“Maeve,”

…

“Maeve?”

…

“Maeve!”

I feel someone push on my shoulder trying to wake me. It takes me a bit to fully wake up. My head hurts and it’s hard to see. I wait for my eyes to adjust. Dylan is shaking me awake.

“Dylan” I say. I have so many questions. But the most I can get out is, “are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay. Are YOU okay?” He asked urgently.

“No. My head is pounding.” I raise my hands to my head and am reminded that they are tied together. My wrists hurt. That guy, Mitch, must have tightened them more.

“Oh! Here let me help you.” Dylan takes a small pocket knife out of his back pocket. He snaps the binds and he gently massages my wrists getting the blood flow back to fingertips. The sensation is overwhelming as I watch him.

“There” he says letting go of my hands, sending me right back to reality.

I slowly take in our surroundings. The concrete floor is cold on my feet. It looks like we are in an unfinished basement. And it actually seems to be someone’s makeshift bedroom with a nicely made bed in the corner, a few stacked boxes, and a bookshelf, all on top of a neat area rug. There’s a lamp on the bookshelf and a few books. It’s a pretty clean room with a few storage items lining the other walls. On the wall opposite the bed, here’s old wooden stairs with a railing leading up to, what I assume to be, the first floor of the house. Whose house?

“Uh.. where are we?” I ask praying he knows the answer.

“I don’t know” he says looking around the room.

“Dylan what is going on?” I ask looking up at him as he brings his gaze back to meet mine.

Instead of answering my question he tucks my hair behind my ear. Then slowly brings his hand up to the cut I have from early today at the bookstore. I reach up to take his hand away.

“Dylan” I pry.

He takes a deep breath and looks away from me. I get nervous. Does he actually know what’s happening?

“Do you remember when I was telling you about the bookshop being my uncle’s business?” He asks.

“That’s pretty much all I remember from that conversation. I don’t even remember his name.” I reply.

“Well his name is Uncle Billy and he doesn’t only sell books.” Dylan pauses, glancing at me, probably trying to gauge my reaction to what he is about to say. “He was telling me about a deal that he had last month. He was supposed to sell a bunch of drugs and turn in the money. They gave him until last week to collect. He used more than he sold and didn’t make enough profit. They told him they would make him pay. This must be what they decided.”

My thoughts are racing. Drugs?? Why take me? What’s the end game? If he pays back all the money will they let us go?

But the only thing I can make out is, “who’s they?”

“I’m not sure. My uncle would explain them as the big guys. I think the guys who brought us here must work for them. I heard them taking about my uncle earlier”

“Okay? So what are we gonna do? We have to get out of here!” I say urgently.

“It’s okay Maeve these guys are harmless”

“Do you know them??” I ask but he continues on.

“They cheated with the gas. I can take them no problem.” He says confidently. “We just have to wait for them to come down here”

I think back to all of my recently harmful interactions with these people. Definitely not harmless.

“Dylan they took you out in minutes. When you were passed out I tried to fight them off too but I couldn’t. I really don’t think this is a good idea.” I explain.

And just like that, the locks for the basement door click open.