Removing my eyes from his, I assess where I am. The underground lot houses a wide range of vehicles from sports cars to large trucks and vans. The cement beneath my feet is lacquered in clear gloss, with markings where vehicles park and large bright lights hanging above us. The entire lot is bigger than my old high school basketball stadium—not that it is hard, it was a small school and underfunded. I have never seen anything like it, and it certainly doesn’t look like a place where wild killers bring young out-of-towners to end their life. Regardless, I stay standing close to the man, not wanting to leave his side, where I have been safely residing for the past 30 minutes.

I was tired before, but now I’m wide awake as he takes my hand and pulls me toward one of the many doors that line the perimeter. My small hand grips his, not wanting to let go, and my little legs struggle to keep up to his long, purposeful strides. I continue to observe my new surroundings, watching as men dressed in black scurry around the place, moving cars, emptying guns and cleaning them, then stocking them in the many storage units. All of them armed, all of them looking lethal.

Like the obedient woman I am, I follow my handsome stranger through the door, and without letting go of my hand, he leads me down concrete hallways. Turning right, then left, the hallways begin to turn into more decorative corridors before we come to a large, black glossy door with a brass knocker. It looks just like a front door of a house, only this one is inside the depths of this building, only accessible via the maze of hallways we just walked through.

Looking behind me, I realize that I have no idea how to get out, my sense of direction nonexistent as we made numerous twists and turns that have left me slightly dizzy. Or is that my low blood pressure? It is too hard to know for sure as my body has changed so much lately.

He pauses at the door and looks down at me, his other hand coming up and pushing a flyaway hair that’s strewn across my face. My lips part at the gentle touch, and I don’t miss his eyes as they flick down, before he gives me a small nod and opens the large door via a small keypad on the side. I follow him through, in awe as he moves behind me and locks it, the click of the lock sinking into my chest and making me feel like I won't ever be able to leave this place.