{ " i've got fire for a heart, i'm not scared of the dark " — drag me down, one direction, 2015 }

Evie didn't know what the Black Hood's motives were, but she was still alive. After she'd been knocked out, she never expected to wake up again.

But here she was. Awake. Alive. And tied to a chair in the middle of a room in an unknown location.

She wasn't sure how long it had been since the Black Hood was last in the room. It made her think that maybe he had a job, out in the real world.

Maybe that helped in trying to identify him. Maybe it didn't. Either way, she needed to get out of there or she was going to end up dead.

By now, people would probably know she was missing, even if she wasn't sure how long it had been since the hooded murderer had taken her from outside the Andrews home.

her arms were bound with a zip tie behind her back, and also tied to the back of the chair she was uncomfortably seated in. Her ankles were also tied to the chair with zip ties. There was a rope wrapped around her abdomen as well, securing the rest of her body to the chair.

She had a Swiss Army Knife in a secret pocket in her jeans, like she always did, but she wasn't sure how to access it. If she could only get her hands on it...

She glanced around the dark room, trying to identify anything within it. There was a window to the left of her, with the blinds pulled tightly closed. She heard footsteps above her, indicating that she was most likely either at a hotel or apartment building. She could try and scream, but her mouth was covered and all she could get out was one useless squeak. Besides, the Black Hood could possibly be in an adjacent room. She didn't want to alert him by making too much noise.

She noticed that her Serpent jacket was thrown in a heap on the floor. The Hood must have taken it off so he could tie her up easier. What did he want with her, anyway? Did he mean to torture her? Why?

Nothing about this kidnapping made sense to her. Nothing.

She wanted to know why the Black Hood had taken her. He had called her a sinner before she went unconscious, which she supposed was rather true. She sinned. Quite frequently.

She wanted to know why she was still alive. Why was she special? He had tried to kill Mr. Andrews and Moose and Midge, and had not succeeded. But he had at least tried to kill them. He hadn't done anything close to attempted murder to Evie.

Not that she wanted to be killed; she didn't. She was just confused.

Right.

The knife.

She'd been so wrapped up in thought that she'd almost forgotten that she had a tool that could ease her escape.

But how to get it out... it was on her left side, the pocket sneakily hid in the waistband of her jeans. Her hands were so tightly bound, she didn't think that she could move her hands at all. But it was just her hands and feet that were stuck in place, not the rest of her. Maybe if she could move her body just the right amount, even with the rope around her abdomen, she could reach it.

She began to squirm and wiggle in the chair, trying to see how far she could reach her hand and how far she could turn in the chair.

Finally, her finger brushed the edge of it, and she grinned, knowing that she was close to getting free. She struggled a little more and finally grabbed it in her fingers. She flipped the blade out and cut through the plastic zip tie. With one hand free, she quickly cut through the ties on her other hand, around her waist, and on her ankles.

She stood, holding the knife carefully in her hand as she planned her next move. She slowly walked towards the door, then pressed her ear against it to listen for any sound to indicate that the Black Hood was in the connecting room. She didn't hear anything, so she slowly opened the door and walked out. As her foot came into contact with the floor, one of the floorboards squeaked loudly and she felt as if she almost might puke. Her heart was racing wildly. Not much in Evie's life scared her, but right now, she was terrified.

He'd been keeping her alive for some reason, but she had a suspicion that if he caught her trying to escape, she'd be dead in an instant.

She gripped the knife firmly in her hand, glad at least that she knew how to wield it.

She'd fought with men twice her size, so she could probably take on the Black Hood.

Maybe.

She made her way towards the exit of the apartment building. Where the hell was she? She glanced out one of the windows quickly, not recognizing any of her surroundings. How was she going to make it back safely to Riverdale if she didn't know where she was now?

She glanced around the kitchen, wondering if the Black Hood had stashed her cell phone anywhere. It wasn't on her anymore, but it had been when he'd kidnapped her.

There was a pile of papers scattered on the table, so she walked over to read them, thinking maybe they could be of use. She reached for a book on the table, frowning as she noticed it was a Nancy Drew book of some kind.

What the hell kind of nut job was this man? Reading juvenile mystery fiction? Or worse yet, was there a child that lived here?

She set the book down and continued to search for her phone. Maybe she should have focused on just getting the hell out of there, but she wanted to find her phone so she could find out where she was, and call someone to pick her up. Finally, she located it under a stack of newspapers.

The Black Hood reads the Riverdale Register? That was odd, to think of a murderer sitting at his kitchen table, reading the newspaper and drinking coffee or something.

She scanned the front of the newspaper, surprised to see that the headline was about her.

HOOD DEMANDS RANSOM AS 4TH VICTIM REMAINS MISSING

A ransom? The Serpents would have that paid in no time. Why did he want a ransom, though? That seemed very weird to her.

She then looked at a notepad next to the paper, which had some scribbled writing on it. It looked like he had been writing out different messages to send, and one was circled:

Pay the ransom and you can have the girl back. But, you must also stop all investigation into the Black Hood, or harm will come to more than just her.

A threat? Who was this sent to? So many people were trying to track down the Black Hood. But he was threatening Evie's life. She wondered if the message had been meant for Archie or Jughead, or even Betty.

Evie grabbed her phone off of the table and checked to see if it was dead. It felt odd for some reason, lighter, almost. The screen was also cracked. She took the case off to see that the back had been pried off, and pieces were missing.

That was smart, she supposed, from the Hood's viewpoint. No one would be able to track her phone in trying to locate her. She was rather pissed, however, as she knew she had no money to replace the device.

She left the phone on the table and took one last glance around the room before heading for the door. She stood on her tip toes to peak through the peephole in the door to see if anyone was out there. She didn't see anyone, so she carefully opened the door and ran out, heading towards where the red emergency exit sign was.

She was free at last.

author's note: so ... wow. i know it's been a little while now, but i'm still not over the death of luke perry (fred andrews). he seemed like such a humble and nice individual, and he is gone far too soon. i was so sad to hear that he had passed, especially hearing what a great guy he was, what a good father he was, and what a role model he was to the younger cast members on riverdale. this chapter and every chapter will be dedicated to luke perry. prayers & love to luke's family and friends.

- madi