I pushed through the brush angrily, cussing and wishing I wasn't so stupid stubborn. When Nick had quickly spoke up at our friends invitation to go hiking, "Oh, not Cass, she's not an outdoor person," it got my back up.
What right did he have to speak for me? We had spent the evening fighting, and that probably didn't help. He'd mentioned the 'M' word. He knew my stance on it, I wasn't ready to commit, I was still young. I don't care how long we had been dating, there was no reason to bring up the 'M' word. It was just ridiculous! Then he decides to speak for me and tell other people what I won't do? I wasn't going to have it.
I accepted, went and bought myself new hiking boots, some cargo pants and a tank top. I braided my hair in an effort to look like Nicks favorite video game goddess, Lara Croft, just to make him drool and beg forgiveness. What he did was give me a smirk and tell me most girls didn't wear make-up to go hiking.
Jerk.
We weren't an hour into the sixteen mile hike when I was absolutely done. I had blisters, I was out of breath and I was just done. I stopped all of them. "Ok, fine, I give. Look, the path circles back and comes back to almost run parallel to where we are now. I am going to cut the quarter mile across and I will meet you all at the end this evening."
"Babe," Nick said cajolingly. "You can't cut across, you'll get lost!"
"I will not get lost, look at the map! There is no way I can miss the path, none. Even if I cant north or south, I will still hit the path. Straight north, I hit the path. Even if I miss the path somehow getting turned straight south, I will hit the highway! This hike is a giant oval."
"At least go back the way we came," Lily said with a condescending smile. As if I couldn't make it a quarter mile through the woods! Bitch.
"It's fine, I will cut across, ten minutes tops, then I can rest and meet you guys when you are done."
All of them looked at each other, then Nick turned back to me. "I'll walk you," he said gesturing for me to start into the woods.
"No! I am capable of walking a few dozen feet you asshole! All of you, just go on, I will meet you there!"
"Cassidy, don't be that way," Mike complained. "Just let Nick walk you. We will wait, he can catch right back up to us."
"I am not an idiot! I can walk a straight line! Fuck off Nick, just go! All of you!"
They turned and started back on the trail and I headed east to catch the trails switchback. That had been this morning. Somehow, I had missed the trail. I had walked right over it. Probably when I was marching blindly, seething over how much of an idiot they all thought I was. Now night was coming on and I had no idea where I was. The map was useless, I had no points of reference in my view. I knew if I just kept walking in the same direction, I eventually had to run into something. If I kept heading East I would eventually hit the Tennessee river. I wasn't sure when, I wasn't sure how far from it we were. I did know it was east though. Was I still headed east? It was hard to tell directions in the woods, especially when you couldn't see where the sun was. I kept walking. My feet were killing me, but the adrenaline was keeping me going. I did NOT want to spend the night out here. I looked at my useless phone again. I had kept checking for signal, waving it around until the battery died. I should have charged it! At least I had food and water in my backpack.
When it got too dark to keep walking, I cussed again. I pulled my sweater out and huddled against the base of a tree, trying not to let panic overwhelm me.
Two long days later, I was still walking. Panic waxed and waned pretty much constantly. I had eaten all of my food and didn't have much water left. I was still trying to head east, but everything looked the same. For all I knew, I had been walking in circles for three days.
How long would Nick look for me? Were other people looking for me? I was losing hope. I was running on little to no sleep, too afraid to sleep in the woods with wild animals. This was hell.
I didn't know what time it was, late afternoon early evening, when I finally spotted color between the trees. Blue, just a flash. I turned towards it, hurrying.
A cabin! I found a cabin. I laughed hysterically as I ran to the door and pounded on it. "Hello? Hello is anyone here? Hello?"
Nothing.
I tried the latch and it opened right up. It was a newer cabin, the kind that wealthy people stuck on a few acres as a weekend getaway twice a year. Not huge, but cozy and full of things that looked rustic but weren't. Like a bass pro catalog setting. There was a loft over half the large room, under it a small, closed off room that looked like a bathroom and an open area with a desk and bookshelves. In the open half there was a living room, and a kitchen, all open to each other. In the loft I could see a bed. I searched for a phone, but could not find one. Upstairs, I looked through the dresser and nightstand, then put my bag down as I tried the bed. It was soft, but small. A twin bed for one. There was a trundle underneath it, but I left it as I went back down and cleaned up in the bathroom. Night was coming and I considered bringing in wood from the pile for the fireplace. I looked for matches or a lighter, but had no luck. I went through the cupboards and found cans of food. I opened one and ate as I paced and weighed my options.
There was a road to the cabin, but how long was it? Did I have time to make it to the road tonight,or would it get dark first? It was probably smarter to sleep and go in the morning. I did not want to be stuck out after dark again and I was exhausted. That decided, I went back to the bathroom and took my clothes off. I washed them in the shower while I showered and then hung them up to dry before heading up to the bed to curl up in the blankets.
I had just laid down when lights rolled across the window. A car! Someone was here! I was saved!
The door opened and a giant strolled in with a gun slung over his shoulder and a bag in his hand. I shrunk back a bit as he set his things down and flipped on the light. He was huge. Tall, broad burly. He looked like a poster boy for a lumberjack movie. His longish brown hair hung loose to his shoulders and his beard trimmed close. His eyes were dark and he moved like someone dangerous. I was very still as he moved around the room, putting his gun in the rack above the door and doing other things. When he turned his back fully, I ducked down so that he wouldn't see movement. I was incredibly nervous and I felt like an idiot laying in a stranger's bed, naked. Why had I assumed this place would never be used? It was clean, not dusty.
The man went back out the only door and I immediately rolled to the floor and pulled out the trundle, climbing in and rolling it shut before wiggling to see between the spindles. He came back in with another bag and closed the door, locking it behind him. I weighed my options. I could wait for him to sleep, sneak out. I could try and call out, explain my situation. That didn't feel like a good idea. I needed to slip out quietly.
He stomped up the loft stairs and the bed shifted as he tossed one of the bags on the bed. There was silence for a moment, then he stepped across the little bedroom and moved something. I heard a zipper.
Oh shit! My backpack!
Stillness again, then the sound of metal on metal and a click, then I was moving. He rolled the trundle out with his foot, pointing a handgun at my head. He immediately lowered the weapon and looked down at me in confusion.
I held one hand up and used the other to yank a sheet over my naked body.
"What the fuck?" he demanded.
"I'm lost! I'm sorry! I was lost and I found this place, please don't shoot me!"
"Get up!" he demanded. "Where are your clothes?"
"I washed them, they are hanging in the bathroom! Please, do you have a phone I could use? I was on a hike and I got lost. People are looking for me. Please?"
"I said get up!" he demanded angrily.
I got up, trying to tug the sheet up with me, but he yanked me across the room by my arm, pulling it out of my hand.
"What's your name, where are you from?"
"Cassidy Ellis. I was hiking west of here. Please, can I go get my clothes?"
"How old are you?"
"Twenty three... in a few months."
"Are you lying to me?"
"No, I'm just short. Please? Let me go get my clothes?"
"Did Howards or Bells send you?"
"No? I really am lost? I was hiking and I got off the trail. My clothes are right down in the bathroom. I really am sorry I trespassed, I will leave.."
"Shut your hole girl. Stand back, turn around."
Shit. I stepped back when he let me go and covered my chest as best I could with one arm. My nipples at least, and used my other hand to hide my bald pussy. I turned, trembling, trying to keep from panicking. I had to get to the stairs, I had to get around him and down those stairs to the door.
"The fuck happened to your feet?"
"I wore new boots. I've been walking for three days."
"Why is your snatch bald?"
"Umm.. I keep it that way. Please, sir, I promise I will just go, I won't bother you, just.."
"Shut up. Move your hands, put them up high."
Fuuuuuuck.
I put my hands up slightly.
"Lock them behind your head and turn," he said, pulling a pair of cuffs out.
I turned quickly, happy to have my back to him, but now more terrified. Cuffs? Was he a cop? He locked one around my wrist, then twisted my arm down behind my back, then pulling my free arm down to cuff it as well. Locking my hands in the small of my back.
He turned me back around, looking me over. He kicked my feet apart and took a step back to get a better look. He moved close again and grabbed my arm, then pulled me down the stairs. He pushed me towards the couch and bent me over the back of it. I was starting to really panic.
Talk to him, appeal to him.
"Please... you don't have to do this. What's your name?"
"Shut up or I will shut you up. Spread your legs apart. Further. How do you keep it bald?"
"What?" What was his hangup? "I.. I get it waxed. Lots of girls do it!"
"You are sure you are over eighteen?"
