Chrissie woke up to find herself in a container-like box. She looked around her as if in a daze, but it didn't take long for her to recollect what had led to her being in such a place. Then her heart sank. She was practically lost to her loved ones, locked up in a box anywhere on the planet. She knew she had taken her phone with her to the party, but right now.. she could not find it or anything else for that matter, except the clothes she had on her. They probably were taken by whoever had abducted her, and Hannah had been part of it! The thought of her best friend betraying her made her break down and cry.
She regretted leaving her old friends for Hannah, who had taught her to live a trendy lifestyle and then ended it all by luring her into this mess. She thought about her father.. oh poor Dad. She imagined his panic and frustration on finding that she was missing. Would he be able to find her and rescue her? She imagined Aunt Summer's anger slowly turning into panic and fear that she would never be found. And her other aunt, Tracy.. oh God, she failed everyone she knew and loved, all for some crazy party! She vowed there and then never to attend parties again if God would give her a second chance and save her from this hole.
When she had exhausted her tears and crying felt much harder than when she had first started, Chrissie decided to explore her surroundings, hoping to find a means of escape. She searched for windows, but there was only one. It was many feet away from her reach and too small for her to climb through even if she could reach it. She tried the door, pushing and pulling it with all her strength, but it didn't move an inch, it didn't even make a sound. Already looking defeated and feeling hopeless, she decided to try the floor. It was covered with hay, some of which were still stuck to her face, hair and clothes, but she didn't care. The only thing she wanted to do was to find a means of escape. The hay on the floor was thick, many inches deep and the smell wasn't unpleasant, assuring her that it was not once a residence of some filthy animal. She proceeded to dig through, searching for nothing in particular, just something to give her hope.
She was still at work, shuffling aside the hay when suddenly, she heard a click in the door. Before she could say Jack, it was open and she felt a welcome blast of fresh air and sunlight. The light was so bright that she had to shade her eyes from its glare with her hand. It took some time for her to get used to it and to find that someone was actually standing at the entrance. It was a young man carrying a little tray.
“Looking for something?”, he asked, his eyes switching from her hands to her face.
“Uh.. um.. no,” Chrissie stammered and quickly covered up the hole she had created.
“I brought you some food,” he said and dropped the tray inside the box, but didn't enter.
As he left the glare of the sunlight to drop the tray, Chrissie's caught a glimpse of his features. He was young and quite handsome, but dressed a little like someone who did manual jobs. He wasn't shabby or filthy, but he looked quite like a workman. His muscled arms, callused hands, work boots and old clothes all gave Chrissie the impression that he worked on a farm. He really did not look dangerous to her.
After dropping the tray, he hesitated a little as if he wanted to say something, but decided against it and turned around, ready to lock the door. Chrissie could have been contented with watching him for the rest of the day, but the fact that he would lock the door before leaving jarred her out of her quiet observation.
“Hey,” she called out to him. “Um... why am I here?”
“Don't know.”
He hesitated again and then turned to go.
“Is Hannah here?”, Chrissie asked again.
“Don't know who that is.”
“So who brought me here then?”
“Mr. Alvarez's men.”
“Who's Mr. Alvarez?”
He fell silent. There was no hesitation. Just stony silence that was clear enough to be attributed to refusal to divulge such information. Finding her question unanswered and guessing the reason for his silence, Chrissie quickly changed topics.
“I'm Chrissie. What's your name?”
“Clyde,” he answered, meeting her gaze for the first time.
“Clyde. That sounds nice and you look handsome too.”
She followed the compliment with a shaky smile. She tried to look confident, even though confidence was one thing she wasn't feeling. Her heart was beating as loud as a drum. She was scared of failure. All she wanted to do was draw him out and keep him in the conversation long enough to get some information and perhaps to escape too, if possible. Clyde, on the other hand, if he felt surprised when she asked for his name, then he felt nothing short of shock on hearing her compliment.
“Uh.. Th.. Thanks,” he stuttered.
Chrissie, more scared than ever that he would run away, quickly flashed him a wider smile. It seemed to have the desired effect of breaking down any resistance he might have left.
“Please sit. You must be tired of standing.”
Wordlessly, he took a seat on the edge of the box and deliberately faced away from her. She bit her lip at this and pulled the tray closer to herself. She inspected the food. It was clean enough, but very little. Just a few slices of cheese, bread and cold meat. She had no way of knowing if it was poisoned or not, but she reasoned that they would have killed her long ago if they wanted to. So after a silent prayer, she crossed herself and started to eat cautiously. Looking up, she saw Clyde watching her intently. He quickly looked away as their eyes met.
“You can join me,” she invited.
“Thanks. I'm fine.”
“Please,” she insisted.
He glanced at her and she smiled encouragingly, so he took a morsel and put it to his mouth.
After the third morsel, Chrissie decided to try her luck again.
“So where're you from?”
“California,” he answered absently.
“Wow,” Chrissie exclaimed, all smiles, showing her dimpled cheeks. “Me too!”
“Really?”, Clyde seemed surprised and perhaps a little pleased.
“Yeah! So does your family live there?”
“Yeah," he nodded.
“Wow.”
Chrissie was quiet for a while. She was turning something over in her head. She didn't want to say anything that would annoy him or push him away.
“So where exactly in California?”, she asked.
“Oakland.”
“Nice. I've lived all my life in LA. So how many siblings do you have? Wait! Lemme guess.. Three?”
“Nah,” Clyde answered with a slight smile.
“Four?”
“Nope.”
“Okay. Five then?”
“No,” he chuckled.
“Six?!”
“Christ no,” he laughed. “Just two. Betty and Barbie.”
Chrissie was glad and relieved to see him laugh and she was determined to keep up the tempo of the conversation. In fact, she was beginning to enjoy the conversation herself.
“Are they older or younger.. than you?”
“One older one younger. Barbie's older.”
“Wow. Barbie.. Clyde.. Betty. BCB. Fun!”
He laughed again.
“So are they very beautiful.. more than I am?”, she asked, with an arrogant toss of her head.
There was a short silence.
“You're a rich kid,” he suddenly murmured, somewhat bitterly.
Chrissie almost bit off her lip. She had succeeded in making him chat and laugh, but had now everything was ruined because of her big mouth! He was absently cutting and throwing pieces of hay with a hard expression, all the smile gone from his face. Chrissie's heart beat wildly. She looked desperately around, searching for some means of getting him to be chatty again.
“Look!”, she suddenly shouted, pointing to a beautifully colored butterfly, flying just outside the container. “Isn't it lovely!”
“Yeah,” he replied faintly, quite captivated by the sight.
Chrissie thought she had him back, but suddenly a loud ringing sound blared from his pocket. It was his phone. He rushed to answer the call.
“Sir.”
Chrissie could not hear the other side of the conversation. She would give anything just to know who was speaking, and what was being said! Or was it Hannah? But her snake of a friend was certainly not a 'sir'. Clyde seemed to be listening to instructions now. He nodded several times and his face looked quite serious. After the call had ended, he pocketed the phone and stood up.
“Sorry, but Mr. Alvarez wants you.”
Oh, so I get to meet Mr. Alvarez at last, Chrissie thought. She was half-glad to have a chance to meet her kidnapper and she was curious what he was like and what he wanted from her. She didn't dare ask Clyde these things for fear of him getting mad at her. Right now, he was the only semi-friend she had here and she was not sure of having any other, so their good rapport had to remain intact.
As she walked beside him, she eyed his pocket from time to time. She had deliberately chosen to walk at the side where he had pocketed the phone. The moment the call ended was when she made the decision to steal the phone. But now that she was in a position to do it, her courage failed her. Her hands were shaking and wet from sweat. Later.. not now. She would try to steal the phone later.
The place looked wild and yet serene and quiet. Now that she was out of her cage, Chrissie didn't hesitate to look around her. It was a large area entirely covered by tall but soft grasses. She thought she saw something like a perimeter fence encircling the area, but the sun was so bright that she couldn't rule out the fact that her eyes could be deceiving her.
The whole area was occupied by the grasses, the only exception being around the lone building which was a long, but bungalow-like structure. It looked as if it had been white at some point in its life, but time had certainly changed it a lot that it was now more brown than anything else. The house and her container cage seemed to be the only structures around and both were not very far apart, just a few dozen yards or so. If Mr. Alvarez would be anywhere, he must be in that building. And it was there that Clyde led her.