I rose slowly from a thick swamp of dizzying lethargy. It felt like when I used to dose myself with tablets to get some sleep in Casa Nera. I hadn’t used them in years. Being the only adult alone at home nowadays, with Leo to look after, I couldn’t afford to take anything, and sleep too deeply.
Now, I dragged myself to consciousness. It was painful. I wanted to close my eyes and sink back into comforting sleep, but something prickled at me, screaming at the edges of my mind for me to wake up.
I opened my eyes. The light was dim, and the air felt close. It didn’t seem like my room, or smell like it either. There was a damp, earthy smell that I associated with the woods, and a harsh, fresh pine scent that rubbed along my senses harshly.
I sat up and smacked my head off a low ceiling. Falling back, I felt the same hard wood beneath my head as I’d just slammed my forehead against. I also realized at the same time that my hands were tied together in front of me.
Panic erupted in my chest, and my lungs cramped down on my breathing, making me hyperventilate. Last night came rushing to me. Waking up bound and gagged. Nikolai looming over me in the dark, as real and terrifying as ever.
No, not really, not even close. He was much, much worse. All the softness, as little as there had been to him, had melted away, and cold, calculating menace, with a side of insanity, had taken its place.
I forced a deep breath. I had to keep calm. I could freak out about being in the crosshairs of a psychopath later. First, I had to get the hell out of wherever he’d put me.
I wriggled my hands, grateful to feel give in the rope. A moment or two of twisting this way and that freed them.
Maybe he wasn’t as unhinged as he’d seemed. He didn’t even bind my wrists that tightly.
I ran my hands up over the ceiling that I had hit my head on, moving to the side to see how far it went. My feet hit the bottom at the same time as my hands met the close sides.
I was encased completely in a wooden box.
A coffin.
Panic descended again, blinding me. It was dark, the air thick, and I was inside a coffin. A coffin! Of course I was. I was crazy for thinking that Nikolai wasn’t cruel and insane. He really was worse than ever. I’d let him think I was dead, and he’d put me in a coffin. He might even have buried me, for all I knew. My panic made my breath short and my pulse pound. I felt dizzy. My fingers scrabbled against the wood, despite knowing that it wouldn’t make a difference. I felt like a trapped animal. I opened my mouth and screamed, the noise deafening in the small space. I kicked the bottom and smacked my forehead off the roof of the casket again.
Get a grip, Sofia, I told myself sternly, letting my body go limp and concentrating on getting my breath back first. Nikolai said it was a game. Even if I was just his unwilling partner in a sadistic game, he wouldn’t just kill me like this. Then the game would be over too quickly. If he’d wanted to do that, he could have done it last night in my room.
No, there had to be a way out. He wanted to scare me, and he’d really fucking succeeded, but the game wouldn’t be fun to him if there wasn’t a way for me to escape.
I had to keep calm. My hands rose back to the walls of the small box around me. I felt around slowly, this time making sure I was covering every inch, which wasn’t easy in the dark. Level to my hip, I felt it. A metal lock. I slid my fingers around it, trying to figure out the shape. It was smooth, except for a small slot, too thin to get my fingers into. I tried to wiggle my nail inside, but it was too short.
Still, it was a start.
Next, I dropped my hands to the floor of the box and felt about. I was sweating. My thin cami and shorts were sticking to my overheated skin. A desperate cry left me when my hands came up empty.
Has he really left me in here to suffocate to death?
My fingers brushed against something metal just as I started to truly panic.
I stilled, grasping for the metal shape, working it out from under me.
A knife, the regular kitchen drawer type.
Holding it in my hand like it was my only lifeline, I brought the blade to the lock. I was shaking too badly to get it in on the first try. I had to use both hands to steady them enough to work it into the lock. It fit perfectly. A soft click sounded, and a slither of light appeared around one edge of the box lid.
I heaved at the heavy wooden top over me, and cool air rushed in as a gap appeared. Light flooded over me, blinding me, as I heaved with all my might and shifted the heavy top to the side. Fresh air and the sounds of the ocean filled my head and I blinked in the sunlight.
I was morning. I looked around the woods. They were as beautiful and peaceful as ever. Still drawing harsh breaths of fresh air, I pushed myself out of the slim space I’d made sliding the top open and fell to the pine-needled floor of the woods. The smell of fresh dirt filled my nose, and I’d never been more grateful for anything.
My harsh, hysterical breaths were the only sound in the silence around me. I stared at the shadows between the trees. Was he watching me? I pushed myself to unsteady feet.
I dare you to live.
I took a staggering step away from the box. Just the sight of it made me shudder. I turned and took another step and screamed as I fell backward, just in time. A deep hole had been dug close to the casket. A grave.
A twig snapped in the woods to the left side of me, and I lost it.
I turned and ran. My bare feet slapped against the worn trails as I raced through the trees. I knew where I was. I ran this trail often. If I could keep up my pace, I’d be home in minutes.
I sprinted as fast as I could, considering I couldn’t catch my breath.
Ahead, my back garden appeared, and my house, looking quiet and sleepy in the early morning light. It showed no signs of the horrors that had happened there just last night.
I made it to the garden, sure that Nikolai was right behind me the entire way.
I bounded up the back porch steps and through the gaping back door. The sliding glass door had been left open.
As soon as I got inside, I whirled around and pulled the glass door shut, just as I steeled myself to look outside and see if he was really behind me.
There was no one there.
The backyard was undisturbed. The woods looked innocent and green at the edge of the yard.
I headed straight to the kitchen and grabbed a long, thin knife from the drawer and then ran to the front door and checked that it was locked.
I got the chain on before my strength left me. I slid down the door, my back pressed against the wood. The knife was gripped in both hands, like a prayer.
Hysterical laughter bubbled up in my throat.
Like any prayer could save me from Nikolai Chernov. Like any lock could keep him out.
“Are you laughing or crying, prom queen?”
