Page 138 of Until Joy

I nodded weakly and closed my eyes. I listened to her gathering her things, heard her footsteps moving toward what I assumed was the front door.

“I love you, Joy,” she called out. “I'm going to fix this. I promise.”

The door slammed shut, and a few seconds later I heard a car engine starting up. I waited until the sound faded completely before I opened my eyes and looked around.

I was alone.

The relief was so intense it almost made me dizzy. For the first time since she'd grabbed me in the parking garage, I was alone and unsupervised. This was my chance.

I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. The movement sent fresh waves of nausea through me, and I had to pause and breathe deeply to keep from throwing up again. Whatever drug she'd given me was still in my system, making everything harder than it should be.

But I didn't have time to wait for it to wear off. I had to move now, while I had the chance.

I swung my legs off the couch and managed to get myself into a sitting position. The room spun around me for a few seconds, but it gradually stabilized. I looked down at the ropes around my wrists and ankles. They were tight, but not impossibly so. Miss Baker of the Year had to have a knife somewhere to cut her cake.

First, though, I wanted to see if there was a way to call for help. Glenda had mentioned being fifteen minutes from the pharmacy, which meant we weren’t that remote. What’s more, she had internet connectivity. But maybe there was a landline anyway, or maybe her laptop wasn’t locked. A girl could hope.

I stood up carefully, testing my balance. The room swayed a little, but I managed to stay upright. With my ankles tied together, I had to take tiny shuffle steps, but I could move.

The laptop was still open on the kitchen table. I made my way over to it as quickly as I could manage and looked at the screen.

Fuck. It had the screen saver on.

I wondered if my purse and cell phone were around, but I wasn’t going to take the time to look for them. Right now, I needed to get my slow ass moving. I shuffled to the kitchen to find a knife.

I started opening drawers when I found the knives. The one that my tied hands could handle was the paring knife.

It wasn't very big, but the blade was sharp enough. I picked it up carefully, trying not to cut myself with my hands still bound, and made my way back to the couch.

Cutting the ropes turned out to be harder than I'd expected. The drug was still making me clumsy, and twice I nearly dropped the knife.

Finally, I managed to position the blade against the rope around my left wrist and began sawing back and forth. It was slow going, and my wrists were getting scraped by the rope as I worked, but gradually I could feel it starting to give way.

When the rope finally snapped, the relief was incredible. I rubbed my raw wrists, trying to get the circulation flowing again. Then I quickly cut the ropes around my ankles.

I was free.

Now I just had to get out of here before Glenda came back.

I gave myself one minute to look around for my purse, my phone, anything that might help me figure out where I was or call for help. But I didn't see any of my belongings anywhere. Glenda must have left them in the car or hidden them somewhere I couldn't find.

I went to the front door and stepped outside. I could see the lake through the trees. I couldn’t see a path down to it, just a dirt road leading away from the cabin with tire tracks on it. I had no idea how much time had passed, but I didn’t want to be on that road when Glenda could be driving back to the cabin. My best shot was hiding in the woods. I knew damn good and well that Graham and the guys would have a lock on this place before the day was out. My job was to stay away from Betty Psycho Crocker until then.

I turned and headed to the back of the cabin and saw a clearing, then the tree line, before I could get to the trees I heard a car engine.

Fuck!

I needed to get a move on.

Had I closed the cabin door?

“Joy!” Glenda shrieked.

Guess that answered that question. I’d left the cabin door open.

“Where are you, Joy? Are you playing hide and seek?”

Oh, she didn’t sound so good. No, she sounded like every single horror movie I’d ever watched. The ones where the lady tried to use candy lure you to the bad guy.