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.