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the beginning of the seperation of two best friends |
Wednesday 10:15p.m. LILY I sat at home waiting for my cousin Pru to show up. We were supposed to start our drive to Wyoming tonight. I looked at my watch; it was 10:15p.m. Pru said she’d be to my house by nine. I wasn’t too worried though; Pru had been having some troubles with her car. Or maybe she had stopped somewhere to get something to eat. But then she would’ve called, right? “Maybe I should call her,” I thought. I decided that was the best idea, so I dialed her number on my cell phone. The phone rang only once before going to the answering machine. “Hey, you’ve reached Pru, I’m out with some hot guy right now, but you can leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you.” The phone beeped, “Hey Pru, it’s me Lily, just trying to figure out where you are. We’re supposed to leave for Wyoming tonight, remember? Um…well, you’re probably on your way, give me a call. Bye.” I hung up the phone. This was weird; Pru always had her phone on her. It was me who always left mine in the car. I called Pru’s parent’s house, maybe she had stopped there. “Hi, Aunt June? It’s me Lily.” “Oh, hi Lily, why are you calling here so late dear?” “I was wondering if you’ve talked to Pru tonight?” “Oh, no, I haven’t talked to her since, oh, probably Monday. Why do you ask?” I was quiet a moment, “Well, she usually calls me every night, and she hasn’t called me. It’s just not like her.” “Well, have you called her cell phone?” “Yeah, but she didn’t answer.” “Okay, that’s weird, maybe I should call her dorm room.” “No, I’ll do it,” I quickly spoke up. Aunt June didn’t know that Pru was going to Wyoming. Pru didn’t want her to get upset that Pru was going to miss class. I quickly dialed Pru’s dorm room number. “Hello?” “Oh hello, is Pru there?” “No, may I ask who’s calling?” “It’s Lily.” “Oh, hi Lily, no, Pru’s not here. She left around 5. I haven’t heard from her. Why, what’s up?” “Oh, nothing, she’s just running late.” “Okay, I’ll tell her to call you if she shows up.” “Okay. Thanks.” I hung up the phone. I dialed Pru’s cell phone again. “QUIT CALLING HERE!” a male voice yelled. I looked at my phone, the number I had called was Pru’s. Something wasn’t right. I knew what I had to do. “Hello?” June asked. “Aunt June, I have something I need to tell you, something is definitely wrong.” “What’s wrong?” “Pru’s missing, she was supposed to meet me at my house tonight. We were supposed to go to Wyoming for my stepsister’s wedding. Well, she left her dorm over five hours ago, and she’s not with you. I’m worried.” “Maybe she had car problems?” June was getting worried, it was in her voice. “Don’t you think she would’ve called uncle Stan?” “I don’t know, but don’t worry, I’ll call around. See what I can find.” I hung up the phone and paced back and forth. I needed to know where Pru was and who the strange man was who had answered her phone. WEDNESDAY 10:30 P.M. Pru Pru looked at her watch, it read 10:30 p.m. “How did I get here?” she thought, in her mind, she quickly ran through her afternoon. She had left her dorm at 5:10 p.m. and had started her drive down to the cities. She had gone about half way and her car had started to act funny. She would’ve waited for the next exit, but it wasn’t for another 15 miles, but there was a rest stop. She pulled in and stopped her car. She pulled the hood button and opened her trunk. She grabbed a rag from her father’s homemade car kit and then went to the engine. She checked the oil, and she realized it was low. She walked back to her trunk and pulled out some oil. When she got back to the front of her car a man was standing there. Pru jumped from the surprise. “Hello!” he said. “Hi,” she said as she looked at him. He was older, about 45-50. he had dark hair, which was starting to gray. He was tall, probably 6 foot. That’s was tall to Pru, who stood at only five foot two. “Are you having some car problems?” “Sort of, my car tends to act up, and I usually have to stop at some place and let it rest. I guess I went too far this time. I also needed some oil.” “Mind if I take a look?” the man asked. “Um…I guess not. Are you some sort of mechanic?” “No, I just know my cars.” He said and stuck his head under the hood. “Excuse me sir, but I’m going to go make a quick phone call. Do you mind that I’m leaving you?” “No, that’s fine, do what you want.” Pru walked inside the building, used the bathroom, and when she walked out of the building she pulled out her cell phone. “Hi, you’ve reached the Spencer’s, we’re not home at the moment, but if you’d like to leave your name and number after the tone, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day.” It was Pru’s mother’s voice on the answering machine. “Hey my familia, I’m not going to try to scare you, but I’m in a rest stop before Hinkley, I’m going with my roommate Stacey to some casino, but don’t worry. My car’s acting up a bit. Stacey and her boyfriend are already at the casino. But some nice guy is taking a look at it as we speak. I’ll call you when he’s done, maybe he can tell me what dad can’t. Love ya lots, Pru.” Pru hung up her cell phone, and walked back over to her car. “So what’s the verdict?” “I’m not sure, it seems fine. What exactly does it do?” “Well, it starts to hesitate when it shifts, and when I push the accelerator. It’s really strange.” “Well, you probably need a professional’s opinion. I could give you a ride if you need it.” Pru didn’t hesitate, “Um…no, I think I’ll make it.” Pru said as she opened her door. She realized her trunk was still open. So she went back to her trunk and she shut it. “Um…but you need to come with me,” the man said. She turned and looked at him, “Excuse me, I need to go?” Pru tried to open her car door again. Suddenly something hit her in the head hard and she fell to the ground. She woke up in this van. THURSDAY 1:14 A.M. Lily The phone rang, waking me up from my sleep. “Hello?” I said a little dazed and confused. “Lily, you were right, something’s wrong. I just checked the messages, and there was one from Pru. She was at a rest stop before Hinckley. Some guy was helping her with her car. I’m worried.” It was aunt June. “Who can we call?” I asked. “Um… Maybe I can call the state highway patrol, and ask them to check the rest stop.” “You do that, I’ll start calling hotels, maybe her car didn’t make it much farther, and she stopped somewhere.” “Okay, call me if you get anything.” June told me. I got off the phone and quickly turned on my computer, my foot tapping anxiously. I started looking up the hotels around Hinckley and then started calling them one by one on my cell phone. I had called about fifteen of them when the house phone rang. “Hello?” I said as I quickly picked up the phone. “Lily?” “Aunt June, is that you?” “Yes, I heard back from the State patrol.” “And what did they say?” I asked. “They found Pru’s car in the rest stop.” I gasped, “Where’s Pru?” “They don’t know, but there was something else.” I held my breath, then I couldn’t hold it, “What? Aunt June, tell me.” “They’ve found a small amount of blood outside her car.” I raised my hand up to my mouth, “Oh my god.” “You stay where you are Lily, Uncle Stan is coming to get you, then you’ll be going to the rest stop.” “Okay,” I said and hung up the phone. THURSDAY 3:35 A.M. Pru Pru looked around her, she was in the back of the van still, laying on a blanket. She looked towards the front, there was a wall with a small window. She slowly got up, her head still hurt. She pulled herself up with the windowsill. The man was sitting at the wheel. She pounded on the window with her fists. “Let me go!” she yelled. The van braked and suddenly Pru was thrown toward the back. She hit the back of the van hard against her back. Her back began to throb instantly. THURSDAY 4:45 A.M. Lily I was at the rest stop within the hour. The cops weren’t telling us much. They gave us a list of everything in Pru’s car. I looked over it, as did uncle Stan, but something just wasn’t right. “Excuse me, but did you find a backpack or any sort of luggage in the car?” I asked one officer. “Ma’am, if it’s not on the list, then it wasn’t in the car.” “What’s wrong Lily?” uncle Stan asked. “Pru had to have had luggage and/or her back pack in the car. She needed clothes for the weekend in Wyoming. Something’s just not right.” “Excuse me officer, was the car locked when you arrived?” Stan asked. “No, it was unlocked.” The officer was getting irritated. “Excuse me, officer, can you please tell us what you think happened?” “We’re thinking that maybe she hitch hiked.” My eyes went wide. “Why is there blood then?” “We don’t know.” I couldn’t tell if he was really irritated, and that was why he wasn’t telling us much, or if that’s really what the officers were thinking. “What if I told you that I truly believe she was kidnapped? Think about it, she left her mother a message. I called her cell phone and a man picked up. She should have luggage in her car.” “You called her cell phone?” the officer asked. “Yeah, twice, and the second time the man picked up.” “Let’s try again, what’s her number?” he called the number, but no one picked up. “Are you sure you dialed the right number?” I looked at him, “I used my speed dial, as I always do.” THURSDAY 4:50 A.M. Pru Pru’s back felt like it was on fire. She laid on her stomach on the blanket. The van was slowing down, Pru didn’t move, she was too painful. The van came to a complete stop, then she could feel it backing up. Pru heard the front door open and close, then the passenger. It was about five minutes before that shut. Pru could hear someone walk around to the back of the van. The doors flung open and the man was standing there. By now Pru had sat up…and now, seeing the man started backing up. “Come on, I won’t hurt you.” “Sure, that’s why I’m here. Where am I, why am I here?” “Just get out of the van,” the man said clenching his teeth. Pru didn’t move, the man jumped into the van and grabbed Pru’s hair. She screamed as he dragged her out of the van. Pru saw a hole in the ground. “You’re not putting me in there!” she said trying to walk backwards. “Yes you are!” the man was psychotic Pru had decided. He pushed her to the hole and she saw there were stairs. “Get down there!” he yelled. “Just tell me why?” Pru asked on her knees. The man pulled her by her hair and threw her down the stairs. THURSDAY 5:45 Lily Uncle Stan and I sat at the police station waiting. Just waiting for someone to tell us anything. “Mr. Spencer?” a man came from the hallway. “Yes?” Uncle Stan stood up. “My name is Detective Hunter, I’ve been assigned to your daughter’s case. And if you’d follow me, we can talk.” Uncle Stan and I stood up and followed Detective Hunter. He led us to a room and we all sat at a table. “So, Mr. Spencer, what can you tell me about your daughter?” “Pru? She’s a good child, works hard at school and is sort of a shy bug.” “So, do you have any idea why she was talking with the man at the rest stop.” “Her car had been acting up, so I guess she pulled in there to let her car cool off.” “Okay, now to tell you what I know.” “The blood we found was your daughters, but our doctors and lab techs tell us that she didn’t lose enough for us to be worried. We did find some fingerprints in the car, so we’ll run them through our system, but more than likely they’ll be hers but we’ll not be able to prove that. “We have the security video from the rest stop, so far we cannot make out the license plate on any of the cars. We have gotten a vague image of the man, but our specialists are trying to focus in on it.” “Do you see what happens to her?” I asked. “I’m not really supposed to say.” “What? You’ve left her father and me out there for a long time, and you’re telling me we can’t see what happens!” I stood up. “Miss, I need you to calm down.” Uncle Stan stood up too, “Either you show us the tape. Or I’ll storm through here.” “Okay, Mr. Spencer, you’ll have to give me a minute.” Detective Hunter left the room. He returned a minute later with a video in his hand. He put it in the VCR in the corner. Uncle Stan and I watched as Pru’s car pulled up. She opened her door and popped the hood and trunk. She went to her trunk and got a rag, she checked the oil. Then she went back to her trunk and pulled out a bottle. “She was adding oil,” uncle Stan said. The man appeared from a white van. They chatted for a while, then Pru walked away, and made the phone call home. She walked back to the car, then shut her hood. She opened the door then walked back to the trunk and shut the trunk. She went back to open the door, but the man was there. They spoke some more, and then when Pru tried to get into her car, the man hit her in the back of the head. She became loose and I watched in terror as the man lifted Pru over to his van and threw her in the back. Then the van sped off. “Oh my god!” I sat down, I covered my mouth with my hand, and my eyes swelled, but didn’t cry. I looked over at uncle Stan and for the second time in my life I saw him crying. I wrapped my arms around my shoulders. “So what are you guys doing to find her?” I asked. “Right now we’re compiling a list of white vans from the state.” “Are you sure it’s from Minnesota?” I asked. “We can tell by the coloring of the license plate.” “So, let me get this straight, you can tell what state their from just from looking at the colors, but you can’t see the letters and numbers?” “I think it’s a good time for you guys to leave. There’s nothing more for you to do here. We’ll call if anything happens.” We left, I was furious, and uncle Stan was in tears. THURSDAY 7:15 A.M. Pru Pru woke up, her full body painful. She was in a bed, a very large and comfortable bed. She was in some sort of cellar, she assumed. There was a dresser, and next to her side Pru saw her knitting. “What the hell is going on here?” she thought. She slowly got off the bed, using the wall to hold herself up. She found the bathroom, but it was very strange looking. It was only a toilet and a small sink. Pru turned on the cold water, splashed some in her face, and then drank a small bit. There was no mirror. Pru felt the back of her head, it was tender, and she winced in pain. She heard the door open, so she slowly made her way back to the bed. The man was coming down the stairs. “Why are you doing this?” she asked. “You’ll find out soon enough,” he said as he set down the tray that he held. He then pulled out a note card and a tape recorder. “Before you eat, you have to read this.” Pru looked at the car. “Go!” the man said pushing a button. “Mom and dad, this man is serious, please do whatever he wants. He’s out for revenge.” I read the note card, “He wants no money, and he’s going to keep me until you apologize for something someone did. He’ll send me back in pieces until you figure out who and why he is doing this. All he’ll say is that his first name is Pat.” I finished the card but quickly added, “Please help, I’m in a cellar. It was a long drive from the-“ “You little bitch!” Pat said. “I told you to read the card, not improvise.” He punched me across the face. Pru fell onto the bed as Pat headed back up the stairs. “You’ll miss lunch now for your little interruptive behavior.” And he left. Pru walked up the stairs and tried to push it up. It didn’t budge, it was either too heavy, or something was on top of it. THURSDAY 8:30 A.M. LILY Once back at aunt June’s, none of us did anything. We were all too worried. Cops came to the house and set up a wiretap and a call tracer on the phone. Detective Hunter told us that someone from the State Police would always be with us, just in case someone called. THURSDAY 8:45A.M. Pru Pru heard footsteps above her, and as she sat on the stairs she pounded with her fists. She hoped that the someone walking would hear her. Someone did, Pru heard someone stop walking right on top of her. So she pounded harder and harder. Then that someone walked off again. Pru was tired, so she climbed back down the stairs and sat on the bed next to the tray. There was barely anything there. Two pieces of toast and some fruit. Pru ate her fruit first, with the common knowledge that fruit was the best thing to eat before noon. Then she ate the toast. Pru opened the can that Pat had given her, it was a juice. The juice tasted old, but she didn’t care, she had to deal. After she was done eating, Pru placed the tray on the ground, and then she fell on her back on the bed. She screamed in pain, she had forgotten. She laid still a moment, and the paid subsided. The door at the top of the stairs opened, and Pru didn’t move, she was too painful. “hello?” a voice called; it wasn’t Pat’s/ Pru managed to sit up, the person on the steps walked slowly down. They wore brown work boots, jeans and a white t-shirt. “Who are you?” he asked. “I’m Pru, and I’m trapped here,” she said scooting to the end of the bed. “What? You’re trapped here?” he had dark hair, and green eyes. “Well, why else would I live in this place, I don’t even know where I am?” Pru remarked. “I should go tell my father,” he headed up the stairs. “Wait, what’s your father’s name? What’s your name?” “My name is Cole,” he smiled, and headed up the stairs. THURSDAY 12:30 P.M. The phone rang, both uncle Stan and aunt June jumped, but didn’t answer the phone until Detective Hunter told them to. “Hello?” uncle Stan said. “I’ve got your daughter. Here she is,” the man’s voice disappeared off the phone. “Mom and dad, this man is serious, please do whatever he wants. He’s out for revenge.” I read the note card, “He wants no money, and he’s going to keep me until you apologize for something someone did. He’ll send me back in pieces until you figure out who and why he is doing this. All he’ll say is that his first name is Pat.” And the call ended. “Any trace?” I asked. “Give us a minute,” Detective Hunter said pressing some buttons. The machine didn’t do much. “He’s on a home line, they take longer to trace. Sorry.” “What about *69?” I asked. “Try it,” Detective Hunter said. I picked up the phone and dialed the number. The phone told me that the number had been blocked. THURSDAY 5:57 P.M. PRU Pru hoped that Cole would come back soon. The door opened, and down started two figures. One of them was shoved down the stairs. Pat walked over his son’s body, but turned around and pulled his son up by his ear. He threw Cole onto the bed on his stomach. “You’re not supposed to know Cole,” Pat was extremely angry. “You can’t keep her here dad!” Cole said sitting up. Pat grabbed Cole’s shirt, “Her parents need to learn, and she was Brad’s surprise.” “What?” Cole asked. “She’s going to become his wife.” Pru was very shocked and confused as Cole stood up. “Dad, you can’t do that, she’s human.” Pat put his hand around Cole’s throat and pushed him up against the wall, “You better back off, and I swear to god if you tell anyone I’ll kill you and her.” Cole was grabbing at his father’s hands. He obviously couldn’t breathe. “Do you understand?” Pat asked, holding his grip. Cole managed a nod and Pat released his grip. Cole fell to the ground holding his own neck. “Let’s go, you, you get some sleep.” Cole slowly got up and followed his father, as he headed up the stairs, he turned back. “Please help me,” Pru whispered. |