May
2002
Chapter 1
“The
Meeting”
The
noise of two best friends’ laughter floated down the steps of a light blue
house on
BLING!!!
“Who’s that?” Hillary asked, pointing at the instant message box that had
popped up on the screen. “Hojpojboy? I’ve never heard of him.”
“Me either,” Kacie replied. “Let’s find out who he is.” She moved
the cursor over to the “open” box.
“No!” Hillary exclaimed and stayed Kacie’s hand. “We don’t know who he
is. You remember that time in sixth grade when Mrs. Rooney was telling us
all those stories about girls getting kidnapped by guys they met online?”
Kacie waved her hand impatiently through the air. “That was just some old
story to scare us out of being addicted to the internet. Besides, this
hojpojboy guy doesn’t know the first thing about us. What could it hurt
just to talk to him?” Kacie hit the “open” and “respond” buttons.
Qtgurl: hey
Qtgurl: who r u?
Hillary sat biting her fake nails as they waited for a response.
“You shouldn’t do that, you know,” Kacie remarked, glancing at her
friend. “If your mom finds out you’re chewing off the nails she just
bought, she’s gonna kill you.” Their attention was drawn back to the
screen as another message popped up.
hojpojboy: josh
hojpojboy: who r u?
Qtgurl: my name’s kacie
hojpojboy: cool name
Qtgurl: how’d u get my screenname?
“Kacie! Why’d you tell him your real name? You should’ve said it
was Emily or something.”
Kacie turned around in her chair and stared at her friend; her face the picture
of mock sympathy. “Hill, I think this is the first sign of
paranoia. You should go to a professional doctor and consult him on the
matter.”
“I’m serious!” Hillary giggled, lightly hitting her friend’s arm. “He
could track you down now.”
BLING!!!
hojpojboy: I was just bored and was typing in a bunch of different
screennames. none of them worked til I hit on yours. it actually
instant messaged u!
hojpojboy: lol
Qtgurl: you’re a whole lot luckier than I am! if I tried that, i’d
never come across a real screenname
“Kacie? Hillary? Lunch is ready!” Kacie’s mom called from
downstairs.
“Thank God,” Hillary muttered.
Qtgurl: G2G. talk 2 u some other time?
hojpojboy: yeah
hojpojboy: c-ya!
Chapter 2
“A Big
Mistake”
Mr.
Holland’s ninth grade classroom was slowly filling up. The tardy bell
rang for the start of the beginning of first period and half the
class was still hanging out in the hallway. Hillary, Kacie and two of
their closest friends, Evelyn and Rebecca, were taking full advantage of Mr.
Holland’s business herding the rowdy students back into class. They were
discussing Kacie’s conversation with Josh two days previously. Kacie was
recounting it with vivid detail.
“So there we were, Hillary and I, researching the reproductive system on line
for our report...”
“Researching is definitely what I’d call it!” Hillary giggled and passed
around some of the pictures they had printed out. Glancing at the
pictures, Kacie continued.
“Anyway, so there we were researching for our science project when all
of a sudden, out of the blue, there pops up an instant message from a “hodge
podge boy.” Well, of course we had no idea who he was, so we opened and
answer it. He turns out to be this really nice guy. I talked to him
for a while yesterday also.”
Evelyn looked extremely interested. “Tell me more! What did he look
like? How old is he? What’s he like?”
“Does it matter?” Rebecca asked. “It’s not like your gonna get
hooked up with him anyway.”
Hillary took the conversation from there. “We didn’t get to talk to him
for very long. Besides, we don’t even know this guy. He could be
some fifty year old freak.”
While Evelyn and Kacie rolled their eyes, Rebecca was in total agreement with
Hillary. “I’m with you all the way, girl.”
-------------------------------------
Usually
after school Kacie and her friends remained at the school building for a while
chatting before they went home. That day though, Kacie left her three
chums at the front steps and began her trek home early. All day she had
been thinking about getting home and talking to Josh. She knew she
shouldn’t be thinking about him so much and kept telling herself that he
probably was never thinking about her except when they were talking. All
the same she was anxious to get home and on the computer.
Running directly in the front door, she silently thanked her mother for not
being home. She didn’t want anyone to disrupt her conversation
today. Besides, she wasn’t exactly sure if her mother would approve of
her talking, everyday, to a boy she didn’t really know very well.
Immediately, Kacie turned her computer on and tossed her backpack down onto her
bed. Skipping downstairs, she grabbed a snack and raced with it back up
to her bedroom. The computer was on so she signed online. Almost
immediately an instant message popped up on the screen.
hojpojboy: hey grl!
hojpojboy: where have u been? I’ve been waiting for like fifteen
minutes
Qtgurl: I got home as soon as I could
Qtgurl: so what’s crackin’?
hojpojboy: o, not much. just doin’ homework while I waited for u to
get on....i’ll put it away now. say, you don’t know any algebra 2 do u?
Qtgurl: huh! as if! i’m only in algebra 1. y?
havin’ problems?
hojpojboy: yeah......major ones
hojpojboy: enough of me. tell me about u. we haven’t really
talked about that. I don’t know the first thing about u ‘cept what u r
like
Qtgurl: u wanna know everything?!?
hojpojboy: yeah
Qtgurl: well....where 2 start? I like swimming, cooking, gameboys,
parties, hanging out with friends...........what do u wannna know?
hojpojboy: what do u look like? how old r u? where do u
live? do u have a boyfriend?
Qtgurl: have a boyfriend? u’r really rushing in there aren’t u? :-)
hojpojboy: hey! it was just a question. it didn’t mean
anything
Qtgurl: right. k. well, I have blue eyes (my mom says they’re
so bright that they look like a pool of water when the sun shines on it!), and
curly brown hair. actually, it’s just wavy. it’s pretty long
too. I just turned 14 yrs. old in december, so naturally i’m in 8th
grade. I live in
hojpojboy: u sound like a cool person
Qtgurl: o! i’m blushing!
hojpojboy: i’m serious!
Qtgurl: so am I
hojpojboy: here, i’ll send a pix of me
hojpojboy: hang on.........
hojpojboy: it’s not letting me.....there!
Kacie waited, staring at the screen. She suddenly heard the AOL
trademark.
“You’ve got mail!”
She went to her mailbox and opened it. A picture of a boy who looked to
be around fourteen or fifteen years of age was downloaded onto her
computer. He had dirty blond hair and dark amber eyes. There were
cute little dimples in his cheeks. Kacie whistled to herself.
Quickly printing the picture, she got back to her instant messanger.
Qtgurl: I gotta admit.......u r pretty cute
hojpojboy: more like smokin’ u mean. it’s an old pix
Suddenly, Kacie heard a car door slam and the front door close. Her mother
was home. She rushed over and shut her bedroom door. As soon as she
sat down at the computer again, the door flew open and in ran her little
brother, Brendon.
“Guess what I got today! Guess what I got! You’ll never
guess!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.
“I don’t want to,” his sister muttered. “Just tell me and get out
of my room.”
“Who are you talking to?” He asked.
“None of your business.”
“Is so!” Brendon cried and ran over to her computer. “Hojpojboy? I
don’t know a hojpojboy.”
“You don’t need to either, now scat!”
“He was never on your buddy list before,” Brendon retorted.
“How do you know who’s on my buddy list?” Kacie asked darkly.
Brendon started backing towards the door, his eyes roaming the room in hopes
for an escape route if necessary. “No reason. I just have
supernatural powers is all.”
Kacie jumped out of her chair. “Have you been on my
computer?!” She raged. “You little eight year old brat!
You’ve been on my computer!”
Brendon, screaming, ran out into the hallway. Kacie charged after
him. He clumped down the stairs calling out for his mother, but Kacie
stopped herself at the top of them. She heard her mother call her name
and footsteps downstairs. Instead of following her brother, she raced
back into her bedroom and slammed the door. She explained in short terms
to Josh that she needed to go and quickly signed off. She put her
computer to sleep and had just plopped her school books onto her desk and sat
down when her bedroom door once again opened and revealed her mother standing
there with Brendon hiding behind her.
“Have you been talking to someone online when you should’ve been doing
homework, young lady?” Her mother asked quietly.
“No,” was Kacie’s innocent response. “I haven’t been online. Why do
you think that?”
“Your brother just told me you were speaking to someone.” Kacie firmly
denied it and gave her brother an evil look. Mrs. Giddens walked over to
the computer and turned it on. She logged online with her anxious
daughter hovering in the background insisting that she hadn’t been talking to
anybody.
“What was that screenname again Brendon, dear?” The persistent mother
asked.
“H-o-j-p-o-j-b-o-y,” the boy responded proudly, but soon wilted under his
sister’s gaze. Their mother typed it in and instant messaged him under
her daughter’s screenname.
Qtgurl: hey
hojpojboy: u’r back! did your mom find out u were talkin’ 2 me?
Kacie sighed and flopped on her bed. She knew it before her mother even
questioned her and stated it. She was grounded. Grounded for
talking to someone online that her mother didn’t know.
Chapter 3
“The
Troublesome Phone Call”
Mrs.
Giddens found a very fitting punishment for her disobedient daughter.
Since Kacie had abused her internet privilages for social purposes when she was
supposed to have been doing homework, she was to have no opportunities to
conduct a social life at home. That meant a whole week with no telephone,
no trips to friends’ houses, and, most importantly, no internet. This was
a very harsh punishment for Kacie seeing as she spent most of her free time
either watching television, talking on the phone, visiting friends or instant
messaging people online.
Kacie fared pretty well for the first four days of her punishment because she
could see her friends at school. When Saturday rolled around, though, she
was a wreck.
Saturday morning when she came downstairs, Kacie learned that her mother was
going on a date that day and would be back at around six that night. She
had met a man the day previously at work who was taking her to the zoo, lunch,
the mall and then the movies. Because they were going to be gone all day,
Kacie was going to have to babysit for her brother.
“It’s not like you’ll have anything else to do today,” her mother
laughed.
When Mrs. Giddens’ date got to the house that morning, she warned Brendon to
tell her when she got back if Kacie had done anything she wasn’t supposed to
do.
Sitting around all day with her brother whittling away at both her ear drums
and her patience was not Kacie’s strong point. After enduring it for four
hours Kacie ordered her brother into the back yard and herself ran up to her
room. Suddenly she heard a ringing noise. Opening her door a crack
she listened again. It was the telephone! No one would know if she picked
it up, her mother wasn’t home and her brother was outside. Besides, she
reasoned, if it was something important, her mother would want to make sure
they spoke to someone incase they didn’t leave a message. Making up her
mind, Kacie rushed quickly downstairs. She grabbed the phone and quietly
answered it.
“Hey Kacie. What are you doing home on a beautiful Saturday afternoon?”
“Bobby?” Kacie whispered as she trapsed up the steps to her
bedroom. Bobby was a friend from school whom she hadn’t spoken to for a
whole week since he had been out of the country. “Hey! I’m so glad
you called. I was about to die here. How was your trip to
“Great, but I was wondering if I could tell you about it over some
ice-cream. You know, at that new parlor that opened up on
Slamming her hand down on her desk in frustration, Kacie answered. “I
can’t. First of all, I’m grounded, and second of all, I’m babysitting my
brother today. Mom’s on a date.”
“You think it’s serious?”
“What? My being grounded or my mom being on a date?”
“Your mom on a date.”
“I don’t know. I don’t like this guy she’s out with though. He was
really snobby to me when he came to pick Mom up this morning. He thought
Brendon was sweet as chocolate pie but acted as if I was dirt under his shoe.”
“Oh well, some guys are like that. So, you can’t get out for ice-cream?”
“No, afraid not. But let’s keep that date for next weekend okay? I
get off being grounded on Monday.”
“It’s a date, baby.”
Kacie was glad Bobby couldn’t see her while talking on the telephone. She
was blushing a deep red from his last statement.
Brendon soon tired of being outside and was suspicious of his sister wanting
him out of the house anyway. He slipped quietly into the kitchen and got
himself some water. It was then that he noticed the phone was off the
hook and the green light was on to show it was in use. He crept through
the living room and padded up the stairs to his sister’s bedroom door.
Grinning mischievously, he sat down on the carpet outside her room and, sipping
his water, listened to her conversation. No reason to do anything now, he
decided. He could enjoy evesdropping on her for a while and tell his
mother later. After all, he loved getting his sister in trouble.
Chapter 4
“Off
the Hook”
When
Mrs. Giddens returned home that night at around six o’clock, she found Brendon
watching television on the couch, the phone off the hook, and the little green
light on to show it was in use.
“Are you on the phone, honey?” She called to her son from the kitchen.
“No.”
“Were you on the phone and forgot to turn it off?”
“No.”
“Well where’s the phone?!?”
“I’ll tell you at a commercial,” was the child-like response. A
hunch was creeping into the mother’s head, so she walked into the livingroom
and turned the television off. Oblivious to her son’s wails, Mrs. Giddens
demanded to know where Kacie was.
“I’ll reveal the information,” Brendon said, stroking his chin, “but it’ll cost
ya.”
“Name your price,” the mother replied.
“Four cookies for desert,” Brendon said.
Hiding a smile the mother answered, “Absolutely not.”
“Three, then.”
“Preposterous!”
“Two?”
“Not a chance, buddy.”
“One is my last offer.”
“You’ve got a deal. Where’s your sister?”
“You paid well for the information, so I’ll tell you. She’s up in her
room talking to somone named Bobby who called at two o’clock.”
Charlotte Giddens’s face clouded over as she asked, “And she’s been speaking
with him ever since?”
When answered with the affirmative, Charlotte raced up the stairs; her agile,
34 year old legs serving her well. Stopping in front of Kacie’s door, she
did as Brendon had done and stood listening to her daughter’s happy voice
through the door.
“So then, hehehe, Evelyn whirled around and smacked John right across his
face!” There was silence for a minute except for Kacie’s giggles.
“Yeah, he was trying to touch her. I just told you that. He grabbed
her butt! I bet he’s never gonna try that to Evie Roberts again!
Hehehe!” Kacie immediately stopped. She had heard her door open
behind her. Inconspicuously, she glanced at her watch. Feeling
suddenly very sick she realized it was almost six fifteen p.m.
“I gotta go,” the nervous girl whispered and hung up the phone. Not
daring to turn around and gaze into her mother’s angry eyes, she simply sat
there, at the foot of her bed, hardly daring to breathe.
“So.” Mrs. Giddens said, striding into the room. “So. I go out for
one day, just one day, to get away from it all and have a great time.
When I get home, what do I find? I find my own daughter, my own teenage
daughter, who should have at least some discipline, doing exactly what I told
her not to.” She stopped there waiting for a response, though none
came. “What exactly did I ground you from, young lady?”
“The telephone, friends’ houses and the internet.”
“Exactly. Did you obey me? No. I go out for one day and here
you are calling people up the minute I’m out of sight.”
“I didn’t call him! He called me!”
“You still sat here and talked to him for four hours! You didn’t say,
‘oh, I’m grounded from the phone for a while. Can I call you back some
other time?’ You didn’t say that did you? Your little brother
behaved better then you today! I would have expected better from
you.” Charlotte strode over to the door, but stopped in the
doorway. “Oh, and by the way, your punishment is extended.”
“For how long?” Kacie asked jumping up from her bed.
“Another month.”
“Mom! No! I have a date on Saturday!”
“You deserve to be grounded if a date is all you can think about when you are
punished.” The door to a bedroom was shut and a forlorn, miserable girl
was left standing in the middle of it, staring after a departed mother.
------------------------
Two
weeks had gone by after this latest episode and Kacie had been a perfect
angel. Though she did have some disobedience problems, Kacie hated people
being angry with her, so she was doing everything in her power to regain her
mother’s trust and friendship.
Every morning she had been up at five o’clock to make breakfast and coffee
before her mother had come downstairs. She had come straight home from
school every afternoon to do her homework so she could have dinner made by the
time her mother was home from work at five o’clock. Kacie saved her
brother the chore of drying the dishes and her mother the chore of washing them
each night because she took full responsibility for them.
Kacie’s goal was finally accomplished when one Monday morning her alarm didn’t
go off at five o’clock and she didn’t wake until almost seven. Rushing to
get her clothes on she raced downstairs and found Brendon and their mother
eating breakfast. Rushing in Kacie exclaimed,
“I don’t know what happened, Mom! My alarm just didn’t go off. I
was intending to make breakfast this morning.”
Charlotte pulled her daughter onto her lap and stroked her dark brown
hair. “I know darling. I turned your alarm off this morning.
You’ve been working so hard lately I decided to give you a break.”
After Kacie had gotten her toast out of the toaster and her eggs on her plate,
Mrs. Giddens continued. “I also have some news I think you’ll
like.” Seeing the expectant look in her daughter’s eyes, Charlotte
laughed. “I bet you don’t know what it is. I’ve decided to remove
your punishment.”
“You mean I’m not grounded anymore?”
“That’s what I mean all right.”
After thanking her mother profusely, Kacie jumped up and grabbing the phone,
raced up to her room.
“Don’t take too long,” her mother called after her. “You have to leave
for school in ten minutes!”
Kacie rushed immediately back downstairs again, gulped down her eggs and toast,
then raced up to the bathroom. She was back down with her backpack slung
over her shoulder in a twinkling.
Kissing her mother and brother goodbye, she ran out the door crying, “I don’t
need to use the phone, I can talk to them at school!”
Chapter 5
“The
Return and the Plans”
Kacie’s
friends were just as happy as she herself was to be off punishment so
surprisingly early. When they learned that their friend could return to
the internet again, they shared some information with her that they hadn’t
before. While she had been cooped up, away from her instant messenger for
three weeks, Josh had somehow found out the screen names of Hillary, Evelyn and
Rebecca and had been instant messaging them every day. Although Hillary
had refused to answer his messages, and Rebecca had only spoken to him a few
times, Evelyn was thoroughly caught in his web. She had had long
conversations with her new internet friend as he had extracted confidential
information from her.
Kacie could not be mad at her friends for long. As soon as she had spoken
to Josh again and was once more aware of his charms, she understood why her
friends could not resist communicating with him. Although Evelyn and
Kacie spoke freely to Josh, and Rebecca was slowly falling into the trap as
well, Hillary remained steadfast in her beliefs. She understood what her
friends saw in Josh, but earnestly believed, for some reason she could not
explain, that he was not sincere.
One Wednesday evening, Kacie was sitting alone in her room, reading a book,
when she heard a beep on her computer screen. Glancing over at it she
realized she had not logged off line for the night and she had an instant
message. Lazily rolling off her bed, Kacie walked over to her computer.
She had an instant message from hodgepodge boy. Kacie groaned. As
fond as she was of Josh, she did not want to talk to him every second of the
day. She had already instant messaged him once and heard from him
twice. As unwilling as she was to speak to him, Kacie responded anyway.
Qtgurl: hey
hojpojboy: wuz up grl? u still on after all this time?
Qtgurl: it looks like that doesn’t it
Qtgurl: look Josh, i’m kinda busy right now
hojpojboy: wut, u have someone over?
Qtgurl: no. i’m reading a book
hojpojboy: u’d rather read a book than talk to me? wut’s wrong w/
u?
Qtgurl: yeah. I love reading
hojpojboy: u’re different than I thought u were. I thought u were
always online. never thought u would rather read then talk to me.
hojpojboy: y do u bother waisting your time reading?
Kacie was beginning to get annoyed. Why shouldn’t she read? She
didn’t have to be talking to Josh all the time. He did not take up every
waking moment as he apparently thought he did. Her mood was evident in the
way she spoke to him.
Qtgurl: look Josh. I don’t spend my every waking moment thinking of
u and longing to talk to u. i’ve talked to u 3 times today. that’s
plenty 4 me! k? I just want to be left alone right now
hojpojboy: that’s fine w/ me. if that’s the way u feel
Qtgurl: that is the way I feel as a matter of fact
hojpojboy: fine. I won’t mention the little secret that I was going
to let u in on then. I think u would’ve really liked it. but
apparently I don’t know who u are anymore cuz I thought u paid more attention
to social things then to reading and crap like that
Qtgurl: reading isn’t crap. it’s fun, though apparently u’ve never
tried it.
Qgurl: wut wuz the secret?
hojpojboy: well, I was goin to say that I will be in Halkins, West
Virginia over the weekend
Qtgurl: u’re telling me that u’re goin to come to my town all the way
from NYC?
Qtgurl: u live in New York City, don’t u?
hojpojboy: yep. that’s where I live & that’s wut i’m sayin
Qtgurl: y r u comin here?
hojpojboy: wut? u don’t want me to come?
Qtgurl: I never said that. I only asked y u r
hojpojboy: don’t be stupid. 2 c u of course
Qtgurl: how r u gettin here?
hojpojboy: i’m drivin
Qtgurl: but u don’t have ur liscense yet!
hojpojboy: course I do
Qtgurl: I thought u were 14 like me
hojpojboy: who told u that?
Qtgurl: Evelyn. she said u told her one time
hojpojboy: Evelyn? who Evelyn? o. ur friend Evie?
Qtgurl: yeah. she must really like u cuz she only lets her intimate
friends call her that
hojpojboy: we got 2 know eachother really well. no, I have my
liscence. she lied to u
Qtgurl: Evelyn doesn’t lie
hojpojboy: anyway, i’m comin down and I wuz wonderin if u would wunna
meet up somewhere
Qtgurl: my mom wouldn’t like that
hojpojboy: ur mom doesn’t have to know
Qtgurl: I think i’ll have to ask her
hojpojboy: not if she wouldn’t let u come! i’m comin down to c u
and if u couldn’t c me, wut would be the point of the trip? don’t tell
her, just meet me somewhere
Qtgurl: maybe u’re right
hojpojboy: of course i’m right
hojpjboy: so, u’re comin?
Qtgurl: sure. I guess i’ll come
Qtgurl: lets meet at royal park. it’s on Lynchburg Ave. between the
Friendly’s and the mall
hojpojboy: cool. bring that Evelyn girl 2. I really wanna
meet her.
Qtgurl: i’ll try.
hojpojboy: i’ll miss u until I see u face to face. right now I only
visualize wut u look like from wut u’ve told me. send me a pix so i’ll
know who to look for when I come
Qtgurl: k. hold on
Kacie rushed over to her book shelves and pulled out a photo album.
Hastily flipping through it, she found a picture of herself at the Christmas
ball her Middle School had put on earlier that same year. In the picture
she was wearing a blue dress that reached almost to the bottom of her highheeled
shoes. It had a long slit in the side that came up to mid thigh.
Kacie laughed as she remembered what her boyfriend had said when he saw her;
how he had pretended to faint. There were sequins scattered all over the
dress. Her hair was up in a loose knot at the back of her head with some
silky strands falling around her face. In her hand she was holding a
bouquet of flowers.
Kacie stared at it, wondering if it was appropriate to send to Josh. For
an instant she visualized a forty year old man sitting at a computer in a dark,
moldy motel room printing out her picture and posting it on a wall along with
hundreds of photos of other young girls. Shaking her head Kacie muttered
to herself.
“Hillary’s crazy ideas are getting to my head.” She decided Josh was just
a friend who was not interested in her in any other way. Kacie took out
the picture of herself at the Christmas Ball and scanned it on her computer. Quickly,
she e-mailed it to Josh and sat awaiting his response. She did not have
long to wait.
hojpojboy: well, Kacie. i’m flabbergasted. lol. u look
georgeous! when wuz this pix taken? this year sometime?
Qtgurl: thanks. yeah, it was @ a Christmas Ball my school put on
earlier this year. I don’t think you’ll recognize me in jeans though.
hojpojboy: if u are half as pretty in regular clothes as you are in this
pic, i’ll recognize u. besides, I couldn’t miss those bright blue eyes
anywhere! that dress really compliments your figure Kacie
Qtgurl: o stop! I know though, doesn’t it? k. I really
gotta go now. I wanna get back to my book now.
hojpojboy: alright. i’ll let u go. i’ll feast off this pix
until I see u in person. until then, tootles!
Slightly uneasy, Kacie turned off her computer, got undressed and falling on
her bed picked up her book. Not being able to concentrate on her book,
Kacie turned her light off and tried to fall asleep. It was no use
though. She could not stop thinking about that image of an old man
sitting behind a desk staring at her somewhat revealing picture. In an
effort to push the thought out of her mind, Kacie turned the television on and
prepared herself for a sleepless night.
Chapter 6
“A
Pair of Runaways”
Evelyn,
Kacie and Josh had agreed to meet at Lynchburg Park at 8:00 on Friday
night. When told of the plan, Hillary strongly opposed it. For two
days she tried to convince her two best friends not to go along with Josh’s
plan. She tried to get it through to them that it was a dangerous, as
well as a stupid, idea.
“Why would he want to meet you so late at night? Why wouldn’t he want you
to tell your mother, Kacie? He wouldn’t want you to tell your mother
because he wouldn’t want her to know where you were so she couldn’t come
looking for you. He wants to meet you at night so that not many people
will be around when he tries to harm you. Don’t you see? This could
be a dangerous situation for both of you! Please don’t go.”
Whenever Hillary spoke in this way, Kacie couldn’t help remembering the image
of an old man in a dingy motel room she had had the night she sent Josh the
picture. She was torn between two things: longing to meet her
internet buddy for the first time, and listening to her best friend’s sound
advice. When the big day finally rolled around, Kacie hadn’t yet made up
her mind about what to do.
---------------------------------
Evelyn
and Kacie had agreed that it would be easier to sneak away the night they were
to meet Josh if they were both in the same place. So, it was decided that
Evelyn would sleep over at Kacie’s house.
On the way home from school that Friday, Kacie made her fears known to her
friend.
“You know how Hillary has been raving about how we shouldn’t meet Josh
tonight?” When answered in the affirmative Kacie continued. “Well,
I’ve been thinking about it and. . .”
“Do not tell me you’re chickening out now!” Evelyn groaned. “Not
right now, so close to when we need to meet him!”
“I’m not chickening out,” Kacie quickly retorted. “If you would
just let me finish what I was saying. . .
You know how I made all these plans with Josh on Wednesday? Well, that
night he also asked me to send him a picture so he would know who to look for
tonight. Anyway, I e-mailed him that picture of me at the Christmas
Ball.”
“The one with you in the blue dress?” Evie interrupted. “That was
such a cute picture! Did he like it?”
“Yeah, he really liked it. That’s actually what I’m worried about.
You see, after I got off line that night, I couldn’t help but visualize some
forty year old guy, sitting in a dark, moldy motel room posting my picture on a
wall with hundreds of pictures of other girls. What’s wrong, Evie?
You look worried.”
Evelyn slowly shook her head but the worried look remained on her face.
“He asked me to send a picture of myself, also. After I sent it to him, I
had the same feeling you just described. It was a feeling like I shouldn’t have
trusted someone I had never met so much. I was really uneasy for a
while.” Kacie put her arm around her friend. Then, Evelyn laughed
and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
“Hillary sure is getting to our heads isn’t she?”
------------------------
When
seven thirty rolled around that night, Evelyn and Kacie said they were going to
go talk upstairs for a while and watch movies. They climbed the steps to
Kacie’s bedroom. Once inside they shut the door. Quickly, they put
on some jackets that they had brought up to the room earlier. Since there
was no lock on the bedroom door, the girls were afraid that Mrs. Giddens might
come in later to say goodnight and find them gone. Evelyn had the bright
idea of leaving a note, so while Kacie was writing a note saying they had gone
out for a walk, Evie snuck back into the hallway to check where her hostess
was. Seeing that she was engrossed in a game of checkers with her son,
Evelyn stole back into the bedroom.
Taking a deep breath, the two friends opened Kacie’s bedroom window and climbed
out onto the roof. Holding tightly onto eachother, they groped their way
over to the tree in the front yard. One of its branches
leaned so far out that it almost touched the roof near Kacie’s window.
Hardly daring to breathe, the two girls grabbed hold of the branch and swung
themselves, hand over hand, to where the branch connected to the trunk.
When Kacie reached the trunk, she looked back and saw Evelyn hanging in the
middle of the branch with her eyes closed, muttering to herself under her
breath.
“Come on,” Kacie whispered. “You’re practically right in front of
the living room window and Mom’s in there! You gotta hurry up!”
“You knew I was afraid of heights, Kacie.” She whispered back. “Why
is this the way we have to sneak out? I can’t move, I’m too scared.”
“Evie, listen to me. Take your right hand and put it in front of your
left. Don’t say you can’t! You can! Just pick it up and put
it over your left.” Slightly frustrated and exceedingly anxious, Kacie
pulled herself back onto the branch and swung her way over to Evelyn.
Hanging by one arm, she grasped hold of one of Evelyn’s and lifted it off the branch.
She placed Evie’s hand in front of her other hand. Encouraging Evelyn to
continue coming, they both swung slowly along the branch. When they
reached the end of it, one of Evelyn’s hands slipped and she screamed.
Quickly she got herself upright and was swung into the foliage of the tree by
Kacie just as Mrs. Giddens rushed to the window and looked out to see what was
wrong.
For one minute they sat there amid the branches of the large tree, hidden from
the searching eyes of the mother inside the house, though it seemed to them
like one hour. After Charlotte Giddens had returned to her game of
checkers, the two girls scampered down the tree and jumped to the ground.
Once there, they raced around to the side yard and grabbed two bikes.
Silently, they stole off into the gathering night.
Chapter 7
“Barely
Escaped”
When the
two friends got to Royal Park, there was no one there. They sat down on a
park bench with their bikes next to them. They pulled their
coats tighter about themselves and began talking to relieve their
anxiety.
“OK. A duck walks into a bar,” Evelyn began. “The bartender
says, ‘sorry, we don’t serve food here.’ The duck says, ‘oh, that’s
OK. All I wanted was a drink.’”
Kacie managed a weak smile. “It might be funnier if, number one, I hadn’t
heard it before, and number two, I wasn’t so nervous.”
“I was just trying to make the time go by faster,” Evelyn mumbled.
“Hey, is that him?” She pointed to someone walking quickly towards them
from the other end of the park.
“No,” Kacie whispered, “it couldn’t be. He looks too old to be
Josh.” She plopped down onto the bench again and began playing with her
hands. “Of course, you never know.”
As the unknown night walker got closer to them, the girls became more and more
nervous. Not only was this man the only other one in the park, but he was
there at exactly 8:00. He was there at exactly the time they were
supposed to meet Josh.
“Kacie,” Evelyn whimpered, “I’m not so sure about this. Maybe we
should’ve told your mom.” She got no answer except for her friend’s
knuckles cracking, as they do when she is nervous.
A few minutes later, the man stopped in front of the bench. Kacie and
Evelyn quivered ever so slightly. This man looked to be about 45 years
old or so. His face was clean shaven and he had a few streaks of gray in
his dark hair. He took two pictures out of his pocket and glanced at
them. Then he stared long and hard at the two girls in front of him.
“Are you Kacie Giddens and Evelyn Mitchel?” He asked gruffly. After
a couple of seconds he got a nod from each of them.
Quick as lightning, and with agility surprising for his age, he sprang behind
the bench and put a hand over each of the girls' mouths. Before they
could do anything, he had them standing up and held fast in his firm
grip.
“Pleasure meeting you. I’m Josh.”
Evelyn screeched, but it only came out as a muffled scream. She began
wiggling around, trying to loosen his grip and get away. Josh kicked out
at the back of her knees. They buckled and she fell to the ground. He
leaned over, slapped her face, and whispered menacingly in her ear.
“Why don’t you be like your friend here, Evie? Kacie is being very calm
and subdued. I like that in a girl.” He then yanked Evelyn back up
to her feet. Pushing them forward, they began walking to the car Josh had
gotten out of.
“Now,” he said. “We’re going to get in to this nice little taxi cab
I have waiting for us. Then, we’re going to go back to this nice little
hotel room I booked for us. How’s that sound? If either of you make
one little noise. . .” Josh made a choking sound, “.
. well, I think you can guess what will happen.”
While Josh was talking, Kacie turned her head a little so she could see
Evelyn. Her friend’s eyes were watering. She did not blame her, so
were hers.
“Mom,” Kacie thought, “please help me. I’m sorry. I know you
wouldn’t want me to have met Josh by myself. Please help me, Mommy.
I’m sorry. I'm scared.”
When the little group reached the car, Kacie was pushed in first. Josh got
in after her and pulled Evelyn in after him. He slammed the door, told
the driver of the car to go, and they sped out onto the road. He then
released his grip on the two girls.
Josh turned his attention to Evelyn who was trying desperately to keep him away
from her. Kacie glanced at the driver and gasped. His hands were
tied to the steering wheel! Kacie then looked at the doors of the car and
smiled to herself. There was one important little detail of this
kidnapping that Josh had left out: he had not locked the doors. She
had to tell Evelyn.
Thinking fast, she rubbed her leg against Josh’s. He turned away from
Evelyn and looked down at his leg. Kacie took advantage of his lack of
attention to them and mouthed to Evelyn that the doors were unlocked. She
saw her friend’s face light up with understanding as she continued rubbing her
capture's leg.
In a few minutes, they stopped at a red light. “NOW!” Kacie
yelled. Simultaneously, she and Evelyn yanked their doors open and,
quickly locking them, slammed them shut. Without looking back to see if
they were being followed, they scampered around the honking cars to the
sidewalk and practically flew down the street. They turned into the mall
parking lot and stopped for a minute to catch their breath.
Glancing behind her, Evelyn saw Josh running down the block towards them.
Grabbing her friend’s hand, she raced through the front door of Hecht’s and
rushed over to the nearest checkout.
Completely out of breath, she gasped out, “phone. .
911. . call. . kidnapper
chasing us. .”
In one swift movement the cashier picked up the phone and did as the girls had
asked her. Kacie and Evelyn saw Josh enter the store and, too scared and
out of breath to utter a sound, hid in the racks of clothes.
Within five minutes, the police were in the store and had arrested Josh for the
kidnapping and abuse of two teenage girls. After Josh had been taken,
kicking and cursing, out of the store and over to the police station, two
officers drove Kacie and Evelyn back to the park to retrieve their bikes.
They were met at Royal Park by the girls’ mothers and three more police
men.
Kacie and Evelyn rushed over to their mothers. As soon as everything was
explained to them, they had a chance to talk to their children.
“How did you know?” Kacie asked of her mother.
Crying and laughing, Charlotte answered, “I had this feeling about fifteen
minutes ago. Sort of like you were talking to me. I went up to your
room, read your note and had an idea something like this had happened to you
two. So, I called Mrs. Mitchel and told her about it. We called the
police and rushed right over to the park.”
“I did call you, Mom! I called you when he was taking us to the
car. Oh, how did you hear me?”
“We must have a very special bond, baby,” she replied.
“How did you know we would be at the park?” Evelyn asked.
“Mrs. Giddens said that’s where Kacie is when she ‘goes for a
walk.'" Her mother answered.
“I am really sorry, Mom,” Kacie said. “Am I grounded?”
“That depends,” was the reply. “What did you learn from this
experience?”
“That I should never talk to people online I don’t know and that I should learn
to listen when my friends and my parents try to tell me something.”
“And that you should not go sneaking around behind my back when it might be
dangerous?”
“When it’s dangerous and even when it’s not.”
Charlotte Giddens smiled down at her daughter. “No sweetie, you’re not
grounded. You’ve had enough punishment and learned a valuable lesson in
the process.”
Never again did Kacie speak to anyone except her friends while she was online,
and never again did she do something her consciensce was telling her not to do.
The End