2015-16 "Window Group's" Detective Story (a collaborative effort)

*The following story has been written piece by piece by the students in my 6th period literature class. The conclusion will be reached after all students in this group have made their contributions to the story. At that time we will also give the story a title. Also note that the pattern of every other section being underlined is used to show where the authors changed. Enjoy!

                                                               "Plot-less in Seattle"

“Charlie walked into Clamaire County High School on a cold, crisp, frosty Tuesday morning. Sarah and Trevor greeted him as he walked in the class room door.”

“Charlie! What's up dude?” Trevor and Sarah said simultaneously.

“I'm worrying about this midterm in math.” Charlie answered.

“Oh don't be silly,” said Sarah, “you always make good grades.”

“Yeah, but this could be the test that could ruin my whole life, career, and GPA!” Charlie said nervously.

“All right everyone, settle down.” Mr. Brand said.

He then gave out the midterm that would later ruin my life.

While I was taking the test, I was thinking “I can't wait for Friday…I just can't wait for Trevor's party!”

After the test, I met Trevor and Sarah in the hall. It was so freezing outside that the frigid cold was seeping through the walls.

“I think I just bombed that test.”

“Trevor, don't exaggerate.” Sarah said.

“I'm not exaggerating. I peeked at my grade when I was walking out. I made a 47.”

While Trevor and Sarah were bickering, all I could think about was that party. This will be my first high school party ever! I'm finally moving up in the high school food chain.

“Trevor, I can't wait for your party this weekend!” I said merrily.

“My party Friday will certainly go down in the history books! It's gonna be rad dude!” Trevor yelled. “Hopefully it won't be this cold so we can have a bonfire outside.”

A bonfire? What's a bonfire? Like I said, I've never been to a high school party.

“Who else is coming other than Sarah and me?” I asked.

“Well there’s Ciara, Harold, and a lot of the sports teams.”

Oh great. People that wouldn't mind giving me a wedgie and mounting me on their wall. I will just stick around Trevor and Sarah the whole time.

“Oh okay.” Sounding more melancholic than I wanted.

“Charlie, you'll be fine! Just don't be your nerdy self. Be more dumb…like me!” Trevor said.

As we all were laughing, I remembered that I left my jacket in Mr. Brand’s room. I ran back to the class room to get it and realized that Mr. Brand wasn't in the room. I guess he went to the bathroom or the teacher workroom. I've always wanted to go into the teacher workroom. I also remembered that Trevor peeked at his grade, so while I walking out I squinted really hard at his desk. 

“Thank you Charlie, now can you please tell me what you saw on Mr. Brand’s desk”, said Marc Dazet head of the detective team tasked with finding any clues or leads to the mysterious Jimmy Newhopper mystery. The case involved Jimmy Newhopper’s disappearance along with 13 other people all believed to be using fake names before they vanished from the NSA. However they are all being searched for reasons more than the United States government will declassify. The detectives and there 200 hundred strong army tracked down one of the one of the missing men to Clamire County High School.

     “Well I looked down and saw a glimpse of a number it was a 47 but it was over a 100 like in a fraction, and there were multiple fractions all with denominators of 100 but with different names beside them. Some of the names i have never seen before, but other names were people in my class.”

“Thank you Charlie now finally on last question. Did that paper have a heading or title of any sorts?”, Mr. Dazet asked.

“I don’t know, because right when I started to look at the top Mr. Brand came in and threatened to give me 3 days of detention if I did not leave, so I left.”

Baffled, Marc consulted the help and knowledge of all of his fellow detectives. After consulting some very special documents they came to the realization that this man could be the man they had tracked these hundreds of miles. Being careful as to not alert Kevin Brand of their presence the detectives sent in three men into his classroom that night in hopes of finding the paper Charlie claimed to have seen however they like always came up empty. Over the next week Charlie, Trevor, and Sarah all helped in trying to spot the paper or anything else of importance with no success. Then that weekend the detectives thought they found a mistake in the perpetrators actions by finding the school and his room unlocked, however they tripped an alarm and the next Monday the kids came to a school with over half of the 10th grade teachers, 13 teachers in all gone, this included Kevin Brand.

     The 200 strong police, detective, forensic, and military army had come up short until Marc Dauzet once again found a lead. The entire staff had traveled to a cold place over 1,000 miles away and across an ocean. The governmental machine transferred Charlie, Trevor, and Sarah to the new school for the inside help that they could trust. They were heading to Edinburgh, Scotland in the United Kingdom on a six person private jet. The plane landed in Edinburgh Airport just as the sun was coming up in Scotland. The captain came to the back and opened the side door and we stepped out into the hallway to the terminal. When we got to the terminal it was completely vacant. Marc Dauset was the only person there standing about five feet away with a strange look on his face. Trevor walked up to him, and Mr. Dauset fell over face first dead. We took off running down the terminal and met two large men blocking the path in solid black except for the one on the left which had blood on his black shirt. They grabbed us and forced us to the exit door and shoved us in a large van. The van sped off squealing tires, smashed through a large gate and swerved into oncoming traffic. We rode for about an hour veering in an out of traffic before we turned down a narrow, gravel driveway then slowed to a stop. The men snatched us out of the back of the van and drug us up to an old, dilapidated warehouse where they shoved us in and locked the door. We stayed there for about half an hour before we heard tires crunching down the gravel driveway.

          The lock rattled on the door as we braced for what awaited us on the other side. The door creaked open and there stood three men in police uniforms with bulletproof vests and holding guns. The first man was wearing a jacket that read F.B.I. and the other two men were wearing jackets that read S.C.D.E.A. The man in the front said,

          “You need to come with us, I am Henry Lockwood from the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States and this is our Scotland equivalent Mr. Marcus Maolmuire and Mr. Stuart Tavio from the Scotland Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. Mr. Marc Dauset has been murdered, and we tracked you all to this warehouse by witnesses and traffic cameras.”

          We all got in two cabs and rode to a large building in downtown Edinburgh. The cabs stopped at the curb beside the front door and we stepped out walked inside. There were people everywhere, we could barely make our way to the elevator. We went to the fourth floor where the three men guided us to a vacant room with three chairs. Mr. Lockwood told us to wait there and he would be right back. The men left and as soon as the door closed, the building started shaking so violently that it knocked us out of our seats. The shaking only lasted a feet seconds, but it was strong enough to leave everything mass chaos. Mr. Maolmuire and Mr. Tavio rushed in and said, “Everyone has disappeared except for us and you three!”

          Once Mr. Lockwood was back in the interrogation room all of them made the decision to post pone the meeting. All of five of them quickly walked out of the office and onto the streets below, it was a chaotic mess with people running everywhere and a huge crack through the street. Quickly examining their surroundings, Charlie told the detectives that they needed to find all of the policemen that had vanished. The detectives agreed that whoever had kidnapped the people probably was involved with the case and the thirteen people disappearing.

          As they searched and searched for the policemen Charlie stumbled upon a valuable clue to the case. He found an old warehouse that was being used for a business but it had a basement that wasn’t being used anymore. Charlie and the rest of his friends walked down into the basement with the police detectives to discover a large room with blueprints of the police department along with photos of the policemen that were kidnapped. The detectives continued searching the room and figured that people had been there recently. Charlie and the others come up with an inference that the bad guys had stored the kidnapped the policemen in this room but had transported them elsewhere.

          The detectives gave Charlie, Sarah, and Trevor a really nice hotel room all to their selves that night to stay in. While in the hotel Charlie said, “You know guys I really wanted to go to that party before we got involved in all this mess.”

“Yea,” agreed Sarah,” it would have been nice to attend our very first high school party.”

“You know what,” mentioned Trevor,” we can have our very own party when we get back home and we will invite everybody in the school!”  After that they all agreed that they need to go to sleep since they would probably have a long day tomorrow.

          The next morning Charlie and the others awoke to the police detectives standing in their room.  “Good morning? “Said Charlie confused why the men were here so early. It turned out that the police department had received an anonymous call saying that the policemen were being taken to the United States by plane in the next twenty four hours. Which meant that the three of them and the two detectives were going back to the United States and their plane was leaving in a couple of hours so they had top hurry.

           Once at the airport the five of them hurried through security and jumped on the plane just in time before takeoff. The five of them, sat separate on the plane just in case the bad guys were on the plane. Charlie, Sarah, and Trevor sat together in first class while the detectives sat in second class. Once in the air, Charlie looked out the window and saw something gray flying beside them. It was too large to be a bird but as it got closer he noticed it was a plane. Suddenly he looked in the windows and could not believe what he saw A PLANE! There was an airplane flying straight towards the passenger plane that contained Charlie and his other accomplices. Charlie knew he must warn the officers in second class, fast! He ran from his seat, blocking out the confused questions from his two friends with him. Dashing through the isle, a flight attendant tried to stop Charlie, but it was no use. He skidded past her and went to the officers.

“There’s a plane headed straight at us!” Charlie explained.

“We must hurry gather your friends.” Said Det. Tavio.

I rushed back to first class explaining to my friends what was going on. I lead them back to the cops. We were told by the detectives that the pilot noticed the plane following. He said it showed up about twenty minutes after we had taken off. In a panic the detectives decided that there was only a brief amount of time before that deadly plane would make their move. The police decided that they would have to jump, but there was one question on all their minds. The plane only had six parachutes aboard. One man, would be left behind, but who? The detectives decided that it was their responsibility to save the passengers and crew. The pilot offered to risk his own life for the rest, but the one selfless hero was someone no one expected. The passengers on the plane were astonished of his bravery. With many tears shed at the sheer thought of him giving up his life, he would not take no for an answer. The captors of the plane loaded on their parachutes all except one. Jumping out in to the sky, one by one, the passengers were still in disbelief of what just took place.  

Trevor. Trevor decided to risk his own life for the crew members. Charlie and the rest could hardly fathom their dear friend going through with this. Once reaching the ground, landing in an open field, Sarah and I were in pure grief for our dear friend. We knew it was unlikely that he would make the crash, or even if he had the knowledge it even think of landing that contraption. When we looked into the sky above, we noticed that the gray plane had disappeared from beside the passenger plane. The passenger plane slowly vanished into the clouds as we said or last goodbyes to our good friend. The detectives called for backup and told their fellow officers to go to the nearest airport to see if the plane showed up, but it was unlikely. When back up arrived, the cops took us to the police station to investigate more into the case. The anonymous caller told the police that the missing people would be located at the local Mcdonalds in small town Cochran, Georgia. We were all dazzled about why they would pick Mcdonalds. Not only that but why in such a small country accented town? The remaining officers really didn’t stress over that, they just wanted the officers back home safe as soon as possible. Charlie , still sobbing about his long lost friend, suddenly gets up in an ill mannered fashion and says “I don’t think these dern country folk know what they are getting into.”                                                                                                                 One of the police officers, actually from the area, gets up.

Well I hope your friend “Trevor” survives but right now we need to crack down on this case even if we have to get our hands dirty… something you yankees aren’t real used to happening. 

“Alright, alright we can settle this later. Now Mr.Farms will you take us to the local Mcdonalds?” says another officer included in the case.

“Sure thing. Let me hop into my truck and yall fellers can follow down there.”

We got into the car and followed Mr.Farms to the local Mcdonalds.

“Wow we sure have came a long way to finally catch the culprits.” said Sarah trying to break the silence in the car.

“Well it just seems weird that they would give us their location this easy. It can’t be this simple.” said Charlie trying to help the sitituation.     

“We are just going to go in and see if we see anything suspicious kids just keep your eyes peeled and try to act casual.”  said the officer driving the vehicle.

Sarah answered with a sly look on her face “Oh I’m good at that.”

Just as the words came out her mouth we arrived at Mcdonalds. The restraunt seemed rather old blending in with the town. It added on to a gas station just on the other side which did seem to be kept in alright condition. Well at least if you compared it to the Mcdonalds.

“We got here pretty fast.” said Charlie looking up at the scenery.

“Small town” mumbled the other officer putting on a wig to go undercover.

We were making are way in when we saw this guy eyeing us with a big container in his hand. On the container it said “highly flammable” and I could also make out a gun shape in his pocket. I decided to go tell he officer but it was to late all of the officer who were here had made it inside.

“Lets go in” Sarah said quietly giving me a nudge.

I agreed as we headed in. Not losing sight of the mysterious man with the flammable container.

As we walked in, the store was rather crowded to be late in the afternoon and located in a small town like this. The mysterious man was wearing all black, and was consistently keeping an eye on our every move. The “highly flammable” canister was quite large, and seemed to be rather dangerous.

“Can we maybe catch a bite to eat while we are here? My stomach has been growling for a while.” said Sarah.

“Can’t you see that we are on an important mission here?” Charlie exclaimed with a smart tone in his voice.

“Both of you youngins need to quit all this hollerin ya’ here.” Mr. Farms spoke as he broke up Sarah and Charlie’s argument. Everyone in the group had gotten so tangled up that no one noticed that the mysterious man had set the canister down and already evacuated the building.

“Where did he go?” asked Charlie.

“We have to get all of these innocent citizens out of here in case the bottle goes off! Quick, everyone get out of here now if you want to live!!!” exclaimed Sarah while trying to round up all the people scattered around the store. The store had turned into utter chaos in just a matter of a few seconds. We were sprinting away from the scene as the McDonalds aggressively exploded behind us. Not all of the citizens made it out alive, which was ashamed. We piled into the van and began to consider our options.

“I cannot believe that we let that man escape as easily as he did!” exclaimed one of the detectives. “He is more than likely already a few miles out don’t you think Mr. Farms.”.

“Aw yea! We prolly should’ve look and see what that there man was driving.” At that exact moment, one of the survivors of the explosion knocked on the van window trying to get our attention. The detective let down the window, and we could hear the fear and exhilaration in his harsh breathing.

“I just saw a man in a black suit hop into a crowded van. I noticed that he was headed north. More than likely he was heading towards Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.” exclaimed the citizen.

“Of course; everything makes sense now! I noticed that the man had a passport clipped on the right side of his belt.” said the detective in the passenger seat.

“Well what are we waiting for let’s get going to the airport.” yelled Sarah.

“Now that there is a dern good idea.” said Mr. Farms. So our crew heads towards Atlanta wondering what their plan is once they arrive .On the ride towards the airport, the only thing clogging up Charlie’s mind is the thought of Trevor alone, 6,000 feet in the air… hopefully at least we will catch the bad guys and avenge Trevor. On that thought I  realized all the action had made very tired. I decided that I would take a little cat nap and wake up before we got to Atlanta.

 “Come on Charlie wake up we are about 30 away from the airport. “Said Sarah

“Okay just give me a little more time a kind of tired.” I replied

“Fine, but not much more we need to get ready to be looking for the culprits.”

Before I could even doze off good my head slammed against the window. I looked out the window to see the van the culprit was in next to ours.

          The van ran in to us again and then he tried one more time. Mr. Farms (in my disbelief) rammed the van back and ran him off the road, flipping the vehicle. “Yall kids stay in hear I’m gonna go handle him”. Mr. Farms slowly got out of the van and approached the culprit’s vehicle. Before Farms was able to get there the man crawled out of the flipped van. “Freeze” screamed Farms as the injured man attempted to get up. The man did not freeze he did the exact opposite; he bolted to the other side of the van.

          Farms said, “Come out now or else I’m going to drag you out!” it was silent for a few seconds. The man came out alright, with a sawed-off shotgun!  Firing away at Farms and our van the man made a mad dash straight at agent Farms. Farms gave him a little something back and tackled him like a NFL linebacker. With the shotgun out of the culprits hands it a full on fist fight with between the two.

          “Hurry we have to help him!” shrieked Sarah while she watched in terror from the van window.

“You’re right we need to help him so the other man does not escape.” Said Charlie

Charlie and Sarah bolted to the fight to pitch in. When they reached the fight scene Farms was losing… Badly. With the unknown man atop Farms, he was raining down blows left and right. Charlie tried to make a game plan before Sarah and he jumped in. Before Charlie could realize what was happening, Sarah jumped in the fight.

          Sarah knocked the man off of Farms and Farms was able to get up in time while the man was still stunned. Charlie, Sarah, and Mr. Farms had the culprit pinned to the ground in a matter of seconds. Farms reached down and pulled the black ski mask of the man. To the surprise of all of them the man was TREVOR. It was Trevor who was fighting Mr. Farms. “Trevor!?” exclaimed Sarah. “What…how…why?” she said in confusion. All I could do was stare in disbelief. “Yeah, it’s me.” Said Trevor, smiling. This isn’t the Trevor me and Sarah came to know, he was…different. “Trevor, what has gotten into you man?” I asked him, dazed. There was no answer. Trevor just sat there smiling up at the sky. “Help me tie ‘em up and get ‘em in the van.” Said Mr. Farms. So we tied him up and put him I the back of the van. 

“Why won’t he say anything?” whispered Sarah in my ear. “I don’t know,” I replied, “But it sure is bothering me.” We went back to the police station and turned Trevor in. “Keep a close eye on this one,” said Mr. Farms. “he’s a little loopy.” We said our goodbyes and walked out and we all piled back into the van. “What do we do now?” Sarah asked and as soon as she did the police station exploded right in front of us. “GET DOWN!” someone yelled but they were too late. Debris and shrapnel flew rapidly through the air and busted through the van windshield and impaled everyone except for me, Sarah, and Mr. Farms. In the distance we heard another loud noise. We turned to look to find that another building blew up and was now in flames. “What in God’s name is going on ‘round here?” asked Mr. Farms. We all got out of the van to see pedestrians running around in mass confusion. We hurried over there to calm then down when we felt the ground shake again. This time, instead of only shaking for only a few seconds it seemed to last for ages. In the midst of all these things, I felt something hard hit me in the back of the head. I fell to the ground and my vision began to fade. When I awoke, the ground was still shaking and my head was killing me. My vision was still blurry but I could see the pandemonium. I saw a big crowd of people running straight towards me. I tried to get up but for some reason I couldn’t. The group of people were getting closer to me. Again, I tried anxiously to get up but it was if someone was holding me down. The group of people were just about to trample me when two gunmen started firing at the crowd. They were heavily armed with bullet proof vests, assault rifles, and the mother load of grenades. Right when they ran out of ammo in one magazine they put a fresh one in. They had this look of a thirst for blood in their eyes as they kept firing into the crowd. I finally regained my strength so I pushed this big man off me and I started running for cover. I go into one of the buildings that didn’t blow up. I just sat there as I heard the gunshots go off. Sarah slides right next to me as she runs into the building. She was almost alright except for one thing. Her whole right arm was missing and she was losing blood fast. I see a fist aid kit on the wall in front of me. I pick it up and wrap the bandages from the pack around her arm. When I finish I hear a door creak open from the back. I push myself against the wall opposite to me. The person turns around the corner and I grab him by the neck. My knee goes into his stomach, he falls to the ground I start kicking him. I wanted to stop but I couldn’t all my rage was coming out on this person. When I finally stopped kicking I saw the damage that I had caused him. One of his ribs were sticking out and his face was so deformed that he didn’t look human anymore. I bend over and take his small automatic weapon, bullet proof vest, and extra magazines. Then I sling Sarah over my shoulder who is unconscious. I walk out of the building the back way. As soon as I walk out of the building I see Mr.Farms in a truck yelling at me to hurry up. I put Sarah in the back of the truck and I get in the passenger side.

  “Where have you been Charlie and where did you get that gun from”, said Mr.Farms.

  “I got it from one of the gunman and I was hiding in the building so I didn’t get butt light up like a Christmas tree out there”, I said.

  “I called in some friends from the FBI to come help us with the case they think those kids and cops that where taken are part of drug ring going through some hard times”, said Mr.Farms with a straight face.

  “That would make sense actually because some of the kids have been buying drugs from the school while I was there”, I said.

   “We’re heading back to Cochran Georgia to meet up with my friends in the FBI”, said Mr.Farms.

  I nodded and my eyes started feeling heavy and I just fall asleep. I wake up to Mr.Farms shaking me awake. We walk out of the car into a hospital. Mr.Farms is carrying Sarah as I walk beside him. As soon as we walk in nurses flood us as they take Sarah away. Before they could ask us any questions we hurry out of the hospital and continue our drive to Cochran. On the ride there no word was said we just rode in silence. When we get to Cochran we got to the Lake Linda neighborhood. We pull into the drive way of this small green house. I walk in with Mr.Farms as soon as we open the door I see FBI agents everywhere. There was a wide range of specialized agents in this small house. One agent comes up to us and she holds out her hand and spoke, “Hello, I’m Agent Scott. I’m the leader of investigation for this case, and I’m so glad you are here to help. I’ve been wanting to speck with you for days and here the information you have to help us get any kind of lead. I’m sure you’re worn out so ill grab you something to eat.”. I politely refused because with all the chaos and twist and turns throughout the pass days that just suddenly came up, I was in no mood to talk or eat or do anything for that matter. All I wanted was for me to wake up for this terrible dream. When I had to realize that Trevor was not on our side it completely broke my heart. How could he do this to us? It just did not seem possible that the Trevor we knew our whole life was not the real Trevor. Another thing that made me what to resist any communication was the fact that Sarah was in the hospital. I decided that I had to go back to the hospital because I could not leave her alone. I had to be with her and the police, FBI agents, and armed gunman could wait. I knew they really could not wait, but I am just a child. I am not prepared to be in a chaotic mess like this.

I finally convinced Mr. Farms to let me go to the hospital, but I know he was not pleased with my decision. I told him just to study the evidence they already had and I would not be gone long. When I got to the hospital there was a mild crowd. Some people were still shook up from the incident that happened at McDonalds, but all I cared about at the moment was Sarah. I went to the bathroom before I went to check up on her just to kind of clean up myself. I did my business and was exiting the bathroom when a piece of paper seemed to fall from the sky. I looked to see where it had come from, and all I saw was an air vent. I picked up the piece of paper and it read, “she’s ours now.”. It took a moment for me to comprehend the writing, but then a terrible thought came in my head. The person that sent this letter obviously wanted me to get it. The person also was in this building, and the only she I know is Sarah and she was in the same building. I ran to the front desk with fear filled in my senses. I yelled at the woman to tell me the room Sarah had been assigned, ad right with the numbers rolled from her throat, I was running to find Sarah. Went I finally located the room, I busted open to door to find it completely empty and the window swung wide open. Panic filled me and I knew that nobody was going to be left unquestioned because everyone was a suspect.

     We began questioning as soon as we possibly could. There was no way I was going to go with out finding Sarah. I question suspect after suspect and still nothing stood out to me. No one knew anything. No one had seen her. No one had seen anyone suspicious going in or out of her room. The anwers were all the same. None of them were witnesses. None of them were gulity of the crime. This infuriated me. There was nothing I wanted more than to find Sarah; no matter how long it took.

     I started to think that there was no way that no one saw anyone entering Sarah's room. they had to enter some way, but i also didn't understand how no one saw a person walking with an igured girl across the roof and down to the ground floor. I was wondering why no one had told us about there being some crazy person on the roof or someone carrying a girl down a fire escape. I went back and looked at a map of the building and realized that the part of the hospital that had windows facing that direction were windows to rooms in the phychiatric ward' and I knew that no matter what one of those people peole said they would never hold up in questioning.

     I went to talk to one of the nurses to see if they had any phychiatric patients that might be of the slightest help to our investigation. All the nurses anwsered the smae and said that it would not be possible for us to talk to any of the phychiatric patients because they were unstable and even the ones that were stable could easily lose it under questioning. I then went and ask one of the head phychiatric doctors if it would be possible for me to sit down with some of the more stable patients with him present. He then proceeded to tell me that if I had a doctor and nurse present and i was just sitting down talking to them about their how their day had went the day Sarah went missing that it would be possible for me to talk to them.

      I then began sitting down and talking to some of the phychiatric patients, some more stable and conversational than others. I woul ask them about how their day went about the day Sarah had went missing. I asked them if they had looked out their window at any point that day. Most of them said no but there was one patient who anwsered yes, that she had looked out the window of her room that day. She was a younger girl no older than 17 or 18. I aked her what she had seen when she looked out of her window and she told me that there had been a man of average height and weight with brown hair carrying a girl across the roof. I asked her if she'd told any one else about seeing this and she anwsered yes, that her nurse knew she had seen this but that her nurse had told her it was justher imagination and that she shoud lie down and sleep.

     I immediately headed off to find the nurse. Her nurse’s name was Mabel. Mabel said that her patient had told her about the man walking across the roof about fifteen minutes before I got their. My first thought was that they could not have gotten very far. While my mind had started going in all directions, Mabel had started crying. Mabel said to follow her and that we needed to talk. We went to a small room close to the nurse’s station. Mabel said, “I need to tell you something really important.”

     I replied, “Go for it.” 

     “I know everything that happened and where Sarah is. I am in on the kidnapping group but I am tired of it and it is breaking me down.”

     “Well, will you tell me where Sarah is and then help me go to her?”

     “Yes, Sarah is headed off to Beaverton, Oregon. That is where the Nike headquarters is. All of the four-year-old shoes have a tracking device in the sole of them. The kidnapped people all have four-year-old Nike tennis shoes and so our group decided to kidnap them. We did this because these shoes also have a drug worth lots of money in them.”

     “So why didn’t y’all just steal people’s shoes?”

     “We did not want to be found because if we just stole shoes then we could be identified by the owners.”

     “Oh, that is a very well thought out plan but you know you are going to get arrested right?”

     “Yes, I know,” said Mabel.

     “Well, I admire you for confessing and turning yourself in but the longer we talk, the farther and farther away the culprits are getting.”

     “Alright let’s get a move on it,” answered Mabel.

     So, we headed back to the green house in Lake Linda. The detectives heard everything from Mabel. She was then handcuffed but she was still going to Oregon with us. As we rode to the airport Mabel said that the detectives had missed a few people that had been kidnapped because there were about nine hundred people being held hostage in Oregon. 

     “Wow,” said a detective, “we did miss about six hundred people.”

     At this time, we arrived at the airport and unloaded our items. We were on the runway and ready for takeoff about forty-five minutes after we got there.

     When we landed in Oregon, it was raining cats and dogs and we could not see a thing. The airport was packed because many flights had been cancelled. I was admiring all of the people when someone yelled, “Charlie.”

     I whirled around to see Mabel motioning for me. “We are leaving,” she said. The drive to Nike was not long but getting in took forever. When we drove up, I heard about fifty gunshots. “That is where they hypnotize and train the hostages,” Mabel said knowing that I was scared. “That is why Trevor was acting weird and had a gun. Mr. Brand put him in a trance and trained his mind to go against y’all.”

     “Oh, well that makes a little more sense but I still cannot believe Mr. Brand would do that.”

     At this time, I looked out the car window and saw the biggest helicopter I had ever seen before in my life! The helicopter spun to a stop. Everything went absolutely still. The door of the helicopter burst open, men clad in black filed out of the helicopter. In the front of the group was a man I had never before seen in my life. “Charlie” he called out.

I was reluctant to speak but, I did “yes,” I replied trying to sound brave.

“My name is Black and if you wish to ever see your beloved Sarah again you must do as we say.”

“OK,” I said automatically.

 Two men from Black Claw’s posse can to escort me to a private room. Before they could take me, Mabel grabbed my hand and pulled me to the side. Be careful Black Claw is a very manipulative person, before you agree to do anything stupid think about what they are asking you to do very carefully. “OK,” I replied weakly. Black Claw’s men very not very gentle with mea as we made our way down the Nike store hallway. It was late in the afternoon so all of the employees had already been sent home for the evening. We came to a stop at the end of a dimly lit hallway. The man on the right side of me pulled out a key from his back pocket and opened the door. As my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room, I saw Sarah laying unconscious on a table in the middle of the floor. “Hold on Romeo, if you go anywhere near the girl you will be paralyzed by the lasers surrounding her.”

What did I think, that I was just going to waltz in and save Sarah and we would go back to Clamaire County High School and everything would be sunshine and rainbows? Well I thought majorly wrong. The man on my left handed me a letter almost like a ransom note. If you ever wish to have Sarah back in your arms you must do as my men say. The men walked me over to a chair and handcuffed me to it. The man that had pulled out the keys to open the door began to speak. “As you might have figured out we work for Black Claw, and well Black Claw needs some major cash, to finance some, uhh important business. We are in the building of a company that has quite a larger sum of money in their vault. It is you job to break into that vault steal every last penny and report back to us before the sun come up. If you fail to do this task you and your little girlfriend will be put to death.”

“First of all she is not my girlfriend, and I accept your challenge.” In the back of my mind I knew that this would be the worst mistake of my short life.

 I was sneaking past all the security cameras when I finally came to the vault.  My palms began to sweat. Was I really doing this? Was I crazy? Well here goes nothing, I struggled to get the vault open, but once I did, Charlie immediately saw millions of dollars all round him. Not knowing how much to take was a huge burden on him because he knew that the more he took, the more years of prison he would be enduring. Charlie filled bag after bag until He was weighed down so much that he could barely walk out of the vault. Then it hit him. He woke up in a dark room with no windows. He was dazed and confused on where He was at. But one thing was certain; I didn't have any money to give to the black claw. I frantically searched and searched but still, nothing was there. Charlie eventually built up the nerve and walked to the door and peaked out, He walked around and finally caught up with the black claw. Turns out that two men were hired for the same job so that if one didn't succeed the other would. The other man that was hired shot him with a tranquilizer dart and put him in this room until things could be sorted out. The black claw eventually said that they had received the money and that Sarah would be released soon. The only catch was that he was to go to a specific doctor at a certain time the next day to undergo a test and procedure that would erase any memory of his encounter with the black claw and the mission. He was eventually told that he had to do that in order for Sarah to be released. That next day He went to the clinic and underwent the procedure, which worked at first, but it soon wore off the next day as he vividly remembered every detail of that day. But the black claw didn't know that and he wasn't about to tell them. The next day, Charlie got an anonymous call saying that a girl was looking everywhere for him. He grabbed everything thing he had and told her that he would be right there. When they finally met up they hugged and rejoiced, but in the back of his mind all he wanted to do was get back to Clamaire county high school to see all his friends and family that had been so worried. They hurried back to their home that evening and eventually met up with their friends but no one actually knows the exclusive details of the mystery but Charlie himself, and he isn't even supposed to know.

   

      

         

   

                                        

                                           

         

2015-16 "Door Group's" Detective Story (a collaborative effort)

*The following story has been written piece by piece by the students in my 6th period literature class. The conclusion will be reached after all students in this group have made their contributions to the story. At that time we will also give the story a title. Also note that the pattern of every other section being underlined is used to show where the authors changed. Enjoy!

                                                                  "Taken"

            Peter turned sixteen in exactly three minutes, he could hardly bear the excitement of receiving a gift from his parents. Two minutes left. Peter knew that his gift was too big to be wrapped, but he could not figure out what it was. One minute left. Forty-five seconds left. Peter started walking to the back door with his parents. His parents stopped him just before they rounded the corner into the laundry room, which was connected to the back door. 5-4-3-2-1. Peter walked out into the garage and his eyes got big, his jaw dropped, and his legs broke into a sprint. He ran and jumped into his new car. Peter inspected the interior of his new car and filled with happiness, he ran back to his parents and hugged them as hard as he could.    The next day, they sat Peter down on the couch and gave him the “with freedom comes responsibility” speech. He knew he could not break curfew, get a ticket, or expect that he could burn up gas and it still be paid for by his parents, but he did not expect that he would have to get a job!

            Peter’s parents said he had to get a job by the end of the week, and it was already Wednesday. The next day, Peter skipped school to go find a job. He was rejected by the bakery and the grocery store, but finally his application was accepted by Quick Stop Shop convenient store. 

            Peter went back to school at just around lunch time. He was excited all throughout the school day. When he got home, Peter gave the good news to his parents. They were excited for him, and the next day, which was a school holiday Peter went to work. As he entered the convenient store, he was greeted by musty employees covered in hairy chins, greasy shirts, and scowling faces. He tried to work throughout the day ignoring the men, but every time he would be in charge of working the cash register, one of them would either purposefully bump into him or they would crowd in cliques and whisper while staring at Peter with glaring eyes. When the clock hit six, Peter clocked out and drove home, doubting that he was safe working in this convenient store. 

            Peter knew that his parents would not allow him to quit just because he was uncomfortable, they would most likely give him the “toughen up and live in the real world” speech.  He decided to just toughen up and attend work in order to pay for his gas money and a portion of his car. When Peter walked into the Quick Stop Shop convenient store and began another lousy, long, and somewhat uncomfortable day at work. It was Peter’s turn to man the soda station when the gruffest man came up to him and said, “If ya know what’s good for ya you’ll meet me out back at midnight. Come alone. And if you breathe a word of this to anyone, you’re a goner.” The belligerent man walked away with a smug smile on his unshaven face.

Peter began to tremble. How could this be happening, he thought to himself, things went downhill so suddenly.

Peter spent the rest of his shift distracted. All he could think about is whether or not he should inform his parents about his mistrust of the other employees. Peter was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a stern voice calling his name.

“Peter! Are you paying any attention to what I’m saying,” Peter glanced over just in time to see his manager walking briskly over to him with an angry look on his face.

“I apologize, Sir. I had no idea you were speaking to me!” Peter looked at his boss with pleading eyes, begging him to understand.

“Meet me in my office as soon as your shift is over.” his boss said, and with that he walked back to his office.

 Twenty minutes later, Peter found himself walking down the hall to his manager’s office. With each step he took, Peter found himself becoming more and more anxious. As he opened the door, he was shocked to see his boss with a huge grin plastered on his face.

 “Peter, I am very proud of you,” Mr. Uglie, his manager, smiled at the confused face Peter made. “I know the other employees can be very intimidating, but don’t worry, once they get used to you they will become more welcoming. I hope that you enjoy working here, Peter.”

Peter walked to his car. He was so relieved that he was not in trouble.

On his way home, however, Peter remembered that he was not in the clear yet. He still had to decide whether or not to tell his parents about the threatening employee.

At 11:45, Peter found himself driving to the convenient store. He had decided against telling his parents. Peter wanted to show his parents that he was independent and could handle his own problems. He had considered ditching but he had an uneasy feeling that the man would not allow him to get away that easily and he did not want to make matters worse.

Peter parked his car and walked around back. He felt goosebumps on the back of his neck and all over his arms. Suddenly he felt large, rough, sweaty hands grab him.

The man whispered loudly in his ear, "Get in the car now, or else! Come on now I don’t have all night. Get in the car or I will shoot you.”

Peter had a gun pressed into the small of his back. The man walked Peter over to his car and put a mask over his face. Peter knew it was no use screaming because he was either going to get shot or no one would hear him anyway.

It felt like the man had been driving for hours before he finally pulled into a driveway. He grabbed Peter out of the car and walked him into a dark, dirty, dank building. The mask came off of Peter’s head and he looked around. This building looked like an old, forgotten barn.

“Now, you’re going to stay here until I decide when you can leave. If you even think about calling someone or running away I will kill you. I got to find a new place for you, but until I do you stay here. Do we understand each other?”

Peter could not talk no matter how hard he tried, so he just nodded his head yes. Peter could not make eye contact with his colleague….with his kidnapper.

“Good. I’ll be back later, but until then I got to make sure that you cannot escape.”

The man handcuffed Peter to an old stall door. He looked around once more, as if to make sure Peter was secure, then he left. Peter did not even try to escape because he knew it was no use. His hands were tied.

He tried to sleep, but he could not get comfortable. He started to think about how he should have told his parents about the threat. He thought about how he would never see his parents again. With that in mind, Peter fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

The next morning, Peter’s parents woke to find that Peter was not in his room. They knew that he had to go to work that morning, so they drove to the Quick Stop Shop convenient store. When his parents went in, they were surprised to hear from Peter’s boss, Mr. Uglie, that he had not shown up. Peter’s parents walked outside to see that their son’s car was there, but he was nowhere around.

His dad started looking around his car to search for clues as to where Peter might be. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter’s dad saw Peter’s wallet and his car keys. His mum called his phone over and over, but it was no use. What his parents did not know is that last night was the last time they might ever see their son again. 

Once awake, Peter could feel the dull ache in his arms and wrists. In little to no time he was fully awake, and the gravity of the situation settled in. It sat upon his soul like a huge immovable boulder.

          “Snap out of it! I need to escape. Remember positive vibes!” Peter tried to let that sink in, but in this situation Peter found it hard to be his usual optimistic self. He started to lose all hope, and if that was the case he would be left with a soul tarnished by fear and hopelessness, for if he was to make it out alive he best stay strong.

          Buzz Buzz his phone vibrated. Suddenly, a light at the end of the tunnel. He might make it out of here alive. However his hands were restrained, and he had but the slightest idea of how he would make use of this one tool that could be his one chance back home. Peter decided it would be best to attempt to make use of the phone when he was granted freedom of his hands, and there was always a chance the gruff man may return. Peter could not put his only chance of freedom on the line. Peter froze in place as if it were the ice age. Yes, it had been what he thought, a door had indeed been opened.

          Peter’s Mother, Sarah, clung to her husband, Mackenzie as she bawled. Her only baby was now gone, and her mind was racing with the possibilities of what could have happened to her baby. He could be dead now for all she knew. She could only blame herself. “ If only I had listened, if only I had told him I loved him more,” the rest was unintelligible and was lost in her sobs. This went on for hours on end, day after day.

          The house was now empty and cold, as if a great sorrow had taken hold of it. Mackenzie and Sarah grasped for strings of sanity, but alas could find none. It was a parent’s worst nightmare, and that’s precisely what it felt like, a nightmare, except there was no waking up, or the sigh of relief after realizing that it was all just a dream, this was the real world.

Knock Knock Sarah answered the front door only to be greeted by a police officer. “Miss Black, We have some news regarding your son, Peter, and his disappearance.” It was a little chubby man that looked about the age of forty with more than a couple of gray hairs on his head and a grease stain on the cuff of his wrist. He was followed by a tall skinny perplexing man, a very well put together man indeed he looked to be about the age of thirty or so but it was hard to tell his hair still lively brown not one sign of gray anywhere, those two men were complete opposites aside from the fact that they were both Caucasian and had blue eyes. As the detective approached the door a sort of uneasiness fell over Sarah and not knowing what to think or do she just stood there in silence catching every word the detective spake as if her life depended on it, well maybe it did. “Good evening Mrs. Black I’m detective Star and this is officer Bucks we understand that your son, Peter Black went missing three nights ago at the time of 11:45 pm correct?” the detective asked shaking Sarah’s hand. 

Sarah thought to herself, that can’t be right 11:45 pm? then answered, “I can’t say that you are correct because the last time my son was seen was around 10:00 PM when Peter got home from work on the night he went missing so you see detective 11:45 pm would not be accurate, unless that is you know something I don’t.” The detective grinned looked down at his polished black shoes and then curiously back up at Sarah again as if she had done something strange and even Sarah began to think maybe she had when the detective finally spoke, “Mrs. Black may I complement you on your fine comprehending skills for that is exactly what officer Bucks and I came to inform you about, you see our fine team of investigators has found evidence affirming the last time your son was seen and other information regarding your sons disappearance.” Sarah looked questioningly at the detective then asked, “and what evidence might that be?” The detective then proceeded to remove a little black notebook out of his pocket flipped through it, stopped about halfway then looked back up at Sarah and answered, “well you see Mrs. Black it says here that even though the convenient store cameras were successfully shut off the gas stations security cameras were not.”

Sarah then reached out her hand and asked, “May I see the notebook?” Detective Star thought for a second but soon gave the notebook to Sarah and as she read through it she stated, “so a rule was just established that all Shell gas stations must have security cameras both in front of and behind the gas pumps and my son just so happened to have been shoved into a car right in front of  gas pumps belonging to Shell at 11:45 pm at which time he disappeared.”  “Yes ma’am that is correct” the detective declared as he took back the notebook and placed it neatly back into his pocket. “There is still one thing I’m not quite sure of though” stated Mrs. Black. “Shoot”, replied the detective signaling to officer Bucks that he could leave. “Why did you feel the need to come all the way to my house to tell me this?” Sarah asked questioningly. 

The detective chuckled but became serious quickly and answered, “Well you see Mrs. Black while watching the security camera we came across something on the footage that you might want to know about and if you will kindly meet me at the police station we can go over it.”

  As Sarah rode behind the cop car, anxiously waiting to hear the news the policemen were going to share with her, she could not help but panic. Wondering. Anticipating the news that detective Star and officer Bucks were going to tell her about her beloved son. Every corner they turned, getting closer and closer to the police station, thoughts were flying in and out of Sarah’s brain. “What on Earth could these two men want to share with me,” she pondered, “What could they have found that was so important other than my son being kidnapped?”

  Each stride that Sarah took behind the officers took her closer and closer to the investigation room that held the footage taken outside of Peter’s work the night he was brutally abducted. Detective Star finally came upon a room at the very end of a dark, dusty hallway. “Right this way ma’am,” detective Star said to Sarah, as he opened the door waiting for her to walk into the room. She walked briskly into the noticeably dark room. Detective Star and officer Bucks followed behind her. “Uh,” Sarah said confused as she saw there was nothing in this room but cleaning supplies, “This doesn’t look like an investigation room.” As Sarah stated this she turned around only to be greeted with a blow to the side of her head. Falling to the hard floor, she caught one last glimpse of detective Star holding a broomstick and officer Bucks gripping firmly onto a thick rope. “Tie her up, we need to leave her quickly before any of the workers here see us.” Star said, and he walked out of the room leaving officer Bucks to tie the rope around an unconscious Sarah.

  Squinting her eyes open, Sarah noticed a sharp agonizing pain on the left side of her cranium. Reaching up to the top of her face she felt dried blood and a throbbing pain erupted at the touch. “Ahh!” Sarah cried out in pain, cringing from the touch. It was only then did Sarah realize that she was not in her normal house settings. She tried to make out her surroundings and once her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she noticed that she was in a dark stable-like building. Trying to remember how she got there she looked down to see that her foot had a chain wrapped around it and it was tied to a post. She could not escape. Panicking, Sarah started thrashing and screaming for help. “Help! Help! Someone help me get out of here please!” she begged, only to be greeted with the hollow echoes of the building she was trapped in. A few minutes later she began to calm down. Sarah had given up. Thinking that nobody was going to save her, she sprawled out on the ground and began to weep. Wishing someone, anyone would hear her, she began to drift off into a sleep from exhaustion. But before fell completely adrift, she heard a faint voice. A familiar voice. “Mom?” said a weak voice from within the dark room.

Was Sarah’s mind playing a trick on her? Considering the trauma she received earlier, it wouldn’t be a shock to have some hallucinations. While she was deciding if she heard a real voice or not, she heard a rustling come from the back corner. It sounded like a mix of someone scooting across the floor, and then a metal clink following it. “Mom? Is that you?” questioned Peter. It felt so good for Sarah to hear her son’s voice and to know he was still alive. The question was though, for how much longer? 

She started to sprint over to Peter, forgetting that her foot was chained to the pole. Sarah tripped and fell when she reached the extent of the restraint. Peter called out worriedly to his mother, “Mom, are you okay?” She responded with a small chuckle. This confused Peter greatly. How could she be laughing at a time like this? As if Sarah could hear his thoughts she halted her laughter at once. “I’m sorry, Peter. I know that this is a sticky situation and that I shouldn’t be laughing at it, but honestly it’s ironic. We’re just a small mundane family with very little significance to the world, yet here we are locked up in some type of abandoned building. Who would have thought that the two of us would ever be here?”

This image had constantly been running over Peter’s head since he got there. ‘Why did all of this happen? Who had this amount of hatred against us to kidnap me and my mother?’ All of these questions had been flying threw Peter’s thoughts and they weren’t relenting for anything. Sarah quietly started to go through all of the suspects who could be behind this scheme.

Suddenly she gasped for her breath as if she were a fish out of water. Peter turned to her confused and voiced his concern for her. “What’s wrong Mother?” Sarah couldn’t bring herself to tell her son her revelation. She bit back her sobs, nearly causing her lip to split in two. She could not believe that she hadn’t thought about this sooner. Sarah knew who their abductors were.

Back at the Black’s residence, Mackenzie was sick to his stomach at the fact of him staying behind. He decided not to go with his wife and the two detectives just in case Peter happened to show up. His heart lurched when he thought of how he didn’t know where his family was. As the clock ticked by he grew more and more worried. Now he even doubted the safety of his wife. He felt ashamed of himself for not going with Sarah. Mackenzie had felt something off with the detectives, but he couldn’t bring himself out of his trance long enough to fully comprehend everything, with the news of Peter disappearing still fresh on his plate at the time. All at once it hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew why those detectives seemed a tad strange, and he knew who was holding his son captive and possibly his wife. Mackenzie now realized that one of the detectives looked familiar because he was Peter’s biological father.

          Mackenzie darted towards the front door of his home, snatched his car keys off of the counter, and slammed the door shut, not even bothering to lock it in his haste. He jammed the key in the ignition and twisted it violently… But nothing happened. He tried again, nothing.

          “Oh, not now!” Mackenzie exclaimed, turning the key again and again. He yanked the key out of the ignition and broke into a sprint towards the police station. After running about a mile, Mackenzie decided that running was getting him nowhere quickly. He concluded that taking a city bus would be much quicker and efficient.

          Five anxiety-filled minutes later, a bus arrived at the stop. Mackenzie jumped on and rode to the next stop, practically throwing the money at the driver. He burst into the police station and asked the first person he saw, “Have two men came in here with a woman?”

          The startled policeman replied, ”Yes actually, two policeman walked in earlier with a woman following them. I haven’t seen them leave yet.”

          With that Mackenzie ran down the main hall and glanced at every door… Then he stopped and stared at the back exit. This was it. This was where his wife had gone. The door was wide open. His heart raced at the thought of knowing where Sarah was. He bolted out the door and looked to his right, only to find an empty alley. Then to the right, another empty alley.

          Mackenzie wasn’t going to give up. He searched and searched for anything unusual, until he found a broomstick. He picked it up and something wet and sticky met his touch. He threw the broomstick down and wiped his hands on his jeans. He looked at the broomstick to find out what disgusting liquid was all over his hands, and realized that it was blood. He dry heaved for a few seconds, knowing that somebody, possibly Sarah, had been hit by this broomstick. He then glanced behind him, where a trail of blood led up to muddy tire tracks. He followed them about a mile until he could no longer see them. Mackenzie dropped to his knees on the side of the road and prayed that he would find his wife and son. He knew that they were out there somewhere, alive. 

          He then thought about the way that he and Sarah had adopted Peter as a newborn baby. His parents had given him up because they did not believe that they could take care of a child. They had seemed nice whenever he and Sarah had met them, but he saw something evil lurking in the father’s eyes.

At this point in their lives, Sarah and Mackenzie were a loving young couple who were frugal with their spending and saved as much money as possible every month. Sarah was then a kindergarten teacher, and Mackenzie had a small contracting company that specialized in extra storage buildings and customizable organizational units. They were really happy, except for their inability to have children. So each of them delved into their careers and soon after, Mackenzie’s business had landed a multimillion dollar contract for a major corporation. Only weeks after this good fortune, the opportunity to adopt Peter arose, and they knew the time was right. Peter’s parents were a young couple around the age of 20 that were not ready to handle the responsibilities of parenthood; or so the father said.  The mom, however, seemed to stay quiet, and look at the ground most of the time. She seemed frightened by her husband, and her actions weren’t the only thing that was proving.  Mackenzie could tell this dad was a bad dude. He was glad to be getting Peter away from this couple. He just felt bad for the wife…

Once Peter had been with the Black’s for a little over five years, strange letters started to come from an anonymous source. The letters contained weird things about money and his job, and they ALL involved Peter. Sarah and Mackenzie brushed it off at first thinking it was just someone wanting to frighten him off from other business contracts.  They told the police about the letters and after that, they seemed to stop. They forgot all about the letters until the day Peter turned 16. That day, a letter came in the mail that read,

“Well what a special day for a special family. I see you’ve gotten Peter a car. With all that money Mr. Black is stashing up, I could’ve guessed that. If you were smart parents, you would make him get a job to help pay for that snazzy little car…But then again, you have ALL that money. Might as well use it for something.”

Mr. Black was astonished by this mean spirited letter. Why would anyone dislike his family so much to write these hateful letters? But, he did think Peter should get a job. He didn’t want to seem like a dad who just spoils his kid all the time. So, when Sarah sat down Mackenzie told her he thinks Peter should get a job, and she agreed. Once Mackenzie thought about all of this rationally, it made perfect sense! Peter’s birth dad wanted money and a great deal of it. Mackenzie had to find where he was keeping Sarah and Peter hostage. 

Sarah finally finished sobbing and looked at her son. “Peter, I know who abducted us.”

Peter looked at his mom, astonished. “Who is it?”

“I shouldn’t tell you.”

“Mom… Tell me.”

With a sob, Sarah cried, “It was your birth dad and his brothers!”

“What?”  Peter asked, shocked. He did not know his biological father, didn’t even have one memory of him. “Why would he abduct us, Mom? He’s the one that put me up for adoption.”

Sarah shook her head. “No, Peter. It isn’t about you. It’s about money. He wants money.”

At this moment, the door opened and a big man walked in, clapping slowly. He was blonde with brown eyes. He looked like he had been in the sun way too long. His lips were chapped, and his face was oily. “Well done. Well done, Sarah. You figured it out. Finally! I have been waiting and waiting for you to figure it out. You did a great job.”

Peter was disgusted. He was ashamed to be this man’s biological son. The guy was crazy!

The animal that was Peter’s father smiled and left the two hostages alone. Peter wanted to ask his mom what the men did to kidnap her, but he was afraid of the answer. Instead he asked, “Mom, how did you know that it was my birth dad who abducted us?”

Sarah told Peter about everything. She told him about when she and her husband adopted Peter and his dad was acting very strange and his mom wouldn’t look anyone in the eye. She told him about the letters they got that stopped when they told the police, but started back up the day Peter turned sixteen. 

By the time Sarah was finished talking, Peter was angry. He yelled, “Why didn’t you tell me this? Why didn’t you tell me that my dad was sending letters? Why didn’t you tell me that there was something strange about him? He is my biological father. I. Have. The. Right. To. Know.” 

“I know, I know, Peter. I am so extremely sorry. I know I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t want you to think it was your fault.” Sarah was crying again.

“Mom, it is my fault.” Peter said. Guilt laced his voice.

“No. No it isn’t Peter. All of this is your father’s fault. He is the one that put you up for adoption and sent those letters. He is the one who abducted us. None of this was you. None of this was your fault.”

 At this moment, the door opened, the room became dark and in walked Peter’s biological father.  “I wonder what he wants now.” Peter thought to himself.  The man walked over to Peter and said, “You know son, I hope you think no less of me for doing this, but I need the money. And if you ever wondered what your father’s real name is, it’s Mark. ” He then walked over to Sarah and whispered something Peter couldn’t quite catch. Mark then continued outside. Just as the door closed shut a gunshot rang out in the dark! “Mom!”, Peter cried but there was no answer. Peter cried over and over again, but there was no response.

 Peter sat in the dark for some time crying, he did not know for sure if his mother was dead, but he feared the worst. He planned to hunt down Mark and kill him if he were to make it out alive himself. Soon Peter fell into a slumber, trying to think of a way out. Peter was soon awakened when the lights came on. He feverishly looked towards the other side of the room where his mother had been. There was no sign of her. Would he ever see his mom again?

 The next morning (Peter only knew because of his watch), a woman walked in. She was severely underweight and looked as if the life had been sucked out of her. She claimed to be Peter’s birth mother, but did not seem very convincing. She refused to give Peter her name and kept dodging his questions. She said that if Peter’s adoptive father, Mackenzie, did not bring the money by tomorrow morning, Mark was going to kill Peter. Before she left she leaned down and whispered into his ear, “I hope this helps.” She then handed him a small saw she had been hiding behind her back, and walked out the door. 

 Peter immediately began sawing at the handcuffs so he could get free. He sat there for over an hour working hard at the handcuffs. Finally the handcuffs snapped and Peter was free. A million thoughts rushed through Peter’s head. Was his mother alive? Was she injured? All Peter knew was that he had to find her and get out of here. Peter slipped out the door careful not to make loud noises or be seen. He realized they were in the middle of the country in what looked to be an old run-down farm. That explains the stall, he thought to himself.  

     Mackenzie finally got his vehicle working and drove around for hours looking for his family. He didn’t know where to begin, but he knew he wasn’t just going to sit around waiting for something that may or may not even happen. He thought to himself “How in the world did I get my family into this predicament?” He knew Mark wasn’t a trustworthy or respectable person. He could remember the way his wife was so fragile and he remembered the way she hung her head.  “How could I be so careless as to let my one and only son and wife be taken by a looney?” He continued to chastise himself as he drove, searching desperately for anything that could lead him to his Sarah and Peter.

     Peter looked around cautiously, terrified of anyone being able see him, if anyone was even around. All around him were pastures, the scent of dirt enveloped around him. He had no idea where to go, or what to do. He tiptoed around the barn-looking building quietly. A faint metallic smell made him stop in his tracks. He took a deep breath and continued, the smell growing stronger with each step he took. Once he finally reached the corner, he glanced around it carefully. The bright green grass smothered with blood confirmed what he smelt. He hoped and prayed that it wasn’t his mom’s. All of a sudden, Peter hears a car pulling up, and his fight or flight feeling kicked in. Without thinking Peter takes off running in the opposite direction, back to where he came out the building, and down the rolling pastures. He ran until he couldn’t anymore, until the realization of what he’d just done settled in. “What if I just ran away from my mom? What if that was my dad, the dad who raised me, trying to save us?” Peter sat where he was and thought hard. He immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He planned on using this when he was free! “Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?” Peter almost laughed at himself. He unlocked his phone and looked down at the screen, he only had seven percent battery life. He dialed up his moms number he thought for a moment, then quickly deleted the numbers and typed in a number he knew would get them out of this mess.

      Ring Ring, Ring Ring . Mackenzie struggled to get his phone out of his pocket and keep hands on the wheel at the same time. He finally pulled it out. He was lost in the middle of nowhere. He hadn’t spent much time in the country, and he didn’t know how he even got here. He glanced at the screen and saw his sons name. He fumbled with his phone, too stunned to function. He accepted the call and looked at the road before he put the phone to his ear. Mackenzie was frightened by what he saw. He immediately pulled over and hopped out of the car, Peter on the line hollering “ Dad! Dad! What is it? What’s wrong?”

“HOLY MOLY PEETER!” He cried out for his son.

“Dad! Dad!’’ Peter called out, but it was too late. Mr. Black had dropped his phone in the ditch somewhere in his haste to get out and help the struggling figures that were near the lake that was off the road a good quarter mile or so. From the car, Mr. Black had thought he had seen someone trying to drown another being in said lake. As he drew nearer, however, he noticed that what he thought to be someone trying to drown another person seemed to be just an old man and his grandson, fishing off the dock.

Mackenzie apologized for the haste, which had given the poor little boy quite a scare. While he had their full attention he thought he might as well ask them if they had seen any suspicious activity around the neighborhood.

The old man replied, “No, I don’t think I have, but back in those woods,” he pointed off in the direction behind the lake, “Lies a mysterious farmland that has always seemed a bit off to me.” So Mackenzie ran back to his car, hopped in, and drove in the direction he hoped the man had been talking about. His phone still abandoned in the ditch somewhere.

Meanwhile, Peter had given up on trying to get his father to answer. He was now trying to dial 911, but as his finger was moving for the send button, Peter heard a grunt of sorts coming from behind the tool shed. This wouldn't have caused him alarm under regular circumstances but considering Peter had broken out of his encampment, and his kidnapper could be anywhere. Peter’s emotions were at wits end, and any little snapping of twig, even if buy his own feet, was enough to set him off.

Carefully, Peter inched towards the tool shed. The only thought running through his mind being the fact that his mom could be behind that tool shed, scared, alone, and afraid.

Mackenzie was speeding down an old dirt road. Endless thoughts were running through his mind. Would he ever see his son again? Was his wife with his son? Would there be armed men? Was the old man just talking crazy? Finally, Mackenzie reached some farmland that looked to be very much over grown. He could also see on top of the hill, a big barn, along with some other stray buildings here and there. 

This is it! Mackenzie thought, excitement bleeding into his thoughts. He parked his car in the overgrown driveway, and got out. He was cautious when inching up the hill. What Mackenzie saw next nearly had him running for the hills.

The seen was almost to unbelievable to be real. Mackenzie could not believe his eyes.  There Peter’s birth mom was. Gun in hand, with Peter’s biological dad lying lifelessly on the grass in a pool of crimson red liquid. She jumped when she first saw him, uncertain of what to do next. “Who are you, and why are you snooping around all the way out here?”

“I am Peter’s adoptive father, you must be his biological mother. And by the looks of it, you are on our side of this ordeal.” Then all of his thoughts finally became clear, and then he quickly asked, “Where is his adoptive mother?” When he got done speaking, all she was able to do at that moment was to run and hug him as hard as she could. “I am so glad you found this place! I finally decide I couldn’t take Mark’s abusive rage anymore, so I lashed out. Then he pulled out his knife and started to try to stab me, but luckily I came prepared and pulled out my gun from underneath my shirt. I shot him right on the spot. Oh, Peter’s mom is in the barn, I was about to go get her and then go to the police office.” Mackenzie was so relieved to hear that his wife was alive.

“Where is Peter?” He asked urgently.

“ I don’t know. I gave him a saw so he could cut himself free. He couldn’t have gotten far. Lets go look for him.” They searched for about thirty minutes, when all of a sudden, Mackenzie heard a familiar voice weakly whisper, “Dad?”

“PETER!” , Mackenzie yelled in pure happiness, “I am so sorry for not believing you when u said you felt threatened. I love you so much I am so glad I found you!”

“Oh Dad! I have never been so happy to see you!”, said Peter so full of joy. Then, Peter remembered that he still did not know whether or not his mother was alive or not. “Dad… have you found mom?”

Just then, before Peter’s birth mom could tell him not to worry and that she was safe in the barn, a terrible cry sounded from the building where his mom was. They dashed to it, hoping she would be okay.

Once they reached the building and went inside, they could hear his mother screaming but not anywhere near.. until they looked up. She was dangling from the ceiling by the rope that had once bound her wrists. Mark’s brothers had found Peter’s mother and were planning on cutting the rope to kill her to get revenge on them for killing their brother, Mark. Peter still had the small saw his birthmother had given him to cut the rope and hid it behind his back as he snuck up the stairs. Once he reached the top, Mark’s brothers attacked him, but luckily, Peter acted quickly and kicked one brother in the stomach, which sent them toppling over the edge they were about to send Peter’s mother off of. The sound of their bodies hitting the floor echoed through the barn.

Quickly, Peter grabbed the rope that was dangling his mother from the roof and pulled her over to the solid floor. He pulled out his saw and cut the rope binding her as he did his own earlier that day.

“Oh Peter, my baby! Thank you! I love you so much I am so sorry this has ever happened. Oh, how happy I am that you are okay!”, Peter’s mother cried, pure happiness laced in her voice.

“Mom! I am so relieved you are okay! The gunshot.. wait if it was not you, then who was shot?”

From behind them, Peter’s birthmother and Mackenzie had come up to meet them. “It was me. I shot Mark, that was what you heard.” , said Peter’s birthmother, looking less anxious and more confident now.

“Thank goodness.” , Peter said, relieved, “I was so worried it could have been..” , he could not even think about it if it would have been his mother.

Now that the worst was over, it was time for everyone to go home and try to forget this ever happened. Peter’s birthmother went back to her house and later met a man who treated her right and was happier than ever before. Peter and his family went to go pick up his car from the gas station and never went back.