Libby whimpered, feeling the cold crunch of snow under her bare feet as she was forced to walk. If her stomach hadn't been empty from being taken from her home before breakfast she knew her anxiety would have transformed into waves of nausea, though that was very little comfort in the moment. Though comfy at home, her green turtle pajamas were doing little to hold onto much body heat in the Midwestern morning air. This was only made worse by the fact that the terrified young woman had peed herself a few hours earlier when the men in ski masks burst into her home and subdued her and her mother. Though fearful, she had managed to stay somewhat composed until one of the men secured a cloth bag over her head and bound her wrists together with a coarse rope. She had pleaded, asking to know what was going on and what the men were going to do with her and her mother but after her first few pleas were ignored and her next plea was greeted with a firm slap to the face and a warning that any more outbursts would result in far worse she remained silent. Things were a blur after that. She could tell she had been taken down the stairs of her home, out through the family bookstore and placed into a vehicle of some kind. She had heard other people, ones she recognized, who sounded just as scared as she was. She had tried to ask them if they knew what was going on but her question was cut short by a punch to the stomach, the feeling of rough hands removing her socks and then her balled up socks slid under her hood and into her mouth. It was too big to just spit out and with her hands tied she had no choice but now be silent.
She knew she and the group had been dropped off somewhere, a building of some kind she realized afterwards due to the temperature difference. She could hear whimpers and moans as well as harsh voices commanding people to be quiet. She didn't know how long that had gone on. Waiting in darkness felt like torment but once the group had been instructed to stand up and were lead outside she realized the waiting had only been a prelude to the real agony. Walking in darkness, tears rolling down her face as her body shivered, eventually feeling her limbs go numb from the cold was so much worse. She tried to plead for mercy but the makeshift sock gag allowed only muffled grunts. Not that her pleas would have mattered. The ones coming from people around her were clearly being ignored or physically discouraged.
When she thought she might not be able to go on much further she felt fortunate to hear shouting instructing her and others to stop. Then suddenly the absolute darkness was replaced with blinding light, eventually giving way to a cold, dull morning sun. She looked around, hoping to spot her mother amongst the crowd gathered in the center of town. But as she peered about desperately looking for a maternal gaze, wanting and needing some assurance that the nightmare she was undergoing would soon be over she found only the faces of strangers and other townsfolk with bound hands and ropes tied to spikes secured into the ground. Alone amongst the crowd, Libby felt primal fear surge up and down her body. Something about this was familiar, like it had happened before but to someone else, the memory swimming through a collective unconsciousness and only surfacing long enough to instill panic and confusion but disappearing again before insight or clarity.
There was suddenly a feeling of warmth, dull and weak but unrelenting against the punishing frozen Brighton air and the unexpected sight of a brown ponytail bobbing in her vision and the strange comfort that it brought whenever she saw it. Even in such dire circumstances those pulled back strands of hair made her feel seen.
"Molly!" Libby whimpered joyfully as her best friend, her hands bound and secured to the same stake, reached up and yanked the sopping wet socks from her mouth. When she didn't hear that sweet, familiar voice of her only friend, Libby finally noticed the tape over Molly's mouth, "This is going to hurt." She whispered just before pulling the tape free in one quick motion.
"Libby, I'm so glad to see you." Molly cried, "What is going on? I woke up to someone knocking on our family's front door and then yelling and then people in masks in my room…"
"I don't know, but I had the same experience."
"Sweet baby corn I hope this is a nightmare." Molly whimpered.
"I hope it is too but I have lots of nightmares and none have ever felt this real. And I haven't wet myself in one since I was little. Sorry about that by the way. I'll understand if you want to stop hugging me now."
"I'm not going to let you go until this nightmare is over!" Molly reassured her friend through a forced smile, "Besides, that's a totally normal and non-embarrassing response to having people break into your room at night and…"
"You did it too, didn't you?" Libby asked, playfully teasing her friend.
"Like I said, totally normal and non-embarrassing response." Molly replied, her smile a bit more sincere.