Rey tossed her duffel bag into the trunk of her car then pulled the door back down to close it. She was so excited. After waiting ten years and enduring hours of endless internet searches, nail-biting, and tears she had finally found her birth mother, Mira. Even better, she had gotten into contact with her and she had agreed to meet.

As soon as the busy season died down at her workplace, Rey had taken a week off to head down to Miami and spend time with her mother. She had been taken away from her when she was seven due her mother's drug addiction. After years of rehab and pulling her life together, Mira was finally clean and ready to face her daughter again.

Rey used to hate her mother for essentially abandoning her but now that she was an adult she had forgiven her. She understood now how hard things were for them after her father left and how hard life could be on a single mother. So even though what her mother had done was not right, Rey wanted her back in her life now that Mira had worked hard to better herself for her daughter.

She had barely slept the night before due to her giddiness and was now downing coffee to make up for it. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she unlocked it and opened up the Face Time app. There was someone she had to call first before leaving town.

Pressing the call button beside the contact name "Finn" she waited patiently while the call went through. In moments it was answered, and she grinned widely when Finn's face popped up on her phone.

"Looking good, mon cheri," he greeted.

"It's time," she practically squealed to him.

He grinned too. Rey's happiness could be as contagious as a virus sometimes. "I'm happy for you, Rey," said Finn. "You sure you're ready for this though?"

She nodded as she opened up the driver's side door to the car and slid in. "Psh of course I'm ready," she replied, rolling her eyes at him and throwing her purse onto the passenger seat. "I've been in contact with her for weeks now so I've had plenty of time to prepare myself."

"Nervous?"

Rey played with a loose strand of her dark brown hair. "A little, but I'm mostly excited. It's been thirteen years—I can't wait to see mom again."

"Well you give me a call as soon as you get to Miami. Or give Rose a call so she can yell at me for not answering my phone."

"Okay, I will I promise. Oh, and please don't forget to come over and take care of Bee while I'm gone," Rey added, catching sight of her golden retriever looking dolefully at her from the window of her apartment.

"I won't. You be careful now, Rey. I'll see you in a week!"

The call ended and Rey closed the Face Time app to open up the GPS. She had never driven to Miami by herself before but the GPS would get her there just fine. The app projected it to be about a six hour drive. Setting her phone down in the cup holder as the robotic voice instructed her to make a U-turn, she put the car in reverse and backed out of the apartment parking lot.

Rey had to force herself not to go over the thirty miles per hour speed limit through the neighborhood. She cranked up the radio and rolled down the windows so that the warm breeze could caress her face. It was going to be a great week, she was sure of it.

She had been driving on the highway for hours before her gas began to near empty and her bladder began to near full. Rey began paying attention to the blue signs on the side of the road, keeping an eye out for a gas station. The first sign she saw for one, she got off onto the exit that would take her there. After pulling up beside one of the pumps, Rey locked her car then ran into the station building to use the bathroom.

After relieving herself, she began perusing snacks to take with her on the drive. As she was deciding whether she wanted chips or crackers, someone walked close beside her, making her jump.

"Pardon me," the person said. When she turned, she saw it was an older man wearing a tan bucket hat, a pair of aviator shades, and a blue striped shirt. Even though she couldn't see his eyes, she got the feeling that he was looking at her intently. "Is that you, Nina?"

Rey stared at him in surprise for a moment before shaking her head. "No, it isn't," she said in an unsteady voice. His closeness was making her nervous and uncomfortable.

"You look so much like her," he murmured, moving much closer to her than before. "I think you are Nina."

"No, I'm not," Rey insisted, shifting away from him in a way that she hoped wouldn't make her seem rude. "I'm sorry, that's not my name."

The man grabbed her arm suddenly. "You're too far from home," he remarked, and began to pull her towards the door. "We should head back—your mother's worried sick."

Rey was now frightened and began to struggle to free herself. "No—stop it, leave me alone!" she demanded. When she finally got out of his grip, she ran towards the counter to alert the cashier. Breathing hard, she gripped the counter with one hand and pointed behind her with the other. She was shaking like a leaf and her knees felt as though they would give out at any moment. "Help me—please, that man is trying to take me."

The cashier, a burly man with a mustache and the name tag "Nick" came out from behind the counter to immediately stand in front of Rey just as the older man was coming out of the aisle in pursuit.

"Hey, back off buddy before I call the cops on you," Nick warned him.

The older man slowed as he approached. He looked from the cashier to Rey quivering behind him. Then he put a hand to his head. "I'm sorry," he apologized quickly "I thought she was my daughter Nina."

"I told you I'm not," Rey said, moving to stand beside the cashier. She rubbed the spot on the arm where he had grabbed her, which was now sore.

He nodded. "I'm sorry but she—she ran away from home. The missus and I are really worried."

"If you got posters of her, you can stick 'em up on the front window," Nick grunted. "Otherwise, don't go 'round grabbing young ladies and spooking 'em half to death."

"Won't happen again," the old man muttered and with that he headed for the door and made his way outside. He got into an old Chevy Impala then drove off.

When he was gone, Nick turned back to Rey. "I got his plate numbers," he told her. "Want me to report him to the cops for you?"

Rey shook her head. "No, it's okay. He was just a worried father—that's all. Thanks for stepping in to help."

Before leaving the gas station, Rey looked all around to make sure the man who grabbed her was nowhere in sight. When she was satisfied that he was gone, she put the car in drive and headed back to the highway.

She'd gone no farther than a few miles when suddenly her car began to make strange noises. Sighing at yet another delay, Rey pulled off onto the side of the highway to make an inspection. Putting on her hazard lights, she parked the car and popped open the hood. Rey knew a lot about cars but she couldn't see a problem anywhere. Getting on her knees, she checked underneath but still didn't see anything out of place.

That was strange. Rey got back into the car and turned the key in the ignition. It would not start. She made several attempts but it refused to turn over. Rey groaned. She would have to call a tow company and maybe catch a bus for the rest of her journey.

She grabbed her phone from the cup holder and closed out of the GPS app. She was just about to select the call option when there was a loud crashing sound in the back end of her car. Rey had no time to even think about what was happening before her head collided with the steering wheel in front of her and she lost consciousness.

When she opened her eyes again, it was to a bright light that made her close them again. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust her gaze to what was above her. It was fluorescent light that was flickering in one spot. Rey tried to recall what had happened, because the last thing she remembered was being in her car. Her head felt like it was about to split open—maybe that's why she couldn't remember anything.

As she became more conscious, the room became clearer. She noticed the ceiling was grey and the walls were too. It was a sickening shade of grey and the fluorescent light didn't make it look any better. Rey realized it was all made out of cement. Weird. What sort of room would have cement walls and ceiling?

Rey tried to get up but found she couldn't. Leather straps on her neck, chest, arms, wrists, torso, and legs kept her tied down to the bed she was laying on. This discovery sent her into a panic. She struggled against the straps, straining with all her might to burst through them. Even though almost every part of her was hurting, she continued to try. If she couldn't get up then she couldn't get out. And if she couldn't get out then she would have to stay in this unsettling cement room. Tears began to burn at the corner of her eyes. She was scared. Why was she in this room? Who brought her there? And why did they have her strapped down?

She feared she wouldn't have to wait long to find out. Whoever had brought her to the cement room and restrained her would come back to check on her. When they saw she was awake, they would probably want to talk to her. Rey considered feigning unconsciousness. She was positive that she did not want to meet them.

There was a sound of a door opening and Rey's insides went cold. She went still, not even daring to look over in the direction of the door to see who her visitor was. As she heard the footsteps approaching, she closed her eyes. Maybe this wasn't real—maybe it was just a dream.

She felt something cold and textured touched her forehead and she jumped in surprise. The object was pulled away from her skin and she heard a male voice say "Oh, you're awake."

Rey opened her eyes. There was a young man with dark hair, dark eyes, and a prominent nose looking down at her in mild curiosity. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans and seemed genuinely surprised that she was no longer unconscious.

"Who are you?" she asked him in a hoarse voice.

He stared down at her for a moment with an odd look on his face—pained, maybe? Then he replied in a voice that seemed forced "It's me, Kyle—your brother."

"Brother?" Rey mumbled, feeling dazed and confused even further. As far as she knew, she was an only child. Whoever this young man was, he definitely wasn't her brother.

The young man claiming to be her brother nodded solemnly and put the wet wash cloth he was holding back to her forehead. "Yes. Good morning, Nina."

Nina. The name startled Rey as she recalled the incident in the gas station. The older man had called her Nina to before he tried to take her away. And while this man was definitely not the same one, Rey had no doubt that the two were somehow connected.

"I'm not Nina," she whimpered, feeling again on the verge of tears. "Please, let me out of this room. I want to go home."

"You are home, Nina," Kyle replied in a somewhat monotonous tone. "You're confused—you must have hit your head pretty hard in the accident and forgotten." He looked her in the eye as he said it. She got the feeling he wanted to say more. Kyle looked at her like that for so long that Rey began to feel uncomfortable and had to look away.

She heard him break the silence and say "Hm, I wonder if I can get this blood stain out of your pillow." It was an odd thing to say. She jumped when he suddenly leaned down so that his mouth was right by her ear. "Don't panic, I'm not going to hurt you I just need you to listen to me," he whispered urgently. "He has a video camera in this room so we can't talk freely. I know your name isn't Nina—mine's not Kyle either. I need you to go along with this act though. If you don't, he will hurt you. When you're well enough to be moved, I'll explain everything I promise. Until then, don't fight it."

Kyle sat back up, smiled and brushed her cheek gently with his thumb. "I'm glad you're home safely, dear sister," he said loudly, as if trying to be heard by someone now. He undid the strap on her neck but left the ones on the rest of her body. "Try to get some rest so you can heal up, okay?"

Rey swallowed hard. But she nodded slowly and replied "I will. Thank you, Kyle."

He left, and Rey was even more frightened now than she was before. She knew who was keeping her there—it had to be the older man in the sunglasses from the gas station. If that was the case, she dreaded what his plans were for her. What would he do to her when he came back? Did he really think she was his daughter or was that a ruse to try and get her to go with him? And what was Kyle's role in this? Did he really want to help her or was that a lie too?

She wished she could roll over onto her side but the leather straps made that impossible. Whatever was to happen to her next, it would be out of her control. The feelings of helplessness and dread combined with the searing pain from her head and body was making Rey physically nauseous. She had to take several deep breaths and force herself to calm down to fight back the rising bile in her stomach.

Rey tried to be hopeful that someone, anyone would find her and get her out of there. Maybe Kyle really was on her side and he would be able to get help. She hoped that once word had gotten out that she'd gone missing, the cashier at the gas station would be able to give the police the description and plate number of the man who was the prime suspect. They could track him down and find her. No problem.

Her traitorous, pessimistic side creeped in and whispered in her ear that things would not be that simple. The man could be keeping her in an entirely different location from his home to make her harder to find. Even if they did take him in and question him, he could just deny everything. If they found no evidence tying him to the kidnapping then he would be set free. That thought made Rey's nausea return in full force.

I'll be okay, she told herself over and over. It was a mantra, a hope she was going to cling to with every fiber of her being until it came true. Rey closed her eyes so she could no longer see the gross cement walls, ceiling, and the flickering fluorescent light. She thought of Finn, and Rose, and her mother and how happy they would be when she saw them again. She thought of the man in sunglasses, who could very well be in police custody by now. She thought of Kyle in the next room, maybe plotting to harm her, maybe plotting to save her. I'll be okay.