Becky woke up, with a pounding headache, in a small room with green tile walls. She was laying on a mattress on the floor, with no sheets or blankets on it. The whole room was bathed in pale white light from a set of fluorescent lights in the ceiling. Becky looked around the room in shock, not sure how she arrived there. On one wall was a metal door with numerous locks. Becky turned to see Hanna, a girl with whom she'd been on several dates, tapping a mirror that was recessed into the opposite wall. Although they had only been on a few dates, the relationship already felt very serious and Becky was really excited about it. Both girls were wearing nothing but a bra and panties. To Becky's right, she saw a shower with no curtain, and a toilet. In the exact center of the room were two wooden stools, each with a pair of handcuffs on it.

"Where the hell are we!?" Becky shouted at Hanna, who immediately spun around to face her.

"I don't know, just calm down" Hanna replied.

"Calm down!?" Becky asked incredulously, "Look where we are!" Hanna rushed to Becky's side and tried to comfort her.

"We don't know where we are, so there's no sense panicking yet" Hanna said. Just then, a slot in the ceiling opened, and a pair of nooses descended from it, each hanging right over one of the stools. One of the nooses had a small piece of paper taped to it. "What the hell!?" Becky screamed. Hanna got up and removed the note taped to one of the nooses. She slowly unfolded it and read it. "What does it say?" Becky asked.

"Your only way out" Hanna replied.

Becky, thoroughly terrified, and convinced she wouldn't be leaving this room alive, curled up in the fetal position and began crying.

Hanna went and knelt down by Becky's side. "Why don't they just kill us!?" Becky screamed.

"Hey, we're not going to die, everything's going to be okay" Hanna whispered softly into her ear, hugging her. Becky felt oddly safe in Hanna's arms, despite their dire situation. The two laid there on the mattress, spooning, for another hour and a half. Becky kept crying throughout, but had quieted down by the end. Then, suddenly, the nooses retracted back into their slot in the ceiling. "What the hell?" Becky said, this time with more composure in her voice. The two girls then looked to the door, hoping desperately that it would open. Then, a slot at the bottom of the door opened, and a styrofoam tray with two paper cups of water and two paper bowls filled with some sort of brown slop slid into the room. Hanna jumped up and attempted to look through the slot in the door, but it slammed shut too quickly. "Well, at least we get room service" Becky said, with a look of surrender in her eyes.

"We should eat" Hanna said, "we don't know when we're going to be fed again." Becky looked at the unappealing bowl of slop, and although she thought it was impossible, her stomach felt even worse.

"I'm not hungry." Becky replied. Hanna picked up one of the bowls and smelled it. She recoiled at the smell, then held her nose and chugged down the soup, if it could in fact be called that, as fast as she could. Then, she brought the other bowl to Becky. "Please, Becky, eat. You'll need your strength" Hanna said, holding up the bowl. "I already told you I'm not hungry." Becky replied, staring blankly at the wall. Hanna tried a few more times to get Becky to eat, but when she refused, not wanting the soup to go to waste, she drank it herself.

"Do you remember anything about how we got here?" Becky asked.

"I just remember that we were out on a date, the last thing I remember was walking back to your car." Hanna replied.

"Right, I remember everything up until we were in the parking structure, then it all gets fuzzy."

"That must be where they got us."

Becky thought for a moment. "You were tapping the mirror when I woke up, why?" Becky asked.

"Something seemed off about it. It sounded hollow when I tapped it, I think it's a one way window." Hanna explained.

"Great, so someone's watching us?" Becky asked.

"Yeah, probably," Hanna replied, "My guess is that whoever kidnapped us wants to see us hang ourselves." The thought made Becky sick to her stomach.

"Then why did the nooses retract into the ceiling?" Becky asked.

"I think whoever is doing this had to leave for a while, and he didn't want us doing it while he was gone." Hanna replied. At this point, Becky curled into the fetal position again and began crying. Hanna laid down next to Becky and wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl. Again, this made Becky feel a great deal better.

After a few hours of spooning, Becky and Hanna were about to drift off to sleep when the slot in the ceiling reopened, and the nooses again descended from it. Becky buried her face in the mattress and whimpered softly. Hanna got up and walked to the mirror. Looking into, or rather through it, she shouted at their capture. "Why are you doing this!?" Hanna screamed at her reflection, knowing someone was watching on the other side. "What the hell do you want from us you sick fuck!?" Hanna stood staring at the mirror for a moment. When there was no reply, Hanna got even more angry. "Come in here and look me in the eyes you mother fucker!" Hanna screamed, banging her fists on the mirror. Then, she ran to the middle of the room, picked up one of the stools, and slammed it against the mirror. It shook, but didn't break. "Face me you fucking coward!" Hanna screamed again, slamming the chair into the mirror again, and again, and again. With every time Hanna bashed the mirror, the sound of the stool bouncing off ineffectively made Becky more and more resigned to her fate.

Hanna continued slamming the stool into the window over and over again for hours, Becky sitting on the mattress crying the whole time. Finally, when she could no longer lift the stool from exhaustion, Hanna stumbled over to the mattress and collapsed next to Becky. Hanna wrapped her arms around Becky again, and cuddled up as close as she could. Becky was happy to have her there. In this cold, linoleum room with no blankets or sheets, Hanna's warm, firm body was Becky's only source of comfort. Hanna buried her face in the back of Becky's hair and tried to fall asleep. Then, the nooses retracted into the ceiling and the lights turned off, the girls were in complete darkness. Becky whimpered softly through most of the night. Hanna laid next to her, stroking Becky and trying to calm her down.

The girls' next few days went by essentially like the first. In what they could only assume was morning, the lights in the room came on and the nooses descended from the ceiling again. The nooses then stayed there for about an hour and a half, by their estimation, and retracted back into the ceiling. Immediately after that, the slot in the door opened and the girl's daily meal came through it. It was always the same "soup" they'd gotten the first day. Then, nothing happened for several hours until, in what Becky assumed was afternoon or evening, the nooses descended from the ceiling again. This time, they would stay in place for several hours at a time, then they would retract, and the lights would turn off.

After two weeks, every detail of this pattern became extremely predictable. Every third day, a small bottle of combination shampoo and body wash would be given to the girls, along with their daily meal. Becky guessed that this was probably because whoever kidnapped them didn't want the girls looking to grimy when he watched them finally hang themselves. Hanna showered daily at first. Becky on the other hand, had essentially given up on life and refused to bathe. She only continued showering again when her odor was so strong that Hanna no longer wanted to cuddle next to her. That cuddling was the only thing Becky ever had to look forward to, and she would have done anything to avoid losing it.

So, the girls fell into a routine. In the "morning," they'd eat breakfast. Becky refused food most days, only eating when the pain in her stomach became to great to ignore. They'd shower in the middle of the day when the nooses weren't dangling in the middle of the room, hoping this meant that their capture wasn't there and watching them. Very early on, Becky all but gave up on ever leaving the room alive, and spent most of her time curled up in the fetal position, laying on the mattress. Meanwhile, Hanna continued trying to escape. She attempted to break the one way mirror again several times, she attempted beating one of the locks off the door with one of the stools, she even tried putting her hand into the slot in the door that their food came through, and the slot in the ceiling that the nooses dangled from, all to no avail.

One day, Hanna was banging a stool against a mirror, when the nooses dangling from the ceiling behind her retracted, and the lights turned out again. Hanna felt her way back to the mattress and snuggled up next to Becky. "Hey Hanna?" Becky asked.

"Yeah?" Hanna replied.

"If this hadn't happened, what do you think would've happened...I mean, with us?"

The room was silent for a moment. "I don't know. I know we had only gone on a few dates, but I was really excited about us." Hanna replied.

"Do you think we might have gone the distance?" Becky asked.

"Yeah, I think we could have. I imagined us getting married some day, maybe having some kids."

As Hanna said this, Becky began to cry quietly. The entire life she could have had with Hanna played in her head, and she was overcome by sadness as she came to the realization that none of it would ever happen, that that life had been stolen from her. "Hanna, I love you." Becky said, with a catch in her throat.

"I love you too" Hanna said, as, for the first time since they'd arrived here, she broke down and cried. Becky turned and hugged Hanna, and the two laid there in the darkness and cried themselves to sleep.

For the few days after this, Hanna made no more escape attempts. She simply laid there on the mattress with Becky, getting up only to eat and bathe. It seemed to Becky that Hanna, too, had given up all hope of getting out alive. With this realization, under the cold white light of the fluorescent bulbs, the only comfort either of the two could find was in each other. They had both given up caring that they were being watched, and spent much of the day enjoying each others bodies. As much as she loved Hanna, and as much as she enjoyed the sex, it wasn't enough. Captivity and monotony was getting to Becky, and she could see it getting to Hanna too.

Hanna began spending hours a day sitting in the corner, obsessively staring at the note that had been on one of the nooses the first day of captivity, the one that read simply, "Your Only Way Out" in bold letters. Some days she only stopped staring at it to have sex with Becky. It got to the point that, even if she wasn't in the mood, Becky would come on to Hanna just to get her to stop obsessing over that damn note.

Finally about a month and a half into their captivity, by Hanna's estimation, the obsession overcame Hanna. Becky awoke that morning to the sound of crying. When she opened her eyes she saw that the lights were already on, and she realized Hanna wasn't in bed next to her. Becky quickly looked around, to see Hanna standing on one of the stools, with a noose around her neck, sobbing. Becky panicked and quickly jumped out of bed. "NO! Please Hanna don't!!!" Becky pleaded.

"Why shouldn't I!? We're both going to die here anyway!" Hanna screamed through her tears.

"Because if you do this, I'll be left here all alone! Please Hanna, I can't handle that!" Becky screamed.

Hanna stood on the stool with the noose around her neck, crying for a few more moments. "Please!" Becky pleaded again. Finally, Hanna slipped the noose off her neck and stepped down from the stool. She collapsed into Becky's arms and the two sat on the floor for hours, sobbing.

After this, Hanna's obsession with the note only grew, concerning Becky. Hanna began to sit staring at the note for even longer periods of time. Becky did everything she could to make her stop. One day Becky even got naked and cuddled up next to Hanna while she sat there, trying to distract her from it, to no avail. Becky knew they were only prolonging the inevitable, she had even thought about ending it herself, but the thought of putting that noose around her neck seemed unbearable. Of course, the thought of being in this dark, cold place without Hanna was even more unbearable.

One night, while they were laying in bed, the decision was finally made.

"Becky?" Hanna asked.

"Yeah?" Becky replied.

"You know I love you right?"

"Of course, and I love you too."

"Okay, well tomorrow...I'm going to do it." Hanna said.

Becky turned to Hanna, instantly knowing what she meant, and whimpered. "Please, no, you can't leave me alone in this place, please!" She pleaded, but Hanna's mind was made up.

"Becky, you know I'll always love you right?" Hanna asked.

"Yes, so please, don't make me watch you die!" Becky screamed, breaking down in tears.

"Becky you know I love you, so you know I would never say this if I wasn't one hundred percent sure it was the best thing for you," Hanna said, "but...I think you should do it too. I think we should both die, together, tomorrow morning." The room was silent for a moment.

"I...I can't. I'm not brave enough. I've thought about it, but I really don't think I can." Becky explained.

"I'll do everything for you," Hanna offered, "all you'd have to do is stand on one of the stools. I'd put the noose around your neck and pull the stool out from under you. All you'd have to do is stand still for a few seconds." Again, the room was silent.

"Will it hurt?" Becky asked.

"Probably, but I'll do everything I can to make it as fast as possible. I'll cuff your hands behind your back so you can't try to loosen the noose and I'll grab your legs and pull down so the noose tightens faster. That way, it should only last a few minutes." Becky thought about it in silence for a moment.

"Hanna?" Becky asked.

"Yes Becky?" Hanna asked.

"Can we make love one last time?" Becky asked.

"Of course" Hanna replied, leaning in and kissing Becky, while simultaneously reaching around her back and unsnapping her bra. The two took each others bra and panties off and made sweet, passionate love to each other one final time.

In the morning, Becky awoke to Hanna tapping her shoulder and saying "Becky, wake up, it's time." Becky, feeling sick to her stomach, woke up and put on her bra and
panties. She looked around to see that Hanna had already set one of the stools directly under one of the nooses. The other stool was standing directly next to the first, with one of the pairs of handcuffs resting on it. Becky walked up to the first stool. She motioned to it silently as if asking "stand here?" Hanna nodded yes. Becky, shaking and terrified, climbed the stool. "I can't believe this is happening. I meet the love of my life and now I'm going to die." Becky thought. Then, just that one thought kept racing through her head, "and now I'm going to die."

"Put your hands behind your back." Hanna said from behind her. Becky silently did as she was told, and Hanna snapped a cuff on each of her wrists. As she felt the cold metallic cuffs wrap around her wrists, Becky looked down and closed her eyes, trying desperately to stop the panic that was building up inside her. Hanna stood on the second stool and grabbed the noose. "Chin up a little please," Hanna asked. Again, Becky silently obeyed, eyes still closed, and Hanna slipped the noose over her head. Hanna then slipped Becky's hair through the noose to make sure it wouldn't get in the way, and tightened the noose around Becky's thin neck. Becky let out a high pitched squeal, followed by a light whimper.

Hanna examined every detail of Becky's face, from her jet black hair running behind her ears to the way her nose flared from her heavy breathing. "I'm really sorry about this," Hanna said, "we really could have had something special if it hadn't been taken away from us." Hanna leaned in and kissed Becky one last time. As usual, Hanna's embrace had a profound calming affect on Becky, her breathing slowed down and she felt much less terrified, but she kept her eyes squeezed shut. Hanna stepped down from the second stool and moved it away from Becky. She then stood in front of Becky and grabbed the nearest leg of the stool. "Becky," Hanna asked, "could you step back so your heels are hanging off the back edge of the stool? I think that would make this easier."

At this point, Becky's fear returned and she began crying, but again, she did as she was told. "I love you Becky" Hanna said, looking up at her.

"I love you too Hanna" Becky said through her tears. Then Hanna yanked the stool out from under her. As the noose constricted, Becky's eyes shot open and her legs began kicking violently. Within seconds, her lungs were burning for air. She looked down to see Hanna simply standing in front of the mirror, staring at her. "What are you doing, you're supposed to be grabbing my legs!?" Becky thought, panicking. As her asphyxiation continued, Becky could feel the noose digging into her throat more and more. With each frantic kick of her legs, trying desperately to find a footing, she only hastened her own demise. Meanwhile, her hands were trying desperately to reach the noose, skinning her wrists raw against the handcuffs. "Please just let this end!" Becky thought, looking at Hanna, who was still just staring at her.

Becky got her wish soon enough. After a few minutes of desperately kicking, her legs began to feel heavy and her movements became less violent. She began to bow her head slightly, and the edges of her vision began to darken. "Oh god, this is it," she thought as her legs stopped moving all together. Then, finally, her head slumped, her eyes closed, her bladder released on the floor, and she was gone.

Hanna stood there watching for a moment, as Becky's now lifeless body rotated, first a little to the left, then back to the right. After watching this for a moment, Hanna crossed the room. She retrieved the hidden key from her bra, and opened the door. As she left the room Hanna looked back at Becky's dangling corpse, then at the second, unoccupied noose. "Maybe next time," she said, then she left Becky to dangle.