The lighter flicked on and cast a golden glow. The figure lifted the lighter to his cigarette, which lit and let out a puff of smoke. The light flickered and died. The faint glow from the lit end of the cigarette gave the man’s sharp features a gothic look.

The cold was getting to me. I felt my body growing weaker and weaker. I could see his feet on the floor from where he sat in the wooden chair in the corner. My shackles prevented me from getting close to him. Right now, I didn’t care if I became a killer. I wanted to go home. I struggled against the handcuffs and chains. The gag was keeping my quiet but I refused to hold still.

“Fighting won’t help you.” The cold voice said through the darkness.

I began crying. I had been doing a lot of crying these hours. I don’t know how long I had been in that cell or where I was. I knew one thing that if he was going to kill me; I wasn’t going out without fighting.

The man stood up patted me on the head and walked out of the room the steel door closing with an echoing bang. I cried and tried to scream. I could see barred windows above me but there was no light coming through them. They must have been boarded up.

I felt a bug scuttle across my arm. I was too careless to scream, as I normally would have. I had seen worse in this cell. The rats were the worse things. They bit me as I slept. I stared at the ceiling as I leaned against the wall and prayed to god that someone would find me.


It was colder when I woke up. My breath hung in the air like fog and took over a minute to disappear. I could hear things now. People were talking, yelling actually. I heard banging. I began screaming and bit at the gag the man had placed in my mouth. Suddenly the gag ripped off.

“Help me! Help!” I cried out into the darkness hoping that the people yelling were here to help me.

“I heard her, quiet.” A voice yelled. I screamed louder and held it out so they could follow the sound of my voice. There was faint knocking.

“Help me please!” I screamed. Then there was a loud bang and light flooded the dark, damp cell. There was a silhouette of a man standing in the doorway. I screamed and curled into a ball. He was going to kill me.

“Hey, hey. FBI, you’re going to be just fine.” A smooth soft voice whispered, “I got her!” He called out. I opened my eyes. They were blurry and took time to focus but soon I could see my savior.

“So cold.” I cried.

“We need an ambulance stat!” He yelled and used his gun to blast the chains off the wall so he could pick me up and rush me out of the cell. I felt the light on my face and it had seemed it was years since a drop of sunlight warmed my face.

“Everything’s going to be just fine. You’re safe now.” The agent whispered to me. I cried into his bulletproof vest as he carried me outside. The sky was dark but was lit up with a thousand stars.

In the back of a police car sat the man. He looked at me and I stared him right back in the eyes. I wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

“He’s going to jail right?” I whispered.

“For a long time.” The agent said smiling. He set me onto a gurney and the paramedics rushed me into the ambulance. I stared at the agent and he stared back. The doors shut on the ambulance and he gave me a small wave before walking off.