Page 77 of Mason

Opening the window, she took a deep breath and crawled outside. The wind was rough, and it knocked her back, causing her to lose her footing. She slid down a few inches, and it scared her. It would be easy to go back inside.

It was what she’d been doing for days. In all honesty, she should have done this a long time ago and not in the middle of a storm, but she was just done with it all. She could save herself. She could.

Scooting along the roofline, she edged her way toward the front porch, hoping there’d be a railing she could use to work her way down. And much to her good luck, there was. Except how was she supposed to get down with one hand? Casts did not make for good climbing companions, with snow and wind making it that much harder.

Dammit.

She raised her face to the sky and shook her head. Why, oh, why did it have to snow when she got desperate enough to try to escape?

“What are you doing up there, JoJo?”

She looked down to see a man standing below her. He was dressed warmly against the snow, including a full ski mask to protect his face from the snow and the wind.

This had to be her captor. He’d called her JoJo. He was also too tall to be Ray. Ray, she could have talked to, reasoned with, but a stranger? She had no idea what he was capable of.

“Trying to get down.”

He shook his head and went around the house. He came back a minute later carrying a ladder. “Come down before you get hurt.”

She debated, but going back wasn’t an option. She’d fall. She’d almost fallen several times just to get here. But would playing along with him cause her even more harm? He was crazy.

He tilted his head. “There’s no way to leave, JoJo. We’re thirty miles from the nearest town. If you run, you’ll freeze to death with no coat out there in the snow. It’s almost six degrees right now. We have an arctic blast passing through.”

She had to go and try this on the worst night of the year, didn’t she?

“Come on, I brought you food.”

Her stomach grumbled. It was amazing what a person would do when offered food after practically starving to death.

She climbed down the ladder he held in place.

“See, was that so hard?” She could hear the smile in his voice. He sounded familiar too. He took her good arm and led her back into the house, for which he had a key.

He had to have a car here somewhere, but she didn’t see it. He’d already been inside because the kitchen table was piled high with Walmart bags. Stuffed full of groceries.

“I got you some fresh clothes too.” He stopped and turned the thermostat up. “You can have a shower if you want as well.”

Why was he being so nice? So accommodating?

He pulled off his coat, but he kept the ski mask in place.

“Who are you?” she asked, eyeing the bag of chips sticking up out of one of the bags.

He picked something up off the stove and held it out to her. She snatched the Wendy’s bag out of his hand and dug into it. A cheeseburger and fries. She wasted no time in shoving some fries into her mouth.

He chuckled and handed her a large drink. “It’s Coke. Your favorite, right?”

She nodded and accepted the drink and took a long pull off the straw, trying to look around without appearing to. If he thought she was going to run, she had no doubt he’d lock her back up. Right now, she was free and able to check out her surroundings.

Think of it like a game. A battle royale. He was the enemy, and she had to find the weapons first.

There were no knives anywhere that she could see. Chances were this place hadn’t been lived in for a long time, judging from all the dust coating every surface.

She sat at the table and casually glanced at what she could see in the bags. Lots of canned and boxed food, but no perishables. Probably because she saw no working fridge.

“Can I have a Pop-Tart?”

He nodded and started unpacking bags, but he never turned his back on her. He kept an eye trained on her at all times.

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