Nothing Is as It Seems

I came to my senses slowly after my first long, dreamless sleep in what seems like forever. I kept my eyes closed and tried to stretch my arms above my head. My eyes flew open quickly once I realized I couldn’t move my arms. I looked around and my breath caught in my throat. I wasn’t in my bed anymore. I was lying in the backseat of a car, my car to be exact. My arms were bound behind my back. There were two people sitting in the front seats, but I couldn’t make out any details in the darkness that filled the car.

“She’s awake,” said a voice that I recognized as Zacky. His voice was coming from the passenger side. I hoped the driver would speak so I could see if I knew them.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked, I was trying my best to keep my voice steady. I didn’t want to give this creep the satisfaction of showing my fear.

“I told you it was almost time, babe. I have to get things set up, and you just happen to be part of that. Adam here is helping me out.”

My world crashed down around me when the driver finally spoke up for the first time. The same voice that had soothed me to sleep countless times.

“You just had to give me the hard job, didn’t you, Zack? Make the poor unsuspecting girl fall in love with me and gain her trust just to slip her some crushed up sleeping pills in her drink and bring her to you when she couldn’t fight back. You’re making me look like a bad guy.”

The two guys burst into a laughing fit that lasted for a good five minutes. They were obviously exhilarated by kidnapping me for whatever sick reason they had. I just couldn’t believe that Adam would do something like this. I thought I knew him better than anyone else. I thought he was this nice guy that couldn’t hurt a fly. I guess I really didn’t know much of anything anymore.

“Adam, how could you? I thought you loved me,” I said shakily. Shaking my head as if to make everything go away, but it didn’t work.

“Sorry Kara, life sucks sometimes. You aren’t right for me. You’ll be much happier with my friend Zacky here.”

“How can you stand yourself right now? You spend every night with me to try to keep my safe from my dreams and tell me you love me. For God’s sake, you slept with me last night. How can you not hate yourself for this?”

The good mood between the two guys vanished as soon as the words left my mouth. Adam immediately started jabbering off an excuse, but was silenced my Zacky’s enraged voice, screaming “You slept with her?”

“I didn’t mean to, man. She was practically begging for it.” he said and I thought he was lucky I was tied up because I would kill him otherwise.

“I most certainly was not, you initiated it, you sick bastard.”

“Zack-“

“Just shut the fuck up, Adam. I don’t want to hear another word come out of your damn mouth.”

Silence fell and it remained that way until Adam pulled the car off the road and came to a stop.

“You know the plan,” Zacky said as he got out of the car. He opened the back door and gently pulled me out of the car. He sat me on my feet outside and untied the rope around my arms. He kept a firm hold on my arm so I wouldn’t think I could run.

I was wondering what was going to happen next when Adam put the car in reverse and backed up until the headlights were just two small dots in the night. He then put it in drive and floored it. The car picked up speed quickly.

“What’s he doing?” I asked Zacky.

“Wrecking your car,” he said with a shrug, like this was a completely normal occurrence.

With a sickening noise, Adam crashed my car into a tree. He had to have been going at least eighty miles per hour and it tore the car to pieces. The sound of the horn going off pierced the cool night air around us. The car looked like a big pretzel, twisted up in ways I didn’t think possible.

“Is Adam okay?” I asked with a tremble in my voice. I hated myself for being concerned.

“He’s perfectly fine. A little car wreck wouldn’t hurt him.”

Sure enough, Adam pulled himself out of the wreckage and started across the road towards us, looking no different than he hand a few minutes ago. I sensed a movement beside me and looked up just in time to see Zacky pull a pistol from the waistband of his jeans before firing a shot at Adam, hitting him squarely in the forehead. I shrieked and squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

“A gun, however, is a different story.” Zacky said, chuckling to himself. I wrenched my arm from Zacky’s grasp and ran as fast as I could away from him. I didn’t get very far before slamming into what felt like a brick wall, but there was nothing there. I tried again, but the invisible wall knocked me on my butt.

“You’re just going to hurt yourself,” Zacky said simply. I turned to face him and his eyes were shining with excitement. He was happy to see me afraid.

“Why are you doing this? Why me?” I was crying now, my chest heaving with sobs.

“It’s all a part of the plan,” he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. He straightened my clothes and brushed the dirt away.

“Now come along.”