Written by Fareen N.
Prologue
7:00 New York City
The sky was a dull shade of gray and the clouds hung low in the sky, heavy with moisture and threatening precipitation. The day practically screamed the forecast of rain as the winds whipped the land below. The air had a slightly icy edge to it, as if the arrival of spring wasn’t enough to warm it up, adding to the day’s horrible appearance. As the clocks in New York City struck seven, the clouds lingering above finally relieved themselves of the shower they held within them, sprinkling the world beneath.
People in the city below scurried into buildings and busses, anxious to avoid damping their clothes. The ones who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the weather held newspapers or umbrellas over their heads as an attempt to keep themselves dry - not that it worked. Droplets of water hitchhiked on the wind, meeting with people's faces and dotting glasses.
Steve hurried into a coffee shop, not solely because of the rain, but deliberately. The weather had caused the shop to be even more crowded than usual, a factor that was not of much importance to Steve.
Steve checked his watch, which read 7:12. Yes, he was definitely late. Biting his lip, Steve tried not to worry over his tardiness, though he had been given strict instructions not to be a minute over the arranged time. Steve managed to buy a coffee and sat down at a table, unable to find the man he needed through the thick crowd.
Steve attempted to straighten his face, for looking worried was not wise. Being a spy and all, it was important to make sure others’ knowledge on himself was limited strictly. Simply letting anyone else know that he was uncomfortable was too much.
Steve sighed after waiting for about an additional fifteen minutes. He would have to do it without his partner.
Steve drained his coffee before casually tossing the empty cup out. He walked up to the counter again after waiting through the shrinking line. Steve noticed, as the usual working time approached, the coffee shop seemed to decrease in its capacity. Steve quickly realized that he was one of the only people here.
“What would you like?” The boy at the counter asked. He couldn’t be any older than twenty.
“Oh, I just can’t seem to decide. Maybe another coffee? Or perhaps a bagel. Hmm… A donut does sound pretty tempting...” Steve eyed the boy before checking his watch. “Oh, I’m late for work, I don’t think I can afford to lose anymore time.”
Not allowing any sign of recognition to cross his face, the boy stared at Steve, waiting for the cue:
Steve shifted before asking, “I’m sorry, but could you point out the direction of the restroom?”
The boy suppressed the urge to smile. This was going perfectly according to plan, just as he’d been practicing. Though the boy had never seen Steve in his life, he knew who he was and why he was here. Now that Steve had asked permission, though indirectly and in code, the boy could let him enter. The boy felt beneath the counter and fingered a small button the size of a ladybug as he said:
“Go ahead,” The boy pointed to a door southeast to the counter. “And you’re late…” The boy added in a low voice.
Steve tried not to scowl. It was newbies like him who always messed up on the job. He was fortunate that there was no in the shop and no one behind Steve in the line. Steve made a mental note to himself to complain later.
Steve slipped behind a door, not the restroom door of course, but one labeled, ‘PRIVATE ROOM’. They had rented it for the entire day, so Steve had complete access to it… that is, if they let him in. Steve worried about his tardiness and the absence of his partner yet again before entering.
“You’re late,” A deep voice shook the air, filling up the room. The small space looked about the size of an average bedroom. Though there were no windows, there was a telephone hanging on the left wall. A somewhat large wooden table stood in the middle of the room with multiple matching wooden chairs, all of which were of poor quality. In contrast, however, The men sitting in the chars had dressed sharp… Well, most of them did anyways. A handful of them were in disguise, wearing casual clothing.
“Sorry,” Steve apologized. “I was held up.”
One of the men who looked older than the rest asked, “Where’s the other one?”
Steve answered, “I’m not sure.”
There were only about five men in the room- six, counting Steve - yet it was enough to make the room feel crowded and uncomfortable. Steve awkwardly grabbed a chair and sat down, anxious and more than ready to leave as quickly as possible.
“Thank you for joining us.” one of the men stated rather dully after clearing his throat. He slid a file across the table towards Steve without another word.
“This is it?” Steve asked hesitantly, only to receive no response. He opened the file, and the first thing he saw was a birth certificate. He flipped through the documents and papers, trying to find a picture. He only found three, one of which showed a little girl with golden curls and big, bright blue eyes. The picture looked like one you would find in a yearbook: A fake smile plastered onto the child’s face with expensive clothes and tackey backgrounds. The number three was scribbled in red ink at the bottom.
There was another picture of a boy going to school. He was standing on a bus stop with his mother, but not looking at the camera like the girl in the first picture was. Obviously, this picture was taken by a hidden camera. The boy looked about thirteen, and had a very shabby mass of hair. His mother seemed to be fussing over it. This picture had the number four written on the bottom in the same colored ink.
The last picture was one of another boy, but he had darker hair and was taller than the last. He looked less cheerful, and was in a mall with an older girl who had similar hair color, but looked more excited. This was also taken by a hidden camera. The background was blurred, but Steve could make out several racks of clothes. On this picture, there was a number one at the left corner.
After scanning each picture, Steve had a moment of realization. There was no number two.
A man grunted, signaling Steve to listen. “These are the last four left. The others have been taken care of. As you can tell, we still require an up to date photograph of number three. We have nothing of number two. She was just discovered. Your job is to gather what we are missing.” The man stood, and the others stood as well. “Afterwards, we may commence.”
Chapter One
Matt; Time unidentified, location unidentified
I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t scream. Why, I could barely even breath. These are the symptoms that are to occur if someone were to place their hand over your mouth- tightly.
Struggling with very much effort, I realized that I couldn’t squirm free from this grasp. No amount of kicking, or screaming, or fighting would do me any good- it would just make the grasp tighter, tighter, tighter, until it reached a deadly point. Until the grasp could actually kill me. The man had too much power over me, and I had to admit it.
I went limp, hoping the man would think that I fainted.
No such luck.
Obviously.
The tight grip never faded, and the tension rising in the air never left.
“Where should I put him?” asked the one who was squeezing me. I couldn’t see- I didn’t know where I was- but I could feel my eyelids feeling heavy, threatening the arrival of faint because of the lack of oxygen. I started feeling dizzy, and my head was swimming… I think the last thing I remembered was being in bed…
No, I wasn’t going to black out, not now.
After thrashing around, I finally succeeded in kicking him lamely, and the man cursed. Fortunately, in the struggle to keep me from running away, he didn’t hit me back.
“Put him in the car with the other one.” grunted another man in reply.
Other one?
I stiffened. At least I won’t be alone... I thought glumly as I stood there with the two other men.
What are we waiting for?
Finally, the man with the deadening grip hauled me up- the guy had crazy strength- and threw me into the back seat of a car with… the ‘other one’, whoever he was.
Realizing for the first time that my mouth was no longer covered by a sweaty palm, I immediately started screaming my head off. And not the word ‘help’ like a normal person would have yelled. For some reason, my immediate reflexes decided this over ‘help’:
“MOOOOOM!”
As a response, I felt a fist collide with my cheek. Tears sprung to my eyes as the horrible taste of blood filled my mouth.
No, I wasn’t going to cry either.
“Shut him up!” A man exclaimed. Someone tied something around my mouth- not that they needed to. I wasn’t going to try calling for help anytime soon.
I wish I didn’t have this blindfold on, because I really wanted to know where I was. I felt for my hands, which were firmly tied behind my back with a rough and itchy rope. A very thick rope, too. I felt around to my left, and I could feel some kind of cloth- a bag. A really big bag. A body shaped bag.
And someone was inside. That someone wasn’t moving.
I tried my best not to scream.
Was the ‘other one’, dead?
My messy brown hair was plastered onto my forehead with sweat, yet I was shivering, and not because I was cold.
I blinked twice, trying not to let myself enter a world of self-pity and start crying over what a poor little boy I was. I wasn’t that kind of a person, and I wasn’t going to start acting the part.
I tried to take a few calming breaths, which proved to be difficult. Hmm, I dunno why. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was being kidnapped and was sitting next to a dead body.
These kind of things can hurt a child’s mind, you know.
I had tried to fight back, I had been strong, I reassured myself.
I had fought.
But I wasn’t fighting now.
Gulping, I shifted, then readied myself for any kind of blow. None came. I knew trying to fight back now with my hands behind my back and without my sense of sight was pointless, and would result in a major concussion, but I wasn’t giving up without a fight.
But is it the smart thing to do? I asked myself.
I had to be smart about this. I couldn’t just fight back when I actually couldn’t fight. So I would do the second best thing.
Let’s see… I thought miserably. I’m being kidnapped. By… Two men, I think? Well, I’ve only heard two voices, so it’s safe to assume that. Oh, and also I think there’s a dead guy sitting next to me. The guy’s probably thirteen, like me. The end of the bag just reaches my elbow, and he’s probably bending, so… He must be pretty short. Or maybe he’s just younger. Also, the car door on my side is still open- I didn’t hear it slam shut yet. Maybe I could sneak out… yeah, not likely. Not in the current state I’m in. Besides, the men wouldn’t let me. Wait… where are the men?
It took me about three more seconds to realize that the men were actually missing. Yeah, missing as in they weren’t here. I strained my ears for any noise, and caught onto some very, very soft whispering. I could hardly even hear it.
“So what, you want me to just leave them here? After all the trouble we went through?”
Pause.
“Why can’t you just take them in now? Steve, tell him-”
Pause.
“What do you mean we’re not supposed to do it yet?”
Pause.
“I don’t see the point of this. Does it matter if you just take these two now and the others later?”
Pause.
“God, we were doing you a favor, Steve! How were we supposed to know that you needed more info first?!”
The man’s whispering had risen to an outraged shout, and his partner had to shush him. It was obvious by the pattern of voices that one of the men was talking on the phone, while the other one was… I dunno, standing next to him? I’ve only heard one voice so far.
My tongue wiped blood off my teeth as I waited for something to happen. Based on the conversation, I was pretty sure these men were going to let me go (and why exactly?), but their voices sounded weird, in a way. Not weird as in angry, but weird as in fake. Maybe this was a trap.
This had to be a trap. If these kidnappers just left us here… Then they might as well be accepting a life in jail. Police would find them in no time if they left us here in the car, free to go.
Unless...
Unless they stole the car, which was likely. Either way… Their names would still be written all over this car… Right?
But on the other hand, why would this be a trap? There’s no way to actually trap me. And there is no reason to trap me- I’m already at their mercy.
I waited for something to happen… or more specifically, I waited for the men to make loud footsteps so I would assume they had left. But, no. Not a single sound shook the still night air.
If they left, they left silently.
Are they still here? I thought impatiently. Don’t get me wrong- of course I was still afraid of what might happen next, but this was killing me. There was no way I was going to wait three hours in silent panic.
I waited for at least another half hour, thinking the the whole time. Thinking about where I was, or where the car was, exactly. Thinking about the kid next to me. Thinking about why this had to happen to any of us.
Wondering if this kid could possibly be dead.
Finally I couldn’t take it anymore.
I had to get out of here.
Before I could move, I heard something stirring in the silence. I jumped, both surprised and frightened at the sudden sound of shuffling. I swear my heart stopped beating for a moment or two. My mouth was open, as if ready to scream, but waiting for my signal.
When I heard groaning coming from my left, I finally understood.
The kid was awake.
Chapter Two
Amber; time unidentified, location unidentified
My head hurt like crazy. I couldn’t remember anything- All I could think was pain. The only thing that existed was pain. My head was flooded with one thought, and one thought only:
This. Hurts. So. Much.
At the moment, I didn’t know that I was in a bag. There was only pain. At the moment, I didn’t know that I was in car. There was only pain. I couldn’t even piece together the fact that I was being kidnapped.
There was only pain.
Then the memories came rushing back like a tidal wave: Hard and without warning. I gasped at the force of it, then groaned, remembering what had happened to me earlier this night.
Or was it still night? How long have I been here?
The pain that had been clouding my senses somewhat subsided as I absorbed everything I could.
I was in a bag. Got that. Next.
By the feel of it, I thought I was in a car. Ok. Next.
My head was jammed uncomfortably against the inside of a car door and my feet were against something soft…
Human skin.
Before I could react, a soft voice spoke: “Are you ok?”
That did it. I screamed and kicked the person as hard as I could. I heard a soft ‘oof’.
I kept on thrashing around in the bag, pointlessly kicking and punching the air until I fell off the seat. Almost immediately, the pain returned, but not as bad as it had been before.
“Ow,” I mumbled. I was now even less comfortable than I was before, what with me being squished in a tight little space.
“Uh… Are you OK?” The voice repeated, but this time, I realized it was the scared little voice of a boy.
“How old are you?” I croaked, my voice hurt because of all the screaming I had done before.
When no one responded, I asked stupidly, “Hello?”
“Huh? Oh, right. I’m thirteen…”
“So… what’s going on? Where are we?”
“I dunno. Can’t see. We’re probably stuck in a car, though.”
I bit my lip as I struggled to get a bit more comfortable. I ended up getting myself even more stuck than I was before.
“Actually…” The boy started. “Now that I think about it… we can’t be too far away from where I live. They were just stuffing me in the car… or at least I think they were. I can’t… I can’t remember what day… Was it the night my family and I were walking in the city? I think I was pulled aside… No… It was the night I was asleep in bed, and then I was pulled out the window…” Now the boy was speaking to himself. The boy finally paused, aware that he was actually speaking out loud, not just thinking silently in his head.
There was a long, awkward silence that always ends up sneaking into conversations like these. You know, that silence where no one knows what to say?
“I’m Amber,” I said conversationally. “What’s your name?”
“I don’t think that really matters right now,” the boy responded. “But it’s Matt.” I could hear him struggling. I wasn’t sure if he was in a bag or if he was just tied up.
“Um, OK. Do you know where the kidnappers are?”
“Long story short, they left because they realized that they weren’t supposed to kidnap us yet… or, something like that.
I blinked. “So… They just left us? Free to go? Just so they can repeat this whole process later?” I asked, incredulous.
“Pretty much.”
I thought about that for a while, but it didn’t make much sense to me.
“So, Marco” I said. “Got a plan for getting us out of here or what?”
“It’s Matt,” he corrected. “And I can’t do much right now, because I’m blindfolded and tied up. I managed to get my gag loose, but I don’t think I can do anything more. Oh, and the car door on my side is open, just saying.”
“Hmm,” I said. I knew he wouldn’t be willing to throw himself out the door to find help - given the state he was in. “Maybe there’s a different way.”
Matt didn’t respond. I wondered why he kept doing that. Then, out of the blue, I started giggling.
“Again: Are you ok?” Matt asked hesitantly, probably wondering if I was in my right mind.
I nodded, but then remembered he couldn’t see me, what with me being stuffed inside a bag and him wearing a blindfold.
“Oh, I’m fine.” I assured him. “I was just thinking. You know, if we manage to get out of this, we’ll be in the headlines. Kids Escape From Kidnappers.”
“But we didn’t really escape,” Matt corrected. “They let us free.”
I smiled and lifted an eyebrow, forgetting yet again that he couldn’t see me.
“They don’t need to know that,” I giggled.
“I guess.” I thought I heard a bit of amusement in his voice. I couldn’t really blame him for being so gloomy. I mean, we had just been kidnapped.
I stopped giggling. Why wasn’t I all gloomy? Well… We weren’t in any serious trouble, were we? The threat had left us. We were safe for the time being.
Right?
“Don’t worry,” I reassured him. “There’s probably a search party looking for us and everything. They’ll find us just before school starts.”
“Well, that definitely makes me feel better,” He replied sarcastically.
I laughed, not a full one, but a laugh that was pretty cheerful considering the state we were in just then.
“So,” I asked, finally getting serious. “Are we gonna keep making useless conversation or are we gonna start taking action.”
“Well… I’ll try to get my blindfold loose with my knees and elbows or whatever. And you can… Try to get out of that bag. It’s probably some zipper bag, so- I’m not sure if you can- try to unzip your bag from the inside.”
The second he said that, I knew it was hopeless… For me, anyways. Unzipping something from the inside was just as easy as corking a bottle from the inside.
I felt around the bag for the zipper line, but found none. I couldn’t feel behind me because I was too squashed in my current position.
After about ten minutes of struggling, I broke the concentration in the air by asking, “Any luck?”
“Nope. his blindfold is tied on too tightly.”
For the first time in about half an hour, I started to worry. What if we were in a place where no one could find us for a long time? In that case, it might take days, maybe weeks for anyone to find us. We wouldn’t last that long.
“Don’t worry,” I repeated, but this time, I wasn’t sure who I was speaking to exactly: me or Matt. Taking a deep breath, I stretched my arms above my head and felt around there, which hurt quite a lot. I accidentally nudged myself deeper into the tight space, but I felt something odd where my hand was...
Bingo.
I could feel the cloth leading to an end, meaning this bag had been tied, not zipped up. I wiggled my fingers into the end of the bad, trying to find a small hole in the spot. Once I found the hole, I pushed, and the bag came open.
“Yes!” I exclaimed.
But to my dismissal, I couldn’t actually get out. Probably because I was lodged between that place in the car where you put your feet. And in case you haven’t guessed yet, I am nowhere near the size of the average human’s foot.
I managed to worm out of the bag, then with great effort, pull myself out of my cramped position, then onto the seat.
Of course, my arms and legs had fallen asleep, my head was still slightly oozing with pain, and my neck was really hurting, but other than, I was fine.
That was surprisingly easy enough, I thought, congratulating myself. I took a few calming breaths before looking to my right.
Sitting next to me was a boy with dark chocolate-brown hair. There was a gag hanging around his neck, and his cheek was really bruised. And I mean really bruised.
It must have been painful to talk. But if it hurt, he didn’t show it.
Like he told me before, he had a blindfold on, and his hands were tied behind his back. He was still struggling, trying to loosen the binds. He looked awfully stiff, in that position he was in. It was an odd sight, I have to tell you. An odd and uncomfortable sight.
FInally he asked, rather excitedly, “Did you break free?”.
I opened my mouth to say yes, but then stopped. “Why didn’t you say you were hurt?”
He hesitated before saying, “It doesn’t matter whether I’m hurt or not. It wouldn’t have helped us escape. So, are you free or what?”
Before I could answer his question, I looked behind him, into the night. Then I looked to my left. We were… pulled over on a road. Not just a road, but a highway. For the first time this night, I heard the soft sound of cars whooshing by. I gasped before muttering, “Great.”
“What?” Matt said impatiently.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I said slowly. “You said you were just being stuffed inside the car.”
“I was.”
“Then explain to me why we’re on the highway! Unless of course you like to take nice, long, soothing walks across it every night.”
Matt’s face- or the very little of it I could see- scrunched up in confusion. I gave him some time to think about it before reaching to help him get rid of the blindfold.
I don’t understand these kidnappers. They put me in a fairly loose bag that was pretty easy to open on the inside, all because of the lame tying (I don’t think they even tied knot on it), and they put Matt here in these.
Sure, I was unconscious at the time, but still. I wouldn’t have stayed unconscious forever.
I tried to undo the blindfold, but failed to. So, I moved onto the ropes that were tied around his hands, but that proved to be even harder.
Don’t judge my untying skills, ok? Just consider these really tight knots.
“What’s taking so long?” Matt asked.
“Um…” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I was being defeated by a piece of cloth and some rope, so I didn’t. I moved back to the blindfold, mainly because the rope was way to thick and tight for me to do anything.
Did these men go through some highly professional knot-tying classes or something? I thought I saw about fifty two different knots used on that rope.
As I worked on the blindfold, I could feel Matt flinching every time I accidentally pulled his hair.
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s just hard to do it from this angle. Could you turn your back to me?”
He shifted, and swung his legs out the door, into the cold dark night. I realized for the first time that his feet weren’t bound together too. I thought they were.
“I wonder what time it is…” He muttered, kicking the car. I knew what he was thinking. He wanted to do as much damage as he possibly could.
“It’s three thirty two, A.M.” I informed him. “And don’t bother wasting your energy, this car is probably stolen. They left the car on, so they probably don’t care about it. Unless… Are you sure they aren’t coming back?”
Completely ignoring my question, he asked, “You got a watch?”
I replied, “There’s a digital clock on the dashboard.” and thought about how useful this car could be for us… for the time being. Finally, I got the bind loose, and had that sudden leap of heart. You know how you finally get the knot loose, and all that’s left is to take the overlapping string the other way? Yeah, like that, but in my case, it was a piece of cloth.
“Ok, ready?” I asked, excited.
“You did it?”
Not bothering to answer, I lifted the blindfold and tossed it aside.
Chapter Three
Matt time unidentified, location unidentified
The first thing I saw were trees, just brown and green. Sure they were beautiful, but I got bored of them pretty quickly. I swung my legs back into the car, and looked to my right.
She wasn’t what I was expecting. At first, before we started talking, I thought she was a boy. Then, when I realized she was a girl, I thought she probably had dark hair, like me.
I know I can’t just assume things like that, but I did, for some reason.
She- Amber- had long golden hair, now messy because she’d been stuffed in a bag, and blue eyes. Like I said before, not what I was expecting. She was in contrast with the dark, gloomy night.
“So,” I finally said. “Could you untie my hands, or…”
“Sorry. It’s beyond my abilities.” She fell back into her seat and sighed, looking tired.
I looked past her, and saw cars zooming by. Yeah, like she said, we were on the highway… well, pulled aside. I bit my lip, wondering why I hadn’t heard the cars outside before.
“We have to get out of here,” Amber said. “Just in case they decide to come back.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Let’s look at our options here: Hitchhiking, or going back the opposite direction the car’s facing.” I stopped talking and looked at her, adding, “Or we could drive the car home.”
She shook her head, smiling. It was stupid, really, trying to drive a car in the dark, when we were clearly underage. She replied, “Well, with the hitchhiking option, we have about a ninety-five percent chance making it out alive, and with the other option, we have a ninety nine percent chance making it out alive, considering the fact that we could accidentally meet up with the kidnappers. Or meet some other threat.”
I thought about walking, but it could possibly be a long walk… Then I considered hitchhiking, but my mom had always warned me never to resort to it.
“Let’s walk,” I said. “And we’ll take the closest exit then find a police station.”
Amber smiled, and I thought I saw hope in her eyes. “Let’s do it then.”
Just as I was climbing out of the car, Amber said, “Wait.”
“What?” I asked.
“We should… search the car. Just in case we find something worth finding.”
I nodded, wishing I had thought of that.
Amber ended up searching the car alone, considering the fact that my hands were tied behind my back. So while she searched, I just sat there like an idiot with my cheek throbbing.
After disappearing into the front seat, she held a water bottle over her head, as if she were claiming a prize.
“I don’t know about you,” Amber started. “But I am dying of thirst.”
She drained about half the bottle before tossing the it over to me.
“Uh… I can’t really hold the bottle,” I informed Amber as she continued searching.
“Oh, right.” She climbed into the back seat and poured some water into my mouth, draining the bottle of every drop..
“Thanks.” I said as she searched the seat pockets.
“No problem.”
After searching the car for several minutes, she ended up finding a pocket knife, rubber bands, and a box of tissues. Amber used the pocket knife to cut me free, and I rubbed my hands to get the blood going, savoring the odd feeling. For some reason, she emptied out the box of tissues and took the empty box.
“What’s that for?” I asked, watching the clumped tissues fall to the floor.
“Always keep a way to carry things.”
“But we don’t need to carry anything.”
“Whatever,” she said, climbing out of the car after me. I was about an inch taller than her, and I looked more stronger than she was. How was she the one who ended up saving us both? Why couldn’t I have been the hero?
Amber stared at me, as if seeing me for the first time. Then she asked, “Are you ok?”
“Huh? Yeah. Come on, we should get going.”
But Amber just stood there, staring at me. She fingered her own cheek, then flinched as if it hurt when she touched it.
“Your bruise has a huge gash on it,” she said, worried. “It could get seriously infected.”
“A gash?” I repeated, confused. “All he did was punch me.”
“Well, he must have been wearing rings or something like that, ‘cause your cheek is bleeding a lot.”
I shrugged the matter off and started walking, away from the car, but along the side of the highway. Amber followed me. We stayed partially hidden in the trees as we walked, but we never went in too deep in the forest- We couldn’t risk loosing the road.
I could hear Amber wincing every time a twig snatched at her skin or something caught her hair. Branches were scratching me as well, but I wasn’t going to show any pain. Even when a twig lodged itself into my cut, I didn’t slow down or make any deal out of it. Finally, after a painful silence, Amber started up conversation.
“Do you see any exit signs?”
“No, not yet.”
“Why is this taking so long?”
I thought about that. We were probably close to an exit when we started walking, but ended up walking the other way.
“Maybe we should have walked in the other direction,” I thought out loud.
“No kidding.”
I kept my gaze forward, trying to find some kind of a sign in the unnatural darkness, when I heard a car engine to my left. I waited for it to pass by like the other car engine sounds kept doing, but the sound stayed, buzzing in my ears.
At first I thought I had imagined it, but when I looked up, I realized that the car was all too real.
I froze, then grabbed Amber's arm and shoved the both of us deeper in the woods. I tried to calm myself, and steady my breath. Next to me, I heard Amber try to do the same. We were crouched behind a bush.
Now, you would have thought that we would have been lucky enough to find a bush that was big enough to hide both me and Amber.
Right?
Well, guess what: You’d be wrong.
While Amber and I hid behind a bush that we thought was big enough to hide the both of us, we heard the unmistakeable sound of a car door opening.
I heard Amber hold her breath, probably too scared to risk giving our position away with her loud breathing.
Or was that the sound of my breathing?
I had my back against the bush, and to the car. I was tensed up, and ready to pounce at any second if I had to. I waited patiently for the threat to pass, the whole time praying that this car didn’t hold the kidnappers.
I hadn’t looked at the car properly: Was it the same car we had been kidnapped in? I didn’t dare take a look, it was way too risky.
“You can’t hide from me, girl.” I female voice called out. “I see you. Don’t worry, I just want to help.”
‘She only saw me’? Amber mouthed to me, and I shrugged.
With one last look, and a hand signal telling me to stay put, Amber leapt from her hiding spot next to me and shielded her eyes from the headlights.
“Okay, okay,” I heard Amber say. “I-”
“Are you a criminal, or a runaway?” The woman interrupted, her voice sounding as cold as ice.
She thinks we’re runaways, I thought sourly. I felt an immediate dislike for the woman. I felt my fingers curl up into fists.
“Um…” Amber seemed uncertain as to what to tell her.
“Listen,” The woman started slowly. “I won’t call the police if I have to. In fact, like I said before, I just want to help. Get in the car, and I’ll take you to where you need to go.”
Chapter Four
Amber location unidentified
The second those words left that woman’s mouth, I knew there would be trouble. Asking if I was a runaway? A criminal? Pointing out the police? Yeah, I wasn’t buying her false politeness. She was probably interested in bringing us to the police station.
I didn’t have a problem with that.
But we were already so close. This would just slow us down. In fact… I thought I saw the exit sign right over there. I don’t know why, but the thought of this woman made me uncomfortable. Something went off in my head every time I looked at her and… it wasn’t good. Besides, how could I be sure that she was interested in our safety? Answer: I couldn’t be sure. Which was why I had to make sure.
“Please,” I said, not allowing my voice to sound desperate. “Please just leave us alone. We don’t need help, we’re almost home anyways .”
The woman seemed alarmed, as if she hadn’t expected that answer, but then asked, “We?”
I bit my lip, not believing how incredibly stupid I was. I was playing this card all wrong. I needed her to leave us alone. Went wrong: She’s now just more interested. I needed to keep the truth from her. Went wrong: She’s *this* close to knowing about Matt.
“Uh, yeah…” I said. “About that. I have… A friend with me.” I bit my lip, then added quickly, “And we aren’t runaways. We were kidnapped, I think just today… Or maybe yesterday.” I thought I heard Matt slap his forehead behind me.
I needed to keep the truth from her (part two). Went wrong: Now she knows everything.
Still, though. It was a better alternative to being criminals or runaways.
I thought I saw something in the woman's eyes. I stared at her for a long time before I figured it out.
Something was off.
I squinted hard at her. The look on her face, her body language… It all added up.
It was greed.
Trust me, I know adults well. Mention money or fame, you can see that look across their faces. That look of longing, of absolute desire.
“Listen,” I repeated. “We’re almost home anyways, so we don’t need help.”
It is too late, I thought, kicking myself mentally. She wants to be the one to bring us home. She wants to collect whatever money our parents have offered.
But… I suddenly realized. That wasn’t a bad thing… Unless you count losing some thousand dollars as a bad thing.
Which it was.
The woman just stared at me, then said, “Don’t worry your head off, kid. I won’t bite. I’m just gonna help. I’ll bring you to a police station and help you sort things out.”
I sighed. It wasn’t like I had a choice. I had played my plan out so… awkwardly. I wasn’t even following my plan at one point. I had messed up.
“Come on out, Marco.” I said in defeat. There was a couple seconds of silence before Matt seemed to finally realize what I had said. As if unsure whether I was being serious, he slowly crept out of the bushes. He walked over by my side, then gave me a what the heck was that?! look.
I looked away, not needing any salt in my wound. Speaking of wounds, I noticed that the woman had eyes for Matt’s injury. She was looking at it in deep interest… yet at the same time, great horror.
“Come on kids,” The woman finally said, waking from her trance. She motioned towards her car. “Let’s get you home.”
Just when Matt took one step toward the car, I thrust myself in the other direction. I wasn’t going to trust this woman. Evil was written all over her- I could feel it. She was on first name terms with greed himself, and I knew it. I wasn’t sure what this woman was planning exactly, but I knew it wouldn’t benefit us. Maybe she really was going to bring us home, but even so, we would just be known a the lucky kids who would have never made it home - or worse - died if this woman hadn’t come along.
I was going to make sure we were known as two brave kids who saved themselves using wit and smart thinking, not saved by a woman who had been at the right place at the right time.
I heard footsteps behind me, and I knew Matt was following.
“What… are… we… doing?” I heard Matt yell between pants.
“Trust me,” I yelled back. “She’s bad news.”
I was running towards the exit sign that I thought I had seen. Turns out that there was nothing there, but just some more trees. Like any other illusion, it had been there one minute… then gone the next.
Matt must have noticed, too, because I heard his footsteps decrease behind me.
“What are we doing?” Matt repeated. “There was a woman willing to help! Let’s go.” After surveying the ocean of trees that seemed to stretch for eternity, he added, “We’re being stupid.”
Just as I was about to protest, the car pulled up next to us. The woman’s car.
No, I thought sourly as the window scrolled down. I saw a look of relief across Matt’s face.
“You kids are crazy!” The woman hissed, clearly annoyed. “You could get hurt. I bet you don’t even know where you’re going!”
“Yes, actually.” I said, anger burning my cheeks. “We do know where we’re going. So just leave us alone!”
The woman stared at us for a long time before saying, “If you kids are looking for an exit, you won’t find one for miles.”
“You’re lying.” I said.
“We aren’t on a highway.”
Startled, I realized I had nothing to say to that. I avoided looking at Matt as I cleared my throat.
If I wanted this woman to leave us alone, I would have to make her leave us alone, weather she was evil or not.
“Look,” I hissed, intentionally keeping my volume at a minimum. “Marco here may be the stupid, gullible child you need us to be-”
“Hey!”
I ignored Matt’s outburst as I continued, “But I don’t trust you. I. Am. Not. An idiot.”
The woman stared at me for a long time, as if pitying what a poor, clueless child I was. If she was masking any annoyance she felt, then she was doing a heck of a good job.
“You really are runaways, aren’t you?” She practically whispered, shaking her head. “It’s no wonder you don’t want help… No wonder you took this road.”
Matt took this opportunity to jump in. “Yeah, about that… Where are we exactly?”
I bit my lip. I should have asked that before.
“This road goes on for miles… It leads to South Dakota.”
Chapter Five
7:00 New York
Duncan ran in the rain, now unsure of exactly where he was going. He was now half an hour late, and was sure that they had started without him. He had entered his destination into his phone, completely depending on the device to lead him to the coffee shop, only to be let down. His phone had stopped working an hour ago, leaving him completely in the dark.
If only I had a car… Duncan thought, greatly annoyed. Taking a bus to New York City everyday in place of a proper car was downright dreadful. He couldn’t get to wherever he wanted fast enough.
Duncan found that he was now completely lost. Surely, Steve would be furious… No, more disappointed.
He hates it whenever we mess up…
Drenched, Duncan finally quit trying to find the coffee shop and slipped into a bakery, realizing that they must have already finished. There was no point in going on now.
Shivering, Duncan slouched in a chair, dripping water all over the tiled floor. A lady sat at the counter, glaring at Duncan and the small mess he had created. Duncan didn’t care- either that, or he hadn’t noticed. He was deep in thought as he shivered in his wet coat, silently wishing he had some dry clothing. He sniffed, feeling the cold seep into his bones. He had ordered a small pastry, but he seemed have trouble holding the fork right. Accepting defeat, Duncan just stared at the piece of cake in front of him, which lay untouched.
Maybe I should quit. Duncan thought, rather sourly, yet sarcastically. He hated his job, though it was the only way he could support his small family. The only way he could protect his family. This job didn’t require anything- Even Duncan himself was unsure what the company he worked for was really doing, but he had his family to look after, to protect.
The thought of his family brought tears to his eyes. No, Duncan thought furiously. I’m not going to lie to myself anymore.
The threats they had made… What they forced him to do…
All for the sake of his family.
Chapter Six
Amber: Time Unidentified Location Unidentified
“I hate her,” I spat.
Ok, so maybe I didn’t say it out loud like that, but I was definitely thinking it. And I knew that Matt was clearly aware of it.
“South Dakota?!” Matt almost fainted. “South Dakota?! That can’t be! I live all the way in-”
“-Another state.” I finished for him, not wanting to give up any more information than I already had. Matt may think me to be pretty dumb, at first telling this lady practically everything, then refusing help when we needed it, but I wasn’t. Matt was just too trusting.
I get it. I had messed up before, all in a haste to get away, all because of panic. I didn’t have anything planned to say, Matt couldn’t blame me.
I could feel the woman’s cold blue eyes pierce me. She pushed a lock of her blond hair from her face just as she asked a question.
“I am no longer asking you kids to come. I am bringing you the nearest police station, and that is that.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Matt’s glare shut me up. A quick glance of his expression read clearly:
Well?! Come on! You’d have to out of your mind to refuse this. We’re finally going home!
Matt must have been curious as to why I was refusing help from such a ‘kind young woman’. Like I said before, Matt was too trusting…
But wait…
A wave of reality washed over me.
I bit my lip, realizing for the first time that Matt might be right. We couldn’t walk miles on end without water until we reached civilization. We couldn’t possibly survive. My eyes widened as realization struck me, forcing me to consider reality: We needed help.
I sighed. I couldn’t agree to this. I wasn’t going to hitchhike, but if we had to, not from this woman.
“Fine.” I clenched my jaw as I said so. Just because I was agreeing to ride in a car with this woman didn’t mean I actually had to like it. Besides, how far away could we be?
Ok, that was a stupid question. We were on a road that led to South Dakota, so we could be an entire state away, at the most.
Matt climbed into the car, obviously relieved by my agreement, and kept the car door open behind him. Both the woman and Matt waited for me to follow.
I hesitated after taking one step towards the car. The woman broke the silence by asking, “You aren’t gonna run away again, are you?”
I shook my head, for some reason not being able to speak. This was followed by another couple seconds of awkward silence, which obviously, no one was enjoying. I tensed up as Matt finally burst:
“What’s wrong? Come on, Amber!”
I held my breath as I inched towards the car. I glared at the woman, hoping that my hatred would somehow cause her some kind of suffering.
I couldn’t get into that car.
“Amber!” Matt said sharply. Well that did it.
I sprinted into the woods behind us, and prayed Matt would follow. I'd like to see her try and follow us then.
Chapter Seven
Matt time unidentified, location unidentified
“Hello?” a voice called. Amber tensed up, and I could see from her expression that she was scared.
“Kids? You can come out! I won’t hurt you!”
We had been walking for several hours along the highway, in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, someone else had seen us... Next to me, I saw Amber bite her lip and look at the dirt, as if it was the most interesting thing she’s ever seen. I swallowed, and hoped neither of us would give in.
“Kids shouldn’t be walking along the side of highway at this time of night.”
The voice, a female voice, kept on calling out, until finally it gave up. I thought I heard it drive away, but we weren’t stupid. We stayed in out position for about a half hour, the whole time listening carefully.
After an eternity, I turned to Amber, only to find that she had fallen asleep, cardboard box still clutched in her hand.
I realized that I was pretty sleepy too, but I knew that we couldn’t waste any time. My parents were probably worried sick. Same for her’s.
I stared at her, and sleep became so more persuading. She got to sleep, so why couldn’t I sleep too? Maybe just a quick nap.
I knew I should probably wake her, or atleast stay up and keep look out, but before I knew it, I had slipped away into a land of dreams.
. . .
I woke up first the next day, and the first thing I felt was panic. My ‘nap’ had stretched into mid-day, based on where the sun was in the sky. I turned to shake Amber awake, but she was gone. Looking around frantically, I couldn’t find her anywhere. She had left the tissue box behind.
I was going to call her name out, which wasn’t really a smart thing to do, when I heard her voice.
“You’re up.”
I jumped, startled, then asked, annoyed, “Where were you?”
When I turned to look at her, I saw that she had tied her hair back and somewhat combed her hair through. Her smile turned into a worried frown.
“I had to freshen up,” she answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Did I miss something?”
I shook my head, then said, “I’m going to go… ‘freshen’ up too.” and disappeared deeper into the woods.
“Don’t go too far!” She called out.
I thought, I won’t.
First think was first. I wasn’t going to be walking around wearing my pajamas.
I turned my pants inside out, so they were just a plain blue, and I tried to do the same for my shirt, but couldn’t. It looked too weird the other way around.
Then, I ‘went to the bathroom’ and tried to flatten my hair down. Yeah, if anything, my hair was messier than ever.
I walked back in the direction and met up with Amber, who was humming to herself. After accidentally startling her, we walked forwards, starting our journey where we left off yesterday.
“Our parents are probably worried sick,” Amber said. “Not our, as in our parents, but, you know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “And all of our friends, too. I bet everyone is worried.”
Amber stared at me for a long time, and I started to get self-conscious. I wished I had a mirror.
“What ?” I asked.
She fingered her own cheek, then said, “Your bruise. It’s getting worse. There’s a huge gash on it. It might get infected.”
“Oh, that.” I said, finally feeling tough. “The man was wearing rings when he punched me. It’s not a big deal, really. It only hurts when I smile.”
Amber nodded her head, but still looked worried.
“And besides,” I said. “It just means we’ll have a bigger cover story.”
Amber smiled at me, and I felt nice for moment. Hopeful, almost.
Finally, I saw a huge, green exit sign up ahead. “There it is!” I exclaimed, running towards it. Amber struggled to keep up, she seemed to be limping.
“Come on!” I called when I had reached the turning point. With a surprising amount of speed, she raced towards me, and jumped excitedly.
“Look! We’re almost home!”
“Well, technically we’re not. We could be in a different state for all we know.”
Amber lifted an eyebrow. “But you were just being stuffed in a car, remember? We can’t be that far away.”
Together, we turned the corner and found that there was still more road to walk before we hit any restaurants or gas stations.
I groaned. This was going to take forever. Next to me Amber said, “On the bright side, at least we’re still alive.”
We walked about half a mile before finally finding the first McDonald's. Amber and I raced towards the building like our lives depended on it, and charged through the doors, anxious to find someone with a phone. We pushed passed the line, ignoring the annoyed outbursts and gasps. A kid a bit younger than me pointed at my cheek and screamed.
Is it really that bad? I asked myself, gingerly touching my cheek. It was rough, meaning that it must be caked with dry blood. Well, at least that meant we would have everyone’s attention.
At the same exact moment I asked for a phone, Amber asked about the date. Ok, so maybe figuring out how long we’ve been gone is a good idea, but I thought that finally speaking to someone we knew was important.
It turns out that we were gone for two days, which made sense. Yesterday and today. I asked for a phone, and the cashier handed me his cell phone.
As I dialed in my number, Amber filled the cashier in on what he wanted to know.
I called about two times before my mom picked up, and not voicemail.
“Mom!” I cried. “Mom, it’s me!”
“Matt? Is… Is that you?”
At that point I couldn’t even speak anymore. I just kept crying. I knew afterwards I would be pretty embarrassed, what with everyone in the restaurant staring at me and the gash on my cheek, but I didn’t care.
At the moment, it was just me and mom.
Fareen N. Limes, short stories, lattes, croissants, apple orchards in the fall, rainy nights, velvet. If she could, she would just speak in poetry! As a 16 year old from Arizona, she loves to spice up her life by writing thrilling short stories and vivid poetry with engaging and enrapturing language. One day, she hopes to become a novelist; she feels that writing is not just her hobby, not just her vocation, but her passion.
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