Crime Stories

Seven Days of Captivity

I woke up and realized there was a blindfold over my eyes and a rope tied around my hands. The fear I felt coursed through my whole body, I managed to get my hands up to my face and removed the blindfold. It was dark but I could tell the walls were concrete by touching them with my hands. The floor was cold and there were no windows in the room.

I looked around the room in the dark adjusting my eyes and the room was very small about five feet long and about six feet wide. There wasn't much room to move around, but I could see a five-gallon bucket over in the corner with a roll of toilet paper sitting next to it on the floor. I guess whoever has me here expects me to use it as a toilet.

When I looked towards the door there was a plate of food on the floor for me to eat, but I wasn't hungry. I was scared and a few tears began falling down my cheeks. "Who has me here?", I thought to myself. "Why do they have me here?" I could not understand why someone would kidnap me and keep me in captivity.

I could not tell if it was night or day with no window to look out. It was so dark in the room and I was afraid that I would never see my family again. My family is probably searching for me worried that I might be dead somewhere. I have so many questions but no one to ask. I haven't seen or heard my captor's voice. I began wondering if I was sexually abused while I was knocked out? I also wondered how long I had been here? 

I tried to loosen the rope around my hands when I heard someone at the door. I sat quietly while there were noises outside my room door. "Was it my captor or someone else?" no one opened the door and I heard something slide on the door and focusing my eyes, I saw a pair of eyes staring back at me. 

The person never said a word and then I saw the little opening slide shut. I had been kidnaped by someone and that made it more terrifying because I thought I was going to die. I started yelling for the person whose eyes I saw. After a few minutes of yelling, the little opening slid open and I saw those eyes again. 

He finally spoke telling me to be quiet, but I wasn't. I asked him who he was and why he had me here, but I got no answer. He just slid the opening shut again, so I yelled some more until he came back, but this time he opened the door and came in placing a gag in my mouth to keep me quiet, then he walked back out of the room shutting the door and I was in total darkness again.

I crawled and scooted near the door where the plate of food was and saw that it looked good, so I began eating some of it knowing that I would be here for a while. There was baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and some corn with a roll on the side. The only thing that it was missing was real metal silverware. I had to use plastic silverware to eat.

Once the plate was empty, I scooted back over to the wall where I woke up and realized that I was now getting sleepy. "Was it because the food was drugged or because I had a full stomach?" I thought to myself. The room began spinning and I felt like I was falling. The food was drugged, so I laid down to make it stop. The concrete floor was cold and I crawled into the fetal position before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

I woke up several hours later and noticed that my plate was gone and there was a plastic glass of water for me to drink. I couldn't tell if it was day or night, or how I long I slept. All I knew was that someone had me here and for what purpose only he knows. I haven't been sexually abused, so that is not his purpose.

I wondered if my family was looking for me since I went missing? I don't even know how long he has had me here. I am so worried and fearful as to his motive for kidnapping me. I am in total darkness and the only thing I can do is sit here wondering.

I laid back down and tried to get comfortable but concrete is not the easiest thing to sleep on. I kept looking at the bucket in the corner because I seriously had to use the bathroom, but I had to release my bowels, so I used the bucket and then placed the lid over it to keep the smell down.

I laid down and went to sleep and I know it had to be several hours when I woke up to find a blanket next to the door. I scooted over to the door and grabbed it placing it on the floor like a bed and laid down covering myself up wt the other side of it.

I was now getting warm and just laid there staring off into the darkness before closing my eyes. I could feel someone staring at me through the darkness or it was my mind playing tricks on me. The darkness was beginning to get to me. I was seeing things in the room with me. I had to find a way to get out of there and as I laid there I tried moving the rope around that was on my hands.

I played with the knot hoping to loosen it and it was not working. He had it tight and the knot was too tight for me to loosen. I was stuck there tied and alone in the dark. What could he possibly want from me? Was it for ransom or just someone's idea of a sick joke?

My body clock was telling me I had been there for days now and no hope of getting out. I could do nothing but lay there smelling my own feces and urine from the bucket and staring off into the darkness. It was a scary thing to be held in captivity when you only have your mind to keep you company whether good or bad. I felt like I was losing my mind.

Suddenly, the door came open and in the faint dim light, I could see the figure of a man walking into the room. He walked over to me and I felt his cold hands grabbing mine as he lifted me to my feet and placed the blindfold back over my eyes.

I felt him lead me out of the room and the temperature in the other rooms was even colder. His hands guided me into another room where I heard other voices. I was not alone and he sat me down into a wooden chair. I felt the presence of people around me and had the chance to listen to their conversations.

I could not feel any sunshine on my body so it had to be at night. A man finally walked over to me and took off the blindfold. It was dimly lit in the room and my captors wore masks so that I could not identify them. There were two men and one older woman. She had that smokey scratchy voice while the men sounded like they were in their forties.

I thought to myself why these people wanted me and that is when they spoke of making me their slave and having me take care of things around the rooms like cleaning and scrubbing. I felt fear rise within me, but an ounce of hope that I could escape.

One of the men lifted me from the chair and took me into another room and then untied my hands and feet. I was free from bondage. He turned on the light and I was inside the bathroom. There was a bucket, scrub brush, and cleaner sitting on the bathroom sink counter.

He pushed me further into the room and told me to scrub the bathroom down from top to bottom. I turned and looked at him with a confused look. He raised his voice and told me to scrub the bathroom down, ceiling to floor. He also handed me a toothbrush to clean around the bottom of the toilet and bathtub.

I walked over to the bucket on the counter and began setting up a bucket to wash everything down. He brought me a step stool to reach the ceiling because he wanted me to scrub the ceiling which was very dirty and nasty like it hadn't been cleaned in decades.

As I began cleaning, I noticed that the man had pulled up a chair and sat watching me, and now that I know there is more than one person holding me here, escape would be impossible because I don't want to die. While I cleaned, I asked the man how long have I been here and his answer was four days.

Now, I know that I have been here for four days and as long as they keep allowing me to come out, I can keep track. I had wiped down the ceiling and was working my way down until I came to the toilet which was nasty. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months and I had to stomach the smell as I cleaned it.

I took the toilet brush and cleaner and scrubbed out the inside before wiping down the outside and then with the toothbrush, I began scrubbing down around the base where the toilet met the floor. The toothbrush was working great and the grime and dirt were coming up easily.

The man that was watching me told me that I was doing an awesome job and that if I keep it up, I will have it easy here and not be hurt. That told me right there that they, in fact, would hurt me. I kept cleaning until I was told that I had to mop the floor with the rag.

The man handed me a small hand broom to sweep with and a dustpan. I guess he figured getting a regular broom, I would be able to hurt him with it. I then swept the floor and grabbed the rag to mop it with. The floor was very dirty, but I got it amazingly clean.

Once the bathroom was cleaned, I was tied up and blindfolded again before I was taken back to the room and pushed inside the darkness with the door closed behind me. I was thrown back into total darkness to let my imagination run wild. I did know that it was going to be dark soon and it was day four. I just had to keep up with the days. When I go to sleep and wake up it will be day five and I wonder what they will have me do?

I laid there in the darkness on the blanket that was given to me to keep from sleeping on the hard, cold concrete floor. I thought about what I heard and who I heard. I have never heard those voices before and couldn't recognize them, so they were total strangers to me. What did they want from me? Were they just looking for a random girl to be their slave?

I drifted off to sleep with these thoughts in my mind and I was surprised I slept because I was worn out cleaning that bathroom. My arms were sore and tired and I think they worked the fight out of me for a night. I just wanted to lay down and sleep instead of trying to escape. I felt almost hopeless.

When I woke from my much-needed sleep, the door was open again and a large man standing there. He walked in and grabbed me by the arm taking me out of the room still blindfolded. We went back into a room where everyone was and I heard the woman tell the man who held me to take me to the kitchen and have me clean it the same way I cleaned the bathroom, from top to bottom and don't forget the cupboards.

He took me almost dragging me because my ankles were tied and I could barely walk. I felt us go into another room where he untied me and took off my blindfold for me to see the nasty kitchen and all its mess. Pots and pans, as well as dishes, lay everywhere and there were spider webs all over the ceiling and some still with spiders in them.

I turned around to see the large man who I didn't recognize hand me a bucket, cleaner, and a bunch of rags to clean with. When I looked into the bucket, there was a new toothbrush for me to clean cracks and crevices with. While I walked over to the sink to begin, he pulled up a chair and sat watching me.

I pulled the toothbrush from the bucket and dumped cleaner in it while filling it with water. Once it was full, I threw a rag inside it and then looked out the window over the sink to see it was a beautiful day outside. I got lost in the scenery before he hollered at me to get to work. I grabbed a nearby broom and first swept down all the spider webs killing the spiders as they fell to the floor.

Once that was done, I picked up all the dishes and stacked them on the counter next to the sink. I opened up the cupboards to find more spider webs which I wiped out. It was going to take me all day to clean this kitchen. After I pulled everything out of the cupboards to wash, I took my bucket and rag and began washing out the cupboards.

There were so many cupboards in this kitchen that it was a task all by itself. Once the cupboards were washed out and the gunk is gone, I moved to the next thing which was washing the dished to put back into the cupboards. There must have been a hundred dishes if not more sitting on the counter for me to wash including each piece of silverware.

As I cleaned, the large man pulled out a newspaper from his pocket and began reading it. I could hear his smart remarks to certain stories and commentaries. He acted like I didn't exist and I could have made my escape without him knowing, but when I looked at the back door, there was a padlock on it.

Disturbed by the padlock blocking my way to escape, I kept cleaning. I did the dishes and also dried them and put them away. the lady in the other room didn't want any dishes on the counters and wanted the counters spotless. She didn't want much, did she?

After I had the dishes done, which felt like hours, I finished putting them all away in the cupboards. Then I moved onto to washing the windows which there were two large ones. I turned and asked the man for one page of his newspaper to clean the windows with, so he handed me the funnies page. I guess he didn't a sense of humor.

I finished washing the windows and now they were squeaky clean. I took my bucket of cleaner and set it on the floor. I needed to wash the counters down and couldn't do it with the bucket sitting on them. I had those counters looking so good that you could eat off them.

One of the last things to do was sweep and mop the floor, but first I had to wipe out and clean the refrigerator and oven. This was a daunting task that I didn't even like doing at home. I cleaned the refrigerator while the oven cleaner did its thing. By the time I finished the refrigerator, the oven was ready to be cleaned.

Half of my petite body fit into the oven as I reached into the back to clean it. While inside the oven I thought about Hanzel and Gretel how they pushed the witch into the oven. It made me laugh a little without the man hearing me. It was funny though, but I couldn't let them see me happy or laughing.

Once I had the oven completed, all that was left was to sweep and mop the grimy looking floor. It was horrible to look at, but I know it will get cleaned. I took the toothbrush and bucket of cleaner and got down on my knees. I began by cleaning around the baseboards and under the edge of the cabinets with the toothbrush. I was trying to make the cleaning last as long as I can so that I won't go back into darkness just yet.

I wanted to enjoy the sunshine coming into the kitchen and watching the man read his newspaper at the kitchen table which I haven't cleaned yet. I used the toothbrush all around the edge of the kitchen until it was done, then I took the bucket and placed it in the sink. I needed to change out the water with fresh cleaner.

As I dumped the bucket into the sink, the man yelled at me telling me to hurry it up, and I turned around and told him that I had to sweep and mop the floor and then clean the kitchen table. I also told him it will take as long as it takes to get it clean. He didn't like the fact that I spoke back to him with sarcasm but he left me alone to finish my work. this was only day five of my captivity.

I still had the hope of being rescued or escaping, but it looked grim. I took the broom and started sweeping from one side of the kitchen to the other and then asking him to lift his feet so that I could sweep under the table. He didn't say anything but he did lift his feet for me to get under the table.

There was a lot of dirt and grime on the floor and by the time I finished sweeping, I had enough dirt to fill the dustpan three times to empty into the trash can. After picking up all the dirt, I grabbed my bucket of fresh cleaner and dipped the mop into it.

I did the same thing and mopped from one side of the kitchen all the way across to the other side leaving under the table for last. As he saw me coming close to the table, he automatically lifted his feet so that I could mop underneath. Once finished I put the mop and broom next to the back door and then went over and grabbed my rag to start wiping down the kitchen table.

I wiped down the chairs and then the man stood up and backed away for me to get his chair and then I wiped down the nasty kitchen table. It was so dirty that every time I wiped, it would leave a dirt smear, so it took a couple times of wiping it down to get it clean and then I told him I was done. The dishes were washed and put away, everything wiped out and down, and the floor swept and mopped. He then took the rope and tied me back up and took my arm leading me back into the main room and told the man and woman that I finished the kitchen.

The woman told him to throw me back into the room until we have something else for her to do. He then practically drug me across the floor and down the hall and with a little force, he pushed me back into the dark room. I fell to the floor with his push and skinned up my knees on the hard concrete. I scooted over to the blanket and laid down from exhaustion.

I drifted off to sleep and figured that I would sleep until day six and hopefully they will have something for me to do so that I may come out of this room. I fell asleep and had dreams of being outside feeling the sun rays on my skin and hanging out with my friends. I knew it was only a dream, but it made me sleep better.

I slept so long that my body began hurting and wondered when they would come and get me? They haven't fed me much, so I was getting thin and from not being in the sunlight, my skin was very pale. I must have been a gruesome sight and wondered how much longer they would keep me? I sat and waited for the man to come and get me and it felt like hours but he never came.

I sat and began calling for him and no one showed up to get me. I wondered if the left for the store or something and will come to get me when they get back. I sat and waited and no one came. The darkness was now playing games with my mind and having me see things in the dark. I was seeing black shadows, blacker than the darkness, but they felt like they were so real.

I finally broke down in tears as I curled up in the fetal position in the corner. Hours had gone by and still nothing or no one. I was beginning to get scared and kept wondering where they went. I know day six was coming to an end and I was left alone in the dark. I just laid there hoping someone would come.

After a long time, I thought that because my mind was playing tricks on me, I thought I heard voices. Was it my captors coming for me? Did they have more work for me to do? The voices got louder and closer to the door. I did not know these voices, were they coming to kill me? I got so scared that I curled up and sat shaking.

Finally, the door opened and a flashlight was shining in my eyes. I had been in the dark for so long that it hurt my eyes. I felt someone walk in and over to me touching my arm. The voice was a man and he told me that everything was going to be okay. He tried to help me up but I was too weak to stand let alone move.

The man then reached down and scooped me up in his arms carrying me out of the room and then outside. I began crying and screaming because the sun was hurting my eyes causing my head to hurt. He called for a blanket and they covered me up. He could see how pale I was and that the sun could possibly burn my skin easily, so he made sure I was totally covered.

He carried me over to a vehicle and I heard a lot of people talking around me. They put me inside the vehicle and then uncovered me. When I could focus my eyes, I saw that it was paramedics who were putting an IV into my arms. I was so thin that it was hard for them to get it into a vein, but they finally managed it. They were taking my temperature and blood pressure and then the woman hollered up to the driver to hurry to the hospital that I was in critical condition.

They covered me up with a warm blanket and strapped me in but not too tight because I was so frail. The driver turned on the sirens and sped off to the hospital. When we arrived, they hurried me into a trauma bay and then I was surrounded by doctors and nurses. They put an oxygen mask over my face and cool towels over my body to cool it down while they worked.

I was so pale that they were afraid that it would hurt if they touched my skin, so they were careful. They had me under control and then I saw the paramedics who saved me come in the room to check on me. I was so thankful that someone found me, but what happened to my captors? Did they just leave me there to die?

Once everyone was done checking me over and stabilizing me, they moved me to a hospital room where my parents were waiting for me. My mother and father were both in tears because they worried so much about me and now I was found and alive. Their worst fear was that I would be found dead. They both kissed my forehead but were afraid to touch me because they were told it could break bones if I was given any pressure on my body.

I was very happy to see them and to be alive. As I talked with my parents, a man walked into the room wearing a badge on his belt. He was a detective who was working the case. He asked me if I was feeling okay after introducing himself to me. I told him that I felt better. They kept the room lights dim as to not make my eyes hurt.

He asked me if I knew who my captors were and I told him no. I had never seen them before. He informed me that they were wanted by the sheriff's department and were picked up at a local pharmacy. After interviewing them, they finally broke and told us about you. That's when we sent paramedics to get you because those people told us your health condition and we knew it was bad.

He also informed me and my parents that they are going to be charged with kidnapping, cruel torture and punishment, and attempted murder because you could have died. Another few more days and you would have been too far gone for the paramedics to save you. That made me think about everything that was going on. The detective said they held me for seven days as a slave to them. I wasn't their first, and the other girl did die on their watch.

My mom spoke up and told me that I was safe now and that they were taking me home to recover. I was glad they were there. The detective then told me that he hopes I feel better soon before he walked out of the room. My parents sat by my side day in and day out because they were afraid something would happen to me.

A couple of weeks later, I had regained the color back in my skin, I had put some weight back on, and mentally I was getting better. They treated me for PTSD and nightmares. I had a therapist start coming in to talk with me a couple of days after being admitted to the hospital. It was helping me get over the trauma.

Once the doctor cleared me to go home, My parents brought me a change of clothing and some new tennis shoes to wear home. I got dressed and then waited for the nurse to come to take out the IV before I could leave.

Once she came and took it out she had some discharge papers for me to sign and some instructions to follow. After I signed them, she got a wheelchair to take me out to the front door where my father was waiting with the car. I can't imagine going through that experience again, being seven days in captivity.