The first thing you feel is movement.

A violent jolt throws your body sideways, your shoulder slamming painfully into cold metal. Your eyes snap open into complete darkness, confusion hitting before panic follows seconds later. The space around you is impossibly cramped, the air thick with the smell of chemicals and dampness.

Your breathing quickens.

You reach upward instinctively, only for your palm to collide hard against metal inches above your face.

The trunk.

Oh god.

Memories flash in fragments, leaving the bar alone, cold air against your skin, footsteps somewhere behind you…

Then nothing.

Your pulse pounds violently in your ears as the car speeds over uneven roads, every bump rattling the tiny space around you. You can barely hear anything outside besides the faint hum of music somewhere in the front seats and the low roar of the engine beneath you.

Think.

Your shaking hands fumble through your pockets desperately, relief nearly making you cry when your fingers brush against your phone. The screen lights up weakly in the darkness.

One bar.

You hit emergency call before it can disappear.

The ringing feels endless.

Then finally…

“911, what’s your emergency?”

The voice is calm. Steady.

You clamp a hand over your mouth instinctively, keeping your voice barely above a whisper. “I’ve been kidnapped,” you choke out. “I’m in the trunk of a car…! I don’t know where I am-”

There’s typing on the other end of the line before the operator speaks again, somehow even calmer than before.

“Alright. You did the right thing by calling.” His voice is low, controlled. “My name is Leon. I need you to stay quiet for me, okay?”

Your breathing shakes as tears sting your eyes.

“I can’t see anything,” you whisper. “I can barely hear…”

“That’s alright,” Leon says quickly. “Just focus on my voice.”

The car suddenly swerves sharply, throwing you painfully against the side of the trunk. A cry escapes before you can stop it.

“Hey, stay with me,” Leon says immediately, firmer now. “You’re doing good.”

You squeeze the phone tighter, curled into yourself in the suffocating darkness while the car continues down some unknown road.

Then, after a brief pause, his voice softens again.

“Can you tell me your name?”