Where am I?

I tried to remember how I’d ended up here, but I had no idea.

I was eating cereal, and then my mom called. What happened after that? Someone knocked on the door. Neighborhood kids were playing a prank. No, that wasn’t it.

Pain shot through my head, and I clenched my jaw as I waited for it to pass.

Danger…I tried to reach for my phone.

Ally’s face slammed into my mind like a hammer. I gasped as I finally remembered.

She came to the house and attacked me. I tried to escape, but she tackled me. I hit the floor, and then Ally hit me. Black dots. After that? Nothing. I must have blacked out.

I tried to stand, but something stopped me. I forced my eyes open to see that my legs were tied to a chair. My arms were tied up behind me. I am so fucking screwed. Ally was crazy, and I was alone and defenseless.

“It’s about time you woke up, princess.” Ally’s voice came from behind me.

I turned my neck to look for her, but I didn’t see her anywhere. Suddenly, she was beside me. She slapped me across the face, and I cried out in pain. The pain in my head increased until I couldn’t bear it anymore. I wanted to black out again. I’d do anything to escape that pain.

“How are you feeling?” she asked sweetly as she pulled a chair in front of me.

She must have grabbed it from somewhere behind me because there was definitely nothing in front of me.

“Like someone cracked my skull,” I spit out as I looked away from her.

She laughed as she raised her hand. “Guilty.”

“Let me go, Ally. Just walk away, and no one has to know what you did. You got your anger out. It’s over.”

“Oh, it’s far from over, dear Emma. I’m just getting started.”

There was a coldness to her voice that made me wonder if she would actually kill me. I looked up at her. As soon as I looked into her eyes, I knew she would kill me without a second thought. Her eyes were cold, and there was no kind of emotion behind them at all.

“Please let me go,” I quietly begged.

“But we’re just starting to have fun. Don’t you want to see everything else I have planned for you?”

I ignored her question and looked away. She could hurt me all she wanted, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of me begging a second time. I already knew that she was planning to kill me. That was all I needed to know. The less I knew, the better. Maybe if I didn’t fight, she’d get bored and make it quick.

Jesse would lose it when he found out what she’d done. I had no idea how long I’d been out, but I knew it had to be a while from the pain shooting through my skull. He had to know by now that I was gone. Maybe he was searching for me. Hope swelled in my chest as I pictured him rushing in to save me.

My hope was crushed when I realized that even I didn’t know where I was. I might not even be in Morgantown anymore. Hell, I might not be in West Virginia.

“Where did you bring me to?” I asked.

“My house.”

“And where exactly is your house?”

She studied me for a minute. “I guess it won’t hurt to tell you. It’s not like you can call someone for help.” She laughed as if she’d said something funny. “You’re still in Morgantown. Actually, you’re only about twenty minutes away from Jesse’s house.”

If I was still in Morgantown, Jesse stood a chance at finding me. It was a slim chance, but I needed to hold on to something.

“You’ve been staying this close to us the entire time since you left, haven’t you?”

She nodded. “Yep, and you guys had no idea. It’s kind of funny when you think about it. I’ve spent a lot of time watching you at Jesse’s house since he kicked me out. I’d give you some advice about closing your curtains, but I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that anymore. There are no curtains where you’re going.”

I turned away from her. I couldn’t even stand to look at her right now. I felt sick. She’d been stalking us for weeks, and we had been clueless.

“Get away from me.”

“Why? Did I say something wrong?” she asked innocently.

“You’re a fucking psycho,” I told her.

I tried to break free of my restraints. The rope dug into my skin, but I ignored the pain as I struggled.

“You might want to stop before you hurt yourself,” she said happily.

I stopped struggling once I realized that the ropes weren’t going anywhere. “Just do what you’re going to do, and get it over with.”

“Oh no, I want to draw this out,” she said quietly. She placed her finger under my chin and lifted my face to look at her. “And I can’t wait to watch you cry out in pain.”

“You won’t get away with this, Ally. The police will catch you. Jesse will know that you had something to do with this. He hates you now. You know how I told you that he’d meant he loved you like a sister? You don’t even have that from him now. Even if I die, he will never be yours.”

“Shut up!” she shrieked as she slapped me again.

I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out. One thing was for sure—the bitch was strong. Even her slaps were enough to make my head spin.

“You know nothing about how Jesse feels about me. You have some kind of power over him. Once you’re gone, he’ll realize that he loves me. We’ll be happy together, and he’ll forget all about you.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Think whatever you want. You’ll see.”

“You know what the worst part is?” she asked suddenly.

“That I’m tied to a chair?” I asked sarcastically.

“When I watched you guys, I saw you…together. It made me sick to see him touch you.”

My stomach rolled at the thought of her watching while Jesse and I’d had sex. “You’re sick.”

“I didn’t want to watch, trust me.”

“Then, why did you?”

She shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

She stood and walked behind me. I could hear her moving things around, but I couldn’t turn around far enough to see what she was doing. I glanced around in front of me, hoping to see something that would help me. There was nothing. The room was as empty as before.

I tried to hold my tears in as they filled my eyes. I wouldn’t give Ally the satisfaction of seeing me cry. While I knew something was wrong with Ally after everything she’d done to Jesse, I never realized that she was capable of something like this.

She silently walked back over to me. I met her gaze head-on. Fuck her, I wouldn’t shy away.

“I overheard Jesse talking to Andy about you one day at our old house. Jesse told him how beautiful he thought you were.” Her eyes were so cold as she spoke. “You and I both know that I’m prettier than you, but Jesse doesn’t seem to realize that. I’m going to change that. When they find you, he’ll realize that you could never be as pretty as me.”

I had no idea what she planned to do, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant for me. She had kept her hands behind her since she walked over. I watched silently as she finally moved them. My stomach dropped when I saw the knife in her hand.

“Ally, think about what you’re doing. We can still work something out. If you use that, then you’re done.”

“I think you’re confused as to who is tied to the chair and who has a knife. I’m in control, Emma, and I always have been.” She ran the dull side of the knife across my face. “You’re not pretty in the least, but you obviously have something that Jesse likes. We need to fix that.”

“Ally, let me go. You don’t want to do this,” I pleaded, forgetting my earlier promise to myself that I wouldn’t beg.

“Trust me when I say I do. I want nothing more than this. I want to hurt you as bad as you hurt me.”

She turned the knife, so the sharp edge was pressed against my cheekbone. I held my breath as I waited for her to kill me. I wouldn’t scream. I would never let her know how much pain she caused me.

Despite my determination not to cry out, a small whimper escaped me as she ran the knife down my cheek. The cut didn’t hurt as bad as my head, but it stung. I shuddered as I felt blood start to slide down my face. Apparently, she didn’t plan to stab me like I’d originally thought—at least, not yet. With the shallow cut, she only wanted to cause me pain and destroy my face. I was too worried about how to escape to even think about my face. I had to figure out a way to get her to untie me.

“Does it hurt?” Ally asked softly as her eyes followed the drop of blood that had dripped from my cheek to the floor.

“No,” I said stubbornly.

“Then, you won’t mind if I try the other side.”

She held the knife up to my face and made a cut on my other cheek. It was shallow like the first one, but it still hurt. Blood ran down my face and fell to the floor. It was like I was crying blood.

“There—now, you match.” She giggled.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

She circled me slowly. I turned my head as she went, afraid to let her out of my sight for even a second. There wasn’t much I could do if she decided to stab me in the back, but it still made me uneasy to have her right behind me.

“Are you sorry yet?” she asked.

“For what?”

“For ruining everything I had with Jesse. Duh.”

“I didn’t ruin anything. If he wanted you, he never would have come to me.”

“It’s not his fault that you tricked him. He’s only a guy, and we both know guys never think with their heads. Well, at least, they don’t think with the right heads.”

“You think he was only using me for sex?” I asked incredulously.

“Of course I do. What else could he want from you?”

I didn’t even know how to respond to that. Ally was living in her own little world, and nothing I said would change that. There was no point in fighting with someone who couldn’t view reality like a normal person.

“I’m hungry, and I need to pee.”

“I don’t have any food here.”

“Fine, but I still have to pee.”

“You just want me to untie you. I’m not stupid.”

“You’re going to look very stupid when I piss myself, and you have to clean it up.”

She studied me for a moment. If I could get her to leave me alone in the bathroom, maybe I could escape. If not, maybe I could find a way to subdue her. The thought of me hitting her over the head with my chair was very appealing.

“Straight to the bathroom, and back here,” she finally said.

I sighed in relief as she untied my legs from the chair. She was in the perfect position for me to kick her, but I needed my arms free first. It would be useless to kick her and still be stuck to this damn chair.

She moved out of the way of my legs as she untied my arms. “If you try anything, I will kill you. Stand up.”

I stood up slowly and stretched my arms and legs. They had gone practically numb from sitting in the exact same spot for so long. I yelped more from surprise than actual pain as I felt the end of her knife poke into my back.

“Start walking toward the door. If you try anything, I will put this knife in your back. I don’t want to kill you like this, but I will if you force me to.”

I don’t want to kill you like this…like this. There it was. There was no doubt in my mind now that she planned to kill me. I needed to get out of here and fast. I walked slowly toward the door. I needed a plan.

“Open it,” Ally instructed once we reached the door.

I opened it slowly and looked around. The door led into a dimly lit hallway. Another door was a few feet away to the left. On the right was a door near the top of a staircase.

“Which way?” I asked.

“Walk to the one on the right.”

I walked slowly, debating on whether or not to run for it. I had no idea how close the front door was to the stairs. If I could get outside, there was a good chance that I could escape or at least scream for help. If she had been telling the truth about still being in Morgantown, I knew that other houses had to be nearby.

“Walk!” she barked.

I had started to slow down since I still wasn’t sure what to do. I picked up my pace and walked to the door next to the stairs. I glanced down the stairs to see that the front door was right in front of them. I just had to make it there.

“Don’t just stand there. Open the door.” She poked the knife into my back a bit.

I opened the door and stepped inside. The bathroom was tiny. Dread filled me when I saw the small window. It was just a little bit too small for me to escape through if she left me alone.