It became more and more difficult to cling to consciousness despite the best efforts of my captors. Through my pain I could sense they were becoming more and more panicked by my lack of cooperation, more urgent in their beatings. They threatened to hurt her again. They knew that they were running out of time. I knew they were running out of time.

As they abused my physical body, I retreated into memory. To a whirlwind romance and equally hasty wedding. Passionate travels. A woman I barely knew who filled my life with excitement. A woman who made me question my own life decisions. Who I trusted with almost everything. Almost.

It was the green scarf that tipped me off.

When we were taken on the pier she had been wearing her red scarf. I vaguely remembered it being torn in the altercation. Someone who gets to go home and change isn’t typically a victim.

I smelled her come and go. She wasn’t a prisoner like myself. She was an accomplice.

I released her from my memory.

Let her burn.

Let them all burn.