I love these days. It’s bright and sunny outside. The birds echo through the park. The wind blissfully makes its way through the trees. My black hair really absorbs the sun; I feel the heat on my head. I look over at my best friend Katie. Her long blonde hair glistens in the sun.

Mom and Dad are out of town, I’ll be home alone for a couple days. Being an only child is the best. I’m not the type of girl who throws parties, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. “What if random people we don’t know show up?” Katie’s voice sounds troubled and scared. You see, Katie comes off as the bad girl, but on the inside, there’s a ten year old banging on the doors trying to get out. “Chill out, it’s only a couple of people.” I try my hardest to ease her mind. She lets out a long sigh. I can tell by her body language that she’s worried.
We head back to my house and start cleaning up. I can’t make the wrong impression on people. We set out cups and snacks. Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door. All I can see is shadows. I open the door slowly and there stands two men. Their faces are hidden behind ski masks. I look back at Katie, her eyes are full of fear and terror. All of this is happening in slow motion. As I go to look back, a cloth is being pushed against my face, all I see is black.
There’s a bag over my head, my hands are tied behind my back. I’m being pulled against concrete. I can hear whimpering. It’s Katie. There are two male voices. I hear a door open and I am thrown into a room. I bounce against the wall. I never thought I’d be in a situation like this; deep down inside I know I may die. Katie was right. I should’ve listened.

The door is shut and locked. I’m terrified to call her name. What if they hear me? I have to; we have to get out of here. “Katie?” There it is, the lump in my throat. I know if I swallow, I’ll burst out in tears.“Katie, are you okay? “, my voice echoes.
“Miranda, you should’ve listened to me. We are going to die, I heard them planning it all.” she says.

The door opens and the bag slides off of my head. I can’t see clearly at first, but then everything comes into view. It’s my creepy neighbor Jeffrey lurking over me; the one I told my mom I was afraid of. Something about him just made me sick to my stomach. Another man is in the room. “What the hell are we going to do now??? They have seen our faces! Why did you take the bags off of their heads?!?” he says. “Anything we want. It’s not like they’re ever going to leave here.” says Jeffrey.

I’m going to throw up. I know in my gut what these men are going to do to us. I’ve seen these things in the movies. The ending is never good; the girls never return home to their families. I start to silently cry to myself. I cannot imagine never seeing my family or friends again.

That’s when I decided…… WE ARE GOING TO MAKE IT OUT OF HERE. WE WILL FIGHT. I feel anger replacing fear.



The two start to argue. They begin to push and shove each other. Suddenly they leave and I hear the door being locked. They are screaming at each other outside. Jeffrey wants to keep us here and the other man is scared of what might happen to him. He tells Jeffrey he has changed his mind; this is insane and he refuses to go through with it. Suddenly there’s a loud thud and then silence.


“Katie, try to untie your hands. I’m working on mine right now.” I whisper. It’s painful and I feel the warmth of my blood trickle down my wrist, but I free one of my hands. And then the other. I crawl over to Katie who seems to be in shock. She isn’t trying to free herself; she’s just sitting there, staring at the wall.

“KATIE!!!!! YOU NEED TO SNAP OUT OF IT NOW!!!! WE ARE GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE, BUT I CAN’T DO IT ALONE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND????” Katie slowly looks up at me, “Do you swear we will get out of here?” she whimpers. “Yes, we are going to fight these guys with everything we have, but we need a plan and we need one quick.”


We look around the room. There are shelves with old coffee cans. There are nuts, bolts, nails, screws, but nothing that can serve as a weapon. “Crap!!!!! Miranda, how in the hell are we going to get out of here with nuts and bolts?!?” In the very last coffee can I find an old pencil. And luckily it is sharp. Katie looks at me and I look at her. “If Jeffrey gets close enough I’m going to stab him right in the eye.” I say. Katie looks at me with a tear running down her face. “Go sit down where you were and put your hands behind your back.” I say. I sit down where I was thrown and hide the pencil behind my back.


We sit there for what seems like an eternity. Finally we hear someone unlocking the door. It’s Jeffrey; he has blood on his hands and an evil grin on his face. He looks directly at me and says, “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment.” He seems to ignore that fact that Katie is in the room. He kneels down close to my face; I can smell his breath and I almost vomit. Before I can think, I say, “Jeffrey, I don’t know why you are doing this. It doesn’t have to be this way. I’ve always liked you. “ His face seems to relax. He believes me. With one quick movement I stab him in the eye with the pencil. Jeffrey screams and falls over. Katie jumps up and looks at me. “RUN KATIE, RUN!!!!” I scream. I follow Katie out of the room. As we’re running down a hallway we see the other man lying on the floor. He’s dead.


We finally reach the outside. The air smells so sweet; I breathe deeply. We are just a few houses from my home. We run as fast as we can. We see police cars parked outside; they are knocking on my door. We run up to them screaming and crying. We explain to them what happened to us and that my neighbor Jeffrey and his friend abducted us, but we escaped.


My mom always told me to trust my gut instinct. I wasn’t even listening to mine, but Katie was right all along.


“Miranda!!!” Katie is screaming at me. I wake up. I’m in my room; in my own bed. “What the hell is happening?” I ask Katie. “You were dreaming. Must have been a nightmare because you were screaming and crying. I’ve been trying to wake you up for like 5 minutes! I’m freaking out because there is a man standing outside looking up at your bedroom window.”


I go to the window and look down. Oh my god, it’s Jeffrey.