Once she'd finally decided it had only taken Nancy a few days to find the perfect location, a long abandoned track home in a rundown suburb outside of Detroit.

It had been just after 3AM when she'd parked her car three blocks from her final destination. And no one would ever look for her in this neighborhood. She'd thoughtfully left the car windows open and the keys in the ignition to insure that by the time anyone thought to look for her, the car would be long gone.

The house was just as she'd left it. Glancing back to insure that she was still alone Nancy opened the kitchen window and quickly climbed inside. Pausing to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness Nancy carefully closed and latched the window before heading toward the basement stairs.

The flickering candlelight cast ominous flickering shadows across the basement walls as Nancy removed her clothes for the last time and stepped into her new high heels. She'd purchased them from a small fetish boutique outside Chicago, their breathtakingly tall heels made it incredibly difficult to maintain her balance and made it nearly impossible to walk but she didn't really care. It wasn't like she'd be walking far or for that matter even standing in them for long. Then pausing just long enough to lock the handcuffs securely around one of her wrists Nancy stepped up onto the stool.

I could hear the ancient stool creaking beneath me as I stood tittering on my outrageously tall heels. Grabbing the dangling noose for balance I reached to adjust one of my shoes as I prayed that the stool would last just a few minutes longer. And, unlike that ancient wooden stool, the rope in my hand was as new as my high heels and my handcuffs, and according to that hardware store salesman, capable of supporting over 1800 pounds. So, regardless of how desperately I struggled, it shouldn't have a problem supporting my 126 pound body.

All that remained was to tighten the noose snuggly around her throat and lock her wrists together behind her back with the handcuffs. Nancy felt her heart pounding in her chest as the handcuffs clicked closed around her one remaining wrist as she slowly squeezed each cuff tighter until she felt the unyielding steel biting painfully into her wrists. Nancy knew she was now fully committed, the noose taunt around her throat, the handcuffs locked inescapably tight around her wrists. As to the handcuff key, well she'd left that at home, lying on the nightstand next to her bed.

When the moment finally arrived, Nancy stepped off the stool without hesitation and kicked it across the basement floor even as she felt the noose starting to tighten around her throat.

The pain and terror was all she'd imagined and more. As the long agonizing minutes passed Nancy could sense the taunt unyielding noose growing relentlessly tighter around her throat and despite her desperately futile struggles its deadly grasp was utterly inescapable. She'd read that in most short drop hangings the victim dies of strangulation, in typically about ten and twenty minutes.

Nancy managed to last a full twenty six minutes and then the basement of this long abandoned house was once again silent, as silent as a tomb.