A Not So Sweet Fairytale

“Well I was going to be content with simply talking to you, just to make sure there was no uncomfortable feelings between us, but then I had this bright idea that I could actually make money by kidnapping you,” Jason continued.

"Ever since I’ve been watching you and that woman. Who is she? One of the guy’s wives? Ah well, I suppose it doesn’t matter much. What matters now is if your daddy is willing to pay a handsome price for your return. If he doesn’t, well I guess you’re outta luck my pretty. Well anyway, this morning I find you going to a pregnancy center. I must say, I was not expecting it. I mean I suppose you’ve gotten a bit chubbier since we last met, but I didn’t think it was because, well anyways. Now you have something of mine and I don’t think it should be yours at all,”

He crept towards me from leaning against a crate with plastic yellow ties. As he bent down towards me, I moved away from his as far as the chair would permit, which wasn’t near far enough. He reached one of his grimy hands towards me and I threw up as I felt his hand rest on my stomach and I realized what he was after.

“It’s so sad to such a little life ending before it even begins, but it’s for the best. The abortionist will be here tomorrow morning. Special favor just for me. I told my old buddy that I needed one and so he he’s having the best in the business come out all the way from Houston. Just for you. Now I have to get ready for the big day, so I’m gonna leave, but I’ve turned on a baby monitor with extra adaptations For example, if you try to turn it off, it will set off enough gas to knock you out for days, and I’ll be able to hear your every move, your every sigh, your every whimper. So, till tomorrow, my pretty. Sweet dreams,” he lifted his hand off my stomach and I tried to breathe again with little success because of the musky smell that so well defined him.

“Oh and one more thing. If you try to escape, you’ll be a dead pregnant lady. And I really don’t want to touch another hair on your head so please don’t make me do that darling,” he added before disappearing through the stacks of boxes and crates.

***

Adrienne called Billie Joe and told him, “That’s it. She definitely didn’t go willingly. She left everything at the house, even that journal Tre` sent to her, the one with the broken lock.”

“Fuck. Okay, we’ll be on the next plane out. You go ahead and start looking. Try anywhere that looks suspicious,” Billie Joe told her.

“Hang on. Lemme get to the car before you hang up. Wait-oh shit. Billie Joe, there’s a ransom note.” Adrienne informed him as she found the clumsily written note taped to the door.

“Who is it addressed to?” Billie Joe questioned, not being able to see it on the other side of the country.

“A soon to be daughterless father,” she quoted.

“Okay, well now you can bring it to the police’s attention. Get someone to go with you though. I don’t want you getting too deep into this.”

“I promise I’ll be careful honey. Now I gotta go save Torrie. I’ll talk to you later,” she promised.

“Okay. Just please let me know if you find anything.”

“Will do,” And with that she hung up to start her search for Torrie.

“Mike we gotta talk to you, buddy,” Billie Joe began, but realized he was lost for words for the first time in a long time.

“We have bad news. It’s about Torrie, she-” Tre` started, but Mike cut in.

“I don’t care. That bitch can die for all I care. She just thinks everything’s-”

“She’s been kidnapped and there’s a ransom note addressed to you,” Billie Joe cut in, finding the best fitting words at long last, which silenced Mike in an instant.

“Oh. So then she was kidnapped because of me?” He asked glancing between Billie Joe and Tre` who were giving each other uncomfortably because they’d each been thinking along the same lines.

“Well has anyone been contacted? The police? Do they know yet?” Mike began, standing up.

“They’d just wait twenty-four hours to even start-” Tre` keenly pointed out.

“And we don’t have that kind of time,” Mike concluded reluctantly as he wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye.

“How do we know they have Torrie? That this isn’t just a hoax?”

“They… they left us a lock of her hair,” Billie Joe confided the single fact he hadn’t told anyone yet.

“Any clues on who this person or persons is besides dead?” Mike asked.

“Sort of,” Billie Joe answered, looking at Tre` compendiously.

“The day we left, on my way out the door I found a note. I thought it was from a fan, but-”

“Just get on with it, what did it say?” Mike asked impatiently.

“Read it yourself, but on the way to the airport. Billie Joe and I are going to try to help Adrienne who is already looking for Torrie and we were hoping that you’d come along,” Tre` answered any unanswered questions that anyone had had in their mind concerning the matter.

“I’m coming. This guy messed with the wrong person. What the fuck does he want with her? Maybe he’s that goddamn father of Torrie’s…of Torrie’s kid. That’s the only person I can see taking her and holding her hostage until he gets enough money to get away,” Mike concluded, without knowing the circumstances of the conception.

“Oh Jesus, Tre`. Now it all makes sense. Shit,” Billie Joe muttered more to himself than Tre`.

***

I sat in the cold room and tried to stand many times without success. I tried to think of one of the many movie scenes or even book scenes where the character escaped, but I couldn’t find any conceivable way of cutting the goddamn confining rope that bound my wrists, my arms, my legs, and my waist to the uncomfortable chair.

Then I spotted it. It was my phone. The bastard had been stupid enough to leave it somewhere near me, or very smart as I realized I had no way of using it. I couldn’t get over to it, let alone press the right buttons. Then there was also the problem of the notorious baby monitor with the red light bearing its warning. If I did anything with the phone, it would have to be texting and how the hell was I supposed to do that without the use of my hands?

Still, as silent as I could I scooted my chair closer to the phone. The chair had wheels, but the boxes were the single factor keeping me in. I managed to get to the phone, but now the tricky part was coming. I slipped part of the gag into the fold of the phone and managed to pull it open with the aid of an all so helpful yellow plastic tie on the crates. I then started to use my nose to turn it on before remembering that it made noise when it turned on and I couldn’t ‘remember if I’d turned the sound off or not. Ah well, if I hadn’t I’d be dead, but if I didn’t’ try I’d probably be dead anyways. So I decided to try. Half a chance was better than none, right?

With my breath held, I turned the phone on with my nose, trying to cover the speaker in the back as best I could with my cheek. I counted one-hundred mississippis in my head which seemed like an eternity, but at long last I figured it was safe to proceed. The phone’s screen lit up with a comforting glow to give me a bit of hope. I used my nose to try to get to the menu and after the sixth try I found my way to the new text section. Very slowly I typed out my message. It was supposed to read “Help. In shipping place. Jason here. Don’t come alone. Hurry.” But that type of limited nose-eye coordination was beyond me so I ended up with :”Igdlp. Hn prsiipqinig pkacf. Jarpmn h3re. Dnot cmof ak6nf. Htpqry,” I hoped they might still be able to use it though. This was my only chance. At least that’s what I thought until after I pressed the send button and then the phone started ringing. I tried to cover it up quickly, but failed.

“I told you not to do anything stupid my sweet,” Came a voice through the baby monitor and I knew I only had a couple minutes. I closed the phone quickly and moved towards the center of the room again. I would have answered the phone, but I was gagged and they couldn’t understand a single word I might have uttered. I just hoped they might be able to decipher my message in time. Before Jason stole my baby.

***

Adrienne had been driving around and talking to people for three hours. She would have shown them a picture, but all the pictures were with Tre` in the many photo albums she’d packed away in her suitcase. No one had every seen her before, no one even knew the general name. Because Torrie wasn’t that common of a name, Adrienne believed them when they said they hadn’t ever met her. She hoped the guys were on their way.

Perhaps they would know something she wouldn’t, but then she got a text from Torrie. She opened it up quickly and sighed. There was no way she was going to be able to understand “Igdlp. Hn prsiipqinig pkacf. Jarpmn h3re. Dnot cmof ak6nf. Htpqry.” But she forwarded it to Tre` anyways.

***

“I still don’t understand Tre`, why didn’t you show me this to begin with? After all, it was on my house.” Mike asked incredulously.

“Yeah, well we were leaving and I was kinda mad at you still, still am by the way, but I didn’t think it would hurt to simply forget,” Tre` answered honestly.

“Well look, if you had-” Mike started, but Billie Joe cut him off.

“Look, it’s too late to throw blame at people. It isn’t going to help Torrie at all,” Billie Joe pointed out as they entered the jet that would fly them straight to LA in less than two hours, which was a record of some sort.

“You seem mighty interested in my whore of a daughter, you slept with her too, yet?” Mike asked coldly.

“I didn’t sleep with her!” Both Tre` and Billie Joe screamed in frustration, Billie Joe furrowing his eyebrows.

“Fine. Lie. Do whatever makes you feel better. But let’s still try to find my daughter so she doesn’t run off with anything of mine that I might actually want,” Mike reminded them so fondly.

“Oh, so that’s the entire reason you came along, isn’t it?” Tre` asked hotly.

“Well yeah. Why else would I even consider going out there to find her?” Mike answered.

“You-”Tre` started, but he never got to finish because at that moment Tre`s phone rang. He took one look at it and his entire face filled with apprehension.

“Who is it?” Billie Joe asked hopefully, looking over Tre`s shoulder.

“Adrienne forwarding something to me, it’s downloading now,” Tre` told him.

“What is it?” Mike asked, finally letting a bit of concern show.

“A text. It’s from Torrie, but she seriously doesn’t know how to text. I mean look at this,” Tre` told them, showing them the mixed up message.

“Oh come on. I can read that easy,” Mike told them.

“Really?” Tre` and Billie Joe asked in complete surprise.

“Yeah. I mean, how else do you think I can read your text messages after you’ve had a few drinks and want to tell me something via text messaging?”

“Oh. Well what does it say?” Billie Joe asked, wanting Mike to prove himself.

“It says something like, ‘Help. On shipping docks. Jargon here. Don’t come alone. Hurry.’”

“Damn. Well perhaps that’s Jason here?” Tre` asked Billie Joe.

“Wait. Who’s Jason?” Mike asked suspiciously.

“Uhhh… Torrie’s kid’s dad in a sense I suppose,” Tre` admitted.

“Well, can’t say I didn’t tell you so,” Mike observed smugly.

“Would you just shut the fuck up dude?! It’s not bad enough that you think you’re daughter, who risked everything to find her dad, is a whore?! You have to degrade her to only being in a relationship with such a bastard too?” Tre` demanded, disturbing the passengers on the plane with him.

“Say what you want to say so I can tell you you’re wrong. Go ahead, tell me exactly bugging you,” Mike coaxed.

“You are. You’re daughter went through hell, twice in one week and to be brave enough to keep that kid in the world is admirable. You’re such a dick! Everything’s about you! Leaving no room for sympathy, right?! Right?! Now your daughter needs your help more than ever because she is probably going through hell yet again right as we speak in a room with that bastard and all you want to do is make sure she doesn’t run off with your money, which you have plenty of by the way! What the fuck is your problem?!?” Tre` snapped completely, then quickly left towards the general direction of the toilet.

“He’s right you know,” Billie Joe agreed as soon as Tre` was safely out of earshot.

”And how do you figure that? How do you know that she isn’t lying?” Mike sneered.

“Because I’ve been there to wake her up at night when she starts screaming at the nightmares, the haunting memories that bastard gave her. God knows what he’s doing to her right now, but I’m sure it isn’t anything rosy, okay?” Billie Joe added.

“Oh. Well, we’ll just see when we get there, won’t we?” Mike sneered as Tre` returned, his hair matted down and his flushed cheeks wet with water.

“Any clues as to where these mysterious shipping docks are?” Tre` asked, hoping a change of subject might improve matters.

“All we have is the note, which I still haven't read yet,” Mike pointed out.

“Well let’s look at it again,” Tre` asked Billie Joe who dug it out of his pocket yet again. They unfolded it again and this time looked on the back where they saw an emblem for a hotel.

“He’s staying at Peyton Side Inn. That’s something. Maybe now we can get some answers, do either of you have a map?” Tre` asked.

“Yeah, here,” Mike replied, pulling out a paper street map of LA who’d clearly seen better days.

“The hotel is here, but there’s nothing but a handful of shops around it,” Billie Joe pointed out the spot corresponding with the given address on the emblem.

***Adult Content***

Jason kept walking around me, the musky smell all around me. “You’re putting me in an awkward position. You disobeyed me, which means I am going to have to discipline you my sweet. But, you know I really don’t want to do that. No, I won’t kill you, but you’re going to have do a favor for me darling,” Jason told me, caressing my breast. I was instantly transported back t that night, those five minutes that changed my life into a nightmare. I tired to scream, but all that came across was a terrified look in my eyes, which seemed to arouse him.

“Oh yes, I’m going to enjoy this alright. While you’re still pregnant, which means I don’t have to use a condom my sweet. Isn’t that nice? Brings back good memories, doesn’t it? That was your first time, wasn’t it? Aren’t you glad you won’t die a virgin after all?” He coaxed, slowly opening my button up shirt. He left me for a few precious moments to clear off the concrete floor.

“Same as last time. You do anything to stop me and you’ll be dead. This time I don’t have a pocket knife on me, but I do have a gun which I am willing to fire just for you my sweet,” he reminded me before unbinding my legs and removing my still attached wrists from the chair.

“But we will need to remove that gag. Remember what I told you,” Jason reminded me yet again. I nodded as I felt him untie the knot baring into my skull and I could feel the headache I’d woken up with go away immediately.

“Please-” I begged.

“See, I knew you wanted this as much as I did, now get down on the floor,” he demanded, dropping his pants.

“Please don’t do this,” I managed, my voice dry and cracked.

“You need to be taught a lesson and this’ll be the most effective way so don’t argue with me unless you want it to be worse, much worse,” he threatened getting on top of me.

***End Adult Content***

“What exactly am I supposed to be looking for?” Adrienne asked as she pulled into the parking lot of the cheap motel while on the phone with Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre`.

“Anything that looks like it could be described as a shipping dock,” he responded.

“For the last time, there’s nothing that looks like a dock around here. Just a couple of crap gift shops and a barbeque house.”

“Well, keep looking. It can’t be that far away from where Torrie is,” Billie Joe responded.

“Try talking to the motel manager and asking if anyone named Jason’s checked in or out recently,” Mike offered, still feeling cornered after the all out attack.

“I’ll use my womanly charm to do that,” she sighed before hanging up on them as they literally ran off the plane on their way to the long term parking lot.

“C’mon!” Tre` yelled since he was the first one to the car. He jumped in and started the engine purring by the time the other two had opened their doors.

“So where exactly are we heading?” Billie Joe asked warily, on two hours sleep.

“To my house to grab my gun,” Tre` seethed, not looking at either of them. There was dead silence for three full minutes.

“Hang on there buddy, why are you getting the gun?” Mike asked in horror, he had yet to grasp the dynamics of the situation.

“Cause the message said don’t come alone, right? If we have the gun, then we won’t go alone,” Tre` explained hotly, stepping on the pedal as soon as they hit the highway with no indication of letting off it even a little.

“You don’t think he has a gun already?” Billie Joe asked incredulously, shivering a bit.

“Yeah, one gun isn’t going to scare him much,” Mike pointed out unwontedly.

“That’s why you and Billie Joe are going to borrow a couple from my gun collection. There’s no bullets in them so there’s nothing illegal about them, but it will scare him,” Mike and Billie Joe exchanged an uncomfortable look, wondering where this new found thinking had come from. Billie Joe had just heard a bit of the details of that fateful night from Torrie’s jarring dreams that night, but she had told Tre` everything and it had fueled this anger, but neither of the others knew that.

“Why don’t we just ask the cops to come too? That way she could make an actual case out of this and maybe see some justice for once. And you know I hate guns,” Billie Joe offered, trying to find a way to get out of going to jail, but still screwing the scumbag.

“You don’t think we could just talk to the two of them about this? I mean if she fucked the guy then she must have seen something attractive about him, right? Why don’t we just go in there and-” Misinformed Mike started, but stopped at the horrified looks courtesy of Billie Joe and Tre`.

“You have no idea what he did. What he took. No, he won’t listen to her. That’s what got her into this trouble to begin with. And as for the cops there’s no point. Do you really think they’d find enough evidence to pin him for what she really wants to pin him for? There’s no point. We’d be better off killing the bastard ourselves then disposing of the body,” Tre` pointed out, still tempered, “And Billie Joe, I know you hate guns and I don’t blame you in the least. But could you do this, just for Torrie?”

“Fine. I’m in. Let’s kill the bastard,” Billie Joe agreed, pounding his fist into the palm of his hand in an attempt to control his bubbling rage.

“Well before anything, we do actually have to find him and Torrie you know,” Mike reminded them.

“First we gotta get the guns,” Tre` reminded them, getting onto the freeway at last.