AFTER AN ETERNITY, THEY STOPPED WALKING. Robin's sack was dropped on the ground. She heard her captor grumbling "Where did that key go?" then "Oh, there it is." There was a snick as a lock opened, and the Man in Blue started walking again.
Robin had long ago stopped crying and begging to be let go, because every time she did this, her captor would slam the sack against the ground and snap "Quite your wining!" Now her side hurt from continuous contact with the earth, and her cries had been reduced to silent sobs and the occasional whimper.
After a short amount of walking, he stopped again. He put Robin's sack down and she heard scraping noises like furniture being moved. Her sack was lifted up again. The Man in Blue walked down some steps, then stopped. Robin felt the sack tip and she slid out onto a bed.
She hugged her knees to her chest and gaze into the eyes of her captor.
The mailman.
Robin had always thought the mailman was freaky, but she'd never thought he was creepy and sick enough to kidnap someone.
Robin hugged her knees. Her breath came in scared, shallow breaths.
The mailman walked over and took her sweatshirt off. He walked over to a wardrobe in the corner of the room and opened it. All Robin saw inside of it was red. Red jackets, red sweaters, red sweatshirts. There was a big trunk next to the wardrobe filled with clothes. Man's clothes, women's clothes, children's clothes. This guy could run a department store with all those clothes. Robin thought.
The mailman closed the wardrobe and started to go up the stairs to the room. On the third step, he paused and turned around.
"Do you want a chicken pot-pie?" the mailman asked.
Robin shook her head.
The man's eyes turned red. "I'll make you one anyway. You may find that you're very hungry. I know I am."
Robin whimpered as the man's face did something extremely scary. It morphed. Into a wolf's.
Robin was really scared now. All she wanted was to go home and see her Mommy and her Daddy again. She wanted to see all seven of the Jennings kids and parents and Mr. Monroe, who had the awesomest Halloween and Christmas decorations in the whole wide world, who gave her cookies every Christmas, and who fixed her clocks when they weren't running right. She wanted to see Mrs. Todd and her bazillion cats. She even missed Barry, even though he threw loud parties and kept her up all night, sometimes.
Let this be a dream. Robin begged in her mind. I promise I'll never go through the woods again, just let this be a horrible nightmare.
