Collin kicked himself for not bringing a flashlight. He didn’t realize how dark the Perk diner parking lot actually got at night. Luckily he didn’t have to wait long before it got creepier.


    Car headlights flashed on and swallowed Collin like a spotlight. Visibility went from terrible to zero.


    There was the sound of a car door closing, then a voice called out, “Collin?”


    “That would be me,” Collin replied. He couldn’t see the man, but he sounded older than forty.


    “You can call me, Nameless. I am to escort you to my employer.”


    “Not a great pickup line, there buddy. I’d start less aggressive if you’re looking for a good time.”


    “Uh, no thank you,” Nameless said. Stick confirmed to be waaaay up there. “Apologies for the extensive measures, my employer is meticulous about his privacy.”


    “Right then, next you’re gonna black bag me?” Collin tried for another joke, but his eyes bulged when Nameless tossed him a black bag to slide over his head.


    “I’ve made sure that it’s quite breathable.”


    Collin hesitated, looking at the bag in his hands. How far was he willing to go? He shrugged and slipped the bag over his head. He’d go pretty far damn far.


    “This way,” Nameless guided Collin with a surprisingly gentle hand into the car.


    “Thanks, bud,” Collin said.


    The slam of the car door was the only reply.


    “So, I’m not looking to sell my body,” Collin prodded as he heard the slam of the driver door.


    No response from Nameless.


    After probably twenty minutes of driving in silence, Collin’s head was gathering sweat beads from the bounce-back of his breath in the black bag. He’d attempted a few more times to provoke a conversation out of Nameless, but there wasn’t a single reply. There was a good chance the back seat was sound proofed since the world outside was nearly inaudible.         The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Collin sighed and kept tapping his feet, breathing into the darkness while waiting.


    And waiting.


    About an hour into the drive, the car stopped.


    Collin excitedly ripped the bag off his head and looked around the blacked out container he was in. They had gone so far as to black out the windows. What was the point of the bag on his head?


    An intercom buzzed on and Nameless spoke, “Please kindly place the bag over your head again. We cannot progress until you do”


    “You could talk this whole time!?” Collin complained, “I’m starting to think you don’t like me, Nameless.”


    No response.


    Collin sighed, wiped his face and slipped the bag back on.


    The car door instantly clicked open.


    Nameless helped Collin out of the car and passed him off to a new person who sounded equally British and coincidentally introduced themselves as Nameless as well. Nameless number two escorted Collin to a new car and they started to drive again. By the third Nameless, Collin was rethinking his life choices.


    Six hours.


    SIX hours of driving and switching cars and Nameless and more driving.


    Collin was about to call the whole thing quits, but finally the car stopped and Nameless number seven spoke over the intercom.


    “This is the final stop,” Nameless announced, “I assure you that you will be allowed to remove the bag from your head in a few minutes.”


    “Thank Christ, man. I was beginning to think the experiment had already started and it was an endurance competition.” Collin groaned. He needed a good stretch and a tall glass of water after that ride from hell.


    Nameless didn’t reply, but the door opened a few seconds later. Nameless placed a gentle guiding hand on Collin’s arm, “Watch your step, sir.”


    Nameless led Collin into some kind of house or building and onto an elevator from What Collin could tell while still blinded.


    After stepping off the elevator, Nameless walked Collin a few steps, then spoke, “Count to one hundred twenty and then you may remove the bag.”


    Collin gladly started counting. Two minutes was nothing after the exhausting hours of twiddling his thumbs. The elevator behind, him dinged at sixty seconds and he assumed Bruns was gone.


    Collin idly wondered how many Nameless there really were. It could have been as few as two of them just driving Collin back and forth to obfuscate the location of wherever he was now.


    At the end of the count, Collin ripped the bag off his head and tossed it to the ground. In front of him was a long table with a juicy steak on top of a bed of mashed potatoes and a contract with a pen.


    Collin blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the light in the room.


    “Hello Collin,” A high pitched voice spoke from across the table, “It’s nice to meet you in person. My name is Merrin.”


    Collin hadn’t noticed the other presence in the room until they spoke. He looked to the source of the voice, blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes then spoke up in confusion, “Monkey?”


    “Yes,'''' the monkey in a lab coat said. It was standing on the end of the table, holding a small clip-board, “I’m a capuchin monkey to be precise, but I respond better to Merrin than Monkey.”


    “Uhh… Sure,” Collin said, questioning what he had gotten himself into for entirely new reasons.