Page 4 of Seducing Scylla
Elena grimaces at me. “Yeah, that’s a no-brainer, sorry. Are you feeling any better? I heard you throwing up down there.” Elena nods toward the other end of our prison.
“A little. My head won’t stop swaying though. Whatever they knocked me out with has really messed me up.”
“I thought it was just me, but I’ve been awake for a while now, so I think the drug has worn off. I thought they got my dose wrong because I’m built a little bigger than most women, but my head hasn’t stopped swaying either.”
“Huh.”
I close my eyes, hoping that’ll help with the motion. I take stock of my body and how I’m feeling. Elena is right. Besides the swaying, I feel fine now. My eyes spring open.
“We’re rocking.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Elena rolls her eyes.
“No, not swaying. Rocking. This, whatever this is,” I gesture to our enclosure, “is rocking. The room is rocking!”
“Wha—”
Re-invigorated, I scramble to sit up, pushing my legs back under me. I fall forward, my head landing in Elena’s lap.
“Do you mind?” she grumbles.
“Sorry.” My grunt is muffled by her leg as I use it for leverage to stand up.
I turn to where the light filters through one of the holes behind us and walk over to it, careful not to accidentally trip over anyone again. I reach up on my toes to peer through the hole, the light searing my eyes after sitting in the dark for so long. I hiss, pulling away sharply and blinking away the spots dancing in my vision. Slowly, I peer back through the hole, careful to keep my eye half closed until it adjusts this time.
Bright white morphs into a palate of rusty browns, greens, and reds. A sea of steel in every direction. I let out a sharp breath.
“We’re in a shipping container,” I whisper.
“You can’t be serious?”
I turn back around to face Elena, eyes wide, and nod; although my eyes are adjusting back to the darkness so I can’t see her.
Elena huffs as I hear her moving. I can make out her shadowy form attempting to stand up. There’s some shuffling and one of the holes on Elena’s side of the container is suddenly covered by her head as she peers out. The cogs in my head are slowly turning.
“The only reason we’d be in a shipping container is if—” I whisper.
“We’re on a ship,” Elena cuts me off.
“No, no, no, no. This is not good. I mean, this whole thing is not good, but this isreallynot good. How are we supposed to be rescued if we’re in the middle of the freaking ocean?!” I screech, not caring if anyone hears me this time. Someone stirs and groans.
“I wouldn’t worry about that so much as I would worry about this storm rolling in. The sky is looking pretty nasty out there. It’s about to get rough.”
As Elena points it out, I notice that the rocking has indeed increased. I groan, sliding down the wall onto my butt, and bang my head against the metal in frustration. How could this possibly get any worse?
The storm is upon us in minutes. Rain thunders violently on the steel roof in rapid sheets of water. Some of the other women have woken from their drug-induced slumber, and most have also emptied the contents of their stomachs on the container floor. The sour stench now permeates the darkness. Someone cries softly while another attempts to comfort them as much as they’re able with their hands bound.
That’s something I noticed. We’re all women, we’re all bound, we were all drugged, and from the sounds of it, we were all taken while out by ourselves over the last few days. Assuming we haven’t been unconscious for that long. For all we know, our captors have been repeatedly dosing us and it’s been weeks. That’s a sobering thought.
How many of us have people back home? How many of us have someone who would notice we were missing? I had no one. Well, Joe would probably notice when I didn’t show up for my shift at the library tomorrow. But no one intimately, no family either. Myparents died a few years back and I’m an only child, which is really convenient for my captors.
“You got someone back home who’ll notice you’re gone?” I ask Elena.
“My coach.” She pauses. “No one else. Things weren’t really great when I was taken either. I’d mentioned I was thinking about quitting swimming. He didn’t take it too well. He’ll probably think I’ve run off or something… I-I don’t know if he’d look all that hard for me, you know? Not like family would, or a partner.”
I nod in understanding, the same thought playing in my mind. Joe might ask around, but what else can he really do? He isn’t family. I don’t think he could even file a missing person’s report.
Our steel prison pitches back and forth with the storm, the ocean seeming intent on battering the ship with tremendous force. I ease onto my side, the ache of trying to remain upright against the tilting a losing battle. Suddenly, a violent grinding rips through the air. Tense silence falls over us. We continue to rock back and forth like we’re a bunch of kids on a seesaw, but way less fun. Another screech, like the sharp grinding of metal on metal. We shift suddenly, those ofus on my side are shunted forward into the women on the opposite wall. Elena grunts as I land on her again.
