I looked up…only to see the blazing sun. My eyes barely opened as I felt the rush of blood to my head. As I grew conscious, I began to realize that I wasn't looking up. I was looking ahead; I was upside down.  

I frantically looked around, trying to figure out where I was, what was happening, and how I got here.  

I looked up; my feet were tied together with a rope attached to the ceiling. I lowered my eyes; my hands were tied together with a zip tie and duct taped to my waist. I also had duct tape on my mouth which made it harder to breathe. “Relax” I thought to myself. I knew I could only breathe out of my nose, I had to relax to make sure I wouldn’t start hyperventilating; if I did, I would suffocate. 

I worked to get myself out of whatever I was in. My head was pounding like it got clubbed with a massive rock. I worked, and worked, and worked. I tried to wiggle, pull, and fidget. I was just wasting my energy. I wanted to pass out but my adrenaline was keeping me awake.

 After a few minutes, which seemed like hours, I kept pulling and my hands broke free from the duct tape. I then used the trick I learned to break free from the zip tie by aggressively moving my arms up, down, and apart. CRACK. The noise of the zip tie braking sounded like a sigh of relief. And felt like weight being lifted off my shoulders. I realized that I was now able to untie the ropes from my legs. “Ugh”. I curled my back and used my core to keep me up so I could untie the ropes. The pain was like rocks in my stomach. I’d been working for about 3 minutes when my back uncurled and my arms fell down in weakness. I hung there, letting my core settle before I tried again. That was the biggest thing I had learned from my lessons; get up and try again.   

I pushed off the floor to save a little strength, curled my back, and began trying to untie the ropes. “CLANK”. “There's someone coming.” I worked frantically to untie the ropes; my fingers and palms were sweating. At this point, I couldn't even feel my core anymore. The pain was replaced with pulsing,  nervous veins.  

“THUD.” “I hope they didn't hear that.” I knew they did though. I ran to hide behind a machine that was right next to where I fell. I watched from a distance as someone walked to where I just was a few moments ago. They examined the rope and the tape on the floor and snickered. They grinned like it was part of the plan. Their boots scraped the floor. Terrorizing the objects in the barn. I backed up as quietly as I could, sliding across the floor. I noticed an old pan hanging from the wall behind me. I grabbed it while keeping my eyes locked on this person. As soon as they turned around, I jumped up and wacked them on the back of the head. They fell. I dropped the pan and ran.  

“CLATTER, RING, RING”. The sound of the pan lingered in the background and lingered in my mind. I had no idea who that was, what had happened, where I was, and where I was going. However, I did know one thing, I didn’t trust anyone. And then I just kept running.