Enchanting Don Carter

Olivia rocked her chair back and forth, testing the limits of balance and then steadying herself with the tips of her toes on time. She had mindlessly been at this for the past two hours. With her pen in the side of her mouth and her sight fixated on nothing in particular, she mulled over her tedious job and her unpleasant supervisor. She already wasn’t fond of talking to people but she had imagined customer support would be straightforward enough with the help of a script. Last week, her supervisor, Mrs Bates, made a huge fuss, yelling at her in front of the whole department, about the sloppiness of her follow-up with customers. She had watched her blame the so-called unprofessionalism on her phone calls with Julia, and the embarrassment still stung, especially since she only made the calls at the stipulated break hours. It was another occasion of Mrs Bates pawning off her work on other employees and Olivia had been a target that day. She missed Julia and smiled at the thought of catching up in person since today was her day off. Her face lit up with resolve at the thought of her friend. She was determined to keep this job regardless of any obstacles. She could not afford to not be earning and her supervisor’s unfairness was nothing but a speck in her path. Julia already had enough on her plate and certainly did not need an additional mouth to cater for. Continually contributing to their expenses was the least she could do to measure up to Julia’s impressive ability to hold the fort in their lives and those around her. Her phone vibrated on the bed, intercepting her reminiscence. She sauntered over and plopped down on her back, an excited grin plastered on her face as she picked up the call. “Hey you” she enunciated in a playful tone. “Olivia, listen to me carefully.” Julia’s voice was low and serious, making Olivia take the phone away from her ear to have another look at the name on the screen. “What’s going on?” Her playful tone continued. “I have just been kidnapped” Julia’s stern voice didn’t change, making Olivia scoff. “Yeah right” “Dude, I’m not kidding. I think I’m in their boot” “And I think I’m in Mrs Bates's office slamming my resignation letter on her desk” Olivia chuckled, dismissing the possibility that something bad could be happening to her friend. “I knew I’d go in a pretty dope way but man, whoever’s boot this is has got to be on some list. It smells like dookie in here” “Quit horsing around Jules. This isn’t funny”. Olivia’s tone turned stern “Where are you?” “Somewhere with a lot of speed bumps, that’s for sure.” “What does that mean? Are you serious?” “Ahh” Julia hissed “As serious as I hate talking about my false tooth” she struggled to say and Olivia finally noticed the clattering of objects in the background and how muffled her voice sounded. Olivia straightened up on her bed, chills running down her spine as she detected her friend might not be pulling a prank on her like she usually did. “Don’t play with me Julia” she warned defeatedly, fear spreading her lips in a quiver. “Where are you right now?” The words rolled off her tongue bitterly, as she recalled taunting her friend moments before. She shook her head sharply at the thought. “Relax baby girl” Julia’s voice was a bold whisper. “I’m okay and I’m not hurt. I don’t go about doing what I do without expecting something like this every once in a while”, she continued in a hushed tone, but Olivia could hear the trepidation in her voice, it was quiet, but it was there. “Just stay calm and tell me anything you saw, something I can work with to look for you. I’m here. We’re gonna get you out of there” she said, tears pooling in her eyes. “You have to go check on the kids, they scattered when it happened. I need to know they’re all okay” Olivia could feel a sharp ache in her chest, as if her heart were trying to break free, as she heard Julia’s voice break at the mention of the kids she risked her life for every day. “Liv, I’m fine, really” She could hear her panting softly. “I just need to know they’re okay.” Olivia wiped the tears off her cheeks, covering her mouth to stifle her sobs, then she spoke “Do you know who it could be? What did you see? Anything, please.” Julia had been her best friend since they were twelve. They met on a cold evening on the outskirts of Downtown Columbus in the front of a convenience store under very similar circumstances. They had both run away from home. Olivia didn’t understand how a girl her age with no holes in her mittens and colorful hair pins in her pigtails could have run away from home, but they quickly bonded over their shared hunger. She remembered how they got free food and money with Julia playing the cute lost kid and Olivia playing the raggedy one who wouldn’t budge until she got a dollar for a corn dog. She fit right into the role, having walked almost five hundred miles from her home in Huntsville. They spent the remaining forty minutes of their nomadic adventure, giggling and testing how much money they could make in one night before they got apprehended by police officers who couldn’t mind their business. “DC. I saw those letters on the side of the car before they put a bag over my head” Julia’s voice crashed into her thoughts, dragging her back to the horrifying reality. Olivia shuddered as she heard skidding tires, her heart thumping even more when the sounds suddenly stopped. “I think they … here… the kids ... Carter” Olivia’s eyes widened as the clattering grew louder, shrieks of terror escaping her mouth as she finally screamed into the phone “Julia!!!” She heard a loud thud, the car engine idling, followed by complete silence. Olivia’s phone thudded to the ground as she stood in the middle of her room, motionless. She held her head with both hands, dread prickling at her eyes. No matter how much she shook her head, she couldn’t shake off the pain in her chest at Julia’s predicament. She scrambled to her reading table, her fingers trembling as she typed in the abbreviation “DC” on her laptop. Her knuckles turned a bold pink against the screen’s glare, blurred by her tears, as she balled her fists. Don Carter. A nauseating wave of disdain clutched at her chest as the words glared back at her, a stark reminder of the man who had taken her friend.