The Vertigo Project (CRINGE-FEST 2K15)

Chapter 13 Bible Studies

Phillip awoke to footsteps running around the house. His head darted upward, and he looked over the back of the couch. Akio, April and Toby were all running around, Primzo right at their feet.

Usually, Phillip is the first one to wake up. He'd make the kids breakfast, and they'd come dragging themselves into the kitchen, attracted by the smell of food.

Not this time, though. Phillip mentally asked himself if he was still asleep, and if he was dreaming.

"What are you guys doing?" He asked tiredly.

"Working." Toby and April replied in unison.
"Toby, this is Jackson. I'm gonna need you to come back to the office." Toby's walkie-talkie went off. He responded, "Roger that." And walked in the opposite direction.

"Uh, are you guys going to eat breakfast?" Phillip asked after standing from the couch.

"Breakfast?" Akio said.
"What's this 'breakfast' concept you speak of?" April interjected, both running off after. Phillip just rubbed his forehead, messy hair overlapping his long fingers.

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Phillip sat down in his office chair. He turned on his computer, and saw on the screen that he had an email. He hummed in contemplation, then opened it.
It read, "Heidi has something to tell you." Then there was a link next to the text.

Phillip's heart started beating hard. Could this be a trick? Was this link going to lead to something horrible? Had they killed her? Was this a photo or video that showed how they'd done it?

Phillip hovered his finger over the button that would reveal God knows what. He stared at it, took a deep breath, then clicked.

They hadn't killed her. She was perfectly fine. Well, at least she didn't look like she was hurt. She sat in a comfy-looking chair, and her hands were obviously tied behind it. She wore the same outfit that she was taken in. You couldn't see below her waist since it was cut off by the frame, and her hair looked greasy. The lighting in the room was bright, the wall behind her was cement.

It was a few moments later that Phillip found out that it was a video. He clicked the play button.

"Hi Phillip." Heidi's voice spilled out of the speakers. Phillip began to miss her more.
She continued, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay," Heidi looked to the left of the camera, obviously looking to somebody else beside it. "And-- And that I need to tell you something. At the end of this video, there's an annotation. It will lead you to the bank account labeled, 'Bible Studies.' Well, that's all I have to say. I really hope you pay the money. Goodbye Phillip."

The camera shut off. Phillip didn't know what to feel. He didn't know whether to feel happy that Heidi wasn't hurt, or to feel sad that she wasn't here.

Phillip decided to just get this whole thing over with. He clicked on the annotation, and his monitor shut off.

Phillip jumped, and moments later, it turned back on. There were words scrawled out on the screen.

"Change of plan. We meet at the corner of Virginia and Mississippi. On Tuesday. Meet me there with the money, and with nobody with you. We now want five hundred fifty-thousand dollars. See you there with the girl."

Once again, Phillip didn't know what to do. He didn't have that kind of money. Sure, he was successful, and got whatever money was left from the government for his Industry. But he wasn't that wealthy. Phillip put his head in his hands.

'Why did I let this happen?' He blamed himself for this. There had to have been a way for him to have protected her.

Phillip stood up from his desk. He walked to the door, sighed, then turned the knob. He opened the door.

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"Guys, I have news." Phillip stated as he walked into the design room. All of the kids' heads turned towards him.

"Do you want the good news, or the bad news, first?" Phillip asked.
"The bad news." All of the kids said in unison.

The older boy sighed, then said, "Well, there's a change of plans. I might get killed while doing it. I have to meet one of those people to exchange the money. And, as you know, we don't have that kind of money."

The group of boys and girls sighed, looking down at the table solemnly. Their looks obviously stated, "We already know this, there's no need to state it."

"You guys want to know the good news now?" Phillip asked. All of them raised their eyebrows and looked back up.
"Heidi is still alive, and okay."

A ton of "Yes," "Oh good," and "Oh, I'm glad," filled the room. The kids were relieved. Despite all of the bad stuff going on, it was only important that Heidi was doing okay.

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Phillip had gone back to his office to see how much money he really had in the Project's bank account. There were only four major banks in the nation. The rest were either, bombed, burned, looted, or taken down in some other drastic way. As Jett would say, "Boarded up, tore up from the floor up."

As Phillip went through the extremely protective and strict password check, he thought to himself, 'Five hundred fifty-thousand dollars. We don't have enough money for this.'

Once Phillip was in, he saw that the Project only had three hundred thousand, four hundred sixty-seven dollars.

"Yeah," He murmured, "We definitely don't have enough money for this."

Phillip jumped, footsteps sprinting down the hallway. They were long strides and short thuds, but still powerful. From experience, Phillip instantly knew that it was Jett.

"Oh, what does she want now?" Phillip asked himself as he turned toward the door in his chair. The door swung open. He was right, it was Jett.

She panted in the doorway, and Phillip raised his eyebrows at her.

"I know who the kidnappers are." She stated, fixing her hat.

"Who?" Phillip jumped from his chair.

Jett took another deep breath, then replied, "It was Genesis."