I awoke to the feeling of gentle motion. My mind felt groggy... I seemed to be waking in slow motion. Was it just me or was something covering my face...? There was an unfamiliar voice talking... It sounded far away.
"So you're okay for me to take the photos this afternoon yeah? You left the keys in the letter box like we discussed," said one man's voice.
"Yeah that's right, I won't be around until after 5 so take your time. I just want photos of the second bedroom, spare bathroom and living areas," replied another voice. It sounded like it was on speaker... Or Bluetooth?
Wait was I in a car? Lying down? The memories of what had just happened came flooding back to me. I had to move. I opened my eyes fully and realised there was some kind of black fabric covering my face, and there was something in my mouth, and what felt like tape over it. I couldn't see anything except the black sheer of fabric and vague lights moving. My breathing escalated quickly as I panicked. My legs were bound tightly I could not open them, my arms were tied behind my back and I was uncomfortably lying on them. There was no movement possible.
"No problem it will all be ready for advertisement by tomorrow," said the voice I realised was the realtors.
"Yeah no worries, Thanks for this Brendon I'll owe you a carton," replied the speaker voice.
"Nah all good, speak to you later," said the realtor and the call clicked. I heard the radio return and a pop song blasted loudly from either sides of my body, I felt a panic attack coming on. There was a lump in my throat, I tried to sit up but to no avail.
"Ah I see you're awake. Just try to breath, go slowly," the voice of the man I now knew to be Brendon replied. I stilled my body and carefully listened.
"Now I've put a clean cloth in your mouth and duct taped it shut, you also have a pillow slip over your head. I'm taking you somewhere private to show you okay, you just need to listen to me and everything will be okay... I want you to move your head if you understand me."
I paused and processed what he said, what was he going to do with me, what did somewhere private mean?... I moved my head up and down. I needed to keep this guy happy. Who the fuck did this to women? Why was he doing this to me? Was this the first time he had done this?
"Good... Now If you are good for the rest of the journey you are going to make your life much easier in the near future okay?
I want you to show me how good you are going to be by being absolutely still and breathing calmly, I'll be watching," he commanded.
I felt out of control. I felt like I was a robot watching everything happen to my body. This wasn't happening to me, I just needed to operate this girl I was watching to be still and to breathe. I focused on a dark patch of fabric and instructed my body to breathe. I felt oddly calm. This wasn't real, I just had to control this body I was in, watching from afar. I focused on the dark patch and nothing else, I didn't let her move a muscle.
I felt my body rock sidewards and the car slowly drove over what felt like a curb. There was a sound like a garage door opening and closing. I remained still, she just needed to be still. The music had stopped and It was instant relief. I heard a car door open and bang shut, I twitched from fright at the sound. Everything was so loud, amplified. His steps sounded like thunderclaps, I heard electricity buzzing somewhere.
The boot behind me opened and I heard loud shuffling and movement of items, followed by a loud bang of the boot being closed. I could feel the body I was in being drenched in sweat. There was unlocking and opening of doors, followed by closing of doors. His footsteps were muffled now, and the beep-beep of the car being locked externally pierced my ears like a nail being hammered straight into my ear drum. I listened carefully. He was clearly inside the house now, walking around. The robot in my mind controlling me, instructed me to try and remove the pillow slip off my head. I wiggled and shimmed down slowly moving the fabric up my face. The time expanded into what felt like hours.
Finally the slip was off my eyes. I looked up at the ceiling of the car. Dark carpet. I strained my eyes to try and see out of the window, dark bricks. A fluorescent light was on in the garage. That must be the electricity I could hear. I turned my head to see the driver's seat. There was an empty coffee cup in the cup holders but nothing else I could see. The door to the garage opened with a sharp click and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I tried to shimmy the slip back onto my face by wiggling down but only got it as far down as my nose, leaving my taped mouth revealed.
"Tsk tsk trying to get your mask off I see," I heard from outside of the car.
The door above my head opened and I could hear my heart hammering in my chest. The fabric was ripped from my head quickly and I saw his face above me staring down at me, the fluorescent light behind him making it painful to look towards him.
"Good god you look beautiful bound like that. I bet you enjoy not having to worry about talking you funny thing," he growled deeply down at me.
His face disappeared and I closed my eyes to avoid the painful peirce of the light. The door by my feet opened and I felt strong hands pull my bent knees towards him. There was something cold pressed against my skin briefly followed by the sound of a knife cutting tape from between my legs. I opened my eyes and saw a large knife being pressed gently over the top of my jeans from the top of my thigh down towards my knee, his other hand on my knee. He reached one hand up and placed it on my shoulder, pulling me up to sit at the edge of the seat with my feet on the floor of the garage. I felt sick. Nauseous to the extreme. I stared at him defiantly trying to memorise every aspect of his face. I remember reading that many victims of crime remember more about the weapon used on them than their attacker. If I got out of this I wanted to remember his face. He had piercing blue eyes, a sharp jawline, clean shaved face, and a small mole on his neck. He was grinning at me.
"Oh if looks could kill..." He laughed.
He moved the knife to my throat and pressed down. I gulped.
"Now listen. I'm going to take your gag off, give you a drink of water, and take you inside. If you scream or yell I will hurt you. Nod if you understand," he threatened.