SAWYER

I have been looking up to this very moment ever since I found out the truth, waiting in anticipation for about past couple of years of my life.

I pull up on the opposite side of the road in a rented Toyota Corolla, parking down on the right side of the peaceful lane in the countryside, just outside the mansion. I look down at the phone in my right hand to verify the location that I had marked on Google Maps, then looked up towards the house again.

Well, this is it.

The villa is pretty much surrounded by houses of similar sizes. The residents in the area seem pretty well off, judging by the sizes and extravagance of their beautifully decorated homes.

The mansion is giving off a fascinatingly nostalgic renascence feels, something straight out of a Shakespearean play. The colour on the walls is brown and well maintained in spite of being a little faded, but the windows have classy blue lace curtains that match the walls in that room visible on the first floor and the whole house is deprived of even a single speck of dust. The inhabitants give the impression like they enjoyed a taste of classical heritage and old historical buildings. They seem to be extremely precise and somewhat OCDied about cleaning and maintenance (just like I have been, ever since childhood). This whole property seems like an ancestral estate, most likely passed on in the same family for multiple generations.

The mansion has a huge lawn with a beautifully colourful and green garden around the main building. The whole estate probably covering about a hectare of land. The lawn is carpeted with soft and freshly mowed green grass, and the newly blossomed chrysanthemums smiling under the noon summer sunlight. The main property is enclosed by a short metal fence, about five feet tall with spikes on top.

I pause to take in the chirping of birds perched on the tall banyan tree in the lawn around the house, while I am standing still in the same position, while my knees start shaking and getting weaker by the second, and the ground appears to start moving a little.

I start experiencing overwhelming excitement now as I could feel closer to my destination than I had ever been.

I lock my car door and start walking towards the entrance of the house. I feel knots in my stomach, and the adrenaline starts pumping up. I am yet to make a decision on if I am feeling angry and rejected or excited and accomplished. My hands feel clammy and I sense sweat starting to form between my thighs, just under my brand new three-piece suit. It feels like I am going to a job interview with a lot of expectations from myself and the job itself.

Do I have a chance to turn back now? I could just run away, can't I? Though, I must have been seen through the windows by now. If I do not go up to the door right now, they would probably assume me to be a creep and report me. Or maybe not. I could simply pull it off by saying that I got the wrong address.

Various questions start flooding my head while I slowly walk on an inch-elevated stone pathway, with about one feet breadth, laid right in the middle of the lawn, leading towards the main door.

It could turn out to be either of the two things- it could go surprisingly successful, or it could go tremendously terrible. There is no possible balanced median for this one. This very moment may perhaps have a huge impact on the rest of my life.

I tentatively ring the doorbell, and I observe my right hand shaking while I bring it down next to my hip. With a bouquet of pink and white carnations under my other arm, clutched to my chest, I wait for the door to be answered.

Would have lilies or tulips been more appropriate for the situation at hand? Or perhaps a bottle of wine would have been better?
Or am I even supposed to be carrying a gift?

I am going to meet her, here and now, at last!

My head feels heavy and my eyes hurt to the point that I legit would like to spoon them out of the sockets. I try moving my hands that are somehow tied behind my back, so an attempt in vain. I slit open my eyes sluggishly to realise that it was almost dark, but there appears to be a small source of light radiating from my left-hand side.

I try to get up from my crossed-legged sitting posture to move in the direction of the source of light, to realise that my legs are being pulled back towards the ground in the same position, just like my hands. I look down to see my legs tied to a long and thick iron chain.

I AM IN CHAINS?

I move my butt and somehow crawl and turn to be able to get a look behind me, to observe that my hands and legs are tied up by means of a bigger chain to the cemented ground.

I feel my chest rising up, feeling heavier tha usual, as my forehead piles up with droplets of sweat. My throat starts choking up as I start feeling incapable of breathing as well.

"Is somebody there?" I call out to the dark grey walls with all the physical and emotional strength that is still left in me.

I suddenly feel my adrenaline kick in and without giving it much thought, I start struggling with the chains in efforts to simply break out of them like I am Hulk or something for about the next thirty seconds or so. As soon as the realisation kicks in, I put an end to wasting my energy on unproductive struggles. A classic illustration of energy being expended, devoid of any work taking place with any positive results.

"HELP! HELP!" I start crying out again to the eerie empty room, which questionably seems like the underground chamber of an abductor in any crime flick.

"IS SOMEBODY THERE?"

Am I kidnapped? WHY? Where am I? What would anyone possibly get from kidnapping me?

I turn my body around to face the source of light to my left, trying not to entangle the chains. There was a small old-fashioned yellow coloured light bulb that seemed like it would start flickering anytime during a bad horror movie.

Who brought me here though?

And the worse part, why couldn't I remember anything that could bring me to these circumstances?