It's a race against time.

Based in backwoods Mississippi in a small town called Malview, a deranged, lonely redneck, Tom, finds himself stuck in a midlife slump until one particular evening at a liquor store, he is inspired to act on his urges and abducts a cocktail waitress, Pamela, after eavesdropping on her conversation with the store's clerk about how everyone just needs to live a little. Tom forces her to be his wife and keeps her confined to his bedroom on the third floor of his home during the days by unleashing a ferocious dog trained to hunt runaways to stalk the halls while he is away at work. When he is home in the evenings, she is forced with him by her side to watch dull episode after dull episode of his favorite TV show whose main protagonist reminds him of his deceased mother. It soon becomes unnervingly evident he is deeply traumatized by her death as he inevitably forgets who Pamela is entirely and begins only referring to her as the character from the show. As Tom's mental stability starts deteriorating at a disturbing rate with every "date," Pamela is forced to get creative and play into his delusions to escape not only the property itself that seems to be in the middle of nowhere but also this insane man's make-believe marriage as well in the ultimate fight for her life.

Vincent Vecchio is an on-and-off again writer and amateur photographer from Vancleave, MS. He's had poetry published in The Write Launch, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, The Evening Street Review, Phantom Kangaroo, Drunk Monkeys, New Note Poetry, Black Sunflowers Poetry Press and more. His debut novel, Cigarettes on Saturday, was published Sep. 2024.