“Paper or plastic?” Natalie asked, for what was probably the hundredth time that day.

“Whichever is easier.”  The tall man responded, and she looked barely looked up as she began to scan his collection of items.

“Plastic it is.”  She responded as she beeped the first few things past the scanner.

“Is that a good color, do you think?”  He asked as she lifted up a red leather dog collar from the moving belt, just before she scanned it.

“Well, what color is the dog?”  She asked, the question feeling a little strange but a welcome change from the monotony of the day.  

“Sort of a reddish-brown color, I guess.”  He looked to be in his late twenties, blond, and attractive as he smiled.  “Almost exactly the color of your hair, to tell you the truth.”

“Oh, well, I guess red is fine then.”  She returned his smile, her hand reaching up to touch her ponytail.

“Let me see.”  He spoke softly.

Natalie blinked with surprise as she felt his hand on hers where she held the collar.  Her heartbeat quickened as he firmly, but gently lifted her hand up to her throat.  She swallowed hard, and then opened her mouth to speak but could find no words as he placed the leather of the collar against her throat.  Holding it there for a moment, he looked down on her critically as if he were inspecting her.  Her breath caught in her throat as she looked back at him, feeling a blush rise on her cheeks as it felt like every eye in the place must be on her.

“You’re right.”  He smiled as he released her hand, letting it fall back from her neck limply.  “It’s perfect.”

Breaking eye contact with the stranger, Natalie returned to the task of scanning his groceries.  She could see her hands trembling slightly as she worked the register, but when she finally dared to look up at the next customers in line, they didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her.  She felt silly.  It was nothing.

“That will be $102.50.”  She smiled nervously when she finally looked back up at him.

“Oh, and a carton of Marlboro 100’s, too.”  He added, his gaze seeming to look right through her as he smiled.

“Sure.”  Natalie answered, and she was grateful for the opportunity to turn and walk away from this unnerving stranger to the locked case.

As she unlocked the case, and picked through it to find the right carton, Natalie could feel his eyes on her, and her self-consciousness grew.  When she turned back toward him with the carton in hand, she saw his eyes locked on her.  Fully dressed in a pair of jeans, a tank top, and her uniform store vest, she felt exposed under his watching gaze, and she looked away from him.  She pulled her store vest closed a little tighter over her white top as she returned to the register.  She felt a slight blush on her cheeks, and his eyes were seemingly a physical presence on her body, undressing her.  She considered calling a manager, or asking someone else to finish, but decided not to make such a big deal of it.  So, the guy was staring at her.  Best to just get him out and on his way.

“Thanks again for helping me out.”  He grinned as he paid her, and she nodded a little numbly.

“You’re welcome.”  She answered, her voice little more than a whisper.

“Do you mean it?”  He asked, winking.

“Mean what?”  She asked, furrowing her brow.

“Sorry, that’s just me being weird.”  He laughed.  “I’ve always found ‘you’re welcome’ to be a little funny.  We say it all the time, but I don’t know if we really mean that someone is welcome to do something again when we do.”

“Yeah, I guess.”  Natalie nodded, looking up to the next customer as the man started to push his cart away.  “Paper or plastic?”

“Paper.”  The woman responded.

“So, did you mean it?”  He asked again, and his voice sent a little shiver down her spine.

“No.  Have a nice day.”  She answered without looking at him, her hand moving toward the phone next to the register.

“Then you should be more careful with what you say.  And you have a nice day, too...”  He chuckled, pausing to look down at her name tag.  “Natalie.”

Natalie turned back to the next woman’s groceries, scanning and bagging them as she went.  When she looked up again, she saw the man rolling his carriage toward his car out in the parking lot, and suddenly realized that she’d been holding her breath.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Natalie pumped her legs as she swung higher still, lost in the simple joy of the motion of sweeping back and forth on the swing-set’s perch.  It was her guilty pleasure on the lazy summer days when she didn’t have to work.  She was twenty years old, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy such simple things.  Too many people outgrew things that could bring so much happiness simply because the world told them they should.  The music blared in her ears as the breeze washed over her, blocking out all of the noise of the outside world.  Flying through the air, she felt as free as she ever had.  She didn’t want it to ever end.

She almost fell of the swing's seat when it collided with something or someone behind her.  Had someone just walked there without looking?  As she began to bounce back forward after the impact, she felt an arm suddenly wrap around her waist.  She kicked out, her sandals scuffing against the dirt as the swing came to a stop.  Trying to pull away from the arm’s tight grasp, she opened her mouth to scream but nearly gagged as she felt something thrust inside it.  She tried to push the thick wad of cloth out of her mouth, but it had expanded as soon as it was inside and she was having a hard time with it.

The grip on her body changed, and she felt powerful hands on her arms, dragging them behind her back.  She tried to dart forward while she worked with the padding in her mouth, groaning into it, but only succeeded in leaving the seat of the swing while the grip still held her tight.  She felt those strong hands moving down her arms, pulling them together until wrist was pressed to wrist, a single hand then wrapping around them to hold them securely.  She’d managed to get some of the wadding out of her mouth and screamed desperately for help, the sound of her own voice lost to her with the headphones still blaring.

Something wrapped tightly over her wrists, around and around as it pressed them close together.  She squirmed her hands as it closed on them, feeling some give in the material at first that slowly faded with each additional pass.  As it moved downward, she could feel the tape against her skin of the back of her hands, trapping them together palm to palm as though they were in prayer behind her back.  She screamed again, sobbing with her hopelessness, as the hands released her taped wrists and came back to her mouth.  She struggled to avoid the press of the wadding back between her lips to no avail, and then could only watch as those hands tore off a strip of the flesh-colored tape and pressed it over her lips.

Natalie cried out into her gag as the hands took hold of her arms and turned her roughly to face the ground.  She could feel the seat of the swing against her belly through her red tank top as she was pressed down onto it.  She screamed hysterically into the gag, nothing more than a whimper escaping past the muffling filling, as she felt more tape wrap around her ankles.  She tried to turn to see who was doing this to her, but could only teeter on the swing as she felt the tape continue to wrap up over her calves and knees, welding her legs together through her jeans.  And then the hands were on her hips again, lifting her and turning her easily in the air to place her down on one sturdy shoulder.  She could see that it was a man now, and that he was wearing a dark shirt and jeans.  Her eyes went wide at the sight of what was sticking out of his back pocket.

He carried her easily across the grass despite her frantic struggles against the tight tape, his hand firmly gripping her ass through the material of her tight jeans.  And then he was lifting her and she screamed another muffled plea as she saw the open trunk of the car.  Before she could get a look at him, he thrust her inside face first, and then it closed quickly, blocking out the sun and leaving her in darkness as she squirmed.  Though she hadn't seen his face, she knew who her captor was.  

The red leather dog collar protruding from his back pocket had told her all she needed to know.