Part Nine

The door creaked open, thrusting sunlight into the small bedroom. Lita had been awake for hours, but she had no way of doing anything other than continue to lay in the bed. Besides, she thought it would be best to conserve her energy.

"Get up. I brought breakfast", came the grumpy voice of Raven.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine" Lita replied, lifting herself up to sit on the edge of the bed. "I see someone didn't get his eight hours of beauty sleep."

"Don't start with me this morning," he answered.

Lita changed her demeanor, appearing more sympathetic. "Um, look. I'm sorry. But I didn't sleep all that great either. Raven, would you please take these ropes off, just for a short while? I won't be able to eat otherwise."

Raven looked doubtfully at Lita, trying to gage her sincerity. She pressed forward. "And, um, I also really need to use the little wrestler's room, if you catch my drift."

That did it. Raven didn't want to hear anything about females and the restroom.

"Ok, but you better not even think about trying something funny, Lita. So help me." She turned and held out her arms encouragingly. Raven stepped up to her and began working loose the knots. When her arms were freed, she sighed audibly.

"Oh my goodness, that feels so much better. My arms are aching."

Raven, who had bent down and was now working on freeing her legs, just looked up at her, then continued to untie her feet. Soon, she was completely free.

"I'll just be a minute," she began, intending to exit the small bedroom and head through the main room.

"Nuh, uh," Raven interceded, grabbing her roughly by her sore arm. He drug her over towards a small door, which Lita had assumed was a closet. When he opened the door, she saw that it was actually a small bathroom. It definitely hadn't been cleaned in ages, but it had a toilet and a sink, which was more than she had expected.

"Oh, ok," she said. "I hope the water works." She walked over to the bathroom and shut the door behind her all the while thinking there goes plan A.

Her first intention had been to sweet talk Raven into freeing her, then begging to go to the bathroom, which she had assumed was the great outdoors. Plan A was to make a run for it.

A few minutes later, Lita exited the bathroom, passing through the bedroom into the main room. Having freshened up, she felt much better. Raven sat at the small wooden table, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Coffee?" he asked, sliding a steaming cup towards her.

"Definitely," she said, accepting what he had to offer.

"So where are we, anyway? I think I deserve to know my new zip code," she said.

Raven smirked at her, pride in his voice. "That's the most awesome part of this little game. Don't you recognize where we are? We're in Hardyville, USA, also known as Cameron, North Carolina."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No, angel. This is just the icing on the cake, so to speak. I've got their most prized possession right under their nose, and they don't even know it. How ironic is that?"

"I am no one's possession" Lita emphasized her last word, glaring at the man.

Raven looked at her, exasperation on his face. "Here's the cereal, and there's also donuts on the counter," he said. Raven then went back to eating silently, ending their conversation.

Lita blew out her breath for effect then and plopped down at the table sipping her coffee and taking a closer look at the furnishings, now that it was daytime. There had to be something here she could use as a makeshift weapon. She had fought in hardcore matches before, so she figured she could be resourceful when it came to a weapon to temporarily incapacitate her kidnapper.

Glancing over at the kitchen sink, she spied her object of choice. For there, on the stove next to the sink was the perfect item: a frying pan. She figured it wouldn't take him out completely, after all, he was one of the toughest hardcore wrestlers around the federation, but she figured she could stun him temporarily, giving herself time to get a head start out of there. She looked over to the front door and smiled inwardly: he had left the door unlocked.

"You know, my diet doesn't usually allow it, but I think I'll have a donut," she said. She stood and walked over to the counter, standing within arms reach of the stove. "I always had a weakness for chocolate," she continued, hoping to sound genuine. "Matt always buys me Hostess Ho-Hos when I have a particularly tough match to cheer me up."

At the table, Raven looked up and rolled his eyes at the remark. "How romantic," he smirked.

Now or never, she thought. "UGH! Raven, come here please! There's a gigantic bug or a mouse or something completely disgusting over here by the donuts!" she screamed, stepping back from the counter about two paces.

"Oh, please. I thought you were the queen of extreme. Can't you handle a little bug?" Raven walked over to the counter, looking in the sink for the intruder.

"Right there," Lita pointed, directing him to the right side of the sink and turning his back to the stove.

With one swift move, Lita reached out and grabbed the frying pan, lifting it over her head and connecting forcefully with the back of Raven's skull. Crying out in pain, Raven collapsed to his knees. Lita wasted no time in making a break for it, tossing the pan and running for the door.

"Owww. Get back here you bi…" were the last coherent words Lita heard as she fled out the door and down the trail, to what she hoped was the path of freedom. Her heart raced, she could feel the blood pumping through her veins as she ran, or was that adrenaline?

My car, I should try to find my car she thought. Maybe he left the keys in it. Behind her, she thought she heard the faint sound of yelling. He's coming, he's coming, he's coming! her mind screamed at her, urging her legs on. She tried to quicken her pace the best she could. Her arms ached, as they'd been tied behind her for almost 24 hours. A dull ache had settled around her neck, which was also terribly sore. Thank goodness she still had the hard collar on.

Raven raced through the woods at an animalistic pace. He was enraged. How dare she strike him. How dare she disrespect him? He should have known she'd be no different than those stupid brothers that she called her friends. He should have known she'd try to shame him the same way as they did. She wouldn't get away with this. He grabbed the back of his head and grimaced in pain. Up ahead, he caught a flash of what he thought was red hair whip around a tree. Encouraged, Raven increased his speed, knowing where she was headed.

Lita burst through the woods into the clearing. Her eyes landed squarely on her car, parked in a shady spot. She raced towards the driver's door. Please, please, please she pleaded under her breath. She tried the door, and to her relief it opened. She hopped inside and slammed the door. Looking around frantically, she searched for her keys. She didn't remember Raven carrying them into the cabin, so unless they were in his pockets, then they were here somewhere. "Glove box…. No…. Dashboard…. No…… Back Seat….. No….. Floorboard….." Lita reached underneath the seat, and cried out in joy when her fingers wrapped around her key ring. "YES!" She sat up with joy, looking at the keys in her fingers. This was too good to be true. Her fingers shook with excitement as she fumbled through the keys, looking for the one that would start the engine and take her away from here. She stuck the correct key in the engine and started to crank the engine when a hand was suddenly thrust through the driver's window and closed around her neck. "NOOOO!" Lita screamed.

Raven opened the door and roughly jerked Lita out of the car. She landed on her knees, but jumped up, turning to face him. Arms flailing, she swung wildly, using everything within her to escape his grasp. Unfortunately, he had her by her weakest area, her neck. Her ability to fight back was severely limited, but she was determined.

Raven gained the upper hand when he used his free hand to strike Lita across the face. She crumbled to the ground, her hands instinctively going to her cheek. She lay on the ground, looking fiercely at the animal that stood over her, tears of anger brimming in her eyes mixed with tears born from the sting of the slap. So close, she had been so close.

"Get up" he demanded in an icy tone.

"Make me" she retorted.

Raven reached out and grabbed her then, hoisting her up off the ground and standing her up roughly. He got in her face and grabbed her roughly on both sides of the head, bringing her within an inch of his own face. "Do that again, and the Hardys won't have anything left to pine for," he hissed. Then he jerked her around and began pushing her back into the woods, back to the cabin that was her prison.

to be continued........