Whoever these men were, they’d been stalking me for months. Long before I ever started at RFA.
I scrunched my eyes shut, not wanting to look at the screen anymore. It made me feel sick to know that someone had marked me and followed me for so long.
All those times when I thought I was safe in my own bed, I wasn’t. Someone was always there, watching me. Waiting to take me.
My captor clicked his teeth with annoyance, and then I heard him fumbling in one of his pockets. There was a short snipping sound, and one hand went to my face, forcing my left eye open.
“No,” I cried out as he placed a piece of tape on my eyelid to keep it open. “Please! I don’t want to see it anymore!”
He ignored me and taped my right eye open as well. Then he roughly tilted my chin up and forced me to continue watching the slideshow of terrifying images.
I knew what the sand was for now. After I’d kneeled on it for a certain length of time without moving, the little granules started digging into my skin like countless hot needles. At first it was more of an annoyance, but then it began to hurt, increasing in torturous waves until the only thing my nerve endings could register was an awful, never-ending stinging sensation.
“Please,” I begged the man. “I’ll watch your slideshow… just let me sit in the chair instead.”
He shook his head and wrote another message for me on his tablet. You can stay where you are, he said. A good part is coming up.
The photos changed a moment later. Instead of having me as the focal point, they showed my mom, our dog Mignon, Adam, Trina, and my old colleagues at Tom’s Diner. Even my Silvercreek neighbor’s friendly old ginger cat was in some of the pictures, lounging near our gate after one of his daily strolls.
“Why are you showing this to me?” I asked. Sweat was dotting my forehead, and I was trying my best not to scream over the burning pain in my knees.
Why do you think?came the response.
A lump appeared in my throat. “You… you’re going to hurt them,” I whispered.
Not necessarily. It depends on your attitude while you’re here. If you’re a good girl, nothing will happen to them. That’s why I said it’s up to you.
I swallowed thickly and nodded. I understood now.
I could defy him all I wanted, but I wasn’t the only one who would be punished as a result. The people and pets I loved would suffer too.
Just like that, my earlier ‘I’ll never cooperate’ attitude shriveled down to nothing. I no longer had a choice.
The man wrote another short message to me.Do you know what’s required of you now?
I nodded. “You want me to do what you say,” I murmured.
He cocked his head to the side and held out a hand, moving it from side to side as if to say I was half-right but needed to provide more information.
I took a deep breath and spoke up again, slowly and haltingly. “You want me to do what you say… and be a good girl.”
He nodded and held up the tablet again. Are you going to be a good girl?
A pit appeared in my stomach, and I nodded shakily before whispering my response. “Yes.”