"I don't have time for this," Julie said and grabbed Aubrey in her arms. She lifted the squealing child up toward the hole, then bent her arms down and threw her up. Aubrey screamed, then grabbed the edge of the hole and hung there, crying.
"Help!"
Julie stood on her tippy toes, then stretched her arms up and managed to push Aubrey the last part of the way. Aubrey soon peeked down at her. She had stopped crying.
"Now, run," Julie said. "I know you're sick; I know you're tired, but you have to get away. Run or walk or even crawl if you have to. Get away as fast as you can. Get to the tall trees and hide. I'll come right after you. I need to get Nikki too."
Aubrey nodded, then gave Julie one last glare before she disappeared. Julie looked down at Nikki in the back with an exhale. She was so exhausted; it seemed almost impossible to climb all the way down there once again and get another little girl all the way up.
But it had to be done. Julie let herself slide down onto the mattresses, then jumped into the box truck and landed on the floor. But she didn't land right on her foot, and she tumbled onto the dirty floor with a twisted ankle.
Julie growled in pain but got up and stood on it even though it hurt. She had no time for pain. She looked at Nikki, then rushed to her, trying to put as little weight on the ankle as possible. She sat next to the tiny girl, then grabbed her into her arms, turned, and looked at the tower of mattresses in front of her, wondering how she was going to get Nikki all the way up there. With Aubrey, it had been hard, and she had even been able to help. Nikki wasn't awake. She couldn't pull herself up with her arms the way Aubrey had.
There has to be a way. There has to be some way.
Without even thinking about how she was going to do it, Julie simply took off toward the mattresses, Nikki clutched in her arms. She held her the way she had learned in swimming lessons that you had to hold someone you were rescuing, with one arm around her chest, then with the other she pulled herself—and Nikki—upward. Fighting, pressing through the pain in her foot and body, forgetting hunger and thirst along with weakness and exhaustion, she pulled and pulled, and finally managed to get herself up to the top of the mattresses, then swung Nikki up onto them before crawling up herself. Panting and almost choking, she looked up through the hole above them.
"We're almost there, Nikki. We're almost there! Look at the sky above us. Look at the beautiful sky!"
Julie turned to look up herself when she heard agitated voices coming from aboveground. Before she knew it, someone peeked down at her.
"What the heck?"
The confused eyes were scrutinizing her. Julie held her breath. Their eyes locked for a few seconds, hers pleading, his flickering while he figured out what was going on. Next, he reached inside the tunnel, grabbed the hatch, and slammed it shut.
68
May 2018
I stopped the car outside the school and got out. It was dark, and I could barely see the entrance. I walked up to it and tried to open the door, but it was locked. Then I walked around the building back where the playground was. I used my flashlight to light up the area. At first, I shone it on the gate, remembering with a shiver where Emmy had hung. I stared at the gate for a few seconds, while images of her rushed through my mind, bringing me back for a few seconds to that awful day before I moved on. I walked to the slide and shone my flashlight on it. The slide was always Julie's favorite part of any playground. She could keep going on that thing forever and ever. She loved it way more than the swings, which were what most kids—especially girls—preferred. But that was Julie for you. Always had a mind of her own. Marched to the beat of her own drum.
I thought I heard a sound, then turned around and shone my flashlight in the direction of it, and as I did, a shadow rushed through the beam of light and disappeared between the trees behind the playground.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
My voice had a shiver to it as I spoke.
"Hello?"
The shadow returned and ran past the beam again with what I believed sounded like a giggle, then disappeared behind the slides as I tried to follow it with the light.
"Who's there?"
Another sound came from behind me, and I turned to shine my flashlight at it, but the shadow was too fast. The hand holding my flashlight was shaking and the beam trembling as it hit the dangling swings. There was a sense of deep dread inside me that I couldn't shake. Somehow, I just knew something bad was about to happen, something terrifying.
"Who are you?"
The giggling sound was back, this time to my left, and I turned the flashlight and shone it on a face. The sight of it made me cry in relief.
"Julie!"
She was standing between the swings, not moving a muscle. I began to cry. "Julie? Is that really you? Julie?"
I approached her, shining my light on her, walking closer and closer, my heart pounding so terribly in my chest it almost hurt.
Why isn't she moving? Why isn't she saying anything?
"Julie?"
I walked closer, and now I could see her eyes. She was staring at me, but she didn't seem to react. It was like she was looking right through me. I rushed to her and grabbed her in my arms.
"Oh, Julie. Oh, dear Julie, you have no idea how happy I am to see you, baby. Oh, baby girl. I was so scared."
I held her in a close embrace, then realized her body felt completely limp in my arms. I put her down and looked into her face. Her eyes were looking at me like they couldn't recognize me, blinking and moving, telling me she was alive.
"Julie, it's me. It's your mother. Why aren't you saying anything? Julie?"
As she turned to look away, her head tilted sideways, detaching itself from her throat. Her head was now dangling from her shoulder, only attached to her body by a pulsing vein. The sound of the blood pumping through it was so loud it hurt my ears.
I pushed my hands over my ears, but still, the volume grew, and the intensity of the sound was so overwhelming I had to force myself awake, clawing my own skin. My eyes shot open, and I stared into the ceiling, heart still pounding, my nails still dug into my thigh. While images of Julie's dangling head flickered before my eyes, I kept repeating the same sentence over and over again.
"I am not going to let them break your neck. I am not going to let them break your neck. I am NOT!"
69
May 2018
I didn't sleep any more that night. The nightmare lingered with me so deeply the next morning, I couldn't eat. I drank some coffee instead, and headed out the door, telling Sune I promised I would be back before he left for his training. Tobias was old enough to watch Will for a few hours, but we preferred that he didn't have to with everything that was going on. I simply didn't like to leave them alone.
I wasn't going to stay home all day waiting for a phone call or a text telling me where to find my decapitated daughter. I knew I had to act now to get ahead of these kidnappers.
I drove to the hospital and ran inside where I found Sue and Emmett, sipping hospital coffee. I approached them, and Sue's face lit up.
"Rebekka!"
"How is she?" I asked and gave her a warm hug.
"She's good. Dehydrated and lost a lot of weight, but she's going to be fine," the doctor says. "The pills didn't do any damage to her kidneys or liver."
I looked at the clock. It was only eight in the morning. "Can I see her?"
Sue looked briefly at her husband then back at me with a gentle nod. "Of course. Let me show you in."
Alicia looked pale and weak as I entered, but her eyes shone with a bright light when she saw me. I hurried to her and grabbed her hand in mine. I could hardly get the words across my lips.
"Tell me about Julie, please? Is she still alive?"
Alicia nodded. "She was when I was taken out. She gave me a hug."
I exhaled in relief. "How was she? Was she okay?"
Alicia nodded. "She seemed good. Some of the other girls were sick, but not Julie."
"She told us the
y were being kept underground."
The voice belonged to Jack. I turned around and saw him enter with a light wave and a cup of coffee in the other hand.
He handed me the cup. I took it, giving him a puzzled glare.
"You look like you need it more than me," he said. "I just got this one from the machine. I'll just get another one later."
"Thank you," I said and sipped the hot cup.
"How are you holding up?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Feel like a plastic bag in the wind, I guess. Constantly being tossed around, completely out of control of what happens to me."
He nodded with an exhale.
"You're saying they kept them underground?" I asked nervously. The very thought made me want to cry.
Jack nodded, then signaled for me to walk with him out into the hallway to give Alicia some peace and rest. I sent her a smile, then followed him.
"She didn't see much, I’m afraid," he said.
I sighed, feeling myself tense up. How was it possible to keep ten children hidden underground?
"They were taken there in a closed van with no windows, and it was dark, both when they got there and when they pulled her out again. All she knows is that it was underground; they walked down into a hole and used a ladder. She tells me she thinks it was a buried truck. A box truck. It looked like the inside of her aunt's moving truck, she told us."
"So, they buried a truck underground, huh?"
"Yes. Stocked it with crackers and cereal that they lived off. Water bottles too and they had even mattresses and boxes they used as toilets. It was all very well planned."
"So, we have no way of finding out exactly where this truck is?"
"I’m afraid not," he said.
"And the kidnappers?"
"She says she can recognize them. They wore stockings, but she says she might recognize their eyes. "
"So, I guess we messed up their plans, huh? They hadn't planned on us finding her alive. Good. I intend to keep that up. I’m done playing their little games."
"Don't do anything silly, will you, please?"
"Of course not. I never do," I said sarcastically. Jack gave me a look. I ignored him.
"Did she mention Mr. Meckler?" I then asked. "When you asked her about the buses and who told her to get on the different bus."
"That's the odd part."
"Why?"
"She said it was a woman's voice. She never saw her face, because there was so much chaos, and she didn't turn around. All she felt was someone tapping her on the shoulder, and then a woman told her to go on the other bus today."
"A woman? Is she sure about that?"
"She says she is."
"So…it must have been Mrs. Baker, then?" I asked.
Jack nodded. "I sent my men out to find her this morning, but she wasn't at her house. We're searching for her."
I stared at him, remembering talking to Mrs. Baker at Juice N' Java a few days ago.
"Really?" I said. "Mrs. Baker? I find that very hard to believe. She's such a sweet old lady?"
"She might not have been the one planning the entire thing; maybe she was just a part of it."
"But why? Why would a sweet old lady like her do such a terrible thing? I don't understand it," I said.
Jack sighed and looked at his phone that was vibrating. "Well, hopefully, we'll be able to get her in, so she can explain all that to us. If you'll excuse me. I have to take this."
"Of course."
"See you later, okay? And remember, don't do anything stupid," he said and rushed off, holding the phone to his ear.
I watched him walk away while praying that it was someone calling to let him know they had found Mrs. Baker.
70
May 2018
Julie hugged Nikki extra close. Their underground tomb suddenly seemed so empty and lonely now that all the other girls were gone. Julie hadn't slept at all since she heard the hatch slam shut. She was so scared.
After they had closed the hatch, she had heard them talking outside.
"They're gone," she heard one of them say. She recognized his voice as the same one that had peeked inside and closed the hatch in front of her.
"What do you mean how did that happen? How am I supposed to know?" he then said.
"She's gonna kill us," another voice said. "She's gonna kill us all for letting this happen."
"Calm down."
"How am I supposed to calm down? All we had to do was to make sure those girls stayed down there. It was our only job."
"Damn kids," the first one said. "They can't have made it far."
"I ain't going into those swamps in this darkness," the second one said. "All kinds of animals lurk in there. Snakes, gators, spiders."
"Afraid of a little spider, are we?"
"I ain't doing it."
"All right, all right. Those kids won't survive a night in there anyway."
"So, what do you suggest we do now then? The kids down there have seen our faces."
There was a pause. It sounded to Julie like they were inhaling, and she wondered if they were smoking cigarettes.
"I might have an idea," one of them said. "We don't have to run it by her first."
After that, everything had gone quiet for a few minutes until Julie heard the sound of dirt hitting the hatch once again. She knew the sound so well by now, but now that she knew what it actually was, it felt more claustrophobic than ever. Back when she hadn't known that they filled dirt on top of the hatch, she still believed there was a way out, but now that she knew how long it had taken them to dig through it the last time, the feeling of suffocation was even heavier than before.
She looked down at Nikki, who had absolutely no color in her cheeks anymore. She was so still it was eerie. Her breathing came in ragged sniffs that didn't seem to last long enough to get proper air into her lungs. Julie felt a tear escape her eye and followed it as it fell on Nikki's lifeless face. She wondered what exactly it was the kidnappers had talked about doing, what was going to be their next move? Would it be to kill both her and Nikki? Because they had seen their faces?
Julie sighed and stroked Nikki gently across her burning face, wondering how long a body could sustain having a fever before it caved in. She had to be severely dehydrated by now since she barely had anything to drink, and the little Julie managed to actually get into her mouth probably never even made it inside of her small body.
Julie hugged Nikki and held her tight, rocking back and forth like she used to do to her favorite teddy bear, crying.
We're never getting out of here, are we? This is it, isn't it? Next time that hatch opens, it'll be them, ready to kill us.
71
May 2018
I made it back before Sune had to go. Well, almost that is. I was a few minutes late, and he was a little annoyed with me. I leaned over to kiss him, but he was in too much of a rush to make it to his appointment on time, so he brushed me off instead.
I sat in the living room with my iPad and a coffee but couldn't really sit still. The more we approached the time of day when we usually heard from the kidnappers, the harder it became to remain calm. Was it going to be my turn this time?
I kept checking the phone again and again, and every ten minutes, I would rush to the mailbox to see if they had left a note for me like they did for Alondra's parents.
But nothing happened. The clock approached noon and still nothing. As I watched the minutes go by, I felt more and more anxious. Had someone else received a note from them? Had Jack started the search for someone else? I didn't know if the thought made me feel relieved or even more anxious.
I played a game of Go Fish with Will but couldn't really focus on it, and he kept winning, while all I did was drum my nails on the breakfast counter.
Tobias walked across the room toward the Xbox.
"Hi there, stranger," I said, trying to sound cheerful. "I haven't seen you all morning. Are you all right?"
He nodded without looking at me. "How's Alicia?" he th
en asked.
"She's going to be fine," I said.
"That's good news, right?"
"It sure is," I said.
"So, now they can get them, right? I mean, she can tell where they were, right? And who the kidnappers were?"
I patted the seat next to me, and Tobias came over to sit.
"I’m afraid it's not that easy, buddy. She did help a little bit, though. She told them it was Mrs. Baker who told her to get on the other bus on the day they disappeared. Now they're all looking for Mrs. Baker, and hopefully, that will lead us to Julie."
Tobias looked pensive. His eyes then rested on me. "Mrs. Baker? But…"
"But what?"
"She…she couldn't have…"
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because she was busy separating Billy and Timmy. There was a fight while we waited. Billy and Timmy as usual. Everyone was watching them, and Mrs. Baker tried to separate them."
"So, everyone was looking at them and not at the woman tapping the girls on the shoulders?" I asked. "Where was Mr. Meckler while Mrs. Baker was taking care of the fight?"
"He went to the kindergarteners to open the doors for them. They always come out last. That's why Mrs. Baker was all alone with Timmy and Billy and separating them."
"So, you're telling me everyone's attention was on the fight, huh?"
I grabbed my phone with the intention of calling Jack when it vibrated in my hand. It was him.
"Jack?"
"They have made a demand. Ten million dollars."
I sunk back in my seat. "You're kidding me, right?"
"Nope. We just received the phone call. Ten million dollars by this time tomorrow."
"But…but why now?"
"My guess is they have become desperate. We weren't supposed to find Alicia alive, and now that we did, they sense we're getting close. They're scared."