Tracy's POV
I don't remember how long the car drove. Minutes? Hours? I couldn't tell. Time lost all meaning as it melted into the hum of the engine, into the sting of ropes cutting my skin, into the sound of my own shaky breathing inside the hood- everything feels like a nightmare.
And then, suddenly- without warning— the car screeched to a halt. My body lurched forward, my shoulder slamming into the seat. A rough hand yanked the door open.
"Out!" one of them barked, ordering.
Before I could react, they grabbed me and dragged me out of the car. My knees scraped the rough gravel as I stumbled. The air outside was colder, sharper, smelling of wet earth.
Were they dropping me in the middle of nowhere?
"Please!" I begged, my voice breaking. "Please don't leave me here! I'll do anything, just don't—"
My words were swallowed by the slam of the car door.
I heard the engine roar again, the tires spinning against the ground. A spray of gravel stung my skin as the car pulled away. I twisted, blinded by the hood, chasing the sound with my ears. The engine faded… smaller… smaller… until there was nothing.
Just silence.
Silence, except for the rain.
It started soft, a drizzle tapping against the hood. Then heavier. And heavier. Until it was a downpour. The fabric clung to my face, wet and suffocating. Each breath was harder than the last. My chest heaved. Panic clawed at me.
I collapsed onto my knees, trembling so violently my teeth chattered. The ropes bit deeper into my skin, water soaking through them until they stung like fire.
"Help!" I screamed, but the storm swallowed my voice. I could soon feel the cold deep in skin. My cry vanished into the night, useless against the endless stretch of nowhere.
I pressed my face to the muddy ground, trying to tear the hood against it, dragging my cheek until the rough fabric scraped my skin raw. It didn't come off. The knot was too tight.
Hot tears mixed with cold rain. I felt so small, so powerless, like a child lost in a nightmare.
I thought of my family, my loved ones. My father's hands holding mine that morning, steady and proud. I thought of my mother's voice whispering "today is your day." I thought of the girl in the mirror, smiling in her gown. That girl was gone.
I was nothing now. Just a soaked body in the dark.
The rain fell harder, drumming against the earth, beating against my back. The wind howled through the trees. My dress— my beautiful wedding dress — was ruined, heavy with water, clinging to me like chains. My hair- I remembered my sister making beautiful comments about it the morning.. stuck to my face, plastered and cold. My teeth chattered until my jaw ached.
I hugged my knees to my chest, shivering. My mind screamed: Get up!. Find shelter. Do something.
...But of course, my body refused. Every part of me wanted to collapse, to just sink into the mud and disappear. It was hard- too hard.
Then I heard it.
A distant roll of thunder. Long. Deep. Like the sky itself was mocking me. The panic rose again. I couldn't stay here. If no one found me, I'd die here. Just a forgotten bride on the side of the road.
I forced myself onto unsteady feet, swaying, the ropes scraping with every movement. Step by step, I stumbled forward. I didn't know where I was going— I couldn't see, couldn't think. But standing still felt like giving up.
Mud sucked at my shoes. Rain lashed my skin. My breath came in sharp gasps.
Keep moving, I told myself. Don't stop. Don't stop. Just keep moving
But a darker thought pushed in: Where will you even go? Who will believe you? Do you know where you are? Where are you heading to?
The world already thought I had run away. My place had already been taken. And now— now I was just a nameless, faceless shadow stumbling through the night.
The weight of it broke something inside me. I sank back to my knees, the mud soaking through the thin fabric of my dress. For the first time, I whispered it out loud, so quietly I almost didn't hear it myself.
"I'm gone."
The words slipped into the storm, fragile and broken.
And in that moment, I realized… Tracy, the bride, was truly gone.
-
-
I don't know how long I stayed there, kneeling in the mud, rain pouring over me. Minutes? Hours? Time meant nothing. My body was shaking so violently I thought my bones would splinter.
The hood clung tighter to my face, heavy with water. Each breath filled my mouth with damp fabric. My lungs burned. If I stayed like this, I'd choke on my own panic.
"No." I whispered to myself, though the storm swallowed my voice. "Not like this. Not here. Never."
I dropped sideways into the mud and began to thrash my head against the ground, scraping the hood against rough earth, stones, anything sharp I could find. The fabric burned against my skin. My temple throbbed where it struck a rock, but I didn't stop- I would not.
"Come off." I begged, gasping, voice muffled. "Please— come off!"
The ropes around my wrists shifted as I twisted, pain shooting up my arms. The hood's knot refused to loosen, every tug only digging it tighter. But the storm was on my side— the rain made the fabric heavier, looser in places.
I slammed the side of my face against the ground again, dragging, clawing at the cloth with my bound hands even though my fingernails tore against the rope.
Then, finally, finally— I felt it. A small tear.
My breath caught. My pulse hammered.
With everything in me, I shoved my face down again, rubbing until the rip widened, until the first gasp of cool night air touched my cheek.
I screamed into it. Not in fear this time, but in rage, in raw desperate will. One more violent jerk, and the fabric gave way.
The hood ripped.
And the night poured in.
The first thing I saw were trees— dark silhouettes swaying violently under the storm. Branches clawed at the sky like blackened hands. Lightning split across the heavens, throwing the world into sharp, silver light.
I collapsed onto my back, gasping, rain striking my face with icy needles. For the first time since the morning, I could breathe fully. The air was wild, electric, sharp with wet soil and gasoline that lingered faintly from the road.
But the relief only lasted a second.
Because now I could see— and what I saw was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
No road signs. No houses. No people. Just endless, twisted trees and an empty stretch of road vanishing into the storm.
I was truly nowhere. Alone.
Tears blurred my vision, mixing with the rain, but I blinked them away. I forced myself up onto my knees again, mud sucking at my gown.
Every inch of me screamed to lie down, to give up, to let the storm take me. But deep inside, a flicker of something else burned.
Survival.
I wasn't going to let them win. Whoever they were.
I dragged myself upright, swaying like a ghost in a ruined wedding gown. The ropes around my wrists cut deeper, but I pressed them against a jagged rock at the side of the road. Back and forth, again and again, until my skin stung and the fibers began to fray.
The storm roared. My arms ached. My knees bled from the gravel. But I didn't stop.
Because for the first time since that morning, I wasn't just a bride who had been stolen.
I was a woman fighting to exist.
And I would not be forgotten. Never!