Chapter Two
A few minutes later, a jolt of pain from the searing hot metal of the seat buckle onto which she must have leaned brought Erin back to her full senses to find that she had been tightly blindfolded amidst all the scuffling. Staring into black cloth, she panicked and attempted to move her arms, but what felt like handcuffs dug sharply into her wrists and back, causing her to let out a pained whimper.
“Oh, so you’re talking now, huh?” Erin guessed the voice originated from the man seated beside her.
She was, in fact able to speak, as her mouth had not been obstructed at all, but decided against it, as clearly words were not going to free her. Instead, she leaned back against the fuzzy seat–back and realized her legs were also bound, only by what felt like scratchy rope, not handcuffs. Erin also noticed she was missing one half of her favorite pair of flip–flops, probably lost during her struggle– whether it was still lying on the street or was somewhere in the car, she didn’t know. After her silence, the man beside her spoke again. “Okay, fine; at least you’re not being a bitch about this like they normally do.”
The car seemed to be moving quite fast, though she honestly couldn’t be sure of that, and she certainly had no idea where they were or where she was going to end up. So she changed her mind and decided to ask just a few questions after all, and a calm manner felt like the best plan of action.
“What do you want me for?” Erin asked calmly.
“You’re in a fucking blindfold, riding in the back seat in your own car to somewhere you’ve never been before. What do you think’s gonna happen?” This time a voice a bit deeper issued from the man in the front passenger’s seat.
Erin felt this second man lean over the seat to touch her smooth, but anxious, face. “I’m gonna tell you this now, so please listen to me. If you cooperate with us you’ll not only live, but you’ll leave this ordeal unharmed... relatively. If you decide you don’t want to cooperate or try and fight us or some shit like that, that’s just gonna mean more pain for you. You hear me?” Erin twitched her head in a sort of nod as thoughts raced through her mind. “Alright, now sit back and don’t talk for the rest of the ride. We’ll be there soon.”
After contemplating the man’s stern warning, Erin imagined various things that could happen to her, namely rape or something even more disgusting. She felt sick to her stomach. It was the middle of July: she had decided not to work this summer, so, as there was no place she was expected to be, no one would come looking. She only kept in touch with her parents every few weeks or so, as they lived several states away, and Emily sometimes took days before she called up, wanting to get together for lunch.
This left Isabel as her only hope; surely she had long since returned from the Dippin’ Dots kiosk to find the car missing, though what she’d do after that was beyond Erin, as Isabel’s phone was in her bag, which Erin had taken with her to her car. In fact, she was sure it sat beside her now, its contents as useless to her as they were to Isabel at that moment. She wriggled herself around a bit and touched the warm seat to her right, groping for the bag, but to no avail: it was probably on the floor beside her. The driver must have kept the windows rolled up, as the car and everything inside it were stifling hot—her air conditioning hadn’t worked well in years.
Erin sat in stunned silence for what felt like at least two hours longer, hardly soon from her perspective. They seemed to make all sorts of turns, and Erin gave up all hope of keeping track of where they were going. At last, the driver made a sudden left turn, and the car slowed to a crawl.
After a few moments, Erin heard what sounded like a garage door opening, then felt her car lurch forward once more as she noticed a significant change from light to dark. Finally, the car jerked to full stop. Though her car was old, even Erin normally wasn’t this rough with it. She sighed to herself, as, from they way things were going so far that evening, it seemed like she’d never get to drive it again.