Blurb: Kelly does the same thing everyday, but the one day she goes out for coffee with a coworker her world gets turned upside down.
It started out just like any other day in the London household. Kelly woke up and went downstairs to make a cup of coffee. Today she felt good for some reason. The last few days, she had been feeling not great, but today she felt amazing.
“Hey Kat,” said Kelly.
“Hey, Kelly! You ready for coffee today?” exclaimed Kat.
“OMG, why is everyone so surprised that I’m going out to coffee?” asked Kelly.
“Well, I mean workaholics don’t normally do anything but work.”
“Haha very funny. See you later.”
“Bye.”
As Kelly works away at her paper due at the end of the week she thinks about all the things that she is doing this weekend. Things such as cleaning her house and going to the grand opening of Bin22 in Jackson.
“Hey Kelly, ready for coffee?” Kat asked Kelly.
“Yeah, let me just grab my stuff, you want to drive?”
“Sure.” Kat said.
As Kat and Kelly drive to the coffee house Kelly had an uneasy feeling about what was going to happen at the coffee house whether it got robbed or something worse. Little did she know what was going to happen was much worse than what she could have ever imagined.
As they walked into the coffee house the smell of freshly brewed coffee hit Kelly like a truck.
“What are you going to get Kelly?”
“I think I’m going to get the chaí latte! How about you?”
“I think I’m going to get a matcha green tea.”
When Kat and Kelly sat down to eat, they watched as a man with greased back black hair got out of his car, but as soon as he got inside he put up his hood.
“That’s a little weird don't you think Kelly?”
Kelly murmured, “Uh yeah sure.”
“Kelly pay attention.”
Kelly says, “Sorry did you just see that guy walk in he looked a little suspicious.”
In response, Kat slaps herself in the face.
“What did you do that for Kat?”
Kat sighed, “Nevermind.”
The man picked up his drink from the counter he looked around and put his hand in his pocket as if he was grabbing something and in fact, he was pulling out a gun.
“All right if everyone stays calm no one will get hurt!”
Kelly's body shook as she realized that in that exact moment she could die.
She watched as the barista behind the counter went to reach for a secret help button located behind the counter. Kelly knew this as she was a waitress right after college.
“What did I tell you about not moving?”
Kelly's heart felt like it was beating out of her chest as the robber started to slowly move his gun up the barista's body and for what felt like 45 minutes the robber simply stood there holding the gun to the barista's head then finally he shot. Kelly's body shook with fear her arms, and legs went numb.
“Did I not make myself clear?”
Kelly watched in horror as the barista's blood started to pool around her body. Somehow someone got ahold of the police because Kelly saw cops start to pull into the parking lot of the coffee house.
“Alright who called the cops? Give yourself up now or everyone dies!”
Just as he finished his sentence the cops came bursting through the door and one cop, in particular, called out the robbers name as if they had met before.
“Dale I am going to need you to put the gun down.”
“Now you know I can’t do that Chris.”
“I’m sorry that we hurt your family but this is not the way to help you get over it. What would Maddy think?”
“Ok here's what I’m going to do Chris, and you are going to listen to me or I am going to shoot this lady over there drinking her chaí latte!”
And of all people that could be drinking a chaí latte, Kelly had to be the one. Kelly’s heart felt like it was beating out of her chest.
“Umm, what should I do?”
“You should come with me unless you want to die!”, the robber barked.
The police reassured her, “You don’t need to do that miss.”
“No offense but I would rather not risk dying.”
So, Kelly started to slowly stand up and walked over to the robber.
“That's good”, he whispered in Kelly's ear, “Now we are going to go out the backdoor and you are going to get in the back of the white van.”
As Kelly walked out of the coffee house she realized what kind of mistake she had made but by the time she knew that it was too late, and next thing Kelly knew she was hit in the back of the head with a blunt object.
As Kelly started to wake up she couldn't remember how or why she was in a basement. She tried to hear something, anything … but there was nothing for a solid ten minutes. Not a single sound.
“Where the hell am I?” Kelly asked herself.
Kelly tried to stand up. She has no idea where she was. If she did manage to get out she would probably have to walk five miles to the nearest town or phone.
Just then, a man with a mask came down the stairs.
“Ah, you’ve woken up sweetheart” the kidnapper spoke as his yellow teeth shined in the fluorescent light.
“Don’t call me sweetheart, and why am I here?”, Kelly spat.
“You volunteered.”
“If I hadn't you would’ve shot me so this is probably better.”
He jeered, “Just so you know, I would not have shot you but thank you for volunteering.”
The way he smiled sent a chill down Kelly’s spine.
After about five minutes the man finally went upstairs and Kelly spent around 20 minutes thinking about what she should do next, going over each situation in her head.
Option one, I could just run up the stairs and hope that no one is at the top and bust through the door. Option two, I could wait until I think that the robber is gone and then run up the stairs and bust through the door or Option three, I could just stay down here and hope that someone could figure out where I am.
As Kelly sat in the cold damp basement she thought to herself about why she was even trying to think about what to do. With every muscle she had in her body she stood up and started to walk up the stairs but soon realized that there was a guard at the door.
“Shit.” Kelly whispered as she slowly started back down the stairs to collect herself and think of a new plan.
Kelly sat back down as her legs felt like they were going to give way any minute. She sat and sat for a solid 30 minutes to think about which of her options that she could try next. Then it came to her mind that while she had been sitting down earlier she kept hearing men talk, and move around above her and so she made the guess that they were taking shifts to watch the door. So Kelly made a plan that the next time she heard them move she would get up with all the willpower that she had and walk quickly, but quietly up the stairs and out the door, and that's exactly what she did. As Kelly made her way up the stairs she had finally wrapped her head around the fact that she would no longer have to sit in the basement, but that she could be free.
As Kelly got to the top of the stairs she waited for just a moment's worth of hesitation, but then decided that it was probably best if she just went for it. That is exactly what she did. Kelly opened the door as fast as she could and bolted. She pumped her legs as fast as she could and ran and just kept running till she felt like she could not run anymore. Once she stopped and finally caught her breath she looked around and realized that she had no clue as to where to go.
Kelly walked over to the side of the road that she was running on to catch her breath, but only for a second. She remembered that she was probably running from a bunch of men much bigger than her, so she ran, and ran some more till she could not run anymore. Then just as she thought her legs might just fall off of her body, Kelly looked over to her left. There was a sign that read “Next town in 15 miles”.
Kelly sat next to the sign catching her breath, and thinking about what the sign said. 15 miles was not bad for her, she ran marathons back home all the time. But when she was running in those she had not just outrun a bunch of middle age men looking to kill her. Kelly finally decided to sleep next to the sign the rest of the night, and in the morning she would start toward the next town where hopefully she could find a phone to call someone.
Kelly woke up in a cold sweat. As she sat up the sweat rolled into her eyes, burning them to the point where she thought that they were on fire. She then sat and collected her thoughts as she thought about what she needed to do next.
I need to come up with a plan for what I should do next.
Kelly thought to herself and just then she remembered that yesterday she had come up with the plan to walk the 15 miles to the next town and call for help. So Kelly started her journey walking alone on a long narrow secluded road was something she was not a fan of as she was a city girl. But, it gave her time to think about what had just happened and if she was ever going to recover from it. She also realized that she had been starting to talk to herself which was really weird for her, but she needed someone to talk to.
After walking for what felt like forever Kelly finally came upon an old sign that had fallen over with the name of the town Pleasantdale.
“Oh well, let's see if anyone from this town with a population of 12 has a phone.”
As Kelly walked into the very small town she did not see a single house, car, or person in the whole town, but off in the distance she saw a little blue box that if Kelly was really that lucky was a phone box. Kelly walked up to it and to her surprise, it really was a phone box. Kelly walked inside, but then soon realized that she did not have a single penny to make the phone work, but as she watched out in the distance something on the ground glistened, and it caught Kelly’s attention. She walked out of the booth and bent down to pick it up. To her excitement, it was a quarter that would give her around five minutes of call time.
Kelly picked up the quarter and put it in the coin slot. With her very shaky hands, she dialed 911.
“Hello, this is 911 what's your location?” asked the 911 operator.
Kelly hesitated for a moment, not quite sure what to say.
“Hello?”
“Huh, yeah I’m sorry... I would like to have a cop sent to my location, I just escaped from a kidnapper, and I don’t know what to do!” explained Kelly.
“Ok Ma’am I’m going to need you to calm down, do you know where you are? Are there any distinct markers?”
Kelly started to panic again, and her chest tightened up. That’s when she realized she was having a panic attack, but she has had them before, so she knew exactly what to do. Kelly sat down on the concrete floor of the phone booth and started to breathe slowly. All of this happened as Kelly was still on the phone with the 911 operator.
“Miss are you still there?” asked the 911 operator.
“Huh, oh yes I’m still here I was just having a panic attack.”
“I’m sorry about that Ma’am but I need you to help me out. Are there any markers that would give us any way to narrow down where you are?”
“Uh yeah, when I walked into this town there was a sign that said Pleasantdale.”
“Ok, Miss I have an officer headed your way now. I just need you to stay calm and stay where you are, ok?”
“Ok.”
After about 15 minutes Kelly heard sirens, and up over a little knoll came an officer. As he parked and got out of his cruiser Kelly thought that she had seen him before.
“Hello there Ma’am.” the police officer said.
“Hello.”
Kelly's heart skipped a beat once she figured out how she knew the officer.
“Hey, you’re the officer that made it so that I am in this whole predicament!”, she yelped.
“No, I think you have me mistaken for someone else Ma’am.”
“Uh, I think not.”
Kelly hesitated for a moment trying to figure out a way to prove to him that he was the reason she was kidnapped.
“Ok then riddle me this. Where were you on January 10th at around 12:30 pm?”
“I was called to a robbery over at the coff--”
“Huh, can you finish that sentence.”
“I’m so sorry. That was my brother and I just could not shoot him.”
“So you let him kidnap me?!”
“I’m sorry, but I came down to bring you home, so let’s go.”
“Ugh fine ok, but just so you know I don’t know if I could ever forgive you for what you put me through!”
“Ok listen, I told you I am sorry, but I would like to get you home.”
Kelly agreed, and she got in the cop car. They drove back home where Kelly recovered from the kidnapping and the kidnappers turned themselves in.