Featherless Bird

Darkness, that’s all there was. Carolyn couldn’t hear anything, she couldn’t feel anything, and all she could see was black. She started panicking, she couldn’t remember what happened. Maybe this was death.

But then, a light shined through. It wasn’t bright,but more as if it was trying to wake her up. And that’s when she realized that it was possible for her to open her eyelids, that it was possible. She slowly lifted them, just to be greeted with an immensely bright light. She closed them quickly, unable to stand it.

She heard laughter as she slowly raised her eyelids again. The light wasn’t shining in her eyes anymore, and she saw a man standing in front of her. It took her a moment to remember that it was the same one from the coffee shop. Suddenly, a sharp stab in her head made her grunt and roll around in what felt like a bed.

“Here, drink this.” He said, handing her a glass with some fluid in it. Carolyn wasn’t sure if she should drink it or not. With her memories returning, she started to figure out that maybe she shouldn’t accept what this man gave her.Then the pounding in her head started again, and she grabbed the glass hastily before drinking it.

After there wasn’t a drop left, she placed the glass on the small desk next to her. Carolyn then decided to take in her surroundings. She seemed to be in a bedroom, she was lying in a small bed, the only other furniture in the room consisted of a small desk close to the bed and a lone chair in a corner. The room was painted in a dull cream that Carolyn guessed was the same color as when the man had bought it. She spotted a closet also, its door pulled off so she could only see the hinges and the inside was very small. There was a small window that had been nailed shut so no one could get through.

“Like it? I hope you do, because you’re going to be staying here for quite a while.” The man said as he watched her looking around.

“W-what? No, I’m not. I’m going home.” Carolyn said, fear starting to creep inside of her. Her mind was screaming answers at her, but she refused to believe them. This couldn’t be happening.

“You heard me sweetheart. And from what I know, you’re smart enough to know what I’m talking about. Now, since we’re going to be with each other for quite a while, and I already know pretty much everything about you, I should at least tell you my name. I’m Wade. No need for you to know my second name. Now, I have to go to work. I’ll see you later.” And with that, Wade got up from the bed and left, locking the door behind him.

Carolyn sat there, unable to come up with coherent thoughts or any for that matter. It was like she was stuck in an awful dream that she couldn’t wake up from. She had given up trying to. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she processed a simple thought. I got kidnapped. With that, she started to cry hysterically.

Her thoughts were all over the place, making almost no sense. She thought about how she hadn’t played her beloved violin that day, and how she hadn’t said I love you to Ellie, and how she had ran away from Albert. Maybe if she stayed with him and just told him that she loved him, she wouldn’t be in this mess. She would be in her house, enjoying some TV and popcorn. But no, here she was, locked in a room; God knows where, with a man who was probably psychotic who would be returning soon.

When the tears finally ceased to come, she got up and looked around the room for a way to escape. She tried to open the door, pulling it with all of her strength. When it didn't budge she tried pushing it, but to no avail. Carolyn let out a small whimper before making her way to the small window. She tried desperatly to open it also, but like the door, it wouldn't move.

She started picking after the rusted nails on the window, but it had no effect on them. She calculated how long it would take her to get them off, and the result came to something that crushed Carolyn’s hope immediately. When she thought about it, even if she did manage to open the window, there wasn’t much of a chance that she could fit. She looked outside, and her moral just got even lower. She was on what seemed to be the second story, and if she jumped she was sure that she would kill herself, or at least break something.

Tears started running again, surprising Carolyn. She wasn’t someone who cried a lot, or at all for that matter, and the fact that she couldn’t stop crying at the moment frightened her maybe more than this whole ordeal. With that thought, she cringed; maybe she was just as crazy as Wade.