Many people say that time doesn’t exist. But right now slummed against a cold wall, with her legs and hands tied, Anika had no other option than to think. Think of how wrong those people were. Because time did exist. Tied and restricted to any sort of freedom she felt even a second took forever to pass.

She sighed and arched her back, the hard wooden planks of the cabin wall dug into her back uncomfortably. Something that she had gotten used to ever since she arrived here- or maybe it would be better if it was said- ever since she was kidnapped and dragged down here.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. She was supposed to be back home with her family. She wasn’t supposed to be abducted on her way to work, and knocked unconscious for god knows how long. She wasn’t supposed to wake up in a weird, dark cabin, with a strange blue eyed man claiming to have kidnapped her.

This once again proved how important time was. How she missed the time when she was free to do what she pleased and how she took it all for granted.

The door of her cabin creaked open and she lifted her head lazily. She was keeping track of the days by the meals her kidnapper bought her. Three meals a day. Lunch was always horribly shaped, burnt rotis with a pasty substance which she imagined to be a curry; she strongly suspected that he didn’t master the art of cooking yet; and dinner was a piece of stale bread and water.

She watched him, warily as he closed the door and pushed a plate of bread to her. So it was nightfall again. Another day had passed. Three meals a day. She had eaten a total of six meals counting the present one. So two days had passed.

She held still as he stepped over her carefully and cut the ropes gently. She rubbed her sore wrists and arched her aching back away from the horrid, hard planks.

She sat comfortably, and chewed on her bread slowly, her eyes never leaving her host as he slummed far end of the cabin.

She wasn’t scared of him. She had lost all fear after her first night in the cabin. She had expected him to try something on her and had been awake the entire night, but he had strictly remained outside the cabin. He spoke less. In fact he was mute. He occasionally grunted when he bought in her meals, as if announcing his arrival, and stayed deaf to all her prying questions.

As she swallowed the hard bread, her eyes travelled him. He looked nothing like a kidnapper.

In fact he looked the exact opposite. He was tall and lean. His face was sculpted, with  high cheekbones and flawless pale skin. But his beauty lay in his eyes, which were a brilliant blue, and lined with specks of green, which were always sparkling with life.

In a weird way If he wasn’t the reason that she was stuck in such deep shit then, maybe, just maybe she could’ve actually found him attractive.

She clapped her hands, dusting off the crumbs and he looked up. Standing up, he stepped over her to retie her knots when she stopped him.

“ I need to go out” she said.

He stared at her for a second and resumed tying the knots. “ hey!” she snatched her hands back. “ I said I need to go out!”

He straightened up “ well I want to loose you in these woods forever and let some beast have you, instead of taking care of you everyday!” he smirked at her “Guess we can’t have everything in life right?”

She glared at him “ Then why don’t just let me go!”

“ And let all my hard work go down in vain? Nahhhhh?!”

“Ehat hard work?” she snorted “All you did was drug me and drag me to this shitty place.”

He laughed and lowered his head to her level “Sweetheart!! do you know how heavy you are? Imagine dragging a bulk like you this far. I should be grateful than am even alive!”

She gasped “Am not that heavy!”

“ Wish I could say the same.”

“ Whatever, just let me go outside for a while now” she said tugging out of his hold.

“ Why? so you can skip away into the forest?”

“No!”

“Then what? Pull some self defense stunt that you learnt from YouTube and hack your way out of this jungle?”

“ I gotta pee, god damn it!” she yelled, her face flooding with heat. His smirk slid off as realization sunk in.

“ I was holding it for so long! And I can’t anymore, so take me out NOW!”

He pursed his lips, staring almost pettily at her for a second before he leaned down and tied the end of the rope to her hands while he held onto the other.

“ If you try anything” he warned before opening the door “ I swear am going to be the most horrible man you would have ever come across.”

She scoffed rolling her eyes, ignoring the chills that ran down her spine at his warning. She wasn’t going to show him that she was scared.

They walked out into the darkness and she took a deep breath of fresh air after a long time. All her joints cracked, as she finally stretched herself. Well, one thing was right. She was in deep jungle. Where she looked she caught it shadows of the trees and branches. A slight breeze picked up and the trees swayed scarily. It was creepy but at same time peaceful. No city lights, no traffic. If she hadn’t kidnapped she would’ve really enjoyed this spot.

“Can we go for a stroll!” she asked turning to her kidnapper.

“ No.”

“Ahh common! I swear I won’t run”

“No”

“You say no a lot of times don’t you?”

“No”

Anika sighed. This wasn’t going anywhere. She walked a few steps forward. “Well you don’t expect me to pee right here, in front of your darling home. Do you mister?” she asked.

She grinned as his eyes widened for a second. Tugging her rope “ let’s go. I think we have to take a stroll whether you like it or not”

“ You know, it looks a lot like you’re the kidnapper while am the victim” he grumbled.

“She stifled a laugh as they bother slowly made their way in to the trees is that so?”

As they walked in silence “So what’s your name?” Anika asked.

“ None of your business. Keep walking straight” he answered.

“If we are going to spend time together, might as well call each other something right?” she reasoned.

“Shivaay” he said after a moment of silence. He suddenly stopped. “That’s it. We won’t be going any further.” She stopped reluctantly.

“Go on now, do your business” he coughed awkwardly.

“Turn around” she demanded.

“What? Why?so you can run off?”

She huffed holding up her tied hands “How will I run if am tied to you genius?!”

He rolled his eyes “Whatever, just hurry, we should get back to the cabin soon.”

“Then stop asking questions and turn around!” She proclaimed dramatically.

Grounding his teeth he turned his back on her reluctantly. “Remember when I said it feels like am the victim?” he asked sarcastically.

“ Now plug your ears and start singing” she commanded.

“No!”

“I don’t want you to hear me peeing. It’s gross. So stop whining and start singing” she dead panned.

“Are you seriously going to pee or planning a world war?!”

“Haha! Very funny” she rolled her eyes.

She stepped into the bushes and waited. A few seconds later she heard a horrible song completely out of tune, drifting through the trees, managing to even scare off a few resting birds. A triumph smile lit her face.

In a flash, she attacked the knot on her wrists. She rubbed her wrists ferociously, until her fingers could reach the knot then she started tugging. The rope dug into her soft flesh, scaring her hands as she pulled them out. She clamped her mouth shut to keep from yelping out in pain and tugged harder.

Shivaay continued to belt out his song, looking like he was actually enjoying it, completely unaware of her struggle. With a final, painful tug she gasped as her hands came free of the knot. Red and bruised, but free. She looped it to a near branch.

She took one look at his back, and then without another thought bolted into the woods. With her heart thundering in her chest, she ran. Ran for all she was worth, for her freedom.

A/N: Hello guys,

We are back. So this is a small gift for all our lovely readers. This is our third shot and It's a three shot.
We will shortly post the next shot too.

This is the story which won us first prize in one of the competitions. And one of my favourite stories. Hope you all will like it.

Yours
Trushnamallipudi ❤