kidnapped in the woods




You are walking around somewhere in the middle of the woods, wondering where
exactly you are. You realized you've completely lost your bearings. It's misty
and the sky is dark. You can hear the distant noise of thunder. Since you know
it's probably going to rain, you look around for a place to hide. Just when
you feel the first drop on your face, you find a lonely cabin. Relieved, you
run towards it, not noticing that you hit a thin wire that was hanging over
the forest floor.

When you get to the cabin, you knock on the door. There is no response. The
door is open, though. Since you're curious and are looking for a place to
hide, you enter the wooden house.

"Anyone here?" you ask.

You are answered by complete silence. The only sound you can hear is the
ticking of the rain on the windows. You enter the door on your right.

"Hello?"

You've come into a room that's most likely the living room. On the table,
there's a black suitcase. However, before you can get any chance to wonder
what might be inside, your arms are grabbed from behind and pinned against
your back. The masked man who is assaulting you, pushes you into the couch.
You cry for help while he uses a lengthy piece of rope to tightly tie your
wrists behind your back.

No one answers your cries. In fact, thanks to your mouth being open, your
captor can easily stuff it with a small towel. Before you get a chance to spit
it out, he already has a strip of duct tape in his hands which he uses to
silence you completely.

Not giving up yet, you're still shouting in the gag and struggling as much as
you can while he tries to restrain your legs. A well-aimed kick hits him in
the groin. The masked man crumples into a ball on the ground. You take this
opportunity to flee. However, when you get to the door that would lead outside
and clumsily try to pull the handle with your hands tied behind your back, you
realize to your horror that it's locked.

You throw a nervous glance at the other room. You can still hear the man
groaning in pain, but you're too overwhelmed by panic to be proud of the clean
hit. You look around for another way out. That's when you see a key lying on a
table in the hall. There's also a key still on the lock to the living room.

Deciding you should lock the door separating you from the man first, you slam
it shut with your shoulder and awkwardly manage to turn the key. You remember
that there was another exit from that room, so it wouldn't stall him for long,
though.

Knowing that every moment is precious, you now try to reach for the key that
might lead to freedom. Because you're in too much of a hurry, you accidentally
drop it on the floor. You hear how the man tries to turn the handle of the
door to the living room. He would be there soon!

Getting down on your knees, you desperately try to grab the key lying on the
floor. You breathe a sigh of relief when you finally feel the cold iron
between your fingers. You manage to get up again. Freedom is within reach!

When you try putting the key in the hole, it doesn't fit. You feel your blood
go cold in fear as you see your captor emerge through the door on the other
side of the hallway, holding one hand over his groin while cursing loudly.

You quickly look around for another escape route. The door behind you is
closed. You locked the door to the living room yourself. You could only run up
the stairs leading to the upper floor. However, in your panic and in the
semi-darkness of the hall, you miss your step and trip, your body painfully
hitting the stairs.

The man has caught up with you. Without any energy left to struggle, you let
him tape together your ankles and knees with duct tape after taking off your
shoes. His hand slips into the pockets of your jeans. You see him taking out
your cell phone and wallet.

"Don't want you getting too loud now, right?"

Your captor lifts you over his shoulder and dumps you into the dark cabinet
under the stairs, locking the door. Fear courses through your body. You are
now helplessly tied up and gagged, locked in a small room in a cabin in the
middle of nowhere with a masked man. Wondering what might become of you, you
uncomfortably lie down on the cold floor until you slowly fall asleep from
fatigue.

* * *

You wake up because your arms are aching from the uncomfortable position.
Still half asleep, you try to scratch your itching nose. That's when you
realize the situation you're still in. The thought drives away the last bit of
your sleepiness.

You wonder if it's still dark outside. There are no noises in the cabin, and
you can't hear any rain anymore either. There's a little bit of light
filtering through a crack in the cabinet's door. Except for a broomstick, it's
completely empty.

Refusing to give up, you start wriggling in your bonds. The tape doesn't let
you move your legs apart even an inch, though. The gag's also still in place,
and the ropes around your wrists stay tight. Since you are somewhat athletic,
you roll over on your back to try to move your bound arms over your buttocks
and legs. After long minutes of futile attempts, you finally succeed. Sweat is
dripping from your forehead, both from fear that your captor might hear you
and because of the constant struggling against the ropes that had been
pressing against your hands during your acrobatics.

With your hands now in front of you, you first release the tape covering your
mouth so you can spit out the gag. After taking a deep breath, you then
proceed to untie your legs. Since your captor has used a lot of tape, it takes
a while to remove all of it. Fortunately, he doesn't come to check on you yet.

Only the ropes around your wrists are left. You can't reach the knots with
your fingers, though. Desperate to get free, you try to somehow untie yourself
with your teeth. However, while you are busy biting at the ropes, you hear the
key suddenly turn in the lock. The door opens.

"Damn it!" the masked man curses when he sees the majority of your bonds
spread out on the floor.

Without hesitating, you get up and try to tackle your captor in his stomach.
However, he saw you coming. He grabs you around your shoulders and drags you
to the living room where he has left his roll of duct tape and some rope.

"Wait! I'm thirsty and I need to go to the toilet!" you shout in a panic
before he can tie you up again.

"Fine."

The man puts you on a chair, firmly securing you to it with duct tape around
your middle and legs. He leaves you alone for a second. Because you're too
afraid that he might not let you go to the toilet if you tried anything now,
you sit still until he returns with a glass of water.

The liquid tastes a bit strange, but you pay it no heed. You also get two
slices of bread. A bit revitalized by the food and drink, you ask if you can
go to the toilet now. Strangely enough, he lets you go easily, only keeping
your hands tied in front of you. He locks the door to the bathroom, telling
you to shout when you're done.

Excited that he has let his guard down, you quickly do your business before
starting your escape plan. To your relief, there is indeed a small window in
the room. Standing on the toilet seat, you can easily reach it with your arms.
Because of your tied wrists, it takes some effort, but you eventually succeed
in climbing through it. You feel slightly dizzy, but you pay it no attention.
You've finally reclaimed your freedom!

Or so you thought. After just a few steps, your head and legs start feeling
heavy. Another step forward takes way longer than it should. You slip and fall
into the mud. Before everything goes black, you see your captor walk towards
you from behind a corner of the cabin.

* * *

When you wake up with a headache and with your clothes covered in mud, you
realize that the masked man put something in your drink earlier. Still dazed,
it takes you some time to register your current situation. While you were
knocked out, your captor has apparently decided to tie you up tighter so you
wouldn't be able to escape from your bonds anymore.

You notice that your arms are securely bound behind your back again. This
time, they have been tied in parallel in such a way that each hand touches the
elbow of the other arm. To prevent you from pulling your arms sideways, your
upper arms are taped to your body with an incredible amount of duct tape. Your
legs are tied together tightly as well, with ropes around your ankles and both
below and above your knees. The towel has also been stuffed into your mouth
again.

Feeling a bit numb because of the drug, you weakly struggle in your bonds. Of
course they give no way at all. Even if you were feeling better, you'd still
be unable to get your arms in front of you again. Your captor has you
completely at his mercy now. Contemplating your fate, you listen to the sounds
outside the cabinet. It's raining again. You spend hours lying there on the
floor until you finally hear the sound of a door opening followed by
footsteps.

Had the masked man returned from a trip?

"Looks like you're awake, huh?" he says when he comes to check up on you.
"Need to pee again?"

Hoping for one last chance to escape, you nod your head. If he doesn't put you
to sleep this time, you might get a chance to flee. To your disappointment, he
doesn't take you to the bathroom. Instead, he turns on the light in the
cabinet by pushing the switch in the hall and gives you a bucket with some
toilet paper. He unties the ropes around your wrists and knees, but leaves on
the duct tape around your shoulders and the bonds around your ankles, severely
limiting your freedom of movement. When you're done, he ties you back just the
way you were before. He also offers you a glass of water, but afraid that it
might drug you again, you shake your head until he takes it back.

You spent the rest of the day in the cabinet, wriggling in your bonds while
wondering how long it would take the police to find you. Surely they were
frantically searching for you by now, right? But would they find you here, so
deep in the woods? You had told your parents that you were going out for a
walk, but you hadn't specified a place. Their chances of simply finding you
like this were close to zero.

Hungry and thirsty, you accept the bread and drink your captor offers to you
later that day. He takes off your gag and feeds you. As expected, you feel the
same fatigue as before. Not long afterward, everything goes black again.

The next day, you hear the masked man leave the house again after feeding you
and letting you use the bucket. However, you are now too weak to take this as
an opportunity to try and escape. Your bonds are too tight anyway and your
muscles are sore all over from the occasional struggles. The effect of the
drug soon sets in as well.

"Your parents agreed to pay the ransom," your captor tells you when he gets
back. "If all goes well, you should be back home by tomorrow evening."

The thought that you'll see you're parents again soon returns some energy to
you. You would only have to hold out a little longer.

You pass the day and night either asleep or wriggling around a bit while
half-awake. The next day, the masked man feeds you one last time before
lifting you over his shoulders and carrying you to the car he has been hiding
behind the cabin. There he dumps you into the trunk after blindfolding you
with a sleeping mask. You lose consciousness again.

When you wake up, you're still tied up, gagged and blindfolded. You're no
longer in the trunk. Instead, you can feel you're lying on your side in some
wet grass. Judging from the passing sounds of cars, there is a road nearby.
You listen for a while, but you don't hear any people nearby. Did he just dump
you there?

You are so close to freedom, yet it is so far away. Why isn't anyone coming
for you? After some time, the effect of the drug starts wearing off enough for
you to roll over and try to shake off the sleeping mask. You succeed. You can
now see that you're lying beneath some bushes out of the sight of the road.
Desperately, you try to squirm and roll your way towards the passing cars. It
takes you ages to move forward, but you don't give up. You have no idea why no
one was coming for you, but if no one was coming, you just had to go to them
instead.

Completely exhausted, you reach the side of the road, hoping that someone will
stop to free you. Your prayers are soon answered. An old couple steps out of
their car and finally releases you from your nightmare. After you explain the
situation to them, they let you use their cell phone to call your parents.
They even go as far as taking you to your home.

You have a touching reunion with your parents. They tell you that your captor
was a criminal wanted for dealing in illegal sleeping medicine. 'Was', because
when the police had surrounded him after he collected the hostage money, he
had panicked and fallen down a cliff before telling them where he had left
you. With your information, they find the cabin in the woods where they
confiscate his goods. They also find your shoes, wallet and cell phone.

To you, it has been a horrifying experience. However, you soon get over it.