Caroline Hobbs.

Caroline Hobbs.

Days blend into night, night blends into days. I can't tell the difference anymore. I am only provided with patterns.

A man in a mask comes to the basement and gives me breakfast. Some bread and water in a plastic container. You would think they'll give me better food than that.

After that I slip in and out of consciousness which leads me to believe that the water must contain sleeping pills.

Next comes a man who takes me out of the basement in a blindfold. I am given approximately thirty minutes in the bathroom to do whatever I want.

The bathroom is bare with a toilet and sink and a shower stand with no bathtub. The only thing in the bathroom is a roll of toilet paper and a bar of unscented soap. There is only warm water running out of the taps.

I have glimpsed out of the bathroom window enough times to know that I must be in a cabin in the outskirts of New York city.

My baths are always short and filled with me mostly crying in the shower, since it's the only place I can comfortably cry.

I'm glad my captor doesn't notice or pretends not to notice.

Afterwards there are fresh clothes on the bed. Mostly a T-shirt and a sweatpant.

But since the baths aren't frequent, I can't really tell whether or not it's day or night.

Another guy in a mask gives me lunch or dinner or whatever it is.

I know this because he has a spring in his step and he smells like leather and the city.

He brings me takeouts mostly and likes to watch me eat.

But I don't drink the water while he's around, it makes me dizzy.

If I need to use the bathroom when it's not yet time for me to use it, I find myself knocking the door for a long time before I am answered.

I have once knocked a total of one hundred and sixty seven times before I was answered.

By that time, I already wet myself.




Today I am restless, because the twins are restless.

I have spent time tossing and turning on the mattress with heavily lidded eyes almost closed by the sleeping pills that have been crushed into my water.
I have to do something.

I haven't seen Nick since the first day. And all my questions about his whereabouts have gone unanswered. I don't even think the crazy minion he was with the last time is part of the people in this cabin.

Or else he surely would have hit me for some of the things I've said and done.

Like the time I had emptied all the contents of my water and food on one of the guys in the mask. He didn't say a word. He only went to clean up and I went to bed hungry.

This time, something is different. Maybe it's the incessant kicking of the babies in my tummies that gives me the courage, I don't know.

But the idea is worth a shot, I think as I walk towards the basement door and bang on it frantically.


"I need a doctor!!!! Arrggggghhhhh!!!! I think the baby's coming."

My screams are loud and deafening but I still continue shouting and banging the door even when my throat feels dry and scratchy. I need water.

I bend over in pain and conjure up painful memories to imitate a look that shows that I am in intense pain.

"Help! Help! Help!" I scream loudly.

The force at which the door is opened almost sends me tumbling down the stairs but I quickly regain my posture and go back into character.

"What's wrong?" One of the guys who barges in asks me.

In his haste he forgets to apply his mask correctly and I can see a quarter of his face peeking out.

"I'm in labour!! I need a doctor!" I cry out as I hold my sides and squeeze my face.

It requires a lot of effort but I am willing to do it. It has to get me out of here.

"Get me the hell out of here!!! I need to be in a hospital."

I pick my words one by one in a bid to make it look like I'm forcing myself to speak despite the intense pain.

The guy in the twisted mask looks at his other companion, I can't tell their expressions under the masks.

"She's lying. Let's get out of here." The other guy says and I glare at him.

"Lying?!!! Do I look like I'm lying you fucking maggot? If I don't get to the hospital right now, I'm going to give birth right here! And you'll have to deal with it."


He suddenly looks spooked at the idea of a screaming baby covered in blood and eagerly taps the other.

For a while, they are in a heated argument while I pretend to be practising my breathing exercise.


"We'll get you a doctor." The one with the crooked mask replies after they've reached a consensus and I lower my head to hide my disappointment.

"Whatever you do, get one here fast!"

I scream at them and they both scramble back up the stairs.

"Stay with her!" One says to the other.

"No fucking way! What if she has the baby? You stay with her."


I give out another sharp wail which sends both of them out of the basement.

When they both leave, I collapse on the bed breathing hard and fast.

I an exhausted from all the labour pains I had to fake, but I still have to be at alert in case someone is coming down again.



A very long time passes and I'm starting to think that I've been forgotten or left alone in the basement.

But then I hear voices next to the basement door and I pretend to lie down on my back exhausted and tired from the pain.


It's a woman in a doctor's coat and scrubs. I don't even know if she's a doctor or a nurse but from her jerky movements it looks like she was kidnapped from the hospital. She's slim and pale, almost as tall as the guy who is dragging her, he happens to be one of my captors from earlier. She's wearing a mask too, but I can see curly blonde hair peeking out from the side of the mask and her coat has St Lucas hospital boldly written on the breast pocket.

Sloppy.


They may have taken her name tag but since I assume she's working at St Lucas, she can always be traced.

I'm very curious to know how exactly she's involved in all this.

The guy gives her space and I pretend to look like I'm in pain as she touches my belly. For a doctor, her hands are pretty shaky. She must be scared.

"How far along are you?" She asks me.

"Thirty - two weeks."

I asks as I eye her weirdly. It's impossible to know who she is or what she's thinking under her mask.

She reaches out for a pair of gloves in the box near her.

She then turns to the guy standing next to her and watching us intently.


"I need to check her. Please give us some privacy."

He doesn't hesitate to turn. Or even move a few feet away from us.

I take off my sweat pants and my underwear.

Spreading my legs wide for the doctor to check me out.

I know there's nothing wrong with me. I'm not even due for labour.

She looks up and stares at me, I notice she has brown eyes. Very big brown eyes. Interesting.

"You don't look like you're in labour. Did your water break or something?"

I shake my head.

"I just felt very painful contractions. It felt like they were real. And I feel so tired."

"Hnmmm. Must have been Braxton Hicks contractions" the woman says as she examines me. She busies herself with her box again and I notice there's something peeking out of her breast pocket.

Oh God!

Oh Lord!

It's a phone!

A phone.

I try as much as possible to hide my excitement as she takes my temperature. My brain is running a million and one ideas on how to get the phone from her.

"Can you give me something for the pain?" I ask as I sit upright and she jerks back out of fear.

"Yes. Sure." she says as she busies herself searching in her box.


I just need to get the phone away from her, or distract her enough for me to get it.

I notice she has set some of the equipments from her box on the table and I pretend to knock it down unintentionally.

She looks at it surprised.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper as I glance at the guy who is still facing the basement door.

I guess the look of fear on my face must be real enough so she murmurs a quick it's okay and bends to pick it up.

In the process of bending, her phone falls from her pocket and softly into the bed and I hastily retrieve it and push it far beneath my blanket.

When she comes up with the equipments I fake another sharp pain to keep her occupied.

That's how it goes for the next five minutes. Me doing something to keep her distracted so she won't know that her phone is missing and she nervously trying to fix it with shaky hands.

The moment she leaves. I hastily bring out her phone.

I'm so relieved that it doesn't have a password or face unlock ID. A brief look through the phone shows me that the Doctor's name is Caroline Hobbs. A gynaecologist at St Lucas Hospital in Westchester County.

And I have spent approximately six days in this hellhole.

Six day?!!!!

It feels like I've been here for years.

Six fucking days and I've almost lost my shit.

I proceed in punching in Ross's digits and try to call him but every time I try to make a call it comes up saying no connection.

There isn't a single bar on the phone and the battery is slowly dwindling.

I thought the phone was my salvation but right now it's beginning to seem like the opposite.

If I'm caught with the phone who knows what they're going to do with me?

I have to find a way to use the phone before it dies.

Or before they notice that I have a phone with me.

I stand up and quickly stuff the phone into my underwear as I walk up to the basement door.

I'm getting out of here one way or another.

I have to.

I bang on the door again.

This time I try and make my knocks appear weak and tired. It takes them a a very long time to reply.


I signal to them that I'd like to use the bathroom and they let me go. One of them even going as far as holding me so I won't fall.

The minute I'm in the bathroom, I hurriedly fish out the phone and luckily for me it has two bars.

I type a long message out to three numbers. Just in case one of them doesn't get it quickly enough.

Ross, Guzman and Kathy.

They will all receive the same message which says. "Help! It's me Elenora! Stuck in the basement of a cabin somewhere outside city. Look for Caroline Hobbs (oby/gn) who must know where this place is. She works in Westchester County, St Lucas Hospital. Hurry!"

The minute that I'm sure the message has been sent, I put it on silent mode and stuff it back into my pants.

It's only a matter of time now before I'm found. I just hope they find me soon enough, I think as I flush the toilet I didn't use.

I knock on the toilet door waiting for the door to eagerly swing open and for me to be given my blindfold and led back into basement.

Instead of the normal guy who brought me into the bathroom, I'm confronted with a familiar but unfriendly face.

"Hello Elenora!"

Carter Cox greets cheerfully with a sly smile on his face.