Chapter Twenty-Three
Tears cascaded down Hope’s face. She was hog-tied in the back of the crazy lady’s car. Abigail. She’d heard Jake and Vicki
call her that. The seat smelled like an old rotten burger and dust. Disgusting. She’d fought back tears because that made
her nose run and she had a gag in her mouth. With all the snot, it was hard to breathe.
Pictures of Abigail shooting Jake and Vicki kept flashing through Hope’s mind. She scrunched her eyes shut, wishing they would
go away. But they didn’t. It wasn’t like Hope liked the people who died, but she’d never seen someone shot before. Her uncle
Nick probably had, but he’d never tell her about it because she was still a kid. God, it pissed her off when he said things
like that, but now she’d give anything to be treated like a kid again.
If she made it home alive, Hope would never talk back to her mom. She’d be good. Real good. Finish summer school. Work hard.
Stop swearing. Basically anything her mom asked.
Abigail had made Hope help her move the bodies into the van and shut the door. Then she’d held the gun and pushed the muzzle
into Hope’s head.
“Don’t think I won’t shoot you, you little bitch.”
Those words kept going through Hope’s mind. She had no doubt that Abigail would shoot her if Hope didn’t listen. And they
were so deep in the woods, no one would probably hear the shot, much less find her.
She thought about a news story she’d seen one night where some remains had been found in the forest not far from where Hope
and her mom lived. The person had been missing for over ten years. Someone out for a hike had gone off the trail to look at
wildflowers. All these years, people had been hiking right by the remains that were only about eight feet off the trail and
it took ten years to find them. That could be her.
Abigail turned the car onto another road. This dirt road had washboards and the car bounced and fishtailed around. Hope thought
she was going to be tossed off the seat and onto the floor. She knew Abigail wouldn’t care. She’d probably even laugh.
Where were they? At least she’d kind of known their location with Jake and Vicki because she could see out the window. Of
course, those assholes drugged her at times so she couldn’t totally be certain, but she had a better sense of direction. Now,
she was completely lost thanks to this crazy lady.
And no more calling people assholes, she thought to herself.
If she was good and behaved maybe she would get home alive.
She had to believe her mom and uncle were looking for her.
Neither of them would give up and Uncle Nick was good at finding people.
But he also wouldn’t even know where to start.
Her message to him hadn’t gone through. Vicki had smashed the phone.
What about her mother? Even though she hated her mom’s rules, she loved her and felt bad for her.
Her dad was such a . . . jerk. There, that was better.
No more calling him bad names either. Yes, he was a jerk.
She didn’t want her mom to be alone. If something happened to her, what would her mom do? At that thought, Hope felt tears
welling in her eyes again. Her stomach hurt, not from hunger, but from fear and anxiety. It would come in waves, hitting her
as her chest tightened. She did her best to calm down, but it was near impossible.
Hope managed to turn a little bit so she could at least see the sky. It was dark. No stars. She would have liked to have seen
stars. What she could see was the outline of some mountain ridges in the distance. The only reason she could see them in the
dark was because flames were shooting up in the sky. The brilliant orange lit up the night as the flames chewed their way
along their path of destruction. How far away were they? She didn’t like that she could see the fire that well.
Abigail finally turned onto a regular road. The bouncing stopped. Hope’s shoulders ached and her feet tingled from being held
in one position so long. But at least she wasn’t being thrown around the back seat anymore.
Another quick turn and Abigail pulled up somewhere and stopped.
She put the car in Park and turned around, staring at Hope.
Hope wanted to give her the evil eye back and not back down.
Just like she did to her fourth period teacher who was constantly telling her she was failing.
But Abigail was much more intense and Hope had to glance away.
“Don’t go anywhere,” was all Abigail said. She put on a hat and got out of the car. She slammed the door and then locked it.
Hope tried to see if she could get out of her restraints, but Abigail hadn’t used rope. She’d used plastic ties and she knew
how to tighten them. The more Hope struggled, the more the plastic bit into her wrists. She tried to loosen them anyway, but
only succeeded in making her wrists and ankles sore and probably bloody. Hope couldn’t see them. She had no idea how long
Abigail had been gone, but the car was starting to get stuffy and hot. At least it was nighttime and the sun wasn’t beating
down on her. But, she thought it was probably still close to eighty degrees outside. Sweat rolled down her forehead and back,
almost tickling her.
Footsteps crunching on gravel alerted Hope that someone was outside. Could she kick and scream loud enough to get their attention?
But her little bit of excitement was dashed when the door opened and Abigail climbed back in.
“You’re disgusting and you smell,” Abigail said. “I got us a room for a short time. You’re going to shower and clean up. I
just bought you some clothes. If you even try to escape, I’ll catch you and you’ll regret it. Understand?”
Hope nodded. She was too scared to talk and it didn’t matter anyway since she had a gag in her mouth.
“Good.” Abigail took a knife and released the blade.
Then she got out of the car, came around and opened the door on the passenger side near Hope’s feet.
She used the knife to slice through the plastic and immediately Hope felt some blood flow returning.
She wiggled her toes. It hurt and felt wonderful at the same time.
“Scoot over here.” Abigail waved her hand, motioning Hope to come toward her. Hope’s legs didn’t want to work. “For Christ’s
sake.”
Abigail grabbed and pulled her. Hope attempted to scramble to her feet, but they didn’t want to cooperate. She landed on her
knees in the parking lot, scraping them. She thought they were bleeding, but didn’t know for sure. Abigail hoisted her to
her feet and cut the plastic ties on her wrists. Hope wiggled her fingers. Like her feet and legs, it hurt and felt good at
the same time. The pin-and-needle sensation kept going but she was finally getting some feeling back.
“Get inside before someone sees you,” Abigail said.
Hope walked slowly into the room, still trying to get her balance. It was a small motel room with one bed. An old musty yellow
chair sat in the corner near a bathroom. The smell of old cigarettes mixed with cleaner to get rid of the odor hit her nostrils.
“Get in the shower and clean yourself up. Leave the door open so I know you’re there.”
Hope nodded and took the clothes Abigail had bought.
She tore off the tags and was amazed that Abigail bought the right size for her.
They were just jeans and a T-shirt, but it would be nice to get out of the clothes she’d been wearing since Montana.
For what, though? Was she getting cleaned up so she could get shot?
She turned on the shower and left the door open as instructed. The crazy lady was sitting on the bed texting someone. Hope
had thought that maybe there’d be a window she could climb out of if she had a chance, but there was nothing. Only walls with
faded paint.
Hope didn’t care, she turned on the shower, and let the water warm up. It was only lukewarm, but felt like heaven. If this
crazy lady was letting her clean up, then maybe she wasn’t going to kill her.
Yet.