A Stranger's Lie

I could feel the anger in his stare. His cold, emotionless expression. The wind sweeping through the windows. The curtain swaying slightly. I sit dead still, trying not to make even a slight movement that could provoke him. I didn’t know who I was anymore. I’m an object. A possession.

I’m only 17 and was aware of the dangers about meeting strangers. But Ben seemed different to any other boy I’d spoken too. We met on a dating site but talked for weeks non-stop. I felt special and he made me feel older. Ready to take on the world. Ben was 20 so I thought he could be different from the guys I knew at school. How wrong I was.

So, I’m waiting in a lovely cafe in the quiet side of town. I’m ten minutes early so I hadn’t expected him to be here just yet. I sit down, order a coffee, and dream of a love about to blossom. Little did I know I was dreaming of a nightmare.

Fifteen minutes pass and my smile starts to fade. We both lived close so I couldn’t understand why he was so late. My phone vibrates on the table. I glance to see Ben's name and hurry to answer. He explains how he was helping his sister move houses, as he had a decent sized car and saw a cute restaurant he knew I’d like on the way. Obviously I accept the offer.

Not five minutes later my phone vibrates again. A text from Ben saying he’s outside in his 4x4. I say thank you to the waitress and hurry outside excitably. It’s a Saturday morning so the street was quite busy but across the road I see the white car from one of Ben's photographs and a well built guy in a baseball cap. I make that walk, across from the safety of freedom that I’ll soon begin forgetting.

We’re driving down lots of country lanes and he does appear a lot older than me than I thought he would be. But he’s the Ben I’ve got to know, my naive brain was telling me. As we pull off the road and begin making our way up a muddy track I start to look at Ben's eyes and they gave me a horrible feeling. His expression had changed, his soft grin had turned into a stern cold look. I asked where we was going and he said to his place, which I found strange as we’d been driving almost half an hour and he told me he was local, not to mention we were meant to be going to a restaurant.

By now I’m too afraid to say any more. I just want to know what’s going on. We pull up to a big Victorian looking house. It’s old and the front door is two doors. He pulls up the handbrake and turns with his stare now directly in my eyes. His eyes look old and tired, his mouth and chin surrounded by stubble. I didn’t know how he could be 20 years old. He says, “Come, I’ll show you around.”

I step out of the car and close the door. Looking up at this tall building surrounded by acres and acres of grass, I wondered where about we were but knew I couldn’t do anything now. Ben opens the door and I walk myself in. I’m looking around at a huge staircase and open doors where I see a dining area and a living room. I hear the door shut and lock. I turn to see Ben's face painted in evil. The next words I hear are “You’re mine now...”