“I’ve really messed up big time. Heaven help me if I get out of this alive.”The room was pitch black since it was night already and there was no source of illumination in it whatsoever. If anything, it was nights like this that she hated the most, even more than her captivity.“Please, God, help me. I promise I’ll never be so stupid again.” Sandra prayed aloud. The last time she had prayed was when she was a kid, but she was willing to do anything right now, cry grovel, roll on the ground if need be, and even sacrifice herself if it meant her son would be free. But no, she had brought them into this mess, and it was looking like there was never going to be a way out for either of them.“Mommy?” Alex whispered in the dark. He had quickly learned that it was safer to whisper, as his father did not like them talking.“Yes, honey?” Sandra whispered back, drawing him closer to her and cradling his head against her chest, her heavy heart aching.“Alex scared.”“I know, honey, but don’t wor
Sam put the phone on loud speaker and came over to where she was sitting on the bed with Alex practically molded to her body. As soon as Sam sat beside her on the bed, the child scooted to the far end of the bed, where he cowered in fear. Sandra felt tears spring to her eyes. An opportunity … all she needed was a fucking opportunity, and she would gladly kill this bastard so that she could escape. Yes, she had gotten to that point. Dan picked up the phone on the first ring.“Hey, Dan … it’s me.” Sandra said before he could speak, trying to sound breezy and nonchalant, but she could tell that she was doing an extremely poor job of it.“Sandra, thank God! I was scared that something bad had happened. Are you fine? You don’t sound too fine.”“No, I’m okay. How are you?”“I’m fine, now that I know you’re okay. How’s Alex? He must be walking and saying some words by now, not so? You don’t ever tell me anything about him, and that’s not fair. I’m his blood, you know, and God forbid, if anyt
Sam had gone on his usual drinking and drug usage craze, refusing to take his meds, no matter how much Sandra pleaded. Now, he was home and was clearly not himself. She could count on her fingers the number of times that he was sober. Their finances were running very low because all Sam cared about nowadays was his booze and being high. Since she wasn’t on good terms with her parents, she had had to turn to Sam's parents for help feeding Amy and herself, but Sam had run through that money too, so she had no choice but to turn to Dan for financial help, even though she was embarrassed that he now knew things were not as rosy as she portrayed them to be. As always, Dan came through for her, and this time around, she was wise and experienced enough not to let Sam know about the money that her brother gave her. Somehow, Sam continued to get his supply of booze and drugs, but now, he was more hot-tempered than ever. Sandra also got two jobs so she wouldn’t have to turn herself into a begg
“Let go of me, you crazy bitch!” Sam yelled now, finally shaking her off him, and cradling his wounded arm, from which blood trickled slowly from where she had sunk her teeth into his flesh.“You killed Amy!” Sandra spat at Sam now, the sight of his sickly, pale, and crazy face in the glare of the lamp disgusting her more than she had ever thought possible.“Huh?”“You killed my daughter, and I will rather die than let you kill my son too.”“Ah! But if memory serves me right, you were the one who killed Amy. I will never kill my blood, you know, which is more than I can say for some people.” Sam mocked.“It was a mistake. It was a fucking mistake, and if you hadn’t been such a bastard that night, none of it would have happened.” Sandra cried, guilt overwhelming her.“Are you sure about that, Sandra? I mean, maybe she was disturbing your sweet, sweet sleep, which you were so eager to get back to that you threw her down the stairs. I saw you, you know.” Sam said. Sandra let him drone on
It was the wee hours of the morning, the time when sleep was sweetest. Becca had to get up in a few hours and prepare to go to the school where she taught, so she was making the most of the remaining time, which was why when someone knocked on her door at that time of the morning, she ignored the sound, sure that she must be dreaming or something. She had slept late, owing to Emma’s fussing, not that Becca could blame her. The child was teething, and Becca had tried all sorts of things to relieve her, all to no avail. The knock came again, and this time, Becca groaned, squinting in the dark, but still not getting up from her bed. It was when the knock came the third time that she sat bolt upright on her bed, eyes wide open in the dark. Who could be knocking on her door so early in the morning? Dan was going to be at the hospital all night long, and even for a better part of the morning, but even if he was the one at the door, he would not knock. He would just let himself in with a key
FIVE YEARS LATER It was sweltering hot today and even bathed in the cool air that the air conditioner in his car blasted, Ryan could still almost ‘feel’ the heat emanating from the sidewalk and the asphalt on the surface of the road. He was patiently waiting for Taylor to make her way over to the car so they could go home, or perhaps because of how hot it was, go get some ice cream first before heading home. Ice cream … He shuddered a little and then shrugged the horrid feeling that came over him away. For some reason, the words ice cream never failed to remind him about that horrible, horrible day five years ago. He supposed that the reason was that he had been planning to take Taylor and Tyler out for ice cream that day because of how hot it was. Five years later, he still wasn’t over Tyler’s death. He doubted that he would ever be over it, and that was okay. He had loved Tyler and still loved him, even though he was long gone. He soon saw Taylor, her dark hair, which he had bound
“I don’t get why I have to go to a stupid summer camp!” Emma exclaimed angrily, folding her arms over her small chest and frowning at her adorable face, a face which was the smaller, female version of Ryan's. She stamped one leg on the floor to further show just how angry she was and how stupid she thought camp was, but when she saw that her mother wasn’t giving her the time of the day, she dropped her hands and adopted a pleading look.“But none of my friends are going to be there, mom. Why do I have to go? I'm not going to like it at all!”“You don't know that, Emma. A lot of kids wish to go, but can't because their parents can't afford to send them there. I should know because my grandma and grandpa had to save up so I could go. What do you mean none of your friends are going to be there, anyway?”“I asked all of them!”“Stop yelling, Emma. Alex is going too, and he is your best friend.” Becca said.“He’s not my best friend anymore. Yesterday, he went to the park with Dan and did n
Alex and Emma bantered light-heartedly for a while, as they were wont to do, with Emma bringing up reasons why she thought that summer camp would be awful, and Alex countering them one after the other. In the end, she grudgingly accepted that it was going to be okay – just okay, though. At that moment, there was a slight knock on the door, and in came Dan, looking like a million bucks, but he no longer set Becca’s heart racing like he once did. He sent a smoldering gaze Becca’s way, which she pretended she did not see and which didn’t last long, because it was shortened by Emma and Alex who ran over to Dan and planted themselves on each of his legs, leaving him no choice but to look down at them.“Hey, little Tigers.” He acknowledged them, ruffling their hair and trying his best to answer the numerous questions which they shot at him one after the other in quick succession. He patiently answered the questions one by one, after which he bribed them each with candies, which he always se
It felt as though large bags of cement were holding down Ryan’s eyelids, and try as he might, he could not force them open. He could hear his daughters’ voices as they talked over themselves about something that he did not have the energy to follow. Then he heard Becca’s low voice asking them to keep it down so as not to wake daddy.“But daddy won’t wake up. He never does. I want him to wake up.” Taylor said, banging on the table and chanting ‘wake up, daddy’ several times. Within seconds, Emma took up the chanting too, while Becca tried in vain to get them to quieten.“Your dad is unconscious, but we have to hope that he will wake up soon. If you don’t behave yourselves, I won’t let you come visit him again. The doctors think that he might be able to hear you. He wouldn’t like it if you both were being stubborn and disturbing him, would he?” Becca asked.“No. I just miss him so much. I’m glad that those bad men are gone.” Emma’s voice said, and then Ryan felt a small hand patting his
Becca watched in horror as Sam and Ryan collapsed to the ground, almost as though in slow motion. They fell gracefully, as though they were doing a dance, and then both remained unmoving. By the time all this happened, Ben had gotten to the car and opened the door to the backseat in which the children were, the remaining cash from the ten thousand that Ryan brought firmly clutched in his hand. He opened the car door, produced a knife from seemingly nowhere, and although it took great effort because of his busted shoulder, he managed to cut off the ropes binding them and told them to make a run for it. Then as the shots rang out, he somehow managed to get himself into the driver's seat and drove recklessly away from the scene. The children ran towards Becca, crying and shivering, and after hugging them all briefly, she ordered them not to move from where they were. Ryan’s head of security was combing the bushes, trying to find a sign of any other person there, after he called for help
“He’s clean.” The man who was watching Ryan and who had searched him said at last after he was satisfied that there was nothing incriminating on him.“Where’s the other car?”“Travis is bringing it.”“Good. He'll leave with this one.” The man said. Ryan’s heart sank further. There was yet another of them, making them four, and those were the ones he knew about. Ryan wondered which of them was Sandra’s ex-husband.“I’ve fulfilled my own end of the bargain. Release my children.” Ryan said.“The man in the car will take them back to town, where they’ll easily be found.” The man who had been giving commands told him, staring at him in a way that made him extremely uncomfortable. Ryan had already dubbed him ‘commander’ in his mind.They stood there waiting for the person called Travis to bring the car that they were waiting for. Ryan was on edge the whole time, wondering if at any moment now, all hell was going to break loose. If only the children were already out of there. The Travis guy
The night air was cold, and the streets deserted, which was not a surprise, considering how late, or early it was. Ryan hurried through the streets, his head down, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible as he hurried through the night with the bag in his hands, even though there was nobody around. He had been warned not to take his phone along with him, so he left it in his room, along with a note for Becca in her room, explaining what he had done. Even though everything in him pushed him to look back to see if he would notice his head of security following him, he resisted the urge to look back.The kidnappers might be watching him and the last thing he needed was to look suspicious. He trusted his people's ability to do the job. The other man had once been a private investigator before coming into Ryan’s employ, so Ryan was confident in their abilities to blend in with the shadows. Finally, he got to the place where he had been told to come and saw the car that had been provide
Sleep was a long time coming for Ryan, as it had been since he got the news of his children’s kidnap got to him. Tonight, he was sleeping in his room as against the previous night, when he had spent the night comforting Becca. She was sleeping in the guest room again, with Sandra this time around. Ryan was trying his best to be strong for her, but he was getting to the end of his endurance. The thought of his sick daughter and her sister holed up somewhere with some bloody kidnappers was enough to make him go insane.He got up from his bed, pacing to and fro the wide length of his room, his mind in turmoil. The money was in the process of being sent, but since it was such a large sum, it would be days before the kidnappers would get it in the account details they sent. Were the children supposed to remain with the kidnappers till then? The thought of that sickened and scared him to no end. He was operating on autopilot, having not had more up to five hours of sleep in two days, but ea
“Ben has to go.” Sam thought to himself, as he sat with the children, watching them. It wasn’t as though they had anywhere to go, or that they could escape, considering that one of them was sick. If they even managed to escape, the chances were that they would die of starvation in the dense forest, that was if some animal did not get to them first, as he had told them. None of it mattered to him anyway, because they were going to die one way or the other. What mattered was that the millions that he was expecting became his before they died. He had thought and thought of the best way to dispose of them, and he had finally come up with a smart plan to dump them in a river some distance away from here. it would be ages before they would be found, if they were ever found, that is.One thing was sure, however, and that was the fact that he was not going to let them get back to their parents and let them know that he was the one who had kidnapped them. For all his tough talk while they were
Becca awoke with a start, immediately realizing that she was not in her own bed. The events of the previous day came rushing back to her in a jiffy. Ryan was not in the room any longer and her phone was ringing. That was the sound that had woken her up. She dived for it, hoping that it was the kidnappers who were calling. They were to send the account details in which they wanted the ransom to be paid today, and also let Becca and Ryan talk to the kids today. Becca had sent the names of the drugs that Emma was supposed to be using, to the kidnappers, but she didn’t know if they received them. It wasn’t the kidnappers who were calling though, but Trevor. “Becca? Where are you? I was at your house last night, and I’m here now. I’m just coming from your school and was told you hadn’t come in today.”“I’m at Ryan’s place.” There was a short silence, which was filled with disapproval from Trevor’s end.“What are you doing there?”“Emma, Alex, and Taylor were kidnapped yesterday.” Becca in
Sleep was a long time coming for Becca and when it finally came, it was filled with nightmares. Never in her life had she been so frightened. Her daughter and other kids whom she saw as hers were out there somewhere in the hands of a maniac and she was here lying in a very large and comfortable in one of the guest rooms in Ryan’s house. Maybe she had been wrong in asking Ryan not to involve the police. Maybe by now, the police would have found them, or at least, would be close to doing so. She sure as hell did not trust Sam to take care of three children for as long as it took them to send him the money.She tossed and turned on the bed, her mind drawing up different scenarios, none of them good. Finally, she fell into an unrestful sleep and dreamt that for some reason, Sam had gotten pissed, and had sent Emma’s two feet, and all ten of Taylor’s fingers in the mail, with a note that said Alex’s head would follow suit. In the dream, as soon as she opened the bag containing the gruesome
“Damn! I can’t believe how far we’ve come. We’re going to be bloody millionaires before long.” Ben told Sam enthusiastically, as he wolfed down a large bowl of pasta that he had prepared himself. “Yeah, me too. I hope the account into which we’re sending the money is legit.” Sam said in turn. He was also eating a plate of pasta, but he was eating his food more slowly than Ben was.“You’ve asked me this several times, and I’ve told you several times that you have nothing to fear. I’ve done stuff like this numerous times before, just not with such a large amount, and I have the right connections. Or don’t you trust me? The only thing is that we’re going to give a commission to the person helping us, but we will still have a lot of cash when we’re done. That’s for sure.”“Okay. I trust you. Are you sure they’re not dead yet or going to die? Why aren’t they awake? It’s been hours. I’m starting to get worried. That Ryan guy seems like he might pose a problem. He would not give us the money