The next morning, Alex had gotten up early and had gone to the gym. I didn't know it until I had woken up and found the note that he had left, telling me where he was. I collapse back onto the pillows, the note still in my hand. I look over at the time and it's about 9am. I groaned as I figured I might as well get up and get ready for the day. I dragged myself out of bed and went into the closet, looking through what I had. I grabbed a blue top and a pair of skinny jeans, proceeding to get dressed there. After I had pulled my clothes on, I go to my shoes and pick out a pair of boots and pull those on, zipping them closed. I leave the closet and then do the rest of my routine in the bathroom before grabbing my phone and heading downstairs to start my morning.
After getting downstairs, I head to the kitchen and make something quick for breakfast as well as a thing of coffee. As I'm busy having my breakfast, my phone starts to vibrate on the counter. Thinking it's Alex, I pick it up and unlock the screen. When I go into the message, I find out it's not him. It's the same unknown number I've been getting a lot of text messages from.
Very soon...
That's all it said. Kind of confused me a bit, because I've been getting these messages for days now. Ever since Alex came home in fact. Now I don't know if it's some creep playing a little joke on me or what, but it's not funny anymore. Now I've gotten stuff like this before, but it was proved to be a prank. So me just thinking it was a prank from a friend or something, I shrugged it off and deleted the message. After I had finished everything, I put the dishes in the sink and decided to wash them so I wouldn't have to later. As I'm washing them, I hear a crash from outside.
I stopped what I was doing and stood there, listening for anything else. I then shut the water off and went in the direction of the crashing sound. I went out the back door and to the backyard by the pool. I looked around to see what could have caused it, but I didn't see a thing. Everything looked in order, the same as always. But that's when I noticed that part of the fence was destroyed. Now granted this was a pretty strong fence. It wasn't rotten or anything. The wood was actually pretty strong. And it's too high to even climb, which would make sense, because someone had to have hit the fence with something heavy to break it down the way I saw it was. I carefully walked over to it and examined how it was destroyed. I peeked my head out and looked around...no tire marks from a car...no one was around.
Now I started to worry. So I didn't want to stay outside more than I should have just in case. I turned and hurried into the house, where I shut and locked the door, setting the alarm. Just as I was going to lock the front door, that's when I heard a smash from upstairs. My head snaps up in the direction, leading up the stairs. Now I know how to handle myself if someone breaks in, that's why we keep things in the closet just in case. The first thing I do is go grab my phone off of the kitchen counter, before going into the closet and getting a baseball bat. I then start to make my way slowly up the stairs, being very aware of my surroundings. As I got to the top of the stairs, I heard another sound and it was coming from the bedroom.
I carefully make my way to the bedroom, not entering, but looking in to see if anyone is there. I do notice that the window is wide open, screen and all. Actually it looked like the screen was missing. I furrow my eyebrows and carefully make my way into the bedroom, to see why the window was even open, if the screen the missing, whatever could explain the noises I heard. I make it over to the window with no problem, and stick my head out of it. The screen is gone, I see it below on the ground, completely ripped to shreds. I come back into the bedroom, and stand to close the window. Just as I go to close and lock it, something goes over my mouth and that's when I start to struggle, but I soon lose the fight and everything just goes black as I pass out.
Now with me being passed out and all, I didn't know that I was carried out of the house by my attacker, and we left. He didn't even bother to close the door either, left it wide open, before he threw me in his backseat and then pulled off away from the house. About an hour or so later, that's when Alex had come home. He noticed that the front door was wide open and he has a confused look on his face. He sits and waits to see if I'm on my way out, but after waiting a few minutes he doesn't see me come out. Still confused, he gets out of the car and heads up to the front door.
"Brooke?" He calls out to me, only to not get a response back.
He then proceeds to go looking for me. First he looks in the living room and kitchen. When he gets to the kitchen, he sees the half washed dishes and he thought that was weird because if I was doing the dishes, I would get all of them if I had already started them. So I'm not in the kitchen, and he looks out the back door to see if I'm outside by the pool...no sight of me.
"Where could she be?" He asks himself, before proceeding to look upstairs.
The first place upstairs of course is the bedroom. That's when he notices the window open, but when he gets a closer look he finds the screen is missing. That's even more odd to him. So of course he goes and checks it out, finding the screen like I did on the ground below ripped to shreds. Figuring out that something is wrong, he takes out his phone and starts to dial my number.
"Please, please pick up." He says as it keeps ringing.
Before it could go to voice mail, it gets picked up.
"Brooke? Are you alright? I came home and found the front door open and the bedroom window open with no screen."
"Brooke can't come to the phone right now." A voice that's not mine answers.
"What do you mean she can't come to the phone? Who is this?"
"Oh that's none of your concern, who I am that is. But as for your wife, she's a little...out of it right now."
"What did you do to her?"
"Nothing, she's just sleeping right now and will be awake very shortly. But she won't be alive for very long I'm afraid."
"What are you talking about? You wouldn't."
"Oh I would. Here's the deal. I'm going to give you a series of tasks. Some may be easy for you, some may be a challenge. But you'll be fighting for your wife's life. Don't pull through with all the tasks, you'll never see your wife again."
"You son of a...you're not gonna get away with this."
"Oh I will...if you don't complete the tasks I have set out for you. And don't worry, I know everything you'll be doing and if you complete the tasks or not. You complete a task, you'll be getting a call from me, telling you what your next task is. Each task will get you closer and closer to saving your wife's life. Understand?"
"If it means getting my wife away from a slime ball like you? You better believe your ass I understand. What's the first task?" Alex asks as he starts to hurry out of the house and back to his car.
"There's a firetruck downtown, with a bomb wired to explode in 3 minutes. You're going to have to steal the firetruck and drive it out of the downtown area, before it explodes. It's wired where once you start the truck, it starts the clock, having only three minutes to get out of the area and out of it before it explodes. You get this done, I'll let you talk to your wife, understand?"
"You're damn right." Alex says firmly before hanging up the phone and tossing it into the passenger seat, tearing out of the driveway and towards downtown. "Come on...come on move!" He screams at the cars in the way.
It takes a bit of time to get downtown and that's when he spots the abandoned firetruck. After pulling over, he grabs his phone off of the passenger seat and hurries over to the firetruck. He opens the door to see that the keys are already in the ignition. He sees that and the bomb that was wired. He doesn't hesitate, climbing inside, closing the door. He starts the truck and the bomb clock does start counting down. He pulls out of where it was parked and goes to put the sirens on, only to realize that they don't work. The kidnapper must've known and disconnected them, making Alex's job of getting through traffic harder. He inwardly groans before heading down the road, thinking of where there's an area away from the city. Once he starts to gain speed, he weaves in and out of traffic, almost crashing at times, almost causing accidents.
2:31
That's the time that's left on the clock and he's nowhere near where he has to be. He pushes the gas pedal more, going as fast as the truck could go.
2:20
He turns the corner, taking out light poles and a traffic light. At this point, he doesn't care because he has to get rid of the truck and out of it before it explodes.
1:59
Less than two minutes and he's only about halfway to where he needs to be. By the time he had gotten close to where he was heading, the clock had just gotten to 30 seconds. Looking back and forth between the bomb and where he was going. Where he was coming up on, the ocean was beyond that, so he was planning on driving it off the side and into the water. The closer he gets, he opens the door, right as there's 10 seconds left. He waits until he's close enough and then jumps out, landing in the grass he drove through. A few seconds later, the bomb detonates, the truck blowing up in the water, creating a splash. No sooner after that, Alex's phone goes off. He didn't bother saying hello, because he knew who it was.
"Congratulations, you passed. Clever way of disposing of the truck, if I do say so myself."
"Yeah yea, now let me talk to my wife."
"Patience. She hasn't woken up yet, but she should be very soon."
Within moment of that, is when I start to stir. But when I do, I find myself tied up...my hands and my feet.
"Ah, you're awake. I have your very lovely husband on the phone, would you like to speak with him?" He asks, but I can't say anything because of the duct ape over my mouth. "Oh I forgot, you can't speak with the tape over your mouth." He remarks, before removing it. "Now talk." He finishes before putting the phone on speaker.
"Alex..."
"Brooke. Are you alright? He didn't hurt you did he?"
"No...I'm fine...just tied up. Alex where are you? You've got to come help me. Please."
"I would if I knew where you were. But I'm working on it. Unfortunately for me, your kidnapper has made saving you a bit difficult. But don't worry, I'm going to save you and..." He gets cut off by my kidnapper shutting the speaker off and putting the phone back up to his ear.
"That's enough." He states before replacing the tape over my mouth.
"You hurt her I swear..."
"Relax. Didn't I tell you she'll stay alive as long as you do what I say? Keep doing that, she'll stay alive. Now, are you ready for your next task?"