Abandoned Car

It was a cool, dim morning at the hiking trail. No one was around except Liza. She usually likes to take a hike this early so she can have some actual peace and quiet instead of hearing the city ambience. She was daydreaming about opening a forest themed cafe when she saw something odd. There was a car peeking in the bushes. "Is someone fishing around here?”, she wondered; It wouldn't be a surprise. There are always people who try to fish before park rangers can find them. She gets closer to the car and sees the car is empty and clean inside. It was as if the person got it straight from the dealership. On the driver seat, there are keys. She pulls on the car door handle. It's open.

"What is this person thinking?! Leaving a car unlocked with the keys inside! That is just asking to have someone rob you!" Liza seethed. She goes behind the car and towards where the lake is. When she reaches the lake, she sees not a person in sight. Some questions started to come to mind. Who would leave their car here, why did they leave it here unattended and where are they now? She goes back to the car and goes inside it to search for anything that could tell her who owns this car.

She checks the glove compartment. There is a brown wallet, a passport and a little black notebook. The wallet is mostly empty except for a card that has a name and phone number written on it. The name on the card says ‘Tracy’. Now on to the passport. The passport showed who might own this car. There was a picture of a man with eyebags and shaggy hair. The man’s name is Ronnie Jenkins. Liza flips through the pages and finds most of the pages have been filled with many stamps. She notices Russia appears more than the other countries. Apparently, Ronnie traveled to and from Russia last month. Finally, the notebook. When she opens it, a ripped page slowly falls out of the notebook. She picks it up and reads it:

‘Donnie, if you find this note, that means I’m dead. Igor’s guys have followed me since I left Russia. I need you to finish what I couldn’t. This notebook has all the names of Igor’s trading partners and how they are connected to one another. There is 20 grand in the trunk for Tracy so she will make sure you get to Fred unharmed. Show this notebook to him. He’ll know what to do. I wish I had seen you one more time and shared a drink. Thanks for everything pal.’

Liza put the page back into the notebook and stared out to the distance. What has she stumbled onto? Should she leave the things and hope this Donnie finds it before anyone does? Is there 20 grand in the trunk? She decides to pop open and check the trunk. She sees a black duffle bag inside the back of the trunk. She precedes to unzip it and lo behold there was stacks of cash inside. She pulls out one of the hundred-dollar bill to check if its real. Liza squeaked, “Yep, that’s real.” She was feeling hot, and her palms were getting all clammy. “Alright, you came across a bunch of cash. I mean, I should take it just in case this “Donnie” guy doesn’t show up. Really, who would just leave all this money not knowing who might find it.” As she was contemplating on taking the money, she heard the cracking of a branch. She swiveled around to find a man right behind her. “Who are you?” questioned the unknown man. The man hovers over Liza by two feet and looks like he could crush stone with his bare hands. Liza grows cold and starts shaking. “I’m...I’m-m-m... Liza.” The tall man stares into her eyes, checking for bad intentions. “Are you Donnie by any chance?” asked Liza. The man’s eyes grow wide. “Guessing by your reaction, you are Donnie.”

Donnie scoffs “Yeah, so what?”. Liza’s face starts to droop. "There is a black journal in the car with a message for you.” Donnie raises an eyebrow and walks to the car while looking at Liza. He picks up the journal and starts reading the message. He started to lean over the car and slammed the car’s roof. Donnie walks over to Liza and warns her. “You need to go. Be careful who you are around and talk to. If you need help, go to the deli shop next to the flower shop.” Liza walks slowly and then she starts to run all the way home. She falls to her bed, breathing heavily. She wonders about what she had discovered in the car, who are Ronnie and Donnie, and what type of people did they get themselves in trouble with? She starts to slowly fall asleep before a loud knock wakes her up. She shoots up from her drowsy state. Who could it be? She tiptoes to the door. She looks through the peep hole. She sees a burly man wearing a hoodie outside. He was looking down so she couldn’t see his face. She thinks back to Donnie’s warning and slowly walks back to her room and starts to pick up her wallet when loud battering started at the front door. She runs to the back door and closes it before the front door comes off the hinges. Liza starts running down the street as fast as she could. Her neighbor calls out to her. “Hey, what's the matter?!” She runs up to their house. “I got to hide!” Liza exclaimed. The neighbor and Liza go inside their house.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Some guy came to my door and broke down my front door. I think he was either gonna kidnap me or worse.”

“Jesus! You have anywhere to go?”

Liza starts to think where she can go, then she remembers about the butcher shop. “Yeah, I do have a place to go. Could you take me to the butcher shop next door to the flower shop?” The neighbor seems baffled by her request but decides to take her there. It takes five minutes to go where she needs to go. Liza thanks the neighbor and looks at the butcher shop next to the flower shop. She looks around and takes a deep breath. She walks inside.