Taken

Chapter One--DENNY

“Why do you like the cold weather so much?”

          I was stretched out on a blanket, basking in the rare fall sun, wearing about three layers of clothes and thinking about how good it felt on my face.   Jeremiah had spoken, but I ignored him.

          “Cadence,” he insisted, poking me in the arm.  I flashed open my eyes.

          “What?”

          “I asked you a question.”

          I laid my head back down and let myself slip back into my happy place: Jeremiah beside me, the sun overhead.  Even though the breeze was chilly, the fact that the sun was there and shining on me made the day feel almost warm.

          I finally shrugged at him and rolled until my head fit perfectly in the crook of his shoulder.  I thought about how I knew there was a woman walking her dog about fifty yards away from us on the walking track.  I thought about how I knew my mother was in the kitchen cooking a roast, mashed potatoes, and her famous bread.  How my father was sitting in his recliner, reading the newspaper with his new bifocals Mom insisted he buy even though his pride didn’t like the fact he couldn’t see as well as he used to.

          There was a child in a blue shirt swinging nearby on the play park.  There was no adult, but when I scanned the surrounding area, I saw a woman walking towards a black van in the parking lot.  I didn’t think anything of it, just that maybe she knew the man driving.  I closed my eyes, shutting out the rest of the world and instead thought about how happy I was.

          How happy I was that Jeremiah was next to me.  That his arm was warm against mine and his chin was resting on top of my head.  His breathing was slow, and so I thought maybe he had gone to sleep.  The last thing I heard was a tire squeal on the pavement, but I had already drifted too far into a slumber to stop.    

-

          The frigid wind woke me up.  The park we were at was empty, and a cloudy moon hung above.  “Hey,” I said to Jeremiah, shaking him.  “Wake up.”

          “Denny?” he said groggily. 

          “Yeah. Come on. We fell asleep.”

          He got up and I folded the blanket.  He stumbled sleepily to the car, preparing to get in the driver’s side.  I shook my head at him.  “I got it tonight.”

          The ride home had no other words to describe it but weird.  There was no traffic on the streets except for the occasional car, and when we were waiting at stop lights, it was for no one.

          When we came to a red light, I looked over at Jeremiah to see him dozing off.  “Hey,” I said, smacking his arm. 

          His eyes snapped open and he gave me a look.  “What was that for?” 

          I ignored him. “Don’t you think this is weird?”

          “What?”

          “There’s hardly anyone else on the road.”

          He shrugged.  “God’s gift, I guess, no traffic.  Happy birthday.”

          His voice was slow as if he was half asleep.  I rolled my eyes and smacked him again before the light turned green. 

          “What is wrong with you?”

          “You need to wake up.”

          “You need to quit punching me.”

          Once home, I was surprised to not see my mom at the front door wondering why I was so late.  I heard Jeremiah’s tires slowly inch away from the curb and drive away, leaving me alone.  It seemed as if everyone had gone to sleep already, and so I walked into the kitchen to find leftovers from the earlier meal.  When I checked the refrigerator, I found it was practically empty.

          Maybe she decided not to cook tonight, I thought to myself hopefully, and resorted to grabbing the jelly and some peanut butter.  I made myself a sandwich and headed to my room, a little stunned, but pretty much convinced that she just didn’t want to cook. 

          I almost blindly made my way through the house and up the stairs, the tiredness was hitting me once again.  I fell asleep as soon as I had polished off the last of my sandwich and my head hit the pillow.

          What I didn’t know was something was really going on…not anything I could have believed then.