Grabbed from behind

Heather quickly became absorbed in her book. She read for a long time, enjoying the peaceful day, the bright sun, and the warm breeze.

After a while, she put the book down and glanced around her at the trees and the path. That was when she heard footsteps behind her, coming closer.

Before she could react, someone clapped a hand over Heather's mouth, pulling tight, preventing from crying out. Then her assailant wrapped an arm over her throat and put pressure on.

Heather tried to fight the hold, tried to scream for help, but, taken by surprise by a much larger and stronger opponent, was unable to break free of either his hand or his arm. She nonetheless continued to try to scream and fight even as everything went black.

When Heather woke up, she was lying on her back, looking up at the sky. It was still light, but she had no idea what time it was. Her head hurt and she seemed to have something in her mouth.

Heather sat up and looked around. She thought she was still in the park, but not in the same part of where she had been sitting. One side of her was a row of shrubs. On the other side was a stone wall. The grass under her butt was cold and wet.

"Hello," Heather said, or tried to say. It came out muffled, sounding like "hhhhrhhr." That was when she realized that the thing in her mouth was a ball-gag.

Heather reached up and tried to remove it, to unfasten the strap that held it in place. It should have been a simple matter of sliding a tab through a slot, she knew, but she couldn't seem to move the tab. She could feel it, she could talk hold of it, but she couldn't move it. Puzzled, Heather slid her hands along the leather strap, stopping when she felt small padlocks on each side. A few moments of exploring with her fingers told her that the padlocks were holding the straps in place, preventing her from undoing them.

Gasping in fear, sobbing, Heather tugged at the padlocks, putting all of her strength into trying to remove them. They were small, and should have been easy to remove, but she couldn't budge them, no matter how hard she tried.

Now that she knew she couldn't unfasten the strap, Heather looked around for her purse. She had a pair of scissors in it, and they were large enough and strong enough to make short work of the strap.

She couldn't see her purse.

For that matter, she realized, she wasn't wearing her sandals, or, she realized now, her dress, or her underwear, or even her earrings.

The only thing she could see was a small piece of paper next to her right foot. Heather picked it up and unfolded it with shaking hands. It was a hand-written note.

It said: "Welcome to the scavenger hunt I have set up for you. I have hidden your clothes, shoes, earrings, purse, house and car keys, and the keys to the padlocks on your gag, at various points around the city. I will provide you with clues to where each item is, and give you a certain time to get there. If you can make it in time, you will get something of yours back. If you can't make it in time, you will have to perform a forfeit.

"As for the gag, I don't want to make things too easy for you, so I have made certain you can't ask for help. The game begins when you leave your hiding place. The first clue is on the other side of this note."