A Rose in Shadow

Saturday

SATURDAY

Saturday morning was the only day that Samantha would be able to sleep in for the foreseeable future and she intended to take advantage of that fact, barely acknowledging Adam when he got dressed and left early for work, after kissing her sweetly and quietly leaving the bedroom. It was a couple of hours later before she finally stirred and stretched across the bed opening her eyes to glance out the window at the beautiful sunny day. Thinking of all of the things that she hoped to do with her day off, Samantha got quickly out of bed and into the shower, anxious to get started.

After stripping the linens from the bed and picking up Adam's stray socks that he had obviously thrown in the vague direction of the hamper, she got dressed in a cheery sundress and pulled her hair into a ponytail. It still made her smile to see Adam's clothes lined up with hers in their closet.

She had noticed a dresser at the little second hand shop by the café the other day and thought that maybe she would check it out later. It just might fit, not in the bedroom area itself but in the closet, and that would be okay for her purposes. As long as she still had use of the mirror she didn't actually care if her dresser was in the closet. If it was the right price she just might pick it up.

Part of her plans for the day were to open up all of the windows to air out the apartment, this having been run past and approved by Adam last night, and make some bread dough to rise. She wanted to bring a fresh loaf of bread to dinner at Adam's parents' house the next day.

She also hoped to talk Mrs. Connor into checking out some yard sales with her today. Even though it frustrated her she still tried to respect Adam's wishes that she not go out alone.

Picking up the phone she quickly called Mrs. Connor to set up a time to meet and then turned her attention back to making her bread, deciding to make an extra loaf to give to her landlords as a treat.

The bread dough made, Samantha was just setting it aside to rise when a knock came to the door. Glancing at the clock and realizing that it was too early for Mrs. Connor she grabbed a tea towel and was wiping her hands as she walked to the door.

"Who is it?" she called.

Nobody answered.

Samantha pressed her ear closer to the door and asked again. "Is somebody there?" and she was suddenly shoved back hard when the door flew open, causing her to hit her head against the small entrance table before landing on her back on the floor. Pain shot behind her eyes and she reflexively put her hand up to her temple, stunned to see blood on her fingers when she pulled them away.

Confused she looked up to see Nathan Moore hovering over her and she was unable to react before he grabbed her aggressively up off of the floor and dragged her into the kitchen where he restrained her to a chair with a length of rough rope that he pulled from his pants pocket. His eyes were shining with madness while he muttered to himself.

Moore was wearing a pair of old blue workpants and a plain black t-shirt. He had a couple of day's whisker growth on his face and his dark hair was going in all directions. There were dark circles under his eyes which were bloodshot and tired. He looked insane.

"Nothing but a cheap whore" he said as he tightened the ropes cutting into Samantha's wrists causing her to bleed. She cried out involuntarily which seemed to anger him more and he struck out to hit her across the cheek with the back of his hand causing a flash to appear before her eyes. The pain was instantly unbearable and then she saw nothing but darkness.

Samantha started to come to and once again heard Moore muttering and cursing under his breath. She cautiously slit her eyes open and watched him through her lashes. He was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, periodically glancing her way. Knowing she wouldn't be able to fool him that she was still out for much longer Samantha forced herself to try to think of a way to distract him and get herself free. Her brain was still a bit fuzzy but she could make out some of what he was saying.