A cold shiver ran through Cecilia as she waited for the call. Thoughts about her future assailed her mind. Over a year of chatting and meetings had gone by, which had culminated towards this very moment. Cecilia waited to see whether she would be stood up again or whether this would be the start of a new life.
Earlier in the week, Cecilia had received an email with instructions.
Dear Cecilia,
We are very excited about adding you to our lovely family. We hope you share the excitement. Follow the instructions enclosed in this email to the letter and we will proceed from there. If you are present at the designated location and you have followed all the instructions, you will be welcome to our family. Should you not show up, we will consider this as denial on your part and you will stop receiving any communications from us. We hope that will not be the case with you.
INSTRUCTIONS -
You will purchase the following items and carry them in a duffel bag with you.
-- 1 extra large Ring gag
-- 1 Hand cuff and 1 ankle cuff
-- 1 leather collar with multiple d-rings
-- 1 Blindfold
-- 2 padlocks
• You will seal the keys to your handcuffs and anklecuffs along with the padlock keys into an envelope.
• You have a week to collect the mentioned items and think about this carefully. There is no going back after you commit yourself to this and we expect complete obedience after you commit yourself.
• At the end of the week, after midnight, you will drive to Clermont avenue at the outskirts of the city. You will enter the industrial estate which has been abandoned for a long time. It is out of use, so no one will be there.
• You will leave the envelope with the keys inside the car, get the duffel bag, your cell phone and then lock the car. Then you will drop the car keys wherever you stand and wait.
• Rest of the instructions will be relayed over phone when you are at the location.
Yours,
M
Cecilia had utilized the past week to go over her decision hundreds of time. By the end of the week Cecilia was certain that she wanted to do this. And so here she was. At the Clermont Avenue dressed in a modest blouse and skirt with sandals. Her blond hair was untied and she did not have any other ornament on her. The duffel bag with the toys was lying besides her and she held the car keys in her hand. The envelope had been left in the car. The keys to her freedom just inches away from her, yet so far out of her reach. Taking a deep breath, Cecilia followed the final instructions. She dropped the car keys from her hand.
As soon as the keys hit the ground, her cell phone rang. With trembling fingers, Cecilia picked up the call.
'Hello', Cecilia said.
'Hello Cecilia, good work so far. Now, start walking down the road and carry the duffel bag with you. After about fifteen minutes of walk, you will find a gas station. Stand at the entrance of the women's wash-room and wait for our call.' The call ended abruptly.
The caller's voice, which haunted Cecilia for the past year seemed all too close today. Cecilia had heard that voice many a times during her online sessions. She had only one name for the voice, M. Picking up the duffel bag, Cecilia made her way towards the gas station. A walk of fifteen minutes felt like fifteen hours to Cecilia. She kept looking up and down the road expecting to see a somebody drive down and stop by her. Not even one car went over the road. When the gas station became visible, Cecilia shivered.
The scene was really eerie. The station was closed. No lights shined from inside the store. A 'FOR SALE' sign hung from the door.
'That's the reason it is abandoned.' Cecilia thought to herself.
She found the women's wash-room behind the store surrounded by shadows. Gingerly, she made her way towards the door and pushed it. It made a screeching sound, as if it had not been oiled for a long time and opened to a dark place.
'No lights, this is becoming creepy minute by minute.' Cecilia said to herself.
Her phone rang. When Cecilia picked it up, there was that voice again.
'Good, you will find a switch to your left on the wall. Flip it.' the voice said.
A small fluorescent tube ignited near the mirror in front of the sink. The illumination was basic but enough to allow Cecilia to see through. Many days of dirt was accumulated on the floors. Spiderwebs were in abundance near the mirrors. The mirrors themselves looked none too clean. Remembering that the phone was still on, Cecilia put it to her ear.
'Now, you will go inside and close the door to the wash-room. Before you enter, you will drop the cell phone outside the wash-room. Inside the wash-room you will find further instructions.' the voice instructed and cut the call.
Cecilia stared at the cell for some time. Her mind was conjuring images of her being raped or worse killed at this remote dingy wash-room and she couldn't call for help because she had left her cell outside. Cecilia steeled herself. She had talked this over with M. M had wanted complete secrecy. No one should ever link Cecilia's disappearance with them. As such, these drastic measures were necessary.
Cecilia steeled herself and dropped the cell. Before she could retract her steps, Cecilia entered the wash-room with the duffel bag in tow and pushed the door. With an ominous thud, the door closed. Cecilia could feel her old life slipping away with the bang. When Cecilia thought of the instructions, she had not asked where exactly in the wash-room she would find the instructions. Cecilia put the duffel bag on the floor and started looking all over the wash-room. She found a number of stray papers but none of them were fresh or had any legible writing on them.
Cecilia was becoming frustrated and decided she would try to see if her phone was still outside the wash-room. To her surprise, the wash-room door had been locked from the outside. Cecilia started banging the door and shouting for help. After shouting for ten minutes, Cecilia felt her throat dry up and her voice become hoarse. She abandoned shouting and banging. Panic was starting to well up inside her mind at the prospect of being trapped inside the wash-room. With no living soul in the nearby area, her chances of getting rescued were looking bleak.
***
Cecilia had no way of knowing what time it was as the wash-room had no windows. The dim light from the fluorescent tube was just uniform. Cecilia was starting to feel thirsty. She got up and tried to turn on the taps near the sink. Thankfully, the water supply to the wash-room was still intact.
'If I didn't die of starvation, I would have definitely died of thirst', thought Cecilia, thankful for the water supply. She drank some mouthfuls of water.
'Atleast, if the cops find my abandoned car they may try to find me here. But, who would file my missing complaint? I told all my friends and family that I was going out of country for a holiday trip.' Cecilia thought to herself in dismay.