Tornado Season

When I opened my eyes it was dark. I was face down, and we were moving. I grumbled a bit as I tried to sit up.

“Hey, she’s up,” I heard a woman’s voice. Was I in the hospital?

“Took her long enough,” someone huffed. “All I wanted was to scare her.”

“Well,” the woman started, “she’s up now. What do I do?”

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, holding my head. I felt hungover; my head was pounding.

“Awake at last, Scarlett!” I knew then it was Matty, the man from my house. Why wasn’t I dead?

“Where am I?” I asked, angrily. I wanted answers.

Another man laughed. “She asks a lot of questions. Remind me why we didn’t throw her into that river back there?”

Fear struck me, again. My eyes widened, terrified that I couldn’t see anyone. I was among killers. Something was very wrong. Why was I still alive?

“Shut up, Joel,” Matty spat. “We’re not throwing her anywhere.”

“Where am I?” I said, quieter. I was scared and confused. “Where’s my family?”

The girl laughed. “They’re long gone, sweetie. Making their way to the Atlantic—“

“They’re dead, Scarlett,” Matty said, firmly. “I killed them.”

I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t cry, I just stared into the blackness, waiting for someone to say something else. Anything else.

Moments passed before anyone said a thing, but the man he called Joel piped in. “When are we stopping, Matt?”

“For fucks sake, we have to get the fuck out of here before anyone realizes they’re all gone!” he growled.

He paused a moment, “Nobody’s going to realize for a while—“

The car jerked to a stop and Matty turned around to face him. My eyes were adjusting to the dark and I could see the shadows of all three people in the car. “We have their fucking daughter, but by all means, get out. I’m stopped.”

“You’re acting like a fucking mental case, Matt,” the girl said. “She’s too out of it to even realize where she is, let alone escape.”

Joel sighed and swung the van door opened. “I have to take a piss.”

“I’m gonna go with him,” the girl said, hopping out. She shut the door behind her.

Matt grumbled and shifted in his seat. “I should fucking leave without them.”

“Why didn’t you kill me?” I asked, cautiously. My curiosity always got to me.

I think I startled him. “Oh, uh… I--I didn’t want to.”

“But you…” I trailed off, feeling my collarbone, where I remembered he’d cut me. I could feel the dry blood all over me, down my arm and chest.

“That was only to scare you,” he said. “But you were…”

“I was…?”

“Different?” he said, unsure. I could tell he didn’t want to be spilling his guts to me. He covered it up, acting mad. “I thought you’d be fun to drag around before we killed you.”

I swallowed hard. While I was sure he wasn’t serious, I felt the fear creep back up my spine. “Oh.”

It was silent for a few moments. An eerie silence; I didn’t know what would happen next.

The door swung back opened and the two got back in. They were both giggling. Matt scoffed, “What did you blow him or something, Missy?”

She huffed, “No, Matt, I didn’t.”

The car started again shortly. I ran my hands over the dried blood again. It was everywhere, I was probably covered.

“You two have fun while we were gone?” the girl asked, laughing a bit. I figured her name was Missy. From the little bit of light I saw her in, she was short and had dark hair. I guessed she was from Jersey, based on her accent.

“Shut up, Missy.”

She laughed again and rested her head on Joel. His arm draped around her.

“Where are we?” I asked, quietly. “W-where are you taking me?”

Joel spun around to look at me. “Why would we tell the girl we kidnapped where—“

“We’re in South Carolina,” Matty said, quickly, “Heading towards New York.”

“Matt!” Joel screamed, angrily.

“What?” he said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, “She’s gotta get used to it. She’s gonna be here a while.”