Amber was waiting alone for the bus to take her home. Usually she went home earlier, but today she stayed late to study with her classmates at the college library, and then they all went to a nearby bar to hang out. Although she was comfortable with silence, the music was so loud she had to shout to be heard, which wasn't her idea of fun.

She shivered slightly in the chilly air of the mid-fall night. Her black fake leather jacket was starting to not be enough to keep her comfortable. Dan offered her a ride home. She suspected he had a thing for her, which is why she said no. He was nice, but she wasn't sure she wanted to start anything with anyone at the moment. However, with 20 minutes left to wait, and then the long ride back to her parents' house, she was starting to regret it.

The suburban street was dark and empty. Most people were asleep, and even those that weren't were comfortably at home. No one was walking outside, and only once every few minutes would a car pass by.

Dave was feeling pretty good with himself. He did an excellent job that night and was on his way home in his van to enjoy the fruits of his labor. As he was driving down one of the main roads of the suburban town he noticed in front of him a girl standing alone at the dark bus stop. He knew the area fairly well, and knew that the bus only came every 30 minutes, and there were still 20 minutes left.

Dave rolled down the passenger-side window and pulled up to the brown-haired girl. He leaned over to the window and called out. "Excuse me, miss?"

A van pulled up in front of Amber. The driver was an older guy, maybe in his 30s. He was a little overweight, but she couldn't see him very well in the dark. She recalled stories she's heard about men in vans but felt a little silly. He called out to her "Excuse me, miss?". "Yes?", she answered. "Do you know where the high-school is? I need to pick something up but can't find it on the app", he said.

Amber relaxed a little. "Okay".

The man exited the van and came up to her, phone in hand. As he approached she could see a little stubble on his chubby cheeks. He wasn't particularly big for a man, but he was definitely a little wide around the waist and other areas. He stood next to her as she looked for the location on the map app. She felt a little relieved to have a source of warmth near her.

Suddenly she felt something big, soft, and heavy come against her shoulder, and almost at the same time something cold and sharp came up against her neck, poking her. "Come with me if you don't want to die", the man whispered in her ear. She froze. He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to the back of the van. She followed him woodenly.

"Open the door and get inside" He whispered to her again. As she did it she started to shake. He closed the door behind them.

Inside the van she saw a few open duffel bags, and one that was closed and had something inside. Something that was big and moving.

Once inside the van he had her lie on her stomach. She heard clicks as he bound together her hands and feet, then bound the hands and the feet to each other. She didn't resist when he stuffed her mouth with some strange ball of what looked like a sponge. He mind was blank. She felt like she was experiencing a nightmare and would soon wake up.

The man then took out a ball with straps. He placed the rubber ball in her mouth, wrapped the straps behind her head, tightened them, and closed the buckle. She heard a click and felt a small extra weight hanging behind her head.

He felt through her pockets, emptying them. He did something to her phone, then shut it off and put all of her belongings inside a metal box and closed it.

The man then dragged her into an open duffel bag and zipped it shut. She was enveloped in darkness. She heard him climb into the driver's seat. The engine noise picked up and the van started to bounce and shake as he drove off. Gradually she lost all sense of time, distance, and direction as she was bounced painfully on the unpadded van floor.

In a detached way she realized she was terrified. She could hardly move, hardly breath. She was completely helpless and at this stranger's mercy, and knew that he must be planning terrible things for her, but didn't know yet exactly what those were. This sent her imagination running wild with various scenarios, causing her fear to increase even further.

Eventually the van came to a stop. She heard the noise of a garage door closing, then the door of the van being opened and closed and the man's footsteps as he walked around to the back of the van. He opened the door, entered, and lifted the duffel bag she was in off the floor. She felt herself being carried, then in a more bouncy way, as if he was taking her down a flight of stairs. Finally, he put her down on the floor. She heard him moving away and up the stairs again.

A short while later she heard him approach again, and heard him place the second duffel bag near her. Then he unzipped her bag. She squinted as bright light suddenly and painfully assaulted her eyes. She heard the tinkling of metal chains as felt the man place something hard and heavy around her neck and then heard a click.

As she laid flat on the floor Amber examined what she could see of the room through narrow eyes. The walls were a pale yellow, and it was filled with various furniture. Some was ordinary, such as heavy wooden dressers. Some strange.

She heard the man unzip the second duffel bag, and again the sound of the chains and the click. Amber had suspected that the second bag contained another person. This seemed to confirm it.

The man then released the bindings on Amber's hands and feet, although he left the gag in place. She sat up and watched as he walked over to other person to do the same. It was a thin, bony, blond girl. Amber felt around the buckle of the ball gag while the man was focused on his work. Her short thick fingers encountered a small lock, bigger and heavier than a suitcase lock, fixing the buckle in place.

Her jaw was aching, the sponge in her mouth was soaked and drool was coating her face, hair, and neck, but for now she wouldn't be able able to do anything about it.

Now that she could sit up she was able to get a better view of the room. She saw that there were several chains anchored to the wall, each ending with a collar. Opposite from her was a door with 2 locks, one a regular lock that opened with a key, and the other a mechanical combination lock. There were also a toilet and a shower in the room, but no windows.

The man finished with the blond girl and moved to stand before the 2 of them. He waited while the blond girl sat up and looked around the room. Her eyes met Amber's. Then she looked down. It was at that moment that the man spoke.

"You are my slaves, and I am your master. Do you understand?"

Amber stared at his midsection. The blond girl stared at the floor near his feat.

"You are my slaves, and I am your master. Do you understand?", the man repeated.

The blond girl nodded. Amber continued to stare, motionless. She began to understand what it was all about, and inwardly rebelled against what the man was trying to do. She was still struggling to think, to understand the situation, to figure out how to deal with it.

The man took a small, round device out of his pocket. He pressed a button. Instantly pain coursed through Amber's body and she collapsed to the floor, twitching uncontrollably, silently sobbing. A moment later the pain stopped, but she couldn't breath. Her mouth was sealed by the gag, and her nose by mucus. She begun desperately clawing at the gag, trying to remove it. She could see that the blond girl was in the same condition.

The man walked over with a key and unlocked and unbuckled Amber's gag. She desperately tore it and the sponge-like ball out of her mouth, and laid on the ground gasping for air. The man repeated the actions with the blond girl with the same results. Then he stood in front of them again, waiting for them to catch their breaths. When they did, he repeated again:

"You are my slaves, and I am your master. Do you understand?"

"Yes!" The two girls hurriedly croaked out.

"Yes what?" The man barked at them.

Amber realized what he wanted, and as she opened her mouth to answer she felt nausea growing in her belly.

"Yes, master" she breathed out in a raspy voice. The man smiled at her, and she barely stopped herself from vomiting. She realized then that despite all that she had thought before tonight, she was no hero like those on TV, and that she'd be playing along with whatever her captor wanted in order to survive.

The man looked over to the blond girl. She immediately understood what he demanded of her and whispered "Yes, master".