Four Weeks - The Beginning

DAY TWO

Matt woke up the next morning. The daze hung over from the previous day's chaos. His head was feeling fuzzy. He sat in bed, trying to steady himself. His hands ran all through his hair and face as he sat there. Bit by bit, it all came back to him, right down to all the stress that accompanied the experience. He got out of his bed and slinked cautiously over to the corner window. He drew himself forward to look out over the street, through it. To his great relief, Matt did not see the car that had so recklessly followed him the previous evening. Still, he felt far from safe. He still knew that there might be somebody who was out there to get him. In a moment of bravery, Matt decided not to put the lives of those around him at risk. Also, he was not about to give up on finding Alan and Elaine so rashly and so soon, not yet anyway. He pulled out his cell phone from his pants pockets. He quickly dialed a number and held it up to his ear.

The phone rang for a while, for about twenty seconds. At the end of it, someone answered. It was a man's voice.

'Mr. A**hole!' said Matt, in a deep, fake, voice, feeling a little sinful about having just called his dad an a**hole.

'Who is this?' said the voice.

'It doesn't matter who this is'

'How did you get my son's phone?' Matt's dad said, sounding angry.

'Your son isn't here. Let's just say he became witness to or he came across something that he was not supposed to know—'

'If anything happens to my son...'

'Listen, Mr. A**hole. Your son is fine. Now, you best listen very carefully to what I've got to say or he may not be fine for much longer,' Matt continued, keeping a calm, diabolical tone of voice.

'What do you want? Where is my son?'

The tone switched now from one of anger to one of disorderly fretfulness.

'Your son will be fine. We just need something from you, first'

'What?'

Let's see scary places, scary places

Matt thought.

India and China; Dad's been to China too many times. Let's go with India. What about the city? Let's see... Bangalore? That's an Indian city right? I think it is. Let's go with that one

'Pack your bags this instant. Go to Bangalore, India. Take your family with you. Don't call or try to make contact with anyone in the US again. Wait there and in fifteen days, you will receive a phone call that'll tell you what you need to do next'

'What the hell is going on? I just want my son back,' said Matt's dad, sounding increasingly worried now.

'Then you'll do as I say. Now, I'm not gonna say this again. Pack your bags right this instant and take the first flight you can find to Bangalore, India. Wait there for the phone call. If you follow these instructions precisely, without getting clever, your son will be safe with you by the end of two weeks'

'Okay, alright, just please don't harm him'

'I won't. I am hanging up now. Go right now and don't dither. If you do, I will know and that won't bode too well for your precious son,' concluded Matt and hung up the phone.

'Well, that takes care of that,' he said to himself.

'And now for...' Matt hammered on his phone keys, dialing another number.

He put his phone back up to his ear.

'Hey, are you ready to talk now?' answered Rachel.

'This is not Matt,' he said, faking a deeper voice again.