Journal #3

I woke up with my head pounding. My eyes were dry and itchy, and my throat was sore. There was something covering my mouth, but I could not reach up to see what it was because my hands were roughly tied behind my back. I wiggled around, trying to free my hands, but something that felt like twine tore into my wrists. They began to burn and bleed as the rope tightened.

I looked around, terrified. I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there. I was in an empty warehouse; all I could see was the gray concrete floor around me and the dark, moldy wall I was leaning against. It was so dimly lit that I could barely make out the heavy metal door on the other side of the room. I looked down to see that my feet were strongly twined together as well, and I made the decision that I did not yet want to mess with getting my feet free. I could not afford to weaken my feet and ankles so soon; I would most likely be needing those for later.

All of a sudden, the metal door swung open. A big, burly man walked in with a wooden club. He had a gun in his holster. The man was really quite large, and he did not exactly seem to be pleasant. I shrunk down against the wall, not knowing whether to appear weak in order to humor him or strong in order to defy him. I was so scared that I really had no control over my actions, though. I winced as the man came closer, swinging his club back and forth against his hand.

"Hello, Nikki." This man knew my name. How did he know my name? "Glad to see you are doing so well." The man smirked and handed out a cell phone. "Want to go ahead and call that daddy of yours now that you are awake?" Confused, I reached for the phone. "Woahhh there, sister. Before you make this call, we have to go ahead and discuss what you are going to say. First of all, tell him I need the money."

"Wait a minute," I interrupted, then winced from fear. When he just looked at me, I continued. "My dad is a teacher and a baseball coach. What money is he supposed to give you?"

The man then looked as confused as I. He started to say something, then stopped. Finally, he made out, "Oh. You are the wrong Nikki. Sorry."

With that, he untied me and set me free. It was the scariest and most random day of my life.