Raina's Story

Raina had laid on the table for days, with nothing to eat or drink and covered in her own waste. She was long past the point of panic and began choosing to spend her awake time reflecting on her life. Being in this place made her past life seem much more comfortable, having her own apartment to go home to whenever she choose, she could eat whenever she choose, sleep when she wanted... Here, it was nothing like that. She was only allowed to sleep when he was, and sometimes even then he wouldn't allow her to sleep. Mark often made her skip meals as part of her punishments and she hadn't even been allowed to look out the window since she had arrived.
Thinking of the good memories, had, like always, brought back some bad ones. Of course, most of them from the time she had spent here. While the past few days, starving alone in silent darkness was bad, Mark had put her through worse, at least, that's how she felt about it. Raina came to the conclusion that she was just waiting for death, it was inevitable, and when it finally came, she would be free of this nightmare.

seven months earlier---------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're coming to my company's Christmas party on Friday right?"

"I'm sorry Jeremy, I have to work."

"Jesus Christ Raina. I told you we had to go."

"You can go alone can't you?"

"I could but I won't. Tell them you're taking Friday off."

"Jeremy you know I can't. I was only given the job because I told them I could work whenever they need me."

"You know I fucking need you on Friday. What's more important? Me or this dead end job?" Raina glanced around the room quickly, he was swearing in front of customers and he was getting louder.

"Jeremy please, not now. I have to go back to work."

"FINE." He said as he turned and stormed out of the small coffee shop. She could feel a sob growing in her chest and glanced around once more to see if anyone was paying attention. When she felt certain that anyone that had noticed the argument forgot about her, she quietly got up from the table and left through the back door. She still had another 10 minutes left of her break and decided to go out to get some fresh air.
She crouched next to the wall where the wind had whipped around the building and the snow was only an inch or so deep. Jeremy hadn't always been like this, but the stress from his recent promotion had to go somewhere, and he tended to release it on her. Raina knew it hadn't really been fair to her, but she hoped if she toughed it out that he would change back to the old Jeremy. She stood back up and headed back inside to finish her shift.

"I'll see you tomorrow Raina." said one of her coworkers as she locked the door for the night.

"Yea if Jeremy doesn't make me quit."

"I saw that earlier, what was that all about?"

"Jeremy seems to think I'm only here for him, and that everyone else doesn't matter."

"Well, good luck when you get home. I hope I'll see you tomorrow."

Raina began walking towards Jeremy's apartment, only a block from where she worked. She climbed the three flights of stairs and knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in." she heard Jeremy say from the inside. She opened the door and her face lit up when she saw a candlelight dinner in the dining room. She giggled at the puzzled look on Jeremy's face and walked over to him to adjust his tie. She looked into his eyes, hers filled with tears at his thoughtfulness.

"Jeremy, you didn't have to do all this."

"I didn't what are you doing here?"

"What?" she asked, she was now the one that looked puzzled.

"I didn't do this for you Raina. I'm expecting someone. You'd better go home." Raina swallowed hard and left the apartment. The tears in her eyes that were just recently tears of happiness were now tears of horrible heartbreak and she couldn't hold them in any longer when a cheerful blond hurried past her in the hall and stopped at Jeremy's door. Raina raced down the stairs and collapsed outside of the apartment building. Tears ran down her cheeks and she sobbed loudly into the cold dark night. After several minutes she finally got hold of her emotions and was able to stand and began to walk home.
Raina had made it about halfway home when a man stopped her on the street and asked her for some directions, true, she wasn't in the best mood, but she remembered what it was like, to be new to a big city and not know where anything was. She had felt completely helpless when she first arrived in New York, and couldn't help but think that this man felt the same way. As she directed him to where he wished to go a van pulled up behind her, the door already slid open and the man she had been giving directions to pushed her in and pushed the door closed behind her. A man inside the van had her pinned to the floor before she could even think to fight back and as his knee dug into her back she could feel him tying her hands together and then her legs. The man rolled her over and when she opened her mouth to scream he pushed a piece of cloth into her mouth and then covered her lips with a piece of duct tape. The man left her in the back as he went to sit up in the front of the van in the passenger's seat.

"Are you sure this is the girl?" he asked the driver.

"I'm positive." said the driver.

"Alright. Lets hurry up and get her to Mark's house though. I hate doing this shit."

"You hate kidnapping girls? Are you going soft man?" the driver joked.

"Abduction for ransom is one thing, but for Mark..."

"He's paying us almost the same as a ransom, and we don't have to worry about cops getting involved."

"Don't you ever wonder about what he does to them?"

"I don't have to wonder, I know. I'd tell you about it but I don't want to spoil the surprise for our 'cargo'."