Page 120 of A Foster Fling

HURT IN THE PANES, STRIFE IN THE GROUT, SCREAMS ALWAYS HEARD FROM THE DREADED HELL HOUSE.

I’m oddly grateful that I had a full meal before drinking because all of the turning and speeding in the first ten minutes of the drive would have had me choking on my own vomit with nothing to absorb the alcohol. I was so focused on breathing evenly that I lost track of lefts and rights and now have no chance of figuring out where the hell we are. At some point we made it far enough away that I could barely hear the whistle of the train that cut through town.

Which means we’re in the middle of nowhere, fancy that. The sound was also behind us, so I know that we were going east and that meant he had driven in an entire circle around town just to continue the direction we had been initially going. He’s trying to throw me, or someone else, off.

I manage to stretch my legs and roll to my back. I’m in the cargo area and guessing by my legs being stretched fully, the second-row seats are folded down; Probably to give him a good view of me in his mirror. He drives in complete silence with the windows up and AC off despite it being over eighty degrees outside.

Something tells me he’s trying to unsettle me, and I have been told countless times that I’m just that. Unsettling. It isn’t that I do it on purpose I’m just wired differently and don’t realize the things I do sometimes aren’t necessarily normal.

For some idiotic reason I thought it was a good idea to try my luck at unnervinghim. Using my thigh muscles and my lower back I lift myself to sitting probably looking like Regan MacNeil in the process. I turn myself towards the front of the car and focus my eyes on the direction I figure his mirror would be.

“Lay back down.” He says dismissively but barely above audible.

His voice tickles my brain and despite my situation I find myself shaking my head. I crisscross my legs in front of me to steady myself. I straighten my spine hoping I’m blocking his view of the road behind me.

“No?” He says just as softly.

This time I was able to sit still. A moment passes and I think he’s going to ignore me. The car lurches slightly as he slams the breaks. Anticipating the move, I catch my weight on my crossed legs, ignoring the steady throb in my ankles.

I’m probably lucky he can’t see the smirk on my face. I’m rather pleased with myself that I was able to stay upright. It’s short lived.

No sooner do I acclimate to the halt and he slams the gas throwing my body backwards. I had been closer to the back than I thought, and my head bounces off the window, my hair snagging on something as I slump against the door.

I was so close to cutting it last week, but Caerus had convinced me not to. I had no attachment to my mouse brown locks, but he was fascinated by them. My hair fights against the edge of the hood and my breath gets caught in my squished esophagus. I cough against it and try to right myself.

I glare in the asshats general direction and huff as I move to sit up. I’m pulled back again by the hood, this time outwardly choking against the material. It’s snagged on something and the drawstring is getting tighter as I struggle.

Are you fucking kidding me?I’m going to be strangled by a car before this man can murder me. A fate induced gag order it would seem. Sounds about right.

“What the fuck are you doing back there? Be quiet.” I can still barely hear him and that pisses me off more than anything. What kind of abductor doesn’t yell?

If we’re being honest, I do try to be quiet. However, in the scurry to sit up and not choke to death, I’m failing. The hood and my hair are very well tangled in the fingers of some unseen beast and I’m getting dangerously close to panicking beyond reason.

That’s also against the rules.Don’t panic. Always bring a towel. Don’t panic.I can handle that right?

No. No I can’t. Realizing I’m in fact going to choke to death and hoping like hell sasquatch would have a problem with it I start slamming my better foot down on the floor in front of me. My fingers claw at the carpet under me and my desperate gasps get louder.

“I said be quiet.” He repeats, still as quiet as ever.

I release the closest thing to a scream I can and kick both feet hard, a tear breaking free from the pain. I hear him sigh a moment before the vehicle slows and he throws it into park. The car shakes when he slams his door and I realize a moment before my hair is yanked against my scalp that he’s going to have a hard time opening the gate with my head secured against it.

I hear him thud against the door when my weight catches, and he yanks it up again causing me to cry out. My feet slide backwards of their own accord and my ass slides past the bumper leaving me in an awkward gravity defying position. He barely catches me before the gate comes down and he grunts when it nearly closes on him.

“How the fuck?” He breathes tugging on the back of the hood.

He pulls on something and I can suddenly breathe without obstruction. I suck in breaths and sag causing him to shift my weight. He pulls some more, and my hair comes free sending a surge of tingling across my scalp.

I don’t have much time to savor the moment before he whisks me back and out of the car leaving me to fall on my side against what I assume to be gravel. The thick muggy air does nothing to cool my hot itching skin. The roar of crickets tells me that we are definitely alone.

I hear the gate close and his feet move toward me. He grabs me by my elbows yanking me up again and I pull my feet up before they can drag on the ground again.

“Pull any shit and I will leave your corpse for the wildlife.” His quiet voice breaks through the hood at my ear and I slowly place my feet on the ground again.

He pushes me forward lifting me into the passenger seat. I feel his chest brush mine as he buckles my seatbelt and I swear I hear him sniff me. It’s like one hundred degrees in the damn car, I have a right to stink.

I scoff against the drool-soaked tape on my mouth and he stiffens. His hand snaking up to pinch my jaw, causing the tape to pop off my lips. I thought he would say something, but he just tosses my face aside and closes the door. Other people would have probably made a run for it.

Me?