Nancy was on her last legs. Not literally. She hadn’t stood up for nearly a week. 

Physically, mentally and emotionally, her journey was nearly over. 

She had been just walking home from working at the Top Hat restaurant, thinking about her itinerary for the next day at school when her world, her life, her plans suddenly changed. 

The man had hit her from behind and she hadn’t even seen him. 

She woke up in the trunk of a car with a gag in her mouth, her wrists tied behind her back and her feet tied at the ankles. She could hear and feel that the car was moving but in the dark she had no idea where it was going. 

When the car turned off the street she could feel it back up into a gravel driveway. 

Then it smoothed out like maybe they were on cement.

She heard what she imagined to be a garage door close.

She heard the motor turn off.

She heard the car door open.

She heard footsteps walking to the back of the car.

Panic and the adrenaline in her system heightened her awareness of what was going on. 

She was looking for a way to escape.

When the man opened the trunk, Nancy tried to kick him, to fight back. But her feet were tied and the man just punched her in the stomach and pulled her out of the trunk by the binding on her wrists. 

She couldn’t breathe as he just threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walked her inside.

The house was small and dimly lit. From over the man’s shoulder Nancy really couldn’t make out to much as he walked down some stairs to a basement bedroom.

In here there was a bed with an iron frame. The man tossed her on it and then without much hesitation untied the rope holding her wrists and hooked them to the frame above her head with a belt that he had already put in place. 

He moved as if he had done it a few times.

He then put a new piece of rope around her right ankle and pulled it tight to fasten to one side of the iron frame at the foot of the bed. 

Then as if he had carefully planned it out or this too he had done before, he tied rope around her other ankle, cut the rope holding her feet together and pulled her left leg over to the opposite side of the bed and secured it to the other side.

Now she was completely vulnerable. 

She wanted to scream but knew it wouldn’t do any good. The walls were covered with layers of material. Before he took the gag out of her mouth the man said, “You can make this easy or tough. If you scream I’ll just punch you in the stomach. If you don’t scream this will go by much easier for you. It’s up to you.”

He then reached up and untied the gag, taking it away from her face.

Her mind was racing, trying to come up with a plan, but the terror she was feeling just kept flushing ideas out like flashes of light.

Maybe she could negotiate.

But as the man began to slowly cut off her clothes all she could do was sob uncontrollably.

His hands on her made her want to vomit, but all she could do was convulse. 

He was smiling. 

She looked into his eyes and saw him enjoying himself in the dim light.

Nancy knew what was coming before he finished cutting off her clothes. 

Maybe when he was done using her, he would cut her loose.

There was no point in fighting. 

Not at this point anyway.

She tried to relax. To save her strength. 

Maybe she could escape or negotiate later, but for now she was helpless.

That had been the first night. 

Nancy had no idea how many nights ago that was. 

She would awake alone and listen.

She tried calling out and listening again but she never heard anything. 

Not until the demon returned. 

She could hear him in the house. She could smell food, hear water running. She craved both, but they never came.

She had tried pleading with the man for something to eat or drink but he had just smiled and went on with what he wanted. 

Her hands were still tied at the wrists and to the iron bed frame above her head. She was so dehydrated though that she wasn’t bleeding anymore. 

Nancy hadn’t had any covering over her since her clothes had been cut off of her that first night. 

But she didn’t feel cold anymore.

Her mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak. 

She didn’t care at this point. 

Now, she just wanted it to be over.

The man came in again and touched her all over. Nancy didn’t move. She couldn’t move. 

She was slipping in and out of consciousness.

When he was done this time, the man sat on her chest.

He put his hands around her throat and began to squeeze.

Nancy didn’t fight it as her lights dimmed. It felt as if she was falling backward into darkness. 

Moments of her life flashed in her mind. 

She saw her mother setting breakfast in front of her. 

She smelled the bacon and the jam on her toast. 

Her mom was smiling.

Nancy smiled and then she died.