Status: Completed(:
Kidnapped
Kidnapped
“Can I get a martini?” I sighed.
Spending the night alone, having dinner at Ruby River wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for Halloween night. Yet, there I was sipping a martini, eating a Dallas filet. The restaurant wasn’t busy so it was unusually quiet. In the background, George Straight was singing another one of his greatest hits. I wondered to myself what fun the rest of the world was having, probably spending Halloween night with their friends, partying like crazy.
My waiter came back minutes later. He seemed dazed, but he handed me a piece of paper folded in half.
“A man leaving the restaurant handed me this. He told me to give it to you,” he clarified and walked away.
I sat up straight and opened the note and read the words written neatly in cursive:
It’s in your best interest
to meet me at midnight, tonight.
Alone, in the parking lot.
There was no name. I checked my phone for the time. It was eleven. Thoughts cluttered my head as I tried to think. Who wrote the note? Why would they want to meet with me? Is this some prank my friends wanted to pull on me? Probably, I decided. I sighed in frustration as I dug out of my purse for my credit card and paid for my meal. I sat in my car, waiting for the clock to strike twelve. The silence gave me time to think about what was going to go down. Eventually, I decided that Erin and Kayla felt bad about ditching me to hang out with their boyfriends so they wanted to come hang out, and thought it would be funny to pull a prank on me. After all, they were the only ones who knew my plans for the night. I gazed at the clock to see that I had two minutes till midnight. Not wanting to go through with this, I fumbled out of my car and walked over to the only light pole which stood near the rear of the parking lot. Leaning against the cold metal, I waited for someone to pop out of the blue. The cold wind whipped around me, engulfing me with goose bumps, let alone the fact that I was wearing a thick winter coat. The weather was highly unusual for St. George.
Minutes passed and I was losing my patience. As I was about to give up and head back to my car to head home, a black Escalade pulled into the parking lot, it’s tires screeching on the asphalt as it turn the sharp turn. It looked just like Dean’s, Erin’s boyfriend. I thought it odd that he would drive like that. But then again, Dean was Dean. I never knew what to expect from him.
The excursion slammed its brakes, stopping right in front of me. I tried to see the driver, but the windows were tinted and all I saw was my reflection. Before the car even stopped, the door opened and two men jumped out and leaped at me. Shocked, I tried to jump back but failed and tripped, hitting the cold ground with a loud thud. I struggled to pry free from their grasps; jerking my arms and kicking with my feet, crazily. I must have hit one of them because they grunted and released my arm. However, just as quickly as they had let go, both of my arms were held tight in the others grasp and I could hardly move. I laid there on my stomach, struggling against their tight hold. Someone had shoved a white cloth over my mouth, muffling my screams. I jerked my body trying to escape, while, at the same time, trying to breathe through the intoxicating cloth. Before I knew it, my vision was turning fuzzy and I felt unusual tired. My body slowly went numb as I slipped into unconsciousness.
The first thing I heard was the heavy arguing of two frustrated men through the wall behind me. I tried my best not to move so no one would think I was awake. I was tied by thin, itchy ropes to a wooden chair; my hands together behind my back and each of my feet tight against the legs. I noticed that my shoes were gone; I was barefoot and cold. Goosebumps covered my body. My head was bent over from exhaustion so there was no use opening my eyes; all I would see were my legs and the floor. The room seemed too dark from my closed eyelids. Thinking about where I was, I remembered what had happened.
My brain wanted to cry and scream for help, but I knew better and kept my body as still as possible. I concentrated on hearing the muffled conversation behind me.
“When are we gonna do this, Caleb?” a burly voice asked.
“Later. Tonight, when it’s dark,” a second, stronger voice, whom I guessed was Caleb, “It’ll be easier. ”
“Yeah, alright,” Man number two said, relieved, “You think she’s awake by now? It’s been hours. The chloroform would’ve worn off a long time ago.”
“I’ll check.”
“See you in the loft.”
The sound of footsteps crept down the hall and disappeared. It was a few more seconds before a door knob turned, and in came who I suspected to be Caleb. I became immovable in the same position, pretending to be asleep. My heart raced inside my body and it was as if magma were boiling in a volcano with a tight lid on top for no escape. He stalked slowly around me to my right, his footsteps deafening in the silence until he finished his full circle, and was paused somewhere behind me. I tried hard to keep my breathing slow and calm. A decade later, he seemed to have gotten bored and walked towards the door, opening and shutting it carefully and quietly. As soon as the door shut, I felt it safe to see where I was.
I lifted my head to view my surroundings and saw I was in a large dark room. About twenty feet in front of me was a cement wall. There was a window that allowed me to see most of Pine Mountain and the dark cloudy sky above it. To my left, there was an old and gray metal shelf that must have had collected over a quarter of an inch of dust. On one of the shelves was an old radio; it’s cord hanging off the edge. Another shelf held bailing twine, a rag, and a large container of gas.
Oh crap, I thought. I felt light headed and shut my eyes tight, trying to believe that I was only dreaming and I’d wake up in my bed any second, safe and unharmed. I opened my eyes only to see I wasn’t dreaming. I started praying to God over and over for help. I finally gave up after the millionth try and sagged in the chair. I was going to die.
“You’re a very bad actor,” a voice murmured from behind me. He took his time walking along the wall to face me.
I froze; every muscle in my body unmovable. The tension in my nerves screamed at me to say something, but I said nothing. I guess it didn’t matter, anyway, if I begged to be let free. There was no way they were going to let me live. I kept my eyes straight ahead and stared out the window at the fast moving clouds as they tumbled over the mountain top. I began thinking about how my poor dog, Dean, was going to be left in the good hands of my friend Kirby, thanks to my will. I guess they were right about being prepared.
The Caleb’s voice interrupted my thoughts, “You’re not gonna talk?”
“Screw you,” I burst out, turning my head to glare at him. The first thing I noticed about him was the scar on his right cheek. It was long, yet, skinny and if I hadn’t known better, I’d say it was from a knife. I took the rest of him in and saw that he was average height, and built well, with short dark brown hair with matching eyes.
He pretended to be hurt, “Now, that’s not very nice.”
“Did you think I was gonna be happy you knocked me out, kidnapping me, and tied me to a chair?”
“Well, it wasn’t like you were going to come willingly,” he remarked.
“I hope you burn in hell.”
He walked towards me, simply laughing. I closed my eyes and my body tensed as I waited for his next move. I expected a blow to my face, but, instead, I felt the chair shift and squeal. I opened my eyes again and saw that Caleb had only turned me around. I faced the door, where Caleb was now standing.
“Don’t try and go anywhere while I’m gone.” He smirked, amusing himself, as he shut the door behind him.
“Go die in a hole!” I screamed as he shut the door behind him.
Hours had passed and the sun was setting before me. The sunlight blinded me, forcing me to close my eyes. I was tired and hungry. I hadn’t eaten in hours and my captors didn’t seem to be offering any. I had sat there all day tensed and waiting for the door to open once again. Eventually, I relaxed my body, bit by bit. I wondered if anyone was looking for me or if they even cared. That brought my hopes down.
Come on Sam, I thought to myself, you’ll make it out of here alive and—
The ringing of heavy gun shots thundered through my ears. My body went tense as I heard the shots become louder and fiercer. I heard men screaming and shouting in vain. I almost screamed myself when the door burst open and Caleb pounded in, limping. He panicked as he pulled out a knife and cut the ropes at my feet that tied me to the chair.
“Stand up!” he shouted at my face as he pulled me up into a standing position right in front of him. I tried to shake free as he wrapped his arm around my neck. He jerked me around, frustrated.
I felt the cold barrel of a gun against my temple, “Hold still or I’ll shoot!”
That was about when the police came in with more guns.
They paused as soon as they all were inside; their guns held high, right towards me, ready to pull the trigger when the time was right. Or at least I had hoped so.
“Don’t move!” Caleb cried out.
“You don’t want to do that, Caleb,” one man warned. His long black trench coat swayed as he slowly took a step forward.
Caleb shifted, moving me with him. I began crying and praying to God for mercy.
“Caleb, it’s alright,” the man pleaded, “Just let her go and we’ll talk, just me and you; somewhere alone.”
“No!” he took the gun away from my face and pointed it at the detective.
Time slowed down as I closed my eyes at the sound of gunshots piercing my ears. I landed on my shoulder as I was pulled to the floor by Caleb. I felt the blood pooling beneath me; the cold gray cement turning to warm crimson liquid. I felt someone place their hand around my arm and, thinking it was Caleb, still alive, my eyes burst open, my arms flailing around me.
I barely heard the soothing voice calming me down through the ringing of my ears, “Miss Baxter! You're all right! Sam! Your alright!”
I looked at the detective's face and then at the floor to see that Caleb was dead. The detective helped me up and cut me free from the remaining ties binding me together. He escorted me to the ambulance in the parking lot and handed me over to the paramedics. They bandages up the scratches and cleaned me of the blood staining my skin. Everything rushed by in a blur, my brain scrambled with thoughts and flashbacks.
By the time the detective finished questioning me it was late and my brother, Domanic, was running up to me, embracing me. He held me tighter as I began to sob.
“It's alright, Sam,” he soothed me, “Let's go home.”
We walked out away from the commotion towards his truck.
“Home,” I spoke, “sounds good.”
Spending the night alone, having dinner at Ruby River wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for Halloween night. Yet, there I was sipping a martini, eating a Dallas filet. The restaurant wasn’t busy so it was unusually quiet. In the background, George Straight was singing another one of his greatest hits. I wondered to myself what fun the rest of the world was having, probably spending Halloween night with their friends, partying like crazy.
My waiter came back minutes later. He seemed dazed, but he handed me a piece of paper folded in half.
“A man leaving the restaurant handed me this. He told me to give it to you,” he clarified and walked away.
I sat up straight and opened the note and read the words written neatly in cursive:
It’s in your best interest
to meet me at midnight, tonight.
Alone, in the parking lot.
There was no name. I checked my phone for the time. It was eleven. Thoughts cluttered my head as I tried to think. Who wrote the note? Why would they want to meet with me? Is this some prank my friends wanted to pull on me? Probably, I decided. I sighed in frustration as I dug out of my purse for my credit card and paid for my meal. I sat in my car, waiting for the clock to strike twelve. The silence gave me time to think about what was going to go down. Eventually, I decided that Erin and Kayla felt bad about ditching me to hang out with their boyfriends so they wanted to come hang out, and thought it would be funny to pull a prank on me. After all, they were the only ones who knew my plans for the night. I gazed at the clock to see that I had two minutes till midnight. Not wanting to go through with this, I fumbled out of my car and walked over to the only light pole which stood near the rear of the parking lot. Leaning against the cold metal, I waited for someone to pop out of the blue. The cold wind whipped around me, engulfing me with goose bumps, let alone the fact that I was wearing a thick winter coat. The weather was highly unusual for St. George.
Minutes passed and I was losing my patience. As I was about to give up and head back to my car to head home, a black Escalade pulled into the parking lot, it’s tires screeching on the asphalt as it turn the sharp turn. It looked just like Dean’s, Erin’s boyfriend. I thought it odd that he would drive like that. But then again, Dean was Dean. I never knew what to expect from him.
The excursion slammed its brakes, stopping right in front of me. I tried to see the driver, but the windows were tinted and all I saw was my reflection. Before the car even stopped, the door opened and two men jumped out and leaped at me. Shocked, I tried to jump back but failed and tripped, hitting the cold ground with a loud thud. I struggled to pry free from their grasps; jerking my arms and kicking with my feet, crazily. I must have hit one of them because they grunted and released my arm. However, just as quickly as they had let go, both of my arms were held tight in the others grasp and I could hardly move. I laid there on my stomach, struggling against their tight hold. Someone had shoved a white cloth over my mouth, muffling my screams. I jerked my body trying to escape, while, at the same time, trying to breathe through the intoxicating cloth. Before I knew it, my vision was turning fuzzy and I felt unusual tired. My body slowly went numb as I slipped into unconsciousness.
The first thing I heard was the heavy arguing of two frustrated men through the wall behind me. I tried my best not to move so no one would think I was awake. I was tied by thin, itchy ropes to a wooden chair; my hands together behind my back and each of my feet tight against the legs. I noticed that my shoes were gone; I was barefoot and cold. Goosebumps covered my body. My head was bent over from exhaustion so there was no use opening my eyes; all I would see were my legs and the floor. The room seemed too dark from my closed eyelids. Thinking about where I was, I remembered what had happened.
My brain wanted to cry and scream for help, but I knew better and kept my body as still as possible. I concentrated on hearing the muffled conversation behind me.
“When are we gonna do this, Caleb?” a burly voice asked.
“Later. Tonight, when it’s dark,” a second, stronger voice, whom I guessed was Caleb, “It’ll be easier. ”
“Yeah, alright,” Man number two said, relieved, “You think she’s awake by now? It’s been hours. The chloroform would’ve worn off a long time ago.”
“I’ll check.”
“See you in the loft.”
The sound of footsteps crept down the hall and disappeared. It was a few more seconds before a door knob turned, and in came who I suspected to be Caleb. I became immovable in the same position, pretending to be asleep. My heart raced inside my body and it was as if magma were boiling in a volcano with a tight lid on top for no escape. He stalked slowly around me to my right, his footsteps deafening in the silence until he finished his full circle, and was paused somewhere behind me. I tried hard to keep my breathing slow and calm. A decade later, he seemed to have gotten bored and walked towards the door, opening and shutting it carefully and quietly. As soon as the door shut, I felt it safe to see where I was.
I lifted my head to view my surroundings and saw I was in a large dark room. About twenty feet in front of me was a cement wall. There was a window that allowed me to see most of Pine Mountain and the dark cloudy sky above it. To my left, there was an old and gray metal shelf that must have had collected over a quarter of an inch of dust. On one of the shelves was an old radio; it’s cord hanging off the edge. Another shelf held bailing twine, a rag, and a large container of gas.
Oh crap, I thought. I felt light headed and shut my eyes tight, trying to believe that I was only dreaming and I’d wake up in my bed any second, safe and unharmed. I opened my eyes only to see I wasn’t dreaming. I started praying to God over and over for help. I finally gave up after the millionth try and sagged in the chair. I was going to die.
“You’re a very bad actor,” a voice murmured from behind me. He took his time walking along the wall to face me.
I froze; every muscle in my body unmovable. The tension in my nerves screamed at me to say something, but I said nothing. I guess it didn’t matter, anyway, if I begged to be let free. There was no way they were going to let me live. I kept my eyes straight ahead and stared out the window at the fast moving clouds as they tumbled over the mountain top. I began thinking about how my poor dog, Dean, was going to be left in the good hands of my friend Kirby, thanks to my will. I guess they were right about being prepared.
The Caleb’s voice interrupted my thoughts, “You’re not gonna talk?”
“Screw you,” I burst out, turning my head to glare at him. The first thing I noticed about him was the scar on his right cheek. It was long, yet, skinny and if I hadn’t known better, I’d say it was from a knife. I took the rest of him in and saw that he was average height, and built well, with short dark brown hair with matching eyes.
He pretended to be hurt, “Now, that’s not very nice.”
“Did you think I was gonna be happy you knocked me out, kidnapping me, and tied me to a chair?”
“Well, it wasn’t like you were going to come willingly,” he remarked.
“I hope you burn in hell.”
He walked towards me, simply laughing. I closed my eyes and my body tensed as I waited for his next move. I expected a blow to my face, but, instead, I felt the chair shift and squeal. I opened my eyes again and saw that Caleb had only turned me around. I faced the door, where Caleb was now standing.
“Don’t try and go anywhere while I’m gone.” He smirked, amusing himself, as he shut the door behind him.
“Go die in a hole!” I screamed as he shut the door behind him.
Hours had passed and the sun was setting before me. The sunlight blinded me, forcing me to close my eyes. I was tired and hungry. I hadn’t eaten in hours and my captors didn’t seem to be offering any. I had sat there all day tensed and waiting for the door to open once again. Eventually, I relaxed my body, bit by bit. I wondered if anyone was looking for me or if they even cared. That brought my hopes down.
Come on Sam, I thought to myself, you’ll make it out of here alive and—
The ringing of heavy gun shots thundered through my ears. My body went tense as I heard the shots become louder and fiercer. I heard men screaming and shouting in vain. I almost screamed myself when the door burst open and Caleb pounded in, limping. He panicked as he pulled out a knife and cut the ropes at my feet that tied me to the chair.
“Stand up!” he shouted at my face as he pulled me up into a standing position right in front of him. I tried to shake free as he wrapped his arm around my neck. He jerked me around, frustrated.
I felt the cold barrel of a gun against my temple, “Hold still or I’ll shoot!”
That was about when the police came in with more guns.
They paused as soon as they all were inside; their guns held high, right towards me, ready to pull the trigger when the time was right. Or at least I had hoped so.
“Don’t move!” Caleb cried out.
“You don’t want to do that, Caleb,” one man warned. His long black trench coat swayed as he slowly took a step forward.
Caleb shifted, moving me with him. I began crying and praying to God for mercy.
“Caleb, it’s alright,” the man pleaded, “Just let her go and we’ll talk, just me and you; somewhere alone.”
“No!” he took the gun away from my face and pointed it at the detective.
Time slowed down as I closed my eyes at the sound of gunshots piercing my ears. I landed on my shoulder as I was pulled to the floor by Caleb. I felt the blood pooling beneath me; the cold gray cement turning to warm crimson liquid. I felt someone place their hand around my arm and, thinking it was Caleb, still alive, my eyes burst open, my arms flailing around me.
I barely heard the soothing voice calming me down through the ringing of my ears, “Miss Baxter! You're all right! Sam! Your alright!”
I looked at the detective's face and then at the floor to see that Caleb was dead. The detective helped me up and cut me free from the remaining ties binding me together. He escorted me to the ambulance in the parking lot and handed me over to the paramedics. They bandages up the scratches and cleaned me of the blood staining my skin. Everything rushed by in a blur, my brain scrambled with thoughts and flashbacks.
By the time the detective finished questioning me it was late and my brother, Domanic, was running up to me, embracing me. He held me tighter as I began to sob.
“It's alright, Sam,” he soothed me, “Let's go home.”
We walked out away from the commotion towards his truck.
“Home,” I spoke, “sounds good.”