Page 124 of Corrupted Heart

My pulse thuds as I slowly back away from the door, my breath coming shallowly as I press myself into the far corner of the car, staring at the door, waiting for him to yank it open and rip me out.

The seconds tick by. Then minutes. Then what feel like several more. I swallow the lump in my throat, my breath still shaky and ragged as my eyes dart around the back seat of the town car.

“Hello?” I whisper quietly. I shudder, clearing my throat. “Hello?” I say again, louder this time, waiting for something. Anything. Even for my abductor to laugh at me, honestly. Anything to give me any idea of what’s going on.

There’s nothing.

I grab the door behind me to pull myself up from the little ball I’ve curled into. When I do, my fingers slip over the door handle, pulling it.

The door clicks and suddenly swings wide.

With a gasp, I half-fall, half-scramble out. I whirl, almost expecting the mustachioed driver to be waiting to lunge at me. When I don’t see him, I scrape up all my courage and creep around to the other side of the car, to see if he’s crouched down and waiting.

But no. I’m alone.

I shiver in the cool air, rubbing my arms and glancing around. My chest tightens as a cold, dangerous shiver drags a blade up my spine.

I’m alone in the woods.

There’s not a single light. Not from a house, not from a streetlamp. Nothing. Shuddering, my eyes widen, trying to see into the darkness. I’m in a small clearing, the car parked at the end of a little, barely-paved road, a driveway to nowhere. There’s nothing here—just a dead end, the clearing, and the vast, dark woods, looming and leering down at me.

Raw fear knots in my stomach. I whip around, my breath coming fast as my eyes stab into the shadowy, inky blackness. There’s no sign of the driver, but then a thought hits me, and suddenly, I’m yanking the driver’s side door open to see if the keys are…

No.

But what I do see chills me to the bone.

Laid across the driver’s seat is a longish male wig, a glue-on fake mustache, dark sunglasses…

My eyes widen, a cold, eviscerating feeling stabbing into my gut.

And a black and white photo of me, walking out of the stage door of the Mercury Theater.

A snapping sound, maybe a stick breaking, sends my heart into my throat. I whirl as panic chemicals flood my system. My heart rate goes through the roof, my skin prickling to a million goosebumps as a wrenching shiver claws up my neck.

Another snap, from the woods at the other side of the clearing this time.

I start to pant, my breath shallow and disjointed. My pulse skips, and my skin turns clammy and cold.

What the fuck is this.

“H-hello?” I croak.

In the distance, an owl hoots. Something small rustles in a nearby tree.

A stick cracks violently behind me.

I whirl again, feeling my throat close as panic sets in. I whip around to stab my gaze into the front seat of the town car. With a cry that I swallow back, I lurch across the driver’s seat and grab my phone, which is still plugged into the charger.

It’s even on.

My hands shake as I snatch it out and scramble to unlock it.

Instantly, my hopes turn to ash in my hands.

There’s no cell signal.

I shiver violently.

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