Tail lights.

Concentrate I tell myself focus on your surroundings.

What can you hear? The constant sound of the car engine , the gears shifting, the wheels rolling over the road, the suspension bouncing. The distant rumble of a train, the honk of fellow cars . The beating of my own heart. What can you feel? The tight rub of rough rope around my wrists ,the texture of carpet in the trunk of the car, the throbbing of my head as the effects of the chloroform wore off, unadulterated fear and pure despair. What can I smell? The oily odour of car parts, the sharp funk of my own sweat, the sickly metallic twinge of my own blood dripping down my forehead.

What can I see? Nothing but the inky blackness of the blindfold.

I try to memorize the turns and stops. I count time hoping for an indication of a destination. We are definitely on a highway and judging by the length of time so far I’m guessing we’ve already left the state.

I’ve never known such abject fear. It has stunted all my faculties but I force myself to think. A buried memory is desperately trying to surface, creeping into my mind like a teenager late to a movie. A way out, it’s telling me.

The lights. A vague memory of smashing tail lights. I fumble around urgently in the dark. I have no idea when we’ll stop and what will happen when the journey ends.

I feel out the left tail light just near my head. I’ve found it! Now I’m searching and panicking, in my limited tied up capacity for a tool of some kind. I find one! A wrench possibly.

I’m unable to grasp it properly but I wield it nonetheless.

I’m hitting. I’m smashing. I'm punching. I’m forcing my bleeding hand through a 5-inch gap . I’m waving madly hoping a car behind spots the anomaly.

And like the glorious sound of an angelic symphony I hear the miraculous sound of a siren.