Chapter Two

It was pitch black, or at least it seemed that way. It was hard to tell, really, considering the blindfold that had been tied securely around her head. Thankfully, she was not gagged. Her wrists were tied together tightly lying atop her stomach. Her ankles were bound to each other in a similar manner. She was laying flat on her back and it seemed as though she was in a moving vehicle. The road was bumpy and she heard the distinct sound of an engine. She wiggled a bit and discovered that she was in some sort of enclosure, like a box. The more aware she was of her surroundings, the more frightened she became.

Almost as frightening as the reality of her situation was the fact that she had no idea how she came to be in this place. She tried to think of what she was doing yesterday or last week. What enemies did she have? But the more she tried to recall what had happened, the more she discovered that she could not recall anything. She wanted to cry. How can a person, a grown adult, as she supposed she was, not remember a single thing? Whoever her captors were must have done this to her. But why?

Before wallowing in her confused misery much longer, she was brought back to her more immediate problem as the vehicle seemed to make a sharp turn. She involuntarily groaned at the sudden jerk.

"What was that?" She heard a male voice ask.

"Maybe she's waking up." A second voice mused.

"Where am I?" She finally broke her silence, imagining her situation couldn't get much worse than it already was.

"How could she be awake? We gave her enough morphine for a horse!"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. We're almost there."

"Almost where?" She said, hoping that there wasn't as much panic in her voice as she actually felt.

The car moved on in silence as before. They were obviously ignoring her. It seemed that the men were headed to the scheduled destination no matter what. After a few minutes, the car came to a stop. She heard the doors open and close and soon she was being lifted up. One man held her by the shoulders, the other around her feet.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked despite being almost positive that she would be ignored again. However, this time, something in her voice made one of the men take more notice of her.

"Don't worry, little lady, this will all be over soon."

"You didn't answer my question." She said, getting a little angry.

"You're going to go for a little swim." The second man said, cruelly teasing her.

"You're throwing me in a river?!"

"All I know is- you pissed off the wrong lady."

Suddenly, her feet fell to the ground. At first, she thought she was being dropped into the water as promised, but instead, she felt the hard thud of the ground as her upper body was dropped as well. She wondered if she was going to be kicked into it, but then she heard the men struggling. Something was happening, but she did not know what. There was not much time to wonder, however. She stood up as best she could, although, when she did so, she nearly fell back down. She felt very disoriented and dizzy, but she knew she had to get away. She lifted her hands to the blindfold and looked around finally able to see what was going on.

The men were, indeed, fighting. She didn't bother to stop and watch for much longer knowing that she would have to get as far away as she could. She ran, or more like hopped away, considering her feet were bound together. Behind her, it sounded as if the scuffle had ended one way or another and somebody was trying to catch up to her. Desperately trying to get away, she fell to the ground and the man caught her, despite her best efforts at escape. He grabbed her hands and pulled her up to her feet.

"Get away from me!" She screamed into the surrounding woods hoping that somebody might hear her.

The man let go of her and raised his hands above his head. "I'm not going to hurt you. I've decided to let you go."

"What?"

"Look, you're as good as dead anyway. There's no point in me actually finishing the job. Maybe you can start a new life somewhere."

She remained speechless at this little announcement. She had been geared up to escape and now he was just releasing her? And what did it all mean? Why, oh, why couldn't she remember anything? The man approached her and untied the ropes around her wrists, then the ones around her ankles.

"Where are we?"

"I can't tell you that, but if I were you, I would follow the main road and try and hitchhike somewhere. Just be grateful for the second chance at life I'm giving you. Don't bother trying to figure out what happened. It will only get both of us killed. Do you understand?"

"No. No, I don't. How could I not have questions? Who wants me dead?"

"I'm telling you, it doesn't matter. Let it go. If you just lie low, get a job somewhere, start a new life- you'll be fine, you'll be safe. The second you go looking for answers, you'll be drawing attention to yourself. She'll find you and when she does, she'll slit your throat- and mine, too, for letting you go."

"If she is so dangerous, then why are you taking such a big risk in letting me go?"

"I shouldn't, but you remind me of someone I used to know. I couldn't go through with it." She saw some real tenderness in his eyes and decided that he was telling her the truth.

"Okay. I'm not going to ask any questions and I'll stay hidden."

"Good." He said simply and then walked off towards the van they had been traveling in.

"Hey, wait!" She called as he turned around. "Thanks!" The man simply nodded and then got in the van and drove away.