Chapter 6: Danger and Headaches

I don't want to open my eyes. There's a pounding inside my head the likes I've never experienced before, ever. It feels like someone is smacking the backside of my skull with a cricket bat. I can feel that my hands are restrained behind my back. My legs won't move at all, so I am assuming that they are restrained, as well. I roll my head back and forth and there is bright lights behind the eyelids I still refuse to open.

I think about all of the stories Daddy has told me over the years. Stories about how he was kidnapped a couple of times, one of which resulted in being strapped to a Semtex vest. Oh god. Even without opening my eyes the world is spinning. How is that even possible?

I've got to get control of myself. I've been off horses before; I've even had a couple of broken ribs and a wrist to prove it. I open my eyes when the first wave of nausea hits and I then I black out again.

Sometime later, I really have no idea how long, I open my eyes and I can actually see out of them without feeling like I'm looking through Batman's mask. I slowly work out that I am lying on the floor of an empty room with a grey carpet. The walls are neglected-dirty white and there is a lamp of sorts in the corner. My mouth is not covered and as I slowly move my fingers, I realize that my restraints have been removed.

The lamp in the corner is sitting on a little table. On that table is a glass with what appears to be water in it and beside that is a banana.

I'm not sure why I am here but I am sure I'm not touching either of those things. I just wiggle myself across the floor until I am sitting with my back against the wall, facing the only door in the room. There are no windows.

I get my breathing under control, as I so want to hyperventilate. That will not help me now. I don't know what to do. I'm still barefoot and wearing the clothes that had on when I stormed out of the house. Oh god.

I remember Amber galloping through the woods. I remember that sound. No. I can't bare the thought that something has happened to my horse.

I left the house with no warning, surely Papa knows where I was headed, he always knows.

I do believe I am hyperventilating now. I can't stop myself, I'm more frightened now than I have ever been.

The last thing Uncle Mikey said, the thing about someone wanting to kidnap me? Could this be it? I lean my head down into my hands and here I am, crying again. Daddy is going to kill me. All I can do is hope they find me before….

The lamp goes out and I am plunged into darkness.