A Kidnapping Gone Wrong

Chapter 1, Silvia

Silvia Mallard. The most level-headed person you’ll ever encounter, or at least she always appears to be.

She doesn’t like deadlines, doesn’t like academic work of any kind really. But she is intelligent. So much so it’s almost a little bit unnerving to those who know just how smart she is, so naturally, she doesn’t go around boasting about her intelligence, rather the opposite. She’s been labeled as one of the “popular girls,” and so, according to stereotypes regarding the popular kids, students don’t assume she has a high level of intelligence. Now…Silvia really hates stereotypes (that’s why she consistently dyes her hair from blonde to black), but in this instance she goes along with only this one stereotype because it keeps people off her back. Stops them from questioning what kind of person she actually is, or what kind of upbringing she's had.
When it comes to what kind of person she is, there are some things that she doesn’t need the entire high school population to know. Or anybody really. 

Her father has a really strange habit/tradition he roped his only child into. Mr. Mallard has always, since as long as he could remember, been extremely paranoid about being kidnapped, or someone whom he knows and loves being kidnapped. So to combat this paranoia, he has instituted that every now and then someone he hires will “mock kidnap” his daughter to help her learn what to do in various situations and how to keep cool and get out of wherever she may be.  It’s not exactly legal… and definitely not ethical, but what else can he do to prepare his daughter for the evils of this world? What better way than to just fully submerge her into the possibilities to help her be prepared as much as she can be?

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Silvy’s alarm goes off, waking her at 6:35 in the morning. She is not a morning person, she would honestly wake up at noon or later if she were allowed.  So she presses the 'snooze' button on her phone, closes her eyes, and rolls over onto her other side for these five minutes before her alarm goes off for the second time. 

She is still half asleep as she gets ready for the day; brushing out her hair, curling it quickly, and getting dressed in the unmistakable style of "Silvia Mallard," her outfit consists of black nylons, a black skirt that reaches about the middle of her thighs, and a green/black plaid sweater. 

"Silvy! Breakfast is ready for you!" Her dad yells for her from down in the kitchen.

"Be down in a second, dad!" She responds while throwing on her black ankle boots.

Taking another two minutes she checks the weather app on her phone. It shows that the high for the day was supposed to be 57°. "Oh how I love the cold weather," she says aloud to herself.

Silvy makes these kinds of remarks to herself and friends so often that she doesn't really even know if some things are genuine opinions or just complete sarcasm. Everyone around her though would put money on them being sarcasm most of the time, especially when it comes to weather... Given her choice of clothing. But then again, she always puts her appearance first. That is always her number one priority. Never caring what the weather is like, so long as she looks, without a doubt, impeccable.

After grabbing her computer bag, water bottle, and putting her phone into the side pocket of said bag, she throws the strap over her shoulder and makes her way down into the kitchen where her dad is waiting for her with breakfast.

"Good morning my darling Silvy," she smiles in response. "Before you sit and eat, would you be a dear and run quickly outside for me and grab the newspaper from the driveway?"
Her father glances up from pouring his coffee as he neared the end of the question, one eyebrow raised just slightly, awaiting her response.

"Of course dad," Silvy chirps and goes to quickly grab the paper.

When she was outside she paid no mind to anything other than her given task. She wanted to hurry and get back inside so she could eat her breakfast before she had to leave for school. She absolutely despised being late for anything and everything—if she wasn't 10-15 minutes early she was later than late. But being that she was so focused on grabbing the paper and not on anything else, she neglected to notice or acknowledge the very out of place white van parked a ways down the street.