Meow.
My heart skips a beat.
I brace myself with my hands on my knees as Goob, my almost deceased fat cat, wobbles out of the small closet.
“Goob, you scared the shit out of me.”
He replies with a meow as I let out a deep breath, turning back around to face the TV.
A gloved palm then crushes over my mouth, fingers digging painfully into my cheeks, smothering the scream before it fully forms.
I thrash out of pure instinct. I kick, try to twist and do my best to bite down on whatever part of them I canreach. It doesn’t matter. Whoever it is, is way stronger than I am.
My wrists are wrenched behind my back, shoulders screaming as something plastic cinches tight around them.
Another body steps in front of me and I can’t make out who any of these people are.
But the one in front of me is one hundred percent all man. I can tell by his figure and stance as he towers over me by at least a foot.
The firm hand leaves my mouth for mere seconds before returning, but this time with a white piece of cloth.
I shake my head wildly, tears already blurring my vision, trying to beg through the material still clamped over my lips and nose.
The words stay trapped in my throat.
I kick forward trying to get the man off of me, but then pain explodes across my face.
The strike is so hard that it has me fading in and out of consciousness.
They don’t try to force the white cloth on my face again. But my ears ring violently, and I can taste the blood that bleeds from my inner gums from where the fist landed.
The man throws me over his shoulder before I can collapse fully.
I feel a thump with every step he takes down the stairs as he holds me in place. Every familiar detail of the house passes by in pieces. The framed photos of my mom, dad andI, the shelf of trophies from when I was in gymnastics and Goob’s desperate meows fade in the background.
It feels surreal, like watching my own life being stripped away in one pull of the rug.
Cold air nips at my cheeks as we cross the threshold to outside.
The winter air is brutal on my bare skin, the thin nightgown offering no protection against it.
The driveway lights are off. Big surprise there.
A dark vehicle waits at the edge of the drive. A suburban-type SUV with tinted windows.
Another man dressed in all black swings the back door open to it, revealing an also black interior.
I’m thrown inside roughly.
Not guided. Thrown.
The door closes immediately after they chuck me in.
The vehicle reeks of bleach and it smells entirely too clean. It’s honestly off-putting.
The tires spin out gravel onto the pavement before smoothing out as we hit the main road.
I twist awkwardly, trying to sit up. As I do, my back presses against the seat.
