Kyla’s Secret

Kyla fought hard against the wave of awareness tugging at her. She wanted to remain oblivious to the pain and suffering she was enduring from the crazed lunatics who held her hostage with nothing but pure evil in mind. Consciousness meant being able to feel the pain both physically and emotionally, and so she preferred to sink deeper and deeper into a safe well of nothingness. In that deep, dark pit of oblivion, she could feel no pain. She couldn’t think of her friends and family back home or wonder if she’d ever live to see them again. She couldn’t think of doing the things she loved best. She couldn’t think of the sea spray against her skin as she sailed along the ocean in her father’s sailboat. She couldn’t think of the future lover she would never meet and spend her life with. But sweet, wonderful oblivion couldn’t keep its grip on her forever. With great reluctance, the pain pulled her further and further into awareness. Her eyes fluttered open to a blinding light that pierced her eyes and then seemingly her brain. Kyla moaned as waves of pain stabbed at her head. Instinctively, she went to reach her hands to her head but found they wouldn’t move. She then realized they were bound at her sides. She was lying naked on a cool, hard surface she guessed to be a steel gurney of sorts. Trying to move her legs also proved futile, for they were bound just like her arms. She became aware of a presence in the room, and panic began to overwhelm her. Her eyes darted around and then she spotted the strange Black man sitting in the shadowy corner. A slow grin pulled across his face, glowing against his dark skin. The tendrils of fear snaked throughout Kyla’s veins as she lay there naked and helpless. “Well, hello there, girly,” said the man. “Welcome back to the real world.” “What the fuck’s going on?” Kyla demanded, trying to keep the fear from her voice. “Now, now, no need to get all huffy. Everything’s going to be just fine. You’re very lucky, in fact.” “What are you talking about? Who are you?” “My name’s Earl,” he said, rising from his seat. “They were all set to kill your pretty little ass for trying to run. Don’t usually get ’em as feisty as you. Most succumb to the fear and become more like obedient little robots. But not you, eh? No, not you.” He flashed a smile she might have considered handsome and soothing if it weren’t for the grim circumstances. “What the fuck’s going on, asshole?” Instead of being offended by the profanity, he chuckled as if genuinely amused. “Yeah, yous too feisty for this place, right?” “Then just get rid of me and I’ll forever look the other way.” Another chuckle. “Oh no, my little pretty. I’m afraid it don’t work that way. You goin’ overseas.” “What?!” Kyla’s heart slammed into her chest like a train into a brick wall. “What the fuck are you talking about?” “Relax.” “Relax my fucking ass! Untie me now!” The amusement left Earl’s ebony eyes and something sinister slipped in to replace it. “Now listen, you loud-mouthed bitch. You’re going overseas and that’s that. Uncle Earl here damn well saved your ass and you’re going to be a little more grateful—or at least pretend to be, you hear?” The last thing Kyla wanted to do was agree with these people, so she remained quiet instead. Earl stepped over to her and untied an arm. “Your shipping crate’s waiting for you at the dock and you need to—” The door to the room sprang open and Earl spun around to face Maddy. “We may have a problem,” she said. “Come here.” Earl spun back around to Kyla. “You stay put.” “She still tied up tight?” Maddy asked him. “Yeah, she ain’t going nowhere.” Kyla quickly placed her untied arm by her side, hoping Earl would forget he’d freed it—or that Maddy wouldn’t notice and demand he tie it back down. Instead, he stepped out of the room. “Wassup?” he asked as Maddy closed the door. Their voices outside were too faint for Kyla to make out any words. Then, with a sinking heart, she remembered Earl saying she was going overseas and something about a shipping crate. Kyla had once watched a movie about a kidnapped woman thrown into a large wooden crate and shipped overseas to be a sex slave in who knew what country. Would that be her fate if she didn’t figure a way out? Well, I’m not about to comply with these sickos long enough to find out, she thought bitterly. With the hand that had been untied, Kyla freed her other arm, which had been bound with a Velcro tie. Then she reached down and undid the ties on her legs. As she did this, she noticed someone had bandaged her cut foot, which throbbed and burned with a vengeance. Heart thumping wildly, she glanced at the closed door and slid off the table. The voices seemed to move a bit further away. Trying to ignore the pain in her foot when she put pressure on it, she looked around for anything she could wear, even a blanket to wrap around herself. She spotted what looked like a hospital johnny hanging from a hook at the foot of the table. She yanked it off and quickly tied it on. She was dismayed to see that the small room had only one door. There was no way she could escape through it without being caught—especially with an injured foot. Kyla knew she needed to plan an attack before she could plan an escape. There was no sense trying to make a move she had no chance of pulling off. Her eyes scanned the room, which looked even more like a doctor’s office than the other one had. She spotted some instruments sitting on a counter along the back wall and hobbled over. Suddenly she heard footsteps running outside and then frantic voices shouting. Kyla was never so scared in her life. Her fear was so great she thought she might faint, but she willed herself to grab the sharpest, scariest-looking tool she could find. She had no idea what they were used for. They looked like strange, foreign surgical tools from another planet. Kyla snatched up something that looked like a scalpel with a curvy edge. Next, she quickly scuttled behind the door, hoping to surprise whoever came in. She knew her chances were slim. She might simply graze the person—if she was lucky. Even if her blow was less than harmful… if there was more than one of them… Stop it! You can’t think like that! she silently screamed to herself. You’ve got to try something, for doing nothing is a sure and guaranteed way to get absolutely nowhere. The shouts escalated, but Kyla was no closer to figuring out what was going on. Oh, please let them be freaking out because their asses have been caught, she silently begged. Then again, if they knew someone was on to them, that might cause them to panic and go on a killing spree. No witnesses, no testimony. “There’s no time for that!” she finally made out, and then the shouting seemed to move further away. The next thing she heard were screams—presumably from other hostages—followed by a series of popping sounds. Gunshots! Certain she was next, Kyla chose to run rather than wait for someone to come and shoot her or ship her off to some sickos in another country. Heart beating painfully and breathing nearly to the point of hyperventilation, she slowly opened the door and peered out. She was toward the end of a long hallway, which she guessed to be at the opposite end of the warehouse from where she’d been before being rendered unconscious. She heard shouts and screams but couldn’t see anyone. She glanced in the other direction and saw a steel, windowless door. She charged toward it as fast as she could. Not surprisingly, the damn door was locked tight. There were about three doors on each side of the hallway. She glanced back and forth between them undecidedly. Come on, she urged herself. Pick a door. You can’t stand in one spot all day or all night or whatever the hell it is. She dashed into the room at the end of the hall, opposite the one she’d woken up in. If she couldn’t escape through a door, maybe there was a window. But that room didn’t have a window any more than the other one had. Back out into the hall she went, still aware of the shouting further down. She pulled open the middle door and stopped dead in her tracks. A beautiful Asian girl lay naked and tied to a metal table much like the one Kyla had been bound to. This girl was gagged as well, fearfully shaking her head with violent jerks. Tears slipped down her face. All Kyla could do was stare in stunned horror.