When I woke up I was in a most uncomfortable position. It took me a few moments to shake the sleep out of my head and work out what was going on. For a start I couldn't see. I almost panicked, thinking I was blind, automatically moving my hands to my eyes. But they didn't move.
It wasn't the non-movement of paralysis, I knew that right away, as I could feel my arms and hands moving about. I just couldn't move my hands to my face because something was holding them back.
Biting my lip to keep from screaming I started checking out what I could. Twisting my wrists about a bit I found that there was something constraining them. I was tied somehow, but it wasn't by rough ropes. More like my hands were bandaged together and the bandage was fastened to something.
Now that I concentrated on it I could feel some sort of mask on my face, stopping me from seeing. I wasn't in any pain, so that seemed to preclude any sort of accident. I seemed to be just leaning comfortable against something rough.
A nasty suspicion occurred to me and I brushed myself against whatever I was leaning against. I could feel the roughness very easily. Too easily. There was no cloth between me and the tree. What was I wearing, I wondered.
Still trying to keep calm, I called out.
"Hullo. Is anyone there?"
"Ah," came a pleased exclamation. "You're awake. I thought you'd never wake up. How are you feeling, Cheryl?"
"Um, alright, I guess, but rather confused. What's going on?"
"Well, Cheryl, you've been a naughty little girl and you've made a bad mistake. Do you know what that mistake was?"
"Ah, no," I replied, feeling nervous. Did I know that voice? I had a feeling that I did, but damned if I could place it.
"Well, it's really quite simple," said the voice, sounding quite cheerful. Then the tone of voice changed.
"You've managed to piss me off severely. I thought it was time you learned a lesson. So I've taken it upon myself to deliver it."
"Fucking hell. A nutcase," I thought. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."
"What do you intend doing?" I asked, now a damn sight more nervous, but trying to sound polite.
"Well, first of I thought a good beating might work wonders," came the reply, "but that sort of thing is just not me. Too, too, he-man sort of thing. Something an angry redneck might do to a straying wife, but not something a refined gentleman such as myself finds appealing."
I swallowed nervously. I obviously had a full blown nutcase here.
"Um, would it help if I apologised for offending you?" I asked. Please god, let it work. I didn't mind saying sorry if it got me out of this.
"Well, it would probably work, but how would you know which of your mischievous little misdeeds you were apologising for? I couldn't just accept a generic apology, now could I?"
Yes, you bloody well could. How am I supposed to know what I did that offended him? It could be something as minor as not holding a lift door. I just kept my mouth shut.
"Mmm, that's what I thought. You've done so many spiteful little tricks you don't know what to say. Anyway, as I was saying, a lesson. Cheryl's eighteen and probably not a virgin? That'd be right wouldn't it? You are both eighteen and non-virginal?"
I was furious and kept my mouth shut. Damned if I'd tell him.
"Ah, Cheryl, in case you haven't noticed, you're standing there with no clothes on. Would you like me to check on the state of your virginity myself? I can, you know?"
Oh, god. I was standing here talking to a nut and I was naked? How much worse could this get. And as for him checking my virginity. . .
"OK. I'm eighteen, nearly nineteen, and I'm not a virgin. Satisfied?"
"That's what I thought. Now continuing from where I left off, Cheryl's eighteen and not a virgin. I could always rape her. A bit of vigorous man on woman action might show her that's she's not the queen bee, no matter who she goes around stinging. How do you like that idea?"
"I don't," I gasped, frantically shaking my head. "Don't you dare. I'll have you arrested. My brother would kill you."
"Those drawbacks did occur to me, assuming you ever found out who I was, so I decided raping you was out. Another little disincentive was I have no idea how often you put out and what sort of diseases you might currently have."
Insulting swine! There'd only been my fiancΓ©, and he didn't have any diseases. Who did he think I was, queens of tarts?
"So what did you decide on? What are you going to do?"
"Haven't you noticed? I've already done it. You're tied to a tree and blindfolded. That blindfold is all you're wearing. You've got a very nice figure by the way. I'm just going to leave you there until someone comes along and unties you. You're by the side of a jogging track and so people should start coming along shortly and I'm sure one of them will let you loose. However, not wanting you to wear out your vocal cords screaming for help I'm just going to give you a little gag."
With that I felt a hand press over my mouth, covering it with something.
"If you're lucky," came the voice, laughing, "you may be released by the first person to come along. If I'm lucky, they'll have a smart phone on them and will take a few pictures first. Bye. Have fun."
I tried to say something but whatever he'd pressed against my mouth was holding it closed. All I could do was make a few muffled sounds of fury. I heard footsteps walking away and then nothing.
I stood there, seething. There was nothing I could do but wait. I gave a few tugs on whatever was holding my arms but whatever it was just seemed to stretch a little and then pull my arms back into place. So I waited, hoping that the first person past was a woman. Even that was going to be embarrassing enough.