usually, they'd be laughing and high-fiving each other while speaking in those stupid B-movie monotones meant to strike fear in the heart. But this time, they were quiet. Too quiet!

I'm not sure what finally alerted me to the fact that these weren't my friends out for a night of fun. Maybe it was the haste in which the men moved, the lack of giggles and snickers that usually accompanied my friends when they were up to mischief, or their smell.

Their sour scent hadn't been one I recognized. And then one of the men had spoken, and I knew for sure I'd never heard that voice before.

The voice was gruff, the tone harsh and menacing. It struck fear in my heart, and my knees weakened and gave out so that they had to drag me. Once my brain started functioning again, every horror movie I'd ever seen came flashing across my mind.

I tried kicking out at them as they flanked me on both sides, screaming bloody murder, doing my best to escape. Then a hand came around my throat hard enough to crush my larynx, and the screams remained trapped in my lungs.

It's funny, but you never know how you'll truly react in certain situations, no matter how much you try to imagine or prepare for it. I have to admit I never thought I'd bitch out, though.

Not saying that I did then either, but by the time I knew what was going on, I'd lost too much ground to bounce back. Not much I could've done with my head covered, and my hands restrained anyhow. So I moved on to door number two; use your head.

I couldn't for the life of me think of why or what I'd done to bring this on myself. But I guess when you're not expecting trouble, it's hard to comprehend when it finds you out of nowhere.

I did the whole retracing my steps in my head thing, thinking maybe I'd pissed someone off without being aware. People are touchous as shit these days, and it doesn't take much to set most of them off.

I'd been home for the last few days and hadn't had any run-ins with any undesirables as far as I know, and I hadn't pissed anyone off at school enough to have them follow me back here to settle a score.

Most of the guys I've had to let down easy in the last three years became very understanding once they met my dad, and there was no one else who could be holding a grudge that I am aware of.

Our family home is in one of those small towns where people usually drive through on their way to somewhere else. No one had moved here since about the early fifties.

The families who lived here, population about three thousand, all knew each other either by name or sight and had been here for the past three generations or so. I was sure I didn't know my abductors.

It could be someone from a few towns over. From what I've heard, the place has been going downhill since my high school days. For a town that's as small as ours, they sure have been having their share of crime in the last ten years or so.

Drugs were usually to blame for most of them, and I wondered if these men had somehow mistaken me for someone else. Maybe that's it, just mistaken identity.

All those thoughts went through my head in what felt like hours but could only have been a matter of a few seconds. We were moving really fast at this point, and I remembered always hearing that you never get into someone's car when being abducted.

That it was best to fight to stay where you are, I opened my mouth to scream, but fear had muted me. I swallowed hard a couple of times until my tongue was no longer clinging to the roof of my mouth in abject terror.

Once I finally found my voice, I tried screaming again, even trying to reason with them, whoever they were. Obviously, they had the wrong person, and all that was needed was for me to convince them of that.

I told them as convincingly as I could that I was the wrong person that I had no money on me. All the things I hoped would cause them to drop this and let me go.

When nothing worked, when they didn't even acknowledge me but kept moving, I finally accepted the inevitable, that I was in deep shit.

I'd done my best to get away even though struggling took all my strength and left me breathless. But that was before the prick in my arm had silenced me for good.