Chapter Text
The warm Mexican sun coated Sarah's skin and felt as though she was wearing a well-loved sweater. Ben, her boyfriend, entwined his fingers with hers. He pulled her hand up to his lips and gave it a small kiss before tugging her along with their friends. Sarah adjusted the straps of her bikini top as she trudged along.
"This guy said he can hook us up with some horses for the day," their friend Lori exclaimed. "Just thirty pesos each for the whole day!"
Ben and Sarah exchanged looks. Lori's boyfriend Andrew piped up.
"That's kind of... cheap, Lor. Why so cheap?"
Lori shrugged, not really paying attention, as usual. Lori was the happy-go-lucky yet flighty kind of girl and one of the reasons Sarah loved her. She was exactly the opposite to her own stubborn and cynic personality. Her best friend was the ying to her yang.
The group of friends made their way down an overgrown trail path leading to an old rundown shack. Four saddled horses were tethered together and chained to a stake in the ground.
"Lori, where exactly did you meet this guy?" Sarah looked around, not seeing any signs of what one would call a home for horses. There were no troughs, no hay, no stables.
Again, Lori shrugged. "At the beach yesterday. He came up and asked if I was interested in horseback riding and said he had four horses. 'Cuatro caballos,' he said. For 'treinta pesos.' Come on guys, don't start getting all grown up on me now. Where's your sense of adventure? Horseback riding! We can take them down to the beach and feel the spray of the ocean hitting us as we trot around. It'll be great!" Lori clamped onto Andrew's arm and gave him an excited hug.
Andrew rolled his eyes but chuckled. Lori always got her way. Ben smirked as Sarah walked up closer to the horses. The horses nickered and snorted, with their ears pricked forward. Cautiously, Sarah held out a hand and stroked the forehead of the beautiful tan colored one closest to her. She looked over the other three as she slowly brought her hand down toward the muzzle and back up, repeating the comforting strokes. One horse was a dapple with grey spots, one was a pinto, and the biggest one was all black and looked quite angry.
"Hola." Sarah jumped when a young man around their age came from behind the shed, startling the horses as well. The tan one she'd been petting whinnied and the large black one huffed and puffed, dancing in place, yanking at it's restraints.
"Oh hey," Lori beamed. "We are here for the horses!"
The guy didn't speak much English but held up three fingers with one hand and a fist with the other before pointing at each of the friends.
"Right, thirty pesos each. Drew?" Lori smiled at Andrew and held out her hand. Andrew reluctantly reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Ben did the same. Both men provided sixty pesos each, paying for all four horses. Andrew collected the money from Ben and stepped toward the horse keeper, handing it to him.
"How long do we get them for, anyway?" He asked.
"Si," the horse keeper began, continuing in Spanish with a thick accent. Andrew blinked and pursed his lips.
"We'll have them back before sunset, alright?" Andrew chuckled.
Ben wrapped an arm around Sarah's waist. "Which one do you fancy?"
Sarah smiled. She loved horses and always dreamed of having one of her own. Her grandparents had a ranch so she had grown up around them, visiting them every summer break. She didn't consider herself an expert on horses, but she knew she had more experience with horses than her boyfriend and her friends did.
"I love the tan one, but I think I better take the big black one." Sarah swallowed back any fear that might be sitting around in her emotions so the big guy wouldn't become nervous.
Andrew guffawed. "Sarah, you make it too easy. 'The big black one.' I'm not even going to say it, but sometimes you set yourself up to be the butt of our jokes."
Lori rolled her eyes and Ben laughed, letting Sarah go as she carefully walked in front of the horses toward the black one. She stuck her middle finger up at Andrew before reaching out for the reins of the horse.
The keeper freed each horse and passed out the reins. Ben took the tan one that Sarah liked and Lori got the dapple one while Andrew took the pinto.
Slipping her foot into the stirrup of the saddle on the black horse, she hoisted herself up, grabbing the saddle's horn. Adjusting herself, she glanced at her friends and snickered at Andrew's pathetic attempts at mounting. She guided her horse next to Ben and smiled as he sat up straight, looking rather manly and sexy.
"Do they have names?" Ben directed his question to the keeper.
Again, he rambled in Spanish and none of them knew what he was saying.
"Let's just name them ourselves!" Lori quipped. "Mine is... oh! Stella!"
Andrew thought for a minute and decided his would be called "Shithead."
"Charming," Sarah said sarcastically. "What about yours, Ben?"
"Goldie."
"Aw! Um, this guy will be, hmm. Zorro?" Sarah stroked his main, trying to bond with him.
"Perfect!" Lori squealed. Stella nickered and began walking away from the rest of them.
"Well then, I guess we're off. Wait up, Lori!" Andrew shook his reins and poor Shithead followed after Stella.
Sarah looked back at the horse keeper, who was counting his money with a grin. "Gracias," she waved and followed behind her friends.
Andrew and Lori rode side by side, as did Ben and Sarah behind them. Generally, the horses were well behaved but Sarah couldn't fight the nagging feeling that something wasn't right.
"Ben, do you think it's strange that he didn't come with? What are we supposed to do if one of the horses acts out?" She kept her voice down, not wanting to upset Lori.
"Nah. We've got you," he winked.
"I didn't want to say anything in front of him, but I don't think these horses belong to him." Sarah looked behind her, in case they were somehow being watched.
"What do you mean?"
"Look how well groomed these guys are. Do you really believe that's where they live? Where they're cared for?"
"Maybe not, but what are you saying? That they're stolen?"
"Seems that way to me," Sarah frowned.
"I don't know, Sarah. Let's just have some fun and if it's still bugging you later, we can call the police after we take them back. Okay? Don't tell anyone because I will deny it, but riding on a horse on the beach has always been a fantasy of mine." Ben wiggled his eyebrows and Sarah couldn't help but laugh.
After a full afternoon of riding around the beach and picnicking with the horses, Ben suggested returning them so they could do a bar crawl before calling it a day. Remembering the way back to the shack, Andrew led the way with the others following closely behind.
"Drew," Ben called to his friend. "I don't remember there being this many trees, dude."
Sarah held her tongue. She knew Andrew was getting them all lost but Lori had made her promise to play nice when they all decided to take the trip in the first place. Every snarky comment they've made towards each other so far had been in jest but now Sarah was really getting peeved by her best friend's boyfriend. Her jaw was beginning to hurt from being clenched for the past hour.
Keeping the distance between herself and Andrew, Sarah made Zorro the last horse in their little caravan as Andrew led. She chewed on her nails, looking around the path for anything recognizable. Hearing Andrew and Lori begin to bicker, she slowed Zorro down even more.
"You okay, Sarah?" Ben called back, noticing the distance between them.
"I'm fine. Just... enjoying the view," she replied dryly.
The sun was lowering and filtering through the trees. Sarah yawned and stretched her back as best as she could. Zorro's ears pricked up and he slowed down even more. Sarah sat straight up and listened for whatever alerted the horse. The only sound she could hear was the fading bickering of her friends and the buzzing of insects. Occasionally a bird cried out.
Without warning, Zorro whinnied loudly and began to buck. Sarah tried her best to steady him, to no avail. She lost her grip on his reins and her footing slipped as she was hurled through the air. She cried out as she landed head first on the rocky path. She groaned and whimpered before the lights went out completely.
***
Feeling like she just had a lobotomy, Sarah winced and tried to bring her hands to her forehead to somehow soothe the shooting pain of fireworks erupting within her skull. Her eyes fluttered open, feeling the cold, hard shackles around her wrists preventing her from being able to reach her face. She sat there in shock and quiet as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. She held her hands in front of her and squinted, trying to make out the faint silhouette of her fingers in the sliver of light coming beneath the door several feet before her. She yanked her hands and the unmistakable sound of chains clattered against the ground and she felt the short tug from where they were bound.
Panic began to set in. Sarah whimpered and tried to stand. She shivered in the cold air of her prison, wishing she had more than just a bikini top and shorts on.
"H-hello?" She called out, meekly at first. Her voice was rough and dry. "Hello? Where am I?" Tears began to well up in her eyes. Not being able to wipe them away, they fell, tickling her cheeks with wet streaks.
"You shouldn't have come here," a deep voice growled in the darkness.
Sarah fruitlessly yanked on her chains, the clattering of metal echoing throughout the blackness.
"Who are you?" Realizing her feeble attempts of escape were getting her nowhere, she backed up, further into the darkness, away from the voice.
"Why are you here?" The voice barked at her again.
Sarah yelped as her nearly bare back hit a cold stone wall, preventing her from cowering away any further.
"I-I don't even know where I am!" She shot back. She prayed her voice sounded stronger than she felt.
She could hear him breathing, heavily. She saw someone pass in front of her, the sliver of light beneath the door flickering as they crossed the floor, and she gasped, pressing herself into the wall.
"Stay away!" Her eyes widened, trying to make out the man with the voice.
"Who sent you?" He demanded. She could tell he was pacing before her. The light beneath the door danced behind him and she could faintly make out his shape. He was tall and very broad. Immediately this terrified her, knowing he could very well cause her harm.
Sarah shook her head, struggling to keep him in her sight. "No one! No one sent me, I swear! I have no idea how I got here, you have to believe me! Please!"
He paused and stood before her, arms crossed, she could tell. She could feel him taking her in. It didn't make sense considering the darkness, but she could definitely feel his eyes sweeping up and down her shaking body. She wished she could cross her arms over her chest. The chill air made her self conscious, feeling her nipples react to the frigid temperature. She felt exposed to him, even in the dark.
"You fell off your horse," he started. "Do you remember?" She noticed he didn't have a Spanish accent.
Sarah dropped her eyes from the dark figure and tried to remember. She *had been horseback riding... with her friends... and somehow she fell.
"Y-yes, you're right. I did. How do you know?" She glanced back up, searching for him in the dark.
She gulped when she realized he was closer. She could smell him.
"Who do you think wrapped your head? Brought you in here?"
In normal circumstances, she would thank him, but this certainly was not a normal circumstance. "What about my friends? Where are they?"
"They rode off. Left you behind." Sarah jumped realizing he spoke from her left side. She hated that he was moving around, freely, as she was confined to cowering against a hard, cold wall.
Again, Sarah shook her head. Tears began to fall again, his words upsetting her. "No. They wouldn't do that."
A dark chuckle sounded. "Oh, but they did."
"Stop, please." She sniffled, refusing to let him fool her.
Her friends, her own boyfriend even, would never leave her behind if she had fallen off her horse. Maybe they hadn't even seen it happen. Maybe they were currently wondering where she'd gone off to. It wasn't unusual for her to disappear for days at a time without telling anyone. But they were all on vacation together in Mexico, somewhere they'd never been before. They must realize what happened. They would come looking for her.
"Stop sniveling," he said with disgust.
"Please, let me go. I don't understand why I'm here! I appreciate you helping me, but it's a little scary waking up in the dark, chained!"
"It's for your own safety, Sarah! I couldn't have you waking up and wandering around the castle on your own!" His anger was frightening and Sarah felt she better tread softly.
"I'm sorry, please. I didn't mean to make you mad. You must understand that I'm scared," she pleaded. "Wait, you know my name? How do you know my name?? Who are you?!"
She waited for him to answer. Instead, he stood there, eerily still, making Sarah wonder if she imagined anyone being there at all. She tugged at her chains and finally he spoke up.
"I'll come check on you again in a few hours. Get some rest. You'll need it."
Sarah heard his footsteps departing toward the door. Afraid of being left alone, afraid of the unknown, she cried out. "No! Please, don't go!"
The door opened and through the dim lighting from the hall, she could see he indeed was very tall and broad shouldered. His torso was long and narrow. She hoped to get a good look at his face so when she escaped she could report him to the local police. But he didn't look back. The heavy metal door slammed behind him and locked.
"Please! Come back! Let me go!"
Sarah sank to the ground, tears falling again. Being closer to the wall, she was able to bring her hands to her face. She covered them and sobbed hard until she curled herself into a pitiful ball and fell asleep from exhaustion.