left the room. He wasn’t looking at me, yet seemed to be reading my every thought.
“Don’t worry. I ain’t gonna let nobody hurt you.”
His fists clenched at his sides and then he was gone.
After he left me, the panic surged inside of me like when I first saw the bungees reappear. Seeing them again had led me back to the awareness of what was going on. I wanted to believe that Charlie would save me from harm and that I could very well be home by this time tomorrow—probably laughing about what a great college entry essay this experience would make. Except those other logical parts kept screaming that if I stayed there tied to that radiator, I would never see home again.
Footsteps downstairs were moving quickly, and I could hear the loud maneuvering of something heavy below. I felt fortunate when it sounded like the owners of the feet walked out the front door; I was growing increasingly afraid of the decaying house and my own confinement without Charlie’s watchful eyes. I reconsidered the possibility that being surrounded by criminals, who also happened to be male, could lead to terrible and unspeakable things happening to me. Now with Charlie’s strange protectiveness and my own deduction of their entrepreneurial endeavors, I was confident that at least I wasn’t in danger from any sexual assault.
Still, I wanted to remain unseen. The footsteps went up and down the stairs. I quietly tried to work the bungees from around my wrists. A cold sweat broke out across my face and heat enflamed my cheeks. It suddenly occurred to me at the base of my instincts, in my heart of hearts, that I had to get out of there before something very bad happened.
“Hi there!”
I heard myself gasp at the intrusion of noise.
Polo was standing just outside the kitchen window and jumping up and down, trying to get a view of inside the elevated kitchen. The bungees were fairly loose so I could lean forward enough to see him waving his arms up and down, trying to get my attention.
“Hi!” He shouted again.
I slowly waved back. It was looking less likely that these guys were professional criminals and more like a bunch of boys in a fraternity.
“Polo!” A voice called. “Polo! How many damn times…” The dark haired man appeared within my view and grabbed Polo by the collar. He pulled him away from the window.
“Reid! I was just—”
They argued off in the direction of the driveway, their voices becoming mere echoes as I worked at the bungees. I tried to imitate the motions Charlie had used to untie the knot before, but it only made the movement of my fingers more difficult. It was only upon closer examination that I realized this knot was completely different from the knot before. In actuality, it was only the front of the design that looked the same.
Frustrated, I began struggling at the bonds because I simply didn’t know what else to do. I could feel my irritated skin burning and saw a thin flow of blood around my ankles where the flesh had began tearing away. My feeling of foreboding increased as the house grew eerily silent. Outside, there was a variety of sounds that I couldn’t really identify, including Polo laughing and doors slamming, but even after a few minutes, they, too, faded away. I didn’t know if I was terrified or if I wanted to cry. Eventually it was both. I threw my hands against the radiator again, somehow forgetting how they impacted the nerves in my hands, flinching at the pain.
The water swelled in my eyes but I gulped it back as best as I could. I had to think rationally again. Right now my fear was not logical. It was merely a symptom of claustrophobia, stress, and fatigue. In my head I recited the alphabet backwards. And then I drew the periodic table of elements in my mind’s eye just as I had memorized. It did help a little bit. But I confess it might have been more beneficial if most of my attention hadn’t been spent listening for Charlie.
I don’t know how long I had been there alone. It might have been hours—it could have only been a few minutes. But when I saw the shadow of a person cross to the kitchenette entrance, I knew I was in the serious trouble I had been afraid of all along. Before I had time to react, Wallace was there. I had been