Chapter Thirty Nine: Held Hostage

Akila gasped as she regained her consciousness. She blinked her eyes open, checking out her surrounding. She was bound to a metal chair at the center of an empty room. The room was dark; light spilled in from the doorway. That must be a lit passageway. Akila struggled against the rope, securing her hands in place behind the chair. But it was so tightly tied that it burned her wrists she pulled at it. "Where the hell is this place?" Akila wondered aloud. She felt light-headed, and her head swayed on her neck. She must have hit her head against something while she was brought in. She itched to rub her temple against the ache that settled in there. She looked around the room, trying to move forward. But the chair as well stuck to the ground. She couldn't see much in the dark. She wasn't interested in alerting her abductor about her consciousness. Scenarios where kidnapped victims were punished by their abductors–that she had watched in movies–played in her mind. Akila shook