Erin woke up a massive headache. Trying to reach up and rub her temple, she found that her hands were bound behind her back and she began to struggle, testing out her bonds and trying to see if there was any weakness to them. Finding none, she looked around, trying to get her bearings about her.
"Think, Erin Joy, think. What is the last thing you remember?" she murmured, not recognizing anything about the room she was held in. Racking her brain, she found that the only thing she could remember was heading into the grocery store after work the night before. Or at least, she hoped it was the night before. "David!"
The thought of her lover, unaware that she was missing, sent her into a tailspin and she burst into tears, curling up into herself as best she could. It hadn't even been two months since Alex had chosen to leave, and she knew that this latest incident would difficult on him. Erin tried to stand up, but found that her left ankle throbbed in pain the moment she attempted putting weight on it.
Collapsing to the ground, she rubbed her ankle awkwardly, looking at the wooden door in frustration. Freedom was so close and yet out of reach for her and she punched her hand a few times before beginning to pat her pockets with her elbows, looking for her phone. Of course, it was gone, and she fought to keep hysteria at bay. There was something that unsettled her about where she was being kept, and she could only hope that Dave or Aaron found her, soon.
"Talk to me of Mendocino," she began to softly sing, needing to keep her mind off what was happening to her. The familiar song helped to ease her heart and she began to look around her, to survey the room she was being held in and take stock of her situation. There was a door at the top of a set of stairs, which more than likely meant she was being kept in a finished basement. Scooting around on her behind, she saw that there was a bed underneath a small window, which was too high up for her to reach, even if she tried to balance on the headboard of the bed.
Realizing that her thighs and butt were aching, Erin maneuvered herself over to the bed and pulled herself up onto the mattress. Reaching down, she rubbed at her ankle again, hissing in pain a little. As she stared at the footboard of the bed, she glanced upon a rough spot in the metal and crawled over to it, sawing at the bonds until they were weak enough to break. Resigning herself to waiting, Erin stretched out on the bed and made a nest out of the bedding, trying to chase some of the chill out of her body. "All right, so I know the following details about my situation," she murmured aloud, needing to hear her voice to break the heavy silence of the room.
"I am being kept in a basement with no way to access the window as a means of escape. I could try the stairs to see if I could open the door, but somehow I must have injured my ankle, as I cannot take the pain of putting any weight on it at the moment. Most likely, it's just a sprain, since I was able to put some weight on it before I chickened out and collapsed to the ground." A noise outside startled her, breaking her concentration as she looked at the window, hoping against hope to see a human face.
"Dammit, Erin Rose, you need to focus. What do you remember about last night?" She lapsed into silence as she tried to think back to the previous evening. She had been out with her daughter, having a good supper and an even better talk, before she had started home. David had promised that he would call her before she went to sleep, since he was up in New York, talking to his agent about his next book. She hadn't made it until that time, she was almost positive. She knew that she had made it home, because she remembered parking her car in the garage, but she couldn't remember putting the garage door down.
"So, whoever took me was waiting for me at my house. That means they were watching me closely enough to know my routine, and knew that David would be gone. All right, now that you've managed to figure out some small piece of this puzzle, Erin Rose, now you need to think about what has been different in your life lately. Have you noticed anyone acting oddly at work? Hanging around long after their appointment? Have you gotten weird vibes off any person that should have sent you running to David's arms and asking Penelope for help?"
Erin tapped her finger against her lips as she thought about her clients at the hospital. There wasn't any that stood out as being particularly creepy, or that had set off her internal warning bells. The only person that she had really felt off with in the last few months was one of the ER nurses, but she had only seen her a few times when she'd been called down to talk to a patient there.
Exhaustion soon began to gnaw at the edges of her brain and she couldn't decide if she wanted to give in to the overwhelming desire to sleep or try and stay up in an effort to see if her captor would make an appearance. In the end, sleep won out, and she pulled the blanket over her head as she let the darkness claim her once more.
The sound of a door slamming sometime later woke her up, and Erin breathed in the delicious scent of a thick beef stew. A part of her didn't want to eat the food, as she had no idea who had prepared the food or what they had done with it. Hunger won out, though, and she picked up the tray, settling it over her legs. Erin was grateful for the lidded cup, since it meant she was less likely to spill, and she devoured the food, finding herself hungrier than she had imagined.
Reclining against the headboard, she sipped at the drink and was startled to find that it was her preferred coffee blend, a white mocha with a two shots of caramel. The idea that whoever had her knew her well enough to know that unsettled her deeply, and she struggled not to throw up or cry at the newest revelation. The one spot of brightness that she could take out of the entire situation was that this person wanted her alive.
Glancing back down at the tray, she noticed a single piece of paper and she hesitantly picked it up, her eyes scanning the words written there. There's a bathroom under the stairs. It's not much, but it will do for your needs.
She shuddered a little at the terse note, wondering what would happen to her. Her captor wanted her alive and healthy, it seemed, and this finally caused her to start crying once more, as the idea of her staying down her for some time finally began to sink into her mind.
Swinging her legs off the bed, she hesitantly put weight on her bad ankle, finding it less painful to walk on this time. She limped over to the door and opened it, finding a serviceable shower stall, a sink, and a toilet. Erin tried not to give into hysteria as the fleeting thought that she was trapped in a game of The Sims flitted through her brain. Shaking her head, she stepped inside and quickly voided before washing her hands.
Again, she found herself confronted with familiarity, this time by the presence of her favorite scent of lotion from Bath and Body Works. Trying to suppress her shudder, she picked up the bottle and hobbled back to her bed and plopping down onto the mattress. Popping open the cap, she squeezed a little out onto her hand and rubbed in the comforting, familiar, scent of home before wrapping her arms around her legs and sighing. She only hoped that David would find her before long, and bring her home.