by Marilyn Knowles Wilke

Created on: September 26, 2008

Melinda hurried through her shower to get ready to meet her friends at Duke's Deli. This was the new place in town and they wanted to be some of the first people to try it out. Melinda's friend, Della, was a food critic for a smalltime magazine in town. She always liked for them to be with her when she was working. Her father had created the magazine and discovered that Della had a knack for good food. Melinda had just started going out a little since her ordeal.

Melinda had been kidnapped eight months ago. He was a police officer and had been stalking her for weeks before he finally took her. She was leaving her home one morning when a police car pulled up. The officer told her that something had happened to her mother and he needed to take her to the hospital where she was. Melinda trusted police officers and never suspected that this one was a dirty cop. She ended up being kidnapped and taken to a remote cabin in the woods. He tortured her and taunted her until she thought she was going to die. He would always dress in his uniform and make her do perverted things for him. He raped her and gave her drugs that made her hallucinate. He used those drugs to control her and make her do the things he wanted.

Melinda recalled how she got away. She had finally decided it was time to pray, something her mother had always told her was important. She had never placed a lot of importance because of her father. They were divorced and she had moved in with him for a while. He was wild and crazy, letting her do whatever she wanted, so she had gotten out of church and lost her faith. When she moved back with her mother, she still had a hard time with faith. She had another ordeal she was dealing with. She watched her own father blow his head off. That took her years to get over, but she was doing well when she was kidnapped. Now, as she began dressing, she wondered if she was ready to go out.

The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. It was her best friend, Della. "Hey, girl, are you getting ready?"

"Listen, Della, I don't know if I am ready for this yet," She sounded like a lost child. "I mean, I have not been out since...you know."

"Come on, Melinda," Della encouraged her. "We have talked about this for a couple of weeks now. You have been cooped up in that house for two months now. I know your counselor told you it is time, so come on, girl, we can do this."

"You can do this," She agreed. "But, I don't think I am ready."

"You just gotta' come," She would not give up. "Me and

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