Sunflower

I was running out of time.

I glanced at the ticking clock and struggled against the ropes tied around my arms. The cloth in my mouth was drenched in saliva. My screams were caged in my throat.

The door opened, flooding the tiny room with light and my body stilled.

I watched as my captor stood in front of me. He took a lighter out from his pocket, smiling. Calm and collected. As if this was a nice dinner meeting at a good old restaurant. Only it wasn’t. I was ‘dining’ with a psychopath.

My captor flicked the switch on the lighter and a flame appeared.

“How about this? I’ll give you a head start, see if one of your little lovers make it before you perish. Good luck,” he said.

I saw the look in his eyes before he ripped the cloth from my mouth.

He dropped the lighter on the floor as he left the room and he said, “Oops. Almost forgot. I’ll come back, with some good old gasoline. You want to know where I’ll put that, don’t you? Well, you’ll have to wait and see.”

I kept begging for someone to show up, anyone to rescue me. As the tears slid down my face I wondered.

Would this be the end for me?