Chapter 35: A stranger
She curled into herself where she sat, arms wrapped around her knees, breathing heavily into her cupped palms in a futile attempt to stay awake, stay alive. Her breath came out in shallow clouds, vanishing as fast as her body heat. The cold pierced through her layers, slicing straight into bone.
She was trapped inside a deep freezer, a place meant to preserve meat, to halt decay and rot. But the air... it carried a different scent. Not quite blood, not quite metallic, but sharp and wrong. She didn’t know enough to place it. Maybe it was animal blood. Maybe something worse.
She blinked slowly, her lashes stiff with frost, and glanced around. No sign of her bag. Panic surged. She forced herself upright, limbs aching, each step like wading through ice water. Her teeth chattered as she staggered across the freezer, hugging herself tightly to keep her resolve from cracking.
’I just need my phone,’ she thought desperately. If Michelle had sent those men to kill her. There wouldn’t be a door left unlocked. Every exit was sealed for a reason.
Still, she searched, her eyes darting to every corner. No gaps. No handles. The walls were solid, unnaturally fortified, too sealed, too soundproof. This wasn’t just for storing meat. This place was made to hide something. Or someone.
Her breath hitched. Her trembling hands clawed through her hair, frustration boiling over as her hope began to fray. No bag. No phone. No way out. The cold was starting to win, creeping into her fingers, numbing her legs. She dropped back down to the ground and curled up again, blowing warm air into her palms, though nothing felt warm anymore. Her limbs stiffened. Her chest ached with every slow inhale. She couldn’t even feel her own breath.
She was freezing to death.
Tears stung her eyes, but they froze before they could fall. Her vision blurred, darkness inching into her peripheral vision, until a sudden, faint beep cut through the silence.
It wasn’t loud. But it was enough.
Her heart jolted. Her eyes widened. That sound, she knew it. A notification. Then it hit her. The inner pocket.
She had tucked her phone into the inside pocket of her jacket before getting out of the car.