EPISODE FOUR:kidn*pped
1585 Words
Atheia keeps running and running from the burning house, but no matter how far she runs, it keeps moving closer and closer to her.
Since when did houses develop legs?
The smoke fills her lungs, and she falls to the ground. Coughing and breathing heavily, she knows she is going to die.
The fire from the burning house scorches her skin and she screams.
“Atheia! Atheia!” Someone is shaking her vigorously.
Atheia opens her mouth, gasping for breath. Her eyes are blurry, but she can see her mother holding her, shaking her.
Where’s the fire?
Atheia looks down at her body. She is wearing her pajamas. There’s no smoke. No fire. Thank goodness.
“You were having a bad dream, baby.” Rhea says with concern on her face.
Atheia stares at her for a while and tries to sit up. Immediately, she collapses back in bed. Why does the back of her head hurt so badly?
“You should rest,” Her mother says. “The doctor has advised that you rest well.” She adds.
Atheia opens her eyes despite the way her head aches. “Doctor? What happened?”
Rhea sighs, “You were attacked by an intruder. He was trying to rob us, but he saw you and was caught off -guard, so he hit you at the back of his head with his gun.
I’m so sorry, baby.” She says.
Atheia looks at her mother for a moment. She closes her eyes, trying to calm herself. She does not remember much about the attack, but she remembers coming down the stairs to get some milk.
Atheia coughs. “Mom, can I please get some milk?” She asks, and her mother rings the kitchen.
Soon, Layla appears with a glass of milk, drops it on the bedside table and leaves.
“Was he caught?” Atheia asks.
“Was who caught?” Rhea asks, taken off-guard by the question.
“The robber, Mom.” Atheia answers and picks up her glass.
“No. He ran away before we all came out of our rooms. That was when we found you on the floor, unconscious.” Rhea answers.
“Is everyone else okay?” Atheia asks.
Rhea nods.
Atheia gulps her milk. “How long was I out for?” She asks.
Rhea looks at the wall clock, “About sixteen hours now. It happened at midnight, and this is six p.m.”
“Okay, Mom.” Atheia says and immediately drifts back to sleep.
*
It has been three days since the robbery, and Atheia is feeling much better. She should be at school the next day.
She has honestly missed Ava and Victoria.
The next day, she has breakfast with her family as usual. Everyone is extra caring towards her, even her dad.
They must have been so scared when she passed out.
“How are you feeling today, my darling?” Donald asks.
Atheia smiles slightly, “ I’m better now, Dad. Thanks.”
Donald nods his head, “I hope that the bastard who hit you is put in jail where he belongs.”
Atheia looks at Kai, who is busy digging into his toast. “I hope so, too.” She says.
There is silence at the table.
“Atheia, we’ve been thinking,” Rhea begins.
“Yeah,” Donald interjects, “You can celebrate your birthday as planned.”
Atheia’s face lights up immediately. “Really? Thank you!”
“You’re welcome, but you should know that you can only celebrate it on the tenth.” Donald informs her.
“Dad, why would I throw a party five days before my birthday?” Atheia asks.
“That’s because we are flying into Vienna on the twelfth.” Her father explains.
Atheia thinks about it for a moment and shrugs, “Okay! Thank you, Dad! Thanks, Mom! I can’t wait to tell my friends!”
“You’re welcome, darling.” Her parents say in unison.
It’s time for school and Atheia walks towards the car just as Soren opens the door for her.
“Good morning, Miss.” He greets.
“Good morning, Soren. How are you doing today?” Atheia responds, still beaming with smiles.
*
Atheia is in high spirits at school. She really cannot wait for school to be over so she can go shopping with her friends for her birthday.
She really did not expect her parents to allow her to hold the party. Maybe the attack softened their hearts.
“We should go shopping for my birthday,” She tells her friends.
“I thought you said you were moving,” Ava says.
“Yes, I did. But my parents said I could hold the party, but it has to be on the tenth.” Atheia explains.
“Oh. That’s okay.” Victoria says. “We need to start shopping for dresses!” She rubs her hands together excitedly.
“Yeah, and I was hoping we could start today.” Atheia says.
“Okay. We’ll go after school.” Ava says.
Immediately after the end of school, Soren comes to pick Atheia up. He is surprised to see that she shows up with her friends.
“Hello, Soren. How are you doing today?” Victoria basically struts up to him. She has always liked and she’s not shameless about that.
“I’m good, even though you all drugged me the other day.” Soren answers sternly as he opens the door for the trio.
“Oops, sorry!” Victoria says.
Ava, on the other end, is quiet.
“We are going to Warwick,” Atheia says as she fastens her seatbelt.
“May I ask what for?” Soren asks.
“We wanna shop for my birthday,” Atheia responds.
“Okay.” Soren says.
They get to the mall and the girls step out of the car.
“This will take nothing less than two hours, Soren. Don’t you think you should go back home and then come back to pick us?” Atheia says.
“Miss, you know I cannot do that,” Soren says.
“Hmm, okay. See you later.” Atheia says and then turns to her friends, “Come on, girls!”
“Oh God, he’s so hot! He could come park his mack truck in my little garage!” Victoria says.
“Oh, shut up!” Ava says and Atheia bursts into laughter.
They get into the mall and go straight to the dress section. After each picking four dresses, Ava and Victoria decide to try theirs on, but Atheia isn’t ready.
“You guys should go on, okay? I want to check for some jewelry.” She tells her friends.
“You don’t want us to go with you?” Ava asks.
“I’d rather do it alone.” Atheia says. I’ll be back before you know it, don’t worry.”
“Okay. See ya.” Victoria says.
After Atheia leaves, Ava turns to Victoria and says, “Don’t you think that something is up with Atheia?”
Victoria thinks for a second, “Maybe it’s the accident. She’ll be fine, okay? We just have to help her plan the best birthday ever!”
“Hmm, okay.” Ava says and they go on to try their clothes.
While waiting for Atheia to come back, they even try some more clothes until they become bored.
“It has been over an hour,” Ava says, checking her watch. “Atheia should be back by now.”
“Yeah. Maybe she can’t make a choice. You know how picky she is.” Victoria says as she steps out of the dressing room.
“True. We should go help her. We still have a lot to buy.”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Victoria says and they walk up into Swarovski.
They look around but don’t find Atheia.
“Call her phone,” Victoria suggests.
Ava does this, but Atheia’s line is off. The girls are beginning to get worried. Atheia’s phone is never off.
They ask the staff at the store if they have seen Atheia, and they confirm that she bought a Chopard Alpine Eagle wristwatch watch with seven thousand dollars, and that she left about an hour ago.
“A wristwatch?” Ava asks, confused. “Why would she buy a wristwatch?”
“Maybe she got it for her dad.” Victoria says.
“Nah, something is not right.” Ava says.
The girls start to search for Atheia, going from shop to shop, asking questions.
Finally, one of the security guards tells them that he saw her leave in a hurry with two men.
“They were in such a hurry, and it looked like they were taking her somewhere,” He says.
“What? And you did not do anything?” Victoria yells at him, hitting his chest.
“I…I didn’t know.” The guard says, looking down at his feet.
“If anything happens to my friend, I’ll hold you responsible!” Victoria, at this point, is hysterical.
Ava tries to calm her down, “Vicky, this is not helping. We need to tell Soren.”
They race to the parking lot, and as soon as Soren spots them, he jumps out of the car.
“What’s wrong?” He asks, his eyes darting from Ava to Victoria. When he doesn’t see Atheia, he frowns. “Where’s Miss Jenkins?”
“She…she…she’s been taken!” Victoria screams.
- Writer
