Kidnapped

Chapter Two

“Bruce, where’s April?” Mrs. Peters asked, walking outside onto her porch. The streetlights flickered on as the children headed towards their homes for dinner and the temperature began to fall into the sweet summer night breezes that accustomed their town. Mrs. Peters walked down her sturdy white stairs, down her marked path to her mailbox and looked around for any hints of that curious, little girl. It wasn’t like April to abandon Bruce like that, thought Mrs. Peters, worried. “Come on, Bruce. Let’s see what’s the matter.”

Bruce sprang up and trotted over to Mrs. Peters. She smiled down at her friendly companion and grabbed onto his leash. They followed down the path that April trekked earlier this afternoon and searched from any signs of her whereabouts. Mrs. Peters rarely paid attention to April’s afternoon activities in hopes of finding better neighborhood gossip, but then she wished she had. She always saw her running through the neighborhood every afternoon and she only paid attention to her when she dropped by for daily visits to spend a couple minutes with the old bat. If Mrs. Peters could depend on anyone, it would have been April. She tried to calm her nerves. She knew nothing could have happened to April, they lived in the safest neighborhood in town and nothing dangerous even remotely happened here. The only vaguely threatening occurrence involved the juvenile delinquents Zayn Malik and Harry Styles and their crimes, but April would never have been anywhere near the likes of them so she must have ran home and got caught up in something.

Mrs. Peters had just decided to turn around and head to April’s house when Bruce snapped forward towards the woods. “Come on, boy. Nothing’s over there,” Mrs. Peters said, yanked his collar gently back. “Let’s get you home. I’m sure April’s waiting for you.” Mrs. Peters attempted to pull him back again when he whipped his neck around to glare at her and barked. “What’s the matter with you?” He continued to bark and pull towards the woods against Mrs. Peters pleads to go back towards the neighborhood. Bruce pulled free from his collar and dashed towards the woods. “BRUCE!” Mrs. Peters struggled to catch up him. She tripped over the lone branches and scraped her bare arms as she made her way into the lush forest. “The things I do for this girl,” she mumbled as she reached Bruce. He was sniffed around the area and stopped suddenly and picked up a familiar object in his mouth and trotted over to Mrs. Peters.

She gasped and yanked the headphones from his mouth. “She would never just leave these anywhere. She worked for too long to pay for them,” Mrs. Peters said softly, bringing the headphones to her chest and holding them as if hoping that if she held them tighter, then April might magically appear in front of her. She closed her eyes and attempted to gather a game plan, she tried to think like April and figure out what could have happened. Mrs. Peters knew she couldn’t go to April’s mother for any help since she barely looked after her when she knew where she was. “Bruce, let’s go get some help,” Mrs. Peters called, snapping her fingers. She turned back around towards the neighborhood, determined to get back to her house and call the police. Something wasn’t right and she knew it. She could only hope that April was okay and safe.

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“People will come looking for me!” April called out blindly as she stumbled to catch up with the boys’ fleeting footsteps. She had no clue where they were leading her and she probably should have triggered her television-enhanced knowledge of being kidnapped and tried to remember the twists and turns and dips in their path, but she was too preoccupied with that fact that she was actually being kidnapped. She had dreamed of an adventure such as this, but she never would have imagined it would have been so frightened and dangerous. It was only a daydream and it was supposed to stay that way.

“Will you shut her up?” Harry exclaimed, ahead of Zayn. “Either you shut her up or I will and we both know that you would prefer your way.”