2 Chapter One

Maria stirred. Consciousness is hard to reach when you can't open your eyes, but eventually, Maria managed it.

Maria was an extremely intelligent teenager of seventeen. With long dark hair and huge round brown eyes, you could consider Maria to be pretty. However, whilst she had plenty of 'admirers' she had a bit of a reputation for not taking any nonsense and didn't appreciate being asked out. As far as any boys were concerned she was strictly into girls, and girls only. 

When you're restrained, blindfolded, you're vulnerable, no matter how tough you would be in an everyday environment, you instantaneously become completely weak and at the mercy of someone else, in this case, her captors. That's what Maria was scared off more than anything else, having her control taken away and used against her.  It clouds up your judgment, changes even the way you think. Being bound is more than just restraint, it's manipulative, and it feels personal. In short, it's terrifying. Deprived of one of her senses, the others are heightened, if you cannot hear, you see everything in an almost hyperfocused vision, you can see every little detail, you can almost feel the soundwaves brushing past and missing your ears, you can feel things that are so mediocre, but feel so important. Maria had her vision taken away, everything she heard seemed so loud, she thought she could smell non-existent things, now and again, she would feel the tiniest breeze, but it felt so exaggerated and sent shivers down her spine.

She could vibrating in her pocket and she quickly realized that it was her phone. Someone must be trying to get a hold of her, and she couldn't answer. Why let her have her phone but put it somewhere she couldn't reach it, it felt like she was being taunted, a matter of duct tape was keeping her from possible freedom, she could yank and yank at the tape all she wanted but try as she might, she was not reaching it.

Strangely enough, she wasn't gagged, perhaps another taunt, but it was far more manipulative, it was a show of control, Maria could scream and yell till her lungs gave out, but no one would ever hear her. 

Why was she here? Who would want her? Questions racing round and round her head in a dizzying state worsened an even worse headache. It wasn't like her family was rich, they were left destitute years ago. There were a couple of rich relations left but no one had heard from them in years. 

Maria was getting more and more restless, she just wanted to break free, the tape was creating welts in her wrists. She noticed rather painfully that some of her acrylics were broken. They had a jagged edge and when she clenched her fists, the nail had broken skin. 

What comes to mind when you think of clarity? It's a rare commodity in a normal situation. But in Maria's situation, you must consider that everything one might think about is given almost a dyslexic touch. Clarity would be nothing more than a glimmer before the last fleeting hope is pulverized. One does not think with clarity in abnormal circumstances. But Maria did after wincing with pain at her broken acrylic. She tightly twisted her hands upwards and tried to make a break in the tape, it took eight tries and umpteen scratches on her hand, but she made the smallest break in the duct tape. Because her senses were on an all-time high, she felt it instantly and jerked her hands in sudden upward motion, completely ripping open the tape!

She wasted no time in yanking off the blindfold and immediately started on her other hand. Her legs had previously been tied each to a leg of the chair, her boots had been laid limply leaning against a box. It had taken her a little time to adjust to the light, but she was free! Looking around, she seemed to be in some kind of overstuffed storage warehouse. She winced as she pulled on her boots, every part of her ached and now she was going to attempt walking around in heeled boots. Very clever. She remembered her phone and yanked it out and saw her mum calling her. Hesitating for all of two seconds, she answered.

"Mum?!"