Chapter 41

 

Back in the waiting room, Megan sat next to Nick, icy cold with fear.  In the past hour, she had been more afraid than she had ever been before in her lifetime.  No, wait, that wasn’t quite true.  As Megan sat there, deep in thought, a memory came to her.  A memory of something else, something that had happened a long time ago.  What had happened?  She thought hard, but she couldn’t answer that question.  All she knew was that whatever had happened, she had been scared.  Terrified, like she was now. 

 

But what was it?  What had happened?  Something had happened.  She knew it had because she could remember that icy fear, like the one that clutched her now.  But what had caused that fear?  If only she could remember.

 

And then, slowly, it came back to her…

 

***

 

Rain poured, as an old, black car drove down a nearly deserted road.  It was early evening, but it was much darker than it should have been, for the sky was covered in dark storm clouds, hiding the sun.

 

The car had been driving for a long time, so long, that Megan, who lay tied up in the back, could not keep track of how much time passed.  All she knew was that she was cold.  And hungry.  And most of all, scared.  She wanted her Mommy with her, but her Mommy was nowhere to be found. 

 

Her Mommy had been in an accident, the man had told her.  He had been sent to take Megan home from preschool, because Mommy could not.  But he hadn’t taken her home at all.  Instead, he had slapped her across the face, tied her up, and thrown her into the backseat of his car.  Then he had climbed into the front, along with another man, and they had driven away.  They weren’t driving Megan home, that she knew.  Her home was close to her preschool.  These men were taking her somewhere, far, far away.  Far away from her preschool, from her home, and from her Mommy. 

 

After so long of lying there, unable to move or even scream, waiting for the horror to end, the car finally stopped.  Megan lay still and waited to see what would happen next.  Would the bad men hit her again?  She was afraid to find out.

 

The men flung open one of the backdoors.  “Have a nice trip, little one?” one asked.  He was the worst of the two, the one who had hit her and tied her up.  The other man was silent. 

 

The first man dragged Megan out of the car and effortlessly picked her up.  He carried her under his arm, and she did not struggle at all.  She was too weak, too tired, not to mention too scared to fight him.  Instead, she just let him carry her. 

 

The man carried her into a building, one that was dark and cold and stinky.  Megan hated it right away. 

 

The man dumped her onto a bed, an old creaky, musty bed.  Megan was still tied up, so she couldn’t even try to escape. 

 

“We need to call the boss,” he said, turning to the other man.  “Let him know we got the kid.  He’ll probably want to come over to make sure.”

 

“Yeah,” the other one agreed absently.  “You wanna call?”

 

“Jesus, Curt, I have to do everything around here!” the first man exploded.

 

“Sorry, Dan,” Curt said.  “I’ll call him.”

 

“No, no, I’ll do it,” Dan muttered.  “You’d probably just screw it up anyway.” 

 

He left the room, leaving Curt alone with Megan.  Once Curt had made sure his companion was gone, he turned to the helpless little girl that lay on the bed, looking so terrified.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.  “I’m so sorry.”

 

Megan looked up at him with wide, hazel eyes. 

 

“I didn’t want to do this, but I needed the money.  I know, I know, that’s no excuse.  But I’ll try to make it up to you.  I won’t let you get hurt anymore,” Curt whispered, trying to comfort the child.   It was true, he hadn’t wanted in on this scheme at all.  But he was in a desperate situation.  He was broke, unable to support his family, unable to pay his bills, unable to buy food for himself.  His family had left him, the state was threatening to take his house away, and he had been nearly starving.  But then Dan had come along, and with him, this offer. 

 

He and Dan were supposed to kidnap a little girl, Megan Peter, from her preschool, somewhere in California.  And then, they were to kill her.  If they did, they would get a million dollars each from the man who had hired them.

 

He and Dan weren’t exactly sure why the man wanted the little girl dead.  He hadn’t really told him his reason, only that her existence threatened his career.  That didn’t make much sense to Curt.  He knew the man was some kind of singer, but Curt had never heard of him.  He must have been somewhat popular though, for the man was filthy rich. 

 

At first, Curt had objected.  How could he kill an innocent little girl?  But he needed the money.  He needed it desperately.  Dan had agreed to it, and so, hesitantly, Curt did as well.

 

It was a mistake, he realized that now.  But it wasn’t too late.  He had kidnapped the child already, but he didn’t have to kill her.  Maybe he could let her go.  He knew Dan would never let him do that though.  Dan wanted his money, and he wouldn’t get his money until the job was done.  But… then again, the boss was gone a lot.  He didn’t want to stay in the house where they were keeping Megan much, mostly because he was afraid of getting caught there. So maybe, just maybe, they could get away with not killing her, just getting rid of her and telling the boss that they had killed her, and then they would get their money, and things would be okay again. 

 

It was perfect.  All Curt had to do was convince Dan to go through with it, for he knew he would never get away with it on his own.

 

Just then, Dan came back into the room.  “Hey, Dan, we need to talk,” Curt said right away, leading Dan to the corner of the room farthest from Megan.  And then he began to tell Dan his plan.

 

***

 

After much consideration, Dan agreed with Curt.  He was not a very nice person himself, but even he had enough conscious to know that killing was wrong, especially when it was an innocent six year old.  If he could still get his million without having to kill her, it would be even better.

 

“Listen, Curt, the boss said we’re to kill her tonight,” Dan said.  “He doesn’t want her here for too long.”

 

“Will he be here tonight?” Curt asked.

 

“He said he’ll be over in about an hour to check on her, and then he’s leaving for the night.  He doesn’t want to be hear when we kill her because he’s afraid of getting caught,” Dan replied.

 

“So we leave with her tonight?” Curt asked.

 

“Yeah,” Dan said. 

 

“And how do we assure him that she’s dead?” Curt asked.

 

Dan thought for a moment.  “I don’t know,” he said.  “I mean, if we really did kill her, how would we assure him we did it then?  He doesn’t want to be anywhere near the body, he said, and he wants us to get rid of all evidence.  He didn’t ask us to bring him any proof.  I think he’s just gonna trust us.”

 

“This makes it too easy,” Curt said, laughing slightly.  “Well, I guess all we have to do now is wait for him to get here, and when he leaves, so will we.”

 

***

 

The boss arrived close to an hour later.  He was dressed all in black and wearing  sunglasses, trying to keep his identity hidden as much as possible. 

 

“Where’s da kid?” he asked when he entered the house.

 

“She’s back here, boss,” Dan said, leading the boss back to the small bedroom where they were keeping Megan.

 

Megan looked up as a man entered the room.  He was wearing black pants and a black leather jacket, as well sunglasses.  He also had a black bandana on his head.  It covered most of his hair, but Megan could see a few light, curly strands poking out from underneath it.

 

The man snickered evilly when he saw Megan, tied up on the bed.  “Good job, dawgs,” he said to the two men.  “You be gettin’ yo pay tomorrah, when da job’s done.”

 

Dan nodded.  “Sure thing, boss,” he said.  “We won’t fail you.”

 

“You bettah not,” the boss said.  “If anyone finds out dat dis kid even exists, mah whole career could end!”

 

Curt wanted to ask him why, why the existence of one little girl could end his career, but he said nothing.  He just wanted the boss to leave so he and Dan could get themselves and the girl out of this mess.

 

“Well, I gots to be getting’ outta here now,” the boss said.  “I’ll be back tomorrah mornin’ to pay ya.”

 

“Okay,” Dan said.  “See you later.”

 

The man nodded and turned around, ready to leave.  But then he stopped and turned back around to get one last glimpse at Megan.  It was then that he removed his sunglasses, and Megan finally got a good glimpse at his face.  But then, suddenly, without warning, the boss raised something big and heavy over his head and struck hers with it.  Her world went black, and from that moment on, so did her memory…

 

***

 

Justin!  It was him!  Megan remembered now.  It was all clear to her now.  Justin Timberlake was the man who had been responsible for her kidnapping.  He had been the one who had hired those men to kidnap and kill her. 

 

Of course, the men hadn’t killed her.  She didn’t know what had happened to her.  She remembered Justin hitting her and going unconscious, but then there was a gap.  The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital.  She figured that while she was unconscious, Curt and Dan had taken her to the hospital.  She remembered Sammy telling her that she had been found lying unconscious outside of the hospital.  They must have just left her there and split. 

 

Megan shook her head, trying to sort out her thoughts.  It was hard for her to accept the fact that this had all really happened to her.  She had suffered amnesia from the blow to her head, and the memory of everything that had happened before that point had vanished.  But it hadn’t been gone entirely this whole time.  Megan knew that seeing Justin again had to be what triggered it.  It was his face.  That face was what had triggered her memory and allowed to remember a part of her past that until then had been lost in the depths of her mind.

 

***

 

 

Next

 

Back to index

 

 

 

1