I woke up in a cold dark room sometime in the night. Where was I? Then I remembered. I was a prisoner, probably of some crazy criminal set to kill me. I realized that I was tied to a chair and gagged as well. Truthfully, I was terrified. Then the darkness began to subside. The room was lit by candles and I could clearly see two men sitting at a table playing cards. They were dressed in black, wore masks, and had guns. One looked at me. “She’s up,” he growled. Both men approached me. My eyes went wide. One placed the barrel of a gun to my temple. The other undid the gag around my mouth. I coughed violently.
“Scream once and you’re dead,” the man with the gun hissed. I was silent.
Finally I spoke timidly. “May I ask why I’m here?”
I couldn’t read the expressions on either of the men’s faces. But the one in front of me said, “You are here because our employer needed you to be here. Be a good girl and you won’t get hurt. In fact, you’ll probably be free within the next couple of days.” That was strange. Kidnappers being civil? I had never heard of that.
“Who’s your employer?”
The men laughed. “Stupid question, little girl.”
“You best quit calling me ‘little girl’. I am twenty-four years old. You’re being most disrespectful!”
I felt the barrel of the gun against my head and decided to shut up. Being quiet was far better than being dead. The men stood side by side and began talking.
“Maybe we should just kill her. Save the trouble,” one said.
“Nah, we were promised a good reward,” the other replied. They tied the gag around my mouth again.
“Don’t go anywhere,” they smirked. “We’ll be back.”
They left the room. This was my chance. I wasn’t going to wait around for them to kill me. I didn’t trust what they said after all. First I tried loosening the rope around my hands. I had played prisoner games with the boys that I had grown up with. Of course I had always been the prisoner. So I was almost used to untying knots without looking. I worked my hands quickly. Who knew when those men were going to return? I felt the knots begin to come undone. This was almost too perfect. Finally the rope slipped from my hands. Then I untied my feet and removed the gag. I stood up and almost fell over. My head still felt strange and my balance was way off. I took a few calming breaths and my confidence built up. I tiptoed across the room silently and peered out the door. Nobody was there. I scanned the hallway that lead to the front door. How could nobody be guarding it? It didn’t make sense. I didn’t stop to question or analyze this time. I had to get out of there. I sprinted for the door. When I reached it, I opened it quietly and slipped into the night. I had done it. I was free! I began to run down the street. That’s when the shouting began.
“She’s gone!”
“Oh no,” I said to myself. “Gotta move…”
“There she is!”
I felt a bright light on my back. They had spotted me! I picked up the pace. My head was spinning as I ran. Then I heard a pop. A pop? A gunshot! Then my world exploded. A single bullet entered through my right shoulder blade. I saw red. Blood began to pour from the wound. “Must_keep_going…” But I couldn’t. My strength had been shot with that one bullet. I couldn’t feel the right half of my upper body anymore. All I felt was pain.
“No! No!”
I dropped to the ground and tried crawling. It was over. They caught up to me. I cringed in pain as one of them grabbed my good arm.
“Stupid move, girly,” he said. “We were told not to harm you, but you’re as good as dead now.”
I stared at them with a blank expression. “You won’t get away with this,” I whispered.
The other man leaned over me, pointed the gun at my forehead, and whispered back. “Too bad. We already have.”