Opening my eyes, I was surrounded by darkness. Right away I sit up, I’m blinded by bright, white lights. When I try to move my arm to cover my eyes, I’m stopped by some sort of restraint attached to my wrists. My eyes adjust to the light and I see thick rope bound to my wrists and ankles knotted to a hospital bed. 

A hospital bed? Why am I in a hospital? I thought to myself. I try to speak, but my throat was raw and swollen. Suddenly, my heart starts pounding out of my chest. I can feel it throughout my whole body. My ears ring while black blotches slowly start to blind me. I struggle in the restraints and feel the rope start to cut through my flesh. Ice-cold tears flow down my cheeks. Why are my tears cold? 

Some duct tape on my forearm catches my eye along with my clothes. They were ripped up and covered in blood. Blood. My blood? Suddenly, my body starts to shiver uncontrollably, but I wasn’t cold. I could feel the sweat dripping down the back of my neck. It was cold too, just like the tears that still fell down my face.

“Hold still.” A male voice commands calmly. 

All it took was a tiny pinch on the back of my neck and I was out like a light. Once again, surrounded by darkness. 

This time, I awake with a pounding headache. Immediately, I know I've been drugged. By who though? As I take in my surroundings I notice a window covered by a thin white curtain to the right of my bed. It was the only source of light in the small, square room. Sun shone through allowing you to see the dust particles dancing around the room like snow. White walls, white floors, and white sheets surrounded me. There was nothing but a bed, a door, and myself.

Until a small, blinking red light from the corner of the room grabs my attention. A camera, I think immediately. But why is there a camera in here? Who is watching on the other side? 

My wrists and ankles were no longer tied to the bed. My clothes had been exchanged for a white hospital gown and the duct tape that was once around my arm, has been replaced with fresh bandages. 

What is happening? I ask myself. Why am I here? As I sit up in the bed, I notice how red and raw my skin was on my wrists and ankles. Moving my legs out of bed, I glance at the camera. I’m not sure why, but I could definitely feel someone watching me through that tiny lens. As I moved, my body ached, making me want to crawl back into bed, but I was too curious to figure out what the hell I’m doing in a hospital. 

I cringe as my feet touch the cool floor as I walk over to the window. Peeking through the curtains, I see more white. Snow. It covered the cars in the parking lot down below. I find myself getting lost in the snow that slowly starts to fall from the sky. 

Cold. That’s all I could think as I trudged through the snowy streets alone. Behind me, I left a trail of blood that had to be going on for miles by now. I felt like I was dragging my arm as I walked while the blood dripped from my fingertips like a leaky faucet. 

“Nina,” Someone calls my name making me stop dead in my tracks. It sounded like my mother’s gentle voice. Impossible. She was taken right at the start of all of this. 

“Nina.” Again. 

I’m lost in my own head. It’s not real, yet I find myself following the sounds. I felt like a little kid on Easter, trying to find where all the eggs were hidden. Only this time, I was searching for something that wasn’t even real. 

I follow her voice until I’m stopped at a house. My house. There, I stand at the end of the blacktop driveway. The entire yard was covered in a thick blanket of snow along with the roof. 

I make my way up the steps to the front door that stood wide open.