Chapter 44
Riley
“Your friends are really high fucking maintenance.”
I turn my head, awakened by Nate’s voice next to me. He rips the tape from my lips and I scream. The pain is jarring but also amazing. I can speak. Then he pulls the blindfold off my face. He looks horrifying. He’s unshaven, and dark circles rim his eyes. He looks exhausted but eerily wired.
“Water.” That's all I manage to say. He pulls a water bottle from a backpack next to him and brings it to my lips. I try to gulp it down and water dribbles down my chest and throat. I nearly choke, so parched. I begin the speech I’ve been planning in my head for the last few hours.
“Nate, listen, if you could just untie me, we can talk this through together.”
“That can’t happen Riley,” he says. I wince. I need to convince him I am on his side.
“I know I’ve been.. a bitch… and I want to fix things. Can you just let me go and we can work on it?
He’s glued to a phone, and I realize it’s my phone. “What are you doing?”
“Just reading what a fucking douche your boss is. Oh, and also telling your needy friends to chill the fuck out.”
No one knows anything is wrong, he’s been convincing everyone I’m fine. I start to panic then, and my attempt at being cool falters. “Nate, listen, I need to get out of here. I need to get back to the city.” I’d recognized his cabin as soon as the blindfold lifted. We used to come here in high school to drink and party with our friends. It’s been close to abandoned for years, his family not wanting to put in the work to fix it up.
“Let’s not talk about that right now Riley,” Nate says as he grabs his backpack. “Let’s just have a good time.”
He pulls out a syringe. “Nate,” I start. “What is that?”
“I think you’ll like it baby,” he says and grabs hold of my arm. He’s since tied them together in front of me, likely realizing it was easier for him to control me that way. “Just a few minutes now.”
The needle goes into my arm and my panic overwhelms me, my hearts racing and I’m trying to think through my options. It seems like Nate is definitely on something. Maybe he’s close to passing out and if he does, could I manage to get free of these ropes?
He sits back down and smiles at me. “You know what I think Riley? I think maybe your friends just need a reason to forget about you. ”
The room starts to swirl moments later and I black out.