Miranda saw a break in the trees. There was a road just beyond. I’m gonna make it! A road meant cars. It meant people. She couldn’t believe it. I’m gonna escape! She ducked her head under a low branch. Just as she came out of the trees and her feet hit pavement, a large hand grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. He had found her. Yanking her back into the thicket of trees, away from freedom, her legs flew up into the air as he clamped his beefy arm around her throat in a choke hold. Miranda fought like hell, kicking and jabbing, but it was no use. His grip was tightening, her airway getting smaller and smaller. She struggled to pull in air and remain conscious.

Just before she passed out, he growled into her ear, ‘That was a dumb mistake, Fourteen. You’re gonna pay for this.’

Miranda vaguely felt her body being dragged through the underbrush. Quick glimpses of trees and cloudy skies fluttered through her consciousness. Her feet trailed along the gravelly path back to the cabin and then through the front door. He dropped her body carelessly onto a cold tiled floor. She could hear the familiar hum of the refrigerator and somewhere in her mind, she registered she was back in the kitchen. Miranda was jolted fully back to consciousness when he pressed the hot pan against her cheek. She screamed as the pan seared her flesh, a horrible burning smell filling her nostrils. The pain was so intense she thought she might throw up but then everything went black. She woke on the floor, her cheek burning so badly tears sprang to her eyes the moment she opened them. He yanked her up from the ground like she weighed nothing and dragged her across the room where a layer of pebbles was arranged on the floor next to the far wall.

‘No, not the rocks. Please! I’m so sorry. Please don’t make me do it.’

‘Kneel.’

Miranda cried and reluctantly laid a knee down on the pebbles.

‘Lift the dress!’ he yelled out, hovering close behind her.

She forced in a deep breath, shifting her weight to lift the hem of her dress above her knees so that her bare skin rested upon the rocks. She gently lowered her other knee, and then cringing, let her full weight rest upon the cold, harsh pebbles below. She cried out as tears streamed down her face, stinging the burned flesh on her cheek. She gritted her teeth and stared at the wall, listening to the taunting ticks of his old white kitchen timer. The timer went off twenty minutes later but to Miranda it felt like an eternity.