No More Games

38

Elise's Point Of View

I felt completely sick to my stomach. What the fuck has my life come to?

I was driving at almost ninety miles per hour on the freeway, trying to make it to my mother's house as quick as I could. I swear my heart almost stopped at the sight of those text messages.

As I'm driving, I kept scrolling through the messages, hoping they'd somehow disappear and it's just all hallucinations or something.

365-761-1234 (3:21 pm):
Say one word to them and I swear
you'll fucking regret it.

365-761-1234 (3:21 pm):
Leave that fucking house right now
you stupid bitch

365-761-1234 (3:21 pm):
You have 15 seconds!

365-761-1234 (3:21 pm):
Or else we'll slit your mother and grandmother's throats

Then what drove me almost to the edge of insanity, was a picture of my mom and abuela tied up, their mouths taped and men with ski masks holding these massive knives to their throats.
My mom and abuela's face drenched with tears and you could see the horror in their eyes.

I tried calling my mom's phone and obviously she wouldn't be able to pick up but I was still hoping she would and tell me she's alright. I was driving as fast as I could and also trying not to lose control of the vehicle.

**
The route from Sasha's house to my mom's house is about a forty minute commute. I did it in twenty-five.

I could not have run into that house any faster than I did. Almost as soon as I ran in, I was snatched by a tall husky man. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the kitchen where my mom and grandmother was being held hostage. They immediately began screaming through the duct tape once they saw me, causing me to completely break down.

"You crazy sons of bi—"

"Nuh uh," a voice said behind me. I turned around and it was one of the three men I saw in the picture. He had on all black and a white mask on his face. "you're going to keep that little Latina feistiness at a minimal, baby girl."

"Fuck you!!" I spat.

He laughed for a second and shook his head before slapping me real hard across my face. "Don't you dare fucking disrespect me!" 

All I could do was cry hysterically. There was no use in fighting, especially with these three men carrying weapons. Even without the weapons, there would be no way to defend myself against them standing at about 6"5 and taller.

"Who are you guys?" I cried. "Why do you have my—just please let my mom and grandmother go." I tried turning around to look at my mom and abuela but one of the men had too strong of a hold on me.

"Now, sweetheart," the one that slapped me spoke. I'm now certain that he is the ringleader cause he's the only one speaking and his mask is different from the other two. "I'm going to let my boss answer that question."

He pulled out this old flip phone, held it out in front of him and began counting down. "5, 4, 3, 2. . ."

The phone started ringing right on queue.

He flipped it open and put in on speaker. An automated voice began to speak.

"This is a collect call from Twin Towers Correctional Facility. To accept charges, please say yes or say no."