The Portrait of Amélie

Scarlett

We caught another train and made our way to Barnard. The small town was completely uninhabited except for some broken old buildings. Trash was thrown onto the streets sending a pungent smell. We had to walk from a neighboring town but it was easy to find. We made it into town and that was when we saw him. A towering, yet scrawny, man wearing a black suit, which looked unusual as there was clearly nothing fancy enough for a black-tie in this town. He approached them, a stern look on his face, hands behind his back. He walked with a cadence, his boot heels clicked on the concrete ground. Other than that, it was silent.

"I am Richard Nichols. I want you to give me this painting in exchange for your father." he held up a photo of the painting.

Shocked, we took a minute to process what he just said. He has our father?

"We don't have it." said Gwen "And why should we believe you that you have our father?"

"Come see for yourself," he lured us over to an abandoned house. Boards had been nailed to the windows and the once white kitchen was covered in dirt.

What. The. Hell?

A familiar voice rang out "Girls! Thank goodness you're here!"

I gasped in shock. Gwen threw her hands to her mouth. Our father was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. He hadn't been there long. No evident torture or harm, his navy uniform still intact. That didn't matter though. I turned and struck the suited man in the stomach. Gwen thrust a jolt to the back of his knee and he collapsed to the ground.

"Free our father now!" I said, "You messed with the wrong people!"

I threw him to the ground and I had him pinned down while Gwen untied our father. Together, we tied Nichols to a nearby pole. Gwen began calling the police.

"Dad!" I yelled, "what happened?"

"I was walking back from the mess hall on the base, and suddenly, this sketchy man had a hood over my face and threw me in a car. I tried to reach for my gun but he was able to knock the gun out of my hand and that's all I remember. A week later I'm out here in the middle of nowhere." he stuttered, shaken up.

"Police should be here soon," Gwen said.

Richard was much too beat up to move, so I stood guard by the door and Gwen stayed with our father while waiting. 

Author Note: 

Omg hey, ya'll. It's been a while but here it is, part five. I would have uploaded sooner but I was busy lol. Anyways, I hope to get back to my normal upload schedule soon.