NaNoWriMo Day 27: 37,046 of 50,000
I seem to write mostly about kidnappings……..
To read the previous chapters head HERE!
Chapter Thirty-Two
One Year Earlier
The snow-capped mountains in front of Theo made him feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Having grown up in Michigan where the only place snow ever feel was on the ground it was truly a sight to behold looking at these mountains. Unlike Michigan, Washington provided the snowboarder the chance to careen down the side of a mountain with snow billowing all about you. When Theo made his journey out to Seattle he knew that while part of it was to get as far away from his past as possible it was also because he needed to snowboard. It had been so long and he had found so much joy and freedom in it before, he needed it now.
As he arrived at the ski resort, he placed his board in the row of others and went indoors to get a cup of coffee before the lifts opened. As it was opening day there were a few thousand people and families geared up filling the inside of the resort with a childlike buzz. Theo couldn’t wait and couldn’t keep himself from smiling as he stood amongst the crowds of people sipping on his coffee.
He didn’t know anybody, but that didn’t stop him from feeling like a part of a family. You had to be a certain kind of person to be comfortable enough to basically slide down a mountain with only a thin plastic board beneath you. For example. Theo’s sister Chloe would not be found anywhere near the top of a ski lift. She enjoyed keeping her feet firmly on the ground which was fine by Theo, but for him he loved the feeling of the snow moving beneath him. The view coming down was enough to cleanse him of any sort of anxiety he’d been feeling that morning.
A surge of excitement rose up as the lifts began to take people. Theo joined the crowd, eventually grabbing his board and hopping on a lift with another gentleman next to him.
“Hey, I’m Tyler,” he said reaching out a glove-covered hand toward Theo.
“Hi, Theo.”
“Nice to meet you. What a day it is today!” he exclaimed as the lift rose them up the side of the mountain.
“A beauty of a day if you ask me,” Theo responded.
The two laughed and continued chatting as the view opened up in front of them. Theo couldn’t believe the expanse of white that surrounded them. As the lift came to the top Theo prepared himself and successfully landed on the snow in front of him quickly careening down the mountain. Tyler was close by shouting in joy as the wind whipped around them. Theo couldn’t help but smile as he swayed from side to side cutting his board through the packed down snow.
Soon they had approached the end of the run Theo turning sideways to slow down before smoothly coming to a halt in the middle of the bottom of the run. Tyler turned to him and put his hand in the air for a high five which Theo accepted. The two did a few more runs down the mountain together before agreeing to some lunch inside.
“Man, what a great day right?” Tyler enthused as they ordered food and sat down.
“The powder was so fresh!” Theo answered excitedly.
“So, being a Michigander you’re probably used to this sight, huh?”
“The snow sure, but the mountains nope.”
The two talked as they ate and decided to come back the next weekend to do another few runs down the mountain. After exchanging phone numbers Theo and Tyler took their boards and went to find their parked cars. Theo was excited to have made a friend up in the Cascade Mountains who shared his same passion. He hoped the two would be friends for a very long time.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tyler, this man who had befriended Theo on the lift in Stevens Pass, pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door beckoning him forward.
“No, I’m staying right here,” Theo knew this wasn’t going to end well for him. He’d already seen too much clearly which meant he was a dead man walking.
“Do you want to see Ophelia?” he asked with a smirk on his face.
“What is wrong with you?”
“Theo,” he said simply and something in his tone made Theo curious. Edging him forward one foot at a time. The shed was dark until Tyler turned on the lightbulb in the middle of the room.
“Oh my gosh!” Theo exclaimed. Two women were huddled together in a corner with their legs and hands tied together and duck tape sealed over their mouths. When they looked at the new man in the room they had hope in their eyes until the realization of who was with Theo set in and suddenly the mood of the room shifted.
“Theo, meet Johanna and Diane.”
The way Tyler spoke sent chills down Theo’s spine. It was as if he was gathering friends at his home for an evening meal, but the four of them were not in a warm home. They were in an old shed with nearly no light and nowhere to run really. Theo was as bound as Johanna and Diane.
“Why?” Theo asked as Tyler stared at the two women on the floor.
“Oh my, oh my. Where to begin? Why don’t we wait a moment. I want the whole gang here before we lay it all out. Come, sit.” Tyler pointed to a single chair in the room that faced the wall where the two women were huddled together. Theo realized this may just be the spot that Tyler sat watching the two women, and possibly Tiffany when she was here.
“This is ridiculous Tyler. Stop treating me like some tourist. This is a crime. You’ve kidnapped people with lives! This isn’t a game!” Theo couldn’t help but scream because what was going on in front of him was not computing in his brain.
“Oh but this a game. A most fun game, really.” Tyler smiled a chilling smile and suddenly every interaction he’d had with his friend over the past year came into question.
“What are you going to do with them? Why did you let Tiffany go?” Theo had so many questions he couldn’t seem to get them out fast enough.
Tyler put his hand up to stop Theo from continuing. “Sit,” he said sweeping his hands in front of the chair, “now!” he screamed scaring everyone in the room.
Theo didn’t want to, but he knew that right now sitting down was the only way to keep his friend stable. No, he didn’t want to call Tyler his friend now because a friend wouldn’t kidnap women and take them to some isolated shed in the mountains to do god knows what. A friend wouldn’t go about their everyday like they weren’t preying on women to take into a shed and sit across from them for who knew how long.
“Is that why you started acting weird when Ophelia first disappeared? Was I getting to close even then?” Theo inquired not wanting to give up his line of questioning.
Tyler didn’t respond just stood by the door looking out the one small window that was high up on the wall. He was waiting for someone Theo could sense it as he sat in that wooden chair. While the silence enveloped him Theo looked at the two women, Johanna and Diane, in front of him. They both looked tired, thin, and incredibly fragile. Tears poured out of their eyes as they grasped onto each other and Theo felt sick to his stomach. He tried to catch their eye and wanted to mouth over and over again that it was going to be okay, but Theo knew that was providing them with false hope.
To be honest, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get out of this alive. Except Tiffany had. Somehow. He needed answers and it was infuriating sitting there looking anywhere but at Johanna and Diane or Tyler. A few long minutes stretched by before a knock came on the door startling everyone in the room, but the women the most. Tyler smirked and opened the door standing off to the side letting the person who was outside in.
“Theo, what are you doing here?” her voice rang out and transformed into a high-pitched buzzing noise. Theo soon realized that the buzzing noise was coming from inside his head and suddenly his vision blurred his body keeling over onto the floor. He was in and out for several more minutes before jumping awake and attempting to stretch only to be obstructed. By rope tied around his arms.
Chapter Thirty-Four
How had he gotten here? Theo wondered this from the moment Saul pushed him and his sister and his friend into the van in crumbling Seattle. The man with the knife had led him down this path. His obsession, his relentless pursuit of truth, his desire to find the truth. It had brought him here and he had no one to blame but himself.
“I think he’s awake now Ty,” Ophelia’s voice was soft, but close.
Theo blinked his eyes and found her leaning against the wall with her arms folded and a bit of concern on her face.
“Ophelia! Are you okay?” Theo exclaimed.
She laughed. “I’m fine Theo.”
“Somebody needs to start talking,” Theo was irritated now. He was bound up, in a dark cabin, probably freaking out his sister and Alice. “Alice,” he said softly longing for her head to be on his shoulder right now.
“He’s been pretty patient sis, I think it’s time we explain ourselves to him. Our loyal trooper,” Tyler explained stunning Theo yet again.
“Sis? You two are-”
“Brother and sister,” Ophelia finished, “Oh yes. Not by blood, but by marriage.”
“But, why didn’t you two ever say anything?” he asked trying to sit up more straight.
“We didn’t see a need to,” Ophelia answered.
“I don’t understand.”
“After we met on the slopes,” Tyler began, “I rushed back home and told Ophelia I’d found the perfect albi. The perfect friend. We could carry out what we set out to do and you would be none the wiser.”
“What is it exactly that you’ve set out to do? What’s your endgame here?” Theo asked looking to the two woman who seemed to be fatiguing right before his eyes.
Tyler and Ophelia exchanged a look before responding. “It always comes down to family Theo. We look out for one another.”
“Okay, explain because apparently I have a thick skull.”
“We’ve been wronged too many times Theo by too many people. Bullied, beaten, and bruised,” Tyler explained with poetic rhythm.
“So, what? You thought, gee why don’t I kidnap some of those who’ve wronged me and my family. That ought to show them! You two are so incredibly dumb,” Theo said it without thinking his emotions truly getting the better of him.
Tyler lunged toward him, but Ophelia kept him back. “Stop, think. We need him as our albi. He’s helped us a ton so far.”
“Hold up. I am not going to be an alibi for this operation. No way.”
“You have no choice,” Tyler shared.
“Why? Because you have me bound up right now? You don’t think Alice or Chloe or heck even Saul is going to find this place?” Theo asked.
Ophelia smiled. “Oh Theo. Sweet, sweet Theo. You don’t think we have only one shed do you?”
Theo looked around. He could’ve swore when he woke up he was still in the same place that he started, but as he truly looked around the floor was longer and the door was in the back instead of the front. For the first time since he saw Tyler, he panicked. There really was no safe way out of this. He was stuck and no one knew where he was.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Theo dreamed he was on the top of a mountain. His snowboard firm and in place beneath him. He felt at peace as the peaks of the mountains stretched out before him and not a soul was near him. He slid down the mountain feeling every piece of frigid air cut into his face. He chanced a lean and felt the crisp, white, glistening snow slice through his gloved hand. He felt more alive in this dream than he had in quite awhile. He realized it was a dream and that part of him was here on this mountain and the other was in the shed, tied up and alone.
“Theodore,” someone singsonged his name, “wakey-wakey Theodore.” Theo knew it was Ophelia before he opened his eyes and sure enough there she was with a piece of bread and a tin of water for him.
His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as he reached for the tin of water forgetting his bound arms which made Ophelia chuckle. “You know when you first started obsessing over Saul I was worried at first. Genuinely. But after awhile I realized you gave us a reason to keep on with our operation. You, my beautiful friend, led the police in the complete opposite direction.”
“Wait,” a thought just occurred to Theo, “do you know who they arrested?”
Ophelia smiled and poured the tin over his mouth the delicious, crisp water detaching Theo’s tongue from the roof of his mouth. “Noah is his name. Poor guy. He is homeless. Lives right by Ballardite.”
“But, how? Why?” Theo wasn’t sure what his most immediate need was at the moment. Was it the piece of bread in front of him for sustenance and strength? Or was it the information he had been so longing for from Ophelia?
“Bread?” Ophelia asked making Theo feel pathetic as he shook his head. Theo took a bite and swallowed barely tasting the carbohydrates. “Theo, I want to tell you every little detail, but we can’t. Not yet.”
“Why?” Theo was slightly ashamed of himself for the begging tone that came out of his mouth.
“Because you’re not ready.”
Theo was irritated, tired, starving, and ready for this whole thing to end. He longed for his sisters insistent need to read a book in his presence. He wanted to feel the presence of Alice next to him. Above all else he needed his dog to pet and cuddle with and walk around the block.
“When is this going to end?” Theo asked as Ophelia stood up heading for the door.
“As soon as the roads open up we will all head to Seattle for the finale,” Ophelia quipped.
Theo was left to think. Johanna and Diane were nowhere in sight which scared Theo even more. That dissipated however because a few minutes later they were thrown into the shed crawling to the wall almost as if they were used to it. Theo was momentarily lifted knowing he could get some information out of them, but that was short-lived because he noticed that they both still had duck tape over their mouths. Hours seemed to go by and just as Theo was beginning to give in to that hunger that Tiffany had most likely endured he heard his name.
He wanted to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating, but the sound got closer. “THEO!” it was his sister Chloe.
“IN HERE! CHLOE!” He did his best to scream and looked to Diane and Johanna to make noise as they banged their feet on the walls of the shed.
“Theo! Are you in here?” his sister’s voice was at the door.
“Yes, Chloe. I’m in here with the two missing women! Go, call the police! Hurry!” he wasn’t sure what was most important. If Tyler or Ophelia was close by they could easily snatch him and the women up and take them back to the other shed. He knew, on the other hand, that he needed to get somebody alerted to the situation.
“Okay, okay just hang on. Saul has a walkie-talkie. Hang on,” she sounded terrified and relieved.
“Theo?!!?” This time it was Alice.
“Alice, alice I have so much to tell you,” Theo said knowing that his time spent in captivity gave him perspective. Why wait around for the moment when your life was together before telling somebody how you felt? Your life was never going to feel together if you thought about it.
Follow along with me this month at Jenna Pratt!
