Grace

The barn had chilled down and I could smell the rain as it pounded on the roof, along with the scent of smoke. It permeated the air. I felt groggy and not myself. Whatever drugs I was given, made my head heavy and my speech thick. The only thing I knew for certain was that my time was running out. Even with the blindfold over my eyes, I knew it was night by the sound of crickets. It was a sound that used to soothe me as I sat on my back porch. Not tonight. Possibly not ever again.

I had come to the realization I needed to fight. If I didn’t get away before the hunt, I was dead. But my muscles were sore, and I could barely feel my fingers. The odds were stacked against me.

I’d focus on the positives. Even though it’d been years ago, I’d played around with my father’s handcuffs hundreds of times. Mya and I used to have competitions on who could get free the fastest. Being the daughters of police officers, we’d learned many tricks. The only problem was, those times were long behind me. My body wasn’t as limber as when I was nine.

Rolling my shoulders, I took a deep breath and stretched my legs as good as I could with them being tied up. I knew what I had to do, I just hadn’t done it in a long time. Laying down on the floor, I pulled my knees to my chest, but then a car door slammed just outside of the barn.

My stomach clenched when I heard the captor speak, his voice sounding different from before. He was almost panicked. “Hey. What are you doing out here in this weather?”

“Do you have her?” the other man growled angrily. I’d heard that voice a million times. It was Charles Beckett, owner of Snow Creek Resort, and the man who was supposed to give me a promotion. I felt sick and betrayed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the captor snapped back.

Holding my breath, I laid completely still. What the hell was going on?

Charles’ voice boomed, making my whole body shiver. “Don’t lie to me, boy. I know the kind of stuff you’re up to, and I want to know what you’ve done with Grace.”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind. Now get the hell out of here before I call the police.”

Charles burst out laughing, but there was no humor in it. “Go ahead. I’m curious to see what they find. All I know is that people are missing, including Grace. And I’m not going to let her be a part of this sick game. I thought it ended forty years ago. So, whoever wants her dead will have to go through me.”

It was too much to take in all at once. A part of me was relieved Charles had come to rescue me, but then again, he also knew what was going on. I’d never be able to look at him the same ever again. Everything went silent, only the rain pattering against the barn made any noise. Hope flooded through my veins, then disappeared with what happened next.

“Sorry, old man, but that’s not going to happen.”

Charles grunted in pain, and soon after, there was a scuffle, followed by sputtering, choked breaths. I wanted to run out there and help him. Hot tears soaked into my blindfold and I held in my cries. Heavy footsteps pounded in the mud, heading away from the barn. A car door slammed, and then another, before the engine roared to life and slowly drove away. Whatever happened to Charles, I knew it wasn’t good. If he died trying to save me, I’d never be able to forget the sounds of his last breaths.

Heart racing and adrenaline pumping, I knew I had to use the endorphins to my benefit, and get the hell out of there. Pulling my knees to my chest as hard as I could, I stretched my arms, fighting the pain as the ropes tore into my wrists. All I had to do was get my hands in front of me, so I could untie my ankles and take off the blindfold.

The skin around my wrists was on fire, and my shoulders felt as if they’d dislocate at any moment. Clenching my teeth, I stretched my arms harder, barely squeezing them over my ass. Once my arms were in front of me, I breathed a quick sigh of relief, then ripped off the blindfold. Not wasting any time, I worked on the binding around my feet. Thankfully, they’d made it an easy tie to undo, as they probably weren’t anticipating my arms getting free.

I stood slowly, feeling the blood rush down to my feet. My head throbbed and I swayed, steadying myself against the side of the stall. It was so dark, I could barely see. Once my eyes adjusted, I was right in my assessment. The barn was old with ten stalls. It made me wonder how many other people had been stored inside them. The stall door creaked when I opened it and I cringed, waiting for someone to come storming inside the barn.

Everything was eerily silent and the rain had stopped. When no one came, I slowly made my way to the door, tugging it gently to see if it was locked. It wasn’t. Sucking in a breath, I opened it slightly and looked around. There was total darkness, but if I had my guess, it was probably a wall of mountains and forest. A faint light shone around the corner of the barn so I snuck a peek to see what it was. In the distance, there was a house, but I couldn’t tell what it looked like. The only thing I knew was that I wasn’t going to get close to it.

Taking a deep breath, I looked out into the dark. If I was going to die, I sure as hell wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of killing me. I’d rather take my chances with the wilderness.