The Twisted Trip

I almost died, like literally almost died. One of my OWN best friends tried to murder me, crazy right? Today I'm writing the story of my (almost) death. I'm gonna start from the beginning...

The sun is beaming down on the earth like a hot match on a candle. The sky is clear, no clouds in sight. It is the middle of July, and summer is at its peak. Living in Miami, Florida is definitely the worst during this time. It's at least 100 degrees outside, and it feels as if I'm sitting in the depths of hell. It’s awful. I desperately need a vacation.

All of my friends from high school still live near me. Victor, my boyfriend, lives with me. We all decided that Florida was the place we always wanted to call home, even with this oppressive heat. My friends are all coming over soon. We haven't seen each other in four years; I really miss them. We're all 24 now, out of college, finally engaging in our careers. I'd say we're all living great. Victor does landscaping; he has lots of clientele. So he makes a great amount of money. James is a Professional Football Coach. Therefore, he also brings home a pretty penny. Ava is a Doctor. So of course she makes a lot of money too. And me, Sarena, I'm a Pharmaceutical Representative. Hence, I am also making tons of money. So my friends are living quite lavishly, without a care in the world. None of us are married yet. Victor and I have been together for six years, since our senior year of high school, but he hasn't proposed yet. Right now we're all living happily in our own books of life.

¨I'm here!¨ Ava shouted. For some odd reason, Victor and I had left the front door to our house unlocked. So she just let herself in.

¨Hey girl!¨ I responded. ¨I haven't seen you in forever!¨ I ran towards Ava and gave her a big hug. Victor followed behind and greeted her as well.

Ava proceeded to make herself at home and kicked her shoes off and began searching around for somewhere to put her things.

¨The guest room is down the hall to your left. You can put your things there.¨ I instructed.

As Ava began to walk down the hall, the doorbell rang. ¨Come in!¨ said Victor. James slowly entered, as if he was scared.

¨Don't act shy now. We all know you're the loudest one in the group.¨ Victor was clearly being sarcastic because James has always kept to himself since high school.

¨Ha! We all know that's Sarena. She never shuts up.¨ James responded.

I turned to glare at him. ¨Hey!¨

¨What? You know it's true.¨ he answered.

I did in fact know that was the truth. I was quite the blabbermouth, but I didn't mind. I love talking. It's one of my greatest hobbies.

My friends and I sat around the living room and talked and talked for hours. We hadn't all been together in so long. So there was a lot we needed to catch up on. We talked about our careers, our new hobbies, our new interests, everything. It was just like old times. We would literally never run out of things to talk about, and that's exactly how it was now, endless talking.

¨I still try to incorporate baseball into my life. I've recently started coaching a young, rec baseball team.¨ James played baseball all through high school. He was a star. He even got a full ride scholarship to college because of his excellent baseball skills. I was happy that he was still pursuing his passion for baseball through a coaching gig.

I looked over at James' bat bag. I was wondering why he needed that while he was here. ¨So that's why you brought your lucky bat with you? You're gonna practice while you're here?¨

¨I might,¨ he answered. ¨You never know.¨

I nodded, but I was still confused as to why he would need to practice baseball while we were all hanging out, but I didn't question it anymore.

We all continued to catch up on each other's lives. Everyone seemed happy, like genuinely happy. It was a great atmosphere. I was excited to finally be together again. James spoke up, and suggested we all take a trip together. It was so sudden, out of nowhere. We hadn't actually talked about traveling anywhere together. We were just gonna spend time here in Florida. I thought it was kinda strange that he suddenly wanted to go somewhere new.

¨It will be so much fun!¨ he said. ¨Do you guys not want to travel and see new places, see new things, maybe even meet new people? We could make more friends.¨

¨I don't need new friends. Y'all get on my nerves enough,¨ Ava said, jokingly. She had a very sassy-like attitude. If you didn't truly know her, she may come off as rude, but we were all quite used to her sense of humor.

¨Whatever,¨ I responded. ¨You love us.¨

¨I'm down for a trip. It could be fun.¨ Victor was always ready to do anything. He liked getting out of the house and going places. So whenever suggestions are made, he is usually up to it.

¨I've been looking at this place called ¨Slab City.¨ It's abandoned. It looks like it would be a cool place to go.¨ James continued. ¨It's in California. It's about a seven hour flight. So that really isn't too bad. The tickets are around $700 round trip. I think that's a good deal.¨

Ava and I looked towards one another. We were skeptical about the trip. Why would we all just up and go to an abandoned city? Why wouldn't we travel somewhere nice with fun things to do? It all seemed weird to me, but Ava and I didn't wanna be the ¨Debbie Downers¨ of the group. So we both agreed to go.

¨Okay fine. We'll go.¨

And with that being said, we all began to gather our things. We then hopped in the car and headed to the airport.

When we got to the airport, it was quite crowded. We had to wait for a while before we actually boarded the plane. I was very nervous, not for the flight because Victor and I had flown many times, but I was nervous for the actual trip itself. It didn't sit well with me. Why were we going to an abandoned city as a vacation? That's weird, like very weird. However, I kept all of these thoughts to myself because I didn't want to ruin everyone else's fun. I sat quietly while everyone talked around me. I'm usually very talkative, but there was too much on my mind.

¨I'm really excited,¨ said James.

¨Me too, answered Victor.

Ava didn't say anything and neither did I. She was nervous too; I could tell. We sat and waited patiently for the flight to be over. We had a long way to go, seven hours to be exact. I noticed she had closed her eyes to go to sleep. So I decided to do the same.

I woke up to the loud sound of the plane landing. We had finally made it! I wasn't excited to be there, but I was quite excited to finally be off of that plane. Getting off the plane was quite a sight to see. It was just emptiness everywhere. There was literally nothing. We were definitely in an abandoned town. It gave me weird, scary vibes. I felt uneasy.

The plane finally flew off, and my friends and I were left here. We had luggage, but nowhere in sight to put it. Where are we gonna sleep? How long are we gonna stay? I most definitely do not want to sleep outdoors. That's kind of terrifying to me, honestly. I pray that isn't the plan.

¨Well this is different,¨ Ava said. There's literally nothing here. What are we gonna do? Go exploring or something?¨

¨I'm all for adventure,¨ Victor answered.

¨If we start walking, I think we might find something. Like maybe an old building or an old house or something. Then we could leave our things there and sleep there if it's not too worn down.¨ James seemed to have everything figured out. We all agreed and started walking.

After walking and wandering for hours, we finally found a very big abandoned building. It looked as if it was an old mill or something. By its rustic appearance, it had to be over 100 years old.

¨We can stay here,¨ James said. ¨It's definitely big enough.¨

¨Sounds good to me. I'm exhausted,¨ Ava responded.

We all walked to the old building. The doors weren't even locked. So that was a blessing. We all went inside and began to blow up our blow up mattresses. Everyone was so tired. So as soon as we were done setting our beds up, we all knocked out. Or at least that's what I thought…

I'm not quite sure exactly how everything happened, but when I woke up the next morning, I wasn't in the mill with my friends. I wasn't on my blow up mattress. I was in a dark room, a basement I think. I was tied to a chair. The ropes were so tight I felt like I was gonna pop like a balloon. The smell was putrid, like dirty old shoes or something. It was a mess. There were old clothes scattered all over the floor. There were bags from fast food places just laying around. The floor looked like it had not been swept in years. I felt as though I was in a pig sty. It was awful. I tried to close my eyes to see if maybe I was dreaming, but I never woke up. This mess was somehow my reality. But how did I get here?

When I saw James walking down the stairs, I felt relieved.

¨Oh my gosh. Thank God you found me. I think I was kidnapped. I don't even know how I got here. Everything is a blur, honestly. But now you finally found me! Now hurry and untie me before whoever took me comes back!¨

I tend to ramble when I'm nervous. I can't help it. James didn't seem to care about anything that I was saying. He was being weird. He was just looking at me with a crazy look in his eye. I was pretty frightened at this point because it seemed as if he was staring into my soul. I didn't know how to react.

¨James…Are you okay?¨

He continued to stare at me.

¨Say something please!¨

I was beginning to get angry. Finally, he moved slightly closer to me. He bent down so we would be eye to eye. ¨I took you,¨ he said. ¨I'm the one that kidnapped you.¨

His words pierced through my ears like a knife. It hurt tremendously to hear that. My stomach was in knots. I felt as if I was going to puke at any moment. James was my friend. Why would he do this to me? I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. I began to weep. I guess James didn't care to listen to my cries. Therefore, he just went back upstairs. He left me tied to that chair sobbing my eyes out.

A few hours went by, and I had finally stopped crying. I don't think I had any tears left. Now, my only focus was how in the world I was gonna manage to escape. I had a million ideas that went through my head, but they were all pretty stupid. So I just sat there. I felt like my life was over. At this point, I had accepted the fact that I was gonna die.

Finally, I heard a knock at the window. I was so scared. He's gonna kill me, I thought. I am actually gonna die right now. I am not ready. I am too young. I just knew it was the end. I didn't know whether I wanted to cry or just accept that I was gonna die. I sat there and just waited. I knew what was coming. I saw a golf club burst through the window. I expected to see James pounce through, but I was wrong. It was Ava and Victor! They were here to save me! They found me!

¨I still had your location on my phone. I knew something was wrong. Now hurry up before he comes down here!¨ Ava was freaking out. Victor had already started coming towards me working on the knots around my hands and feet. Finally, after lots of tugging and unravelling, I was freed. We all rushed for the window to make a great escape. I was the last one to climb through the window. I must have cut my leg on the glass from the window because my leg was bleeding, but I didn't notice when it happened. I was running on adrenaline; we all were.

Finally, Victor, Ava, and I made it back home after waiting hours for a plane to pick us up. We called the police, and James was arrested. I still don't have any answers. Why did he kidnap me? What was he gonna do to me? Why me? Why did he spare Ava and Victor? These are things that I will always question, but I am very thankful that I made it out of there alive. I learned a lot from this tragic event. You can never truly trust anyone, not even one of your closest friends…