1
Trevor
When I wake up, I’m confused and disoriented. The fact that I am in a bed that isn’t mine and lying next to a woman that isn’t my fiancé isn’t even the most alarming part. It’s themoodof the morning that is completely disarming. The bed is warm and cozy, Bridget is getting up with a pleasant smile on her face and a cheery good morning as if there is nothing at all out of place or to be worried about. Anyone peeking in on this scene would say that it looks like a completely normal morning between a nice young couple in love.Thatis the part that is creeping me out the most—paired with the foggy memory of being drugged and kidnapped from my own engagement party last night.
Before I can say anything to Bridget or ask her what the hell happened or what I’m doing here, she disappears from the bedroom and I start to hear the clattering of pots and pans coming from the kitchen and the smell of freshly percolating coffee. Maybe I’m dreaming this. Maybe when I get out of bed and my feet hit what should be a floor, I will wake up and realize that this is all just an intoxicated dream from too much wine at the party the night before.
Nope, I think to myself as my feet press against the cold, wooden floorboards.Definitely not a dream.
I go to look out the large picture windows that line one wall of the bedroom to try and get my bearings. Bridget’s house is a farmhouse, and it rests on several acres of land. It’s also located several miles away from Fairport in a neighboring town. I don’t have my car here, and it’s definitely too far for me to walk to try to get back home without a jacket or a cell phone. So I guess I’m kind of at Bridget’s mercy for the moment. She’s always been a bit eclectic and strange, but kidnapping me isn’t exactly something that I would have thought her capable of. I wonder how she even managed to get me into her car and drag me here into her bedroom. And how she managed to sneak a full-grown man out of his own engagement party without anyone noticing. I feel like she definitely must have had help, unless she has somehow gained a superpower that I don’t know about.
I rub my head with my fingers and press my eyes shut to try and ease the vertigo and pounding ache in my head. Whatever she gave me, it was a doozy. Aside from being unnerved, the wicked drug hangover certainly isn’t helping my ability to think clearly.
I venture out into the hallway and toward the direction where I hear the sounds and smell the wafting scents of breakfast and coffee coming from. When I reach the open doorway to the kitchen, I stop at the entry and stare at Bridget in a slight astonishment. She is in there cooking and humming to herself as though it is a perfectly mundane and usual morning with nothing at all out of the ordinary. The table is set with two place settings and glasses of orange juice, that look like it has been freshly squeezed. And Bridget is just now pouring coffee into two cups and setting them alongside the plates, which are brimming with a homecooked breakfast fresh from the farm.
She looks up when she sees me in the doorway and greets me with a wide smile and a cheerful, “Good morning,” and I feel like I am living in an alternate reality.
“What the hell am I doing here, Bridget?” I shout at her.
I am furious and confused and definitely at the end of my patience.
“I demand that you take me homenow.”
“Do you always wake up so grouchy?” she asks with a small pout that curves the edges of her lips downward toward her chin. “I’ve made you a delicious breakfast—fresh eggs from my own hens, and wait till you taste the fresh cream in your coffee. Sit down and enjoy breakfast for a minute before you get yourself all worked up.”
“All worked up?You’re kidding me, right? Youdruggedme and brought me here against my will. That’s a seriously psycho move to make. What the hell are you thinking? Why am I here, Bridget?”
“I promise that I can explain everything. I needed you to come here to my farm and I knew that you wouldn’t come just simply by being asked, especially not with your fiancé already disliking me so much. I’ll explain it all to you after breakfast, just first sit down for a few minutes and enjoy this delicious meal that I’ve made.”
As Bridget sits down and lifts up a piece of crispy bacon with her fingers to pop into her mouth, I can tell that her strange behavior isn’t going to relent until I appease her request to join her for breakfast. Besides, some food and coffee are bound to help get rid of my pounding headache. I sit down with her to eat and I have to admit that the coffee is so good, it makes me sigh with relief as soon as the caffeine begins to hit my system.
“It’s good, right?” Bridget asks with a satisfied grin. “I made it extra strong because I figured that you would need it this morning.”
I nod my head as I chew on a piece of buttered toast. I’m not really sure how else to respond to her at this point, at least not until I find out what she wants.
“Don’t worry,” she says with what amounts to a showing of compassion. “The stuff I slipped into your drink is totally harmless. You know that I would never do anything to hurt you, Trevor.”
“Well, my head hurts rightnow,” I say with no small amount of sarcasm to make my point.
She frowns again.
“You know what I mean. You aren’t permanently damaged in any way.”
I suppose that’s a good thing, and one that I hope continues to hold true.
2
Ava
Ihaven’t slept all night and my nerves are so on edge that I feel like they’ve been set on fire.
As soon as I realized that Trevor was gone, I flew into a spiraling panic, confused and upset as I wondered what had happened to him and where he had gone. I knew that he wouldn’t have just disappeared and left our own party of his own accord. But where could he have gone?
After staying up all night and talking to everyone at the party to try and figure out where he could be, it suddenly dawned on me that there was one other party guest missing too—his old girlfriend.
I don’t know what could have possibly happened, or where either of them could be; but I had a solid feeling that Trevor’s sudden absence had something to do with her, the woman who had approached him with the very blatantly inappropriate kiss on the mouth right in front of his fiancé.
I quickly throw on a pair of jeans and grab a jacket and my car keys as I head out the door to drive straight down to the police station. I know that there is at least one cop there, the friend of Trevor’s, that will help me. I need to find out who this woman is and where she lives. Then I need to find Trevor. If I find out that she has done anything to him, the cops are going to need to protectherfrom me.
