Page 70 of Back To Our Beginning

I hurt. Bad. Everywhere.

I opened my eyes.

I can’t see!

My heart started racing. Why couldn’t I see? I groaned, but I couldn’t hear it. I tried to move my lips, but they didn’t work. I tried again and felt something sticky.

Duct tape.

Everything came rushing back. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose. Good, my nose was free. No duct tape there. I tried to move. I rolled, but my arms and legs weren’t working. I was tied up.

Probably more duct tape.

I took stock of my body. The duct tape had been wrapped around my upper arms, down to my wrists. Then on my legs, I was taped just around my knees. So, I could move a little bit.

I kept my eyes open, trying to acclimate to the dark. Yeah, I hurt, but now was not the time to be a wimp.

I felt myself breathing too fast.

Keep it together, Avery. Don’t have a panic attack! Not now. You can have one after you’re safe.

I blinked. My eyes began to sting.

No! No crying.

You don’t get to cry, and you don’t get to panic.

I could feel my eyes watering.

No. No. No!

What would Drake do?

What would Evie do?

What would Beau do?

They wouldn’t fucking cry. They’d fight. So that’s what I’ll do. No panic. No tears. Just survive. Just like Beau would.

My shoulders slumped.

My eyes had finally acclimated, and I saw I was next to a water heater. Then I saw an electrical panel on the wall. The room smelled of motor oil and was drafty. I might not be able to do much with my arms, but I could at least move my lower legs. I bent my knees, and slowly spun around on my side. I saw a garage door.

I was in a garage.

I slowly rolled over, and the room began to spin. My head felt like somebody had shoved a spike through my temple.

I was lying on a cement floor.

When I no longer felt like I had taken some kind of magic mushroom, I saw a workbench with some tools hung up above it. But not many. I blinked to clear my head. Then I realized most of the tools were strewn all over the bench. Wait a minute, there were belt buckles hung up, too. That didn’t make any sense.

I closed my eyes, trying to think, to focus on what was important.

I opened them again and saw an open toolbox on the floor beside the chair in front of the workbench. Maybe there was something in there I could eventually use.

I looked around the room a little more, but I couldn’t see the door. I needed to roll some more to find out where Grizz would come from. There was no way I wanted to be taken by surprise. Not again.

I began to roll.