Chapter 5 - Rendezvous

This has to be the boss the guards were talking about earlier. I suddenly felt hot tears in my throat almost choking me, I felt trapped.

“This wasn’t the time to cry and I didn't want to die now,” I thought to myself. I needed to be strong and find a way out of here, I needed to live.

I decided that since he didn't know exactly where I was, the aspect of surprise was my greatest friend. I stayed put and heard him audibly sigh before his footsteps started coming closer.

As soon as I deemed the man's footsteps close enough, I curled my fist and threw it with all of my might. The punch landed in the center of his face and as soon as he was on the ground, I hopped over these boxes and dashed to the door. I also made sure to fire a few warning shots around him so that he would have difficulty reaching me.

Busting out and slamming the door shut behind me, I saw some guy getting ready to come in, probably because he heard my shots. Before he could do anything, I ran up to him with the gun in hand and whacked him across the face with it and he went out cold.

Dashing out the door and hearing footsteps coming behind me, I saw a black van and made a run for it. Now, I haven’t driven a car before, I just knew the basics from watching the guards who drove us around whenever I had to go out with my parents and my brother.

Nervously throwing the car in reverse and then driving, I pulled out of the compound following the single path I could find, hoping it would lead me onto some highway.

Realization suddenly dawned on me, escaping from the Costellos seemed too easy because no one was coming after me, I wasn’t being pursued and it all seemed too fishy cause there was no way they’d just let me off the hook like that after hurting a few of their men. A little part of me felt a bit wary but grateful, but I didn’t mind much because this had to be the very moment I’d been waiting for.

I finally had freedom from my kidnappers, now I had to figure out my next move. I probably needed to inform my parents about what had happened but on second thought, I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to return home, this was the opportunity I had been longing for to finally live my life and I wasn’t going to let it slip from my hands.

Finally observing my route and seeing familiar signs I finally knew where I was.

Although I had sentimental memories from my childhood in that house, now, going back to that place didn’t seem much to me anymore.

Just right then, I remembered I had my stash hidden. There was a short amount of time when I worked at the neighborhood library. The owner was kind enough the whole time to let me work, he overlooked the fact that I had no real proof of identity and allowed me to work for as many hours as I could without being found out.

After all, who didn’t like having extra hands?

In due time, my parents had caught on that I was working and had not only scolded me harshly but I wasn't allowed to go out of the house for an entire year.

That was back when I was in high school, well, home school in my case. I had saved up all the money I had made from then and hid it away as well as some jewelry my mother no longer liked and wanted to just throw away. I planned to pawn it for some cash and get out of there but looking back at it, it was a dumb idea.

Another thing I thought of at this moment, was that I needed to ditch this car, it probably had some kind of tracker installed in it for protection purposes and I could be easily found. I just needed a place to abandon the vehicle.

Heading straight home, the house was empty. My parents and brother weren’t back from their trip. Finding my stash, taking out a few hundred dollars, some pieces of jewelry, and packing a few of my belongings, I was back on the road immediately looking for the perfect spot to ditch this car. Remembering the park, two streets away, that had to be the only place I could leave the car.

On getting to the park, I decided to stroll around and sit for a while and get a last-minute view of this environment taking in the ambiance and the smell of nature and human beings.

Thinking back to my being kidnapped, I wondered what my father had done to piss them off that they decided to come for me, in this case, my brother. Perhaps sell them out? Attacked them? Owed them money? Although he didn’t seem like someone who owed debts because I knew he never was one to be indebted to anyone so I doubted that part. But one thing I knew was whatever was going on I didn’t want to be in the middle of all of this.

Letting out a sigh, I was so tired, I hadn’t eaten all day. It was almost dark. I needed a place to rest my head for a while, I needed good food, a nice bath, and good rest. So standing up, I decided that I needed to find a motel to lodge at.

I was going to get back in the vehicle but then remembered that I already ditched it and had to walk to a motel. That was the part I didn’t think about in my plans earlier.

The park wasn't far from my house so if the vehicle was tracked and found here they'd probably think I just went back home.

Hopefully.