A Long Way From Home

The girl awoke with a fright, she had just had a nightmare. She checked the time, and it was midnight. She fell back asleep; it was the following day. “Amire, honey, wake up.” her mom said. “Why is school a thing?” she said. “Because.” her mom replied. Amire got dressed and headed to school.

Amire does not have many friends at school, people say she is disturbing to be around, and she doesn’t have a pleasant face. Amire got home looking very depressed. “What happened?” her mom asked. “Nothing!” Amire exclaimed and she went to her room. That night she hid under the covers and cried herself to sleep. The next morning was a Saturday, so Amire decided to go to the gas station to get some snacks. Then she could go home and watch some movies. Inside the gas station, Amire noticed a man, he was tall and had this sort of grunge look.

Amire bought some snacks and went up to the cashier. She paid and started to head out the door when she noticed the same man that she saw inside the store had come out of the store a couple of seconds after she did. She did not think much of it until he started to follow her. Amire looked back a couple of times and then decided to start running. The man started running after her, Amire was no match for him. Then Amire ran and hid behind an abandoned house. She heard footsteps. The man grabbed her and took her into the house she was hiding behind.

Amire screamed but then the man pulled out a gun, so Amire kept quiet. The man tied her to her bed and started to torture her. At night, when Amire fell asleep, the man would go to other abandoned houses close by because he had other victims. Soon Amire came to find that the man’s name was Edgar. One night, Amire heard him talking on the phone. A couple tortuous of nights later when the man left the house Amire decided to stay awake, Amire felt something in her pocket. It was a pen; she had probably left it in her purse the day before. Amire wriggled enough to slide her hand to the pocket so she could grab the pen.

She started to cut the duct tape she was tied up with and began to cut it with the pen. After an hour Amire was free. She came to find that all of the doors were locked except the bathroom door. Amire went into the bathroom and found a big shard of glass from the broken mirror. She then went downstairs. She hid behind the door and waited for the man to come back. After a couple of hours. Amire heard Edgar’s car. He walked through the door. Edgar looked very drunk, his hair all frizzy, and his legs looked unstable. Overall he was unstable. He walked through the door. “W-where did that b-brat g-go?” He stuttered. Suddenly Amire stabbed the man in the back with a shard of glass and blood started gushing out of his mouth.

Amire stabbed him at least five times before stopping, the man fell to the floor. Amire took the keys to his black Camero. She started the car and headed to the closest convenience store. Of course, Amire didn’t know how to drive. But soon she came to learn she was surprisingly good at driving. Amire got to the convenience store and walked in the door. She headed to the cashier counter. “Hi.“ Amire said “Hello, where are your parents?” said the cashier. “There in the car.” Amire said. out “Mmhm and what is your name dear?” the cashier said as she picked up the phone and started to dial a number.

“Amire Walker,” she said. Amire figured she was calling the police, so she got scared and ran out of the store. Amire ran and ran until she couldn’t anymore. She stopped in front of an alley and finally sat down and rested. The following day, she saw fliers with pictures of her and her name. It said “MISSING GIRL IF FOUND PLEASE CALL 267-897-7645” Amire knew that her mom had to be worried, so she set off to find her home. Amire roamed the streets to find her home, but she had no luck.

As Amire walked the streets she started to get farther and farther away from her home. She came to another alley and noticed a kid and her mom; she was covered in dust and dirt. “Who are you?” said Amire “I am Camila Greenwood, and might I ask who are you?” said Camila. “Don’t talk to strangers, Camila” said the mom “But-” Camilla tried to say. “What did I just say?” said the mom. They walked away from her, and Amire was left alone in the alley, well so she thought. Suddenly, Amire heard barking from the trash can, she opened the trash can very cautiously.

A large cat jumped out of the trash can and bit Amire on the arm. The dog ran away barking. Amire crouched down, ripped a small portion of her shirt, and wrapped it around her arm, which was dripping blood. Amire fell asleep there in pain. The following morning Amire was hungry, so she walked to the nearest store. She walked inside, grabbed a few cans of food, and went up to the cashier. “Hello,” said the cashier “Hi” replied Amire as she placed the cans on the counter. The cashier scanned them, “That will be 10.99.” said the cashier. “Oh well, I don’t have any money,” Amire said as she ran away with the cans of food.

The cashier called the police. Not long after, Amire found a spot to hide. The police showed up. But, luckily Amire was far enough away that the police couldn’t see her. Amire started to feel pain in her arm where the cat had bitten her. She unwrapped the piece of clothing she had wrapped around her arm and saw red and purple marks and huge deep bite marks where the dog had bitten her. Amire remembered a long time ago a vicious cat had bitten her sister and she had to get a shot to ensure she didn’t get rabies.

Maybe Amire could get rabies because she could not get the shot. After all, she wasn’t accompanied by her parents nor could she locate the hospital. Amire put her wrap back on and kept walking. Amire noticed that she was being followed by a van, she started to run but the van was no match for Amire. So she hid in an alley trash can, and unfortunately, they found her. This rugged-looking man grabbed her by her hair and put a bag over her head.

The man picked her up, took her to the van, and threw her in the back. Right now Amire had an extreme amount of pain in her arm, she didn’t think much of it because she had just gotten kidnapped. It was about a half hour’s drive until the van finally stopped when the man got out of the van he opened the door and realized there wasn’t just one man there were three. Amire didn’t dare speak, one of the three men picked her up and brought her into this beat up broken-down house. One of the men saw her arm, “What’s this I see?” he said. “Nothing just a dog bite,” said Amire “Well, we don’t want you dying anytime soon, let me help you with that,” he said as he took the bag off her head. What Amire saw was horrifying, she saw multiple beds with girls chained to them. Amire was swallowed up by fear.

The girls chained on the bed posts were also gagged, their eyes showed so much fear. “Looks bad.” said the man as he searched his pocket and found bandages. Then he proceeded to put them on Amire. The men chained Amire to the bed while she was kicking and punching. The three men went to separate girls and started torturing them including Amire. Amire was there for what felt like weeks. One morning Amire thought of a way she could talk to the other girls, Morse code. Amire had learned this before this kidnapping experience. So Amire started tapping out Morse code loudly. She decided to tap out in Morse code “Who are you.” One of the girls noticed and started tapping back.

“Isabella, who are you?” Amire tapped back and told Isabella her name. One of the guards noticed, and they got into trouble. At least Amire knows one of the girls’ names so that if she ever makes it out of this place she can tell the cops one of the girls’ names. One morning Amire heard yelling coming from outside, it was only 2 minutes later when one of the men came in with a knife implanted in his leg. “EVERYONE HIDE!” the man said as he was picking the locks on our chains. Amire didn’t listen when he said to hide because the police would be there soon and if the police didn’t know where they were there was a good chance they were never getting out of there.

Then again if she didn’t hide, whatever put a knife in the man’s leg could kill her considering he or she had weapons. “AFTER THE LOCKS ARE PICKED, RUN OUTSIDE!” Amire yelled. “NO DON’T!” the man said as he fell to the floor, because of the injury to his leg. The girls started spilling out of the front door of the house. As Amire began running out of the house she yelled “GO TO THE NEAREST HOUSE AND ASK THEM TO CALL 911!”The girls reached one of the neighbor’s houses and pounded on the door. The lady asked them what was happening, and one of the girls told her and asked them to come in. “Hey uh, may I go to the bathroom?” Amire said, “Go ahead, honey.” said the lady in a sweet tone.

Amire walked into the bathroom and shut the door, she saw a window right next to the toilet. Luckily it was a big window so she could fit through it. Amire climbed up on the toilet and pushed herself through the window. She started running and saw a police car in the distance. She kept running until she went over to the policeman. “Police, it’s an emergency, 20 girls just got out of being kidnapped and are at A neighbor’s house. The address is 9342 Crookshanks St.” “Ok, we will be there right away.” Then he leaned into his walkie and said “This is 1094 I need backup, I am going in, over.” “Copy, over,” said someone on the other end of the walkie.

Amire could feel her arm getting worse. Amire ran and ran, she came across an alley. She went in and lay on the ground and fell asleep. The next morning was sunny, and Amire decided to take a walk. On her walk, she came to find that her arm was swelling, in the distance she saw an Urgent Care. She decided to head over there. When she went in she saw about five people sitting down, waiting for the doctor. She went up to the front desk and said “Excuse me, my name is uhm Annabelle Conley, and I would like to see the doctor as soon as possible.”

Amire lied to make sure they didn’t try to call her parents. “What is your issue?” The office lady asked. “Rabies, I think,” she answered, holding up her bandaged arm to show her. “Ouch. That looks painful, the doctor will see you right away,” she said, “Thanks.” She said as Amire sat down in one of the many chairs. About 6 minutes later the doctor announced “Annabelle Conley? The doctor is here to see you.” Amire rushed over to the door the doctor had come through. Amire could feel her arm getting worse. Amire ran and ran, she came across an alley. She went in and lay on the ground and fell asleep. The following day was sunny, and Amire decided to take a walk.

On her walk, she came to find that her arm was swelling, in the distance she saw an Urgent Care. She decided to head over there. When she went in she saw about five people sitting down, waiting for the doctor. She went to the front desk and said “Excuse me, my name is uhm Annabelle Conley, and I would like to see the doctor as soon as possible.” Amire lied. “What is your issue?” The office lady asked. “Rabie’s, I think,” she answered, holding up her bandaged arm to show her.

“Ouch. That looks painful, the doctor will see you right away,” she said, “Thanks.” She said as Amire sat down in one of the many chairs. About 6 minutes later the doctor announced “Annabelle Conley? The doctor is here to see you.” Amire rushed over to the door the doctor had come through. She went through the door and saw yellow walls with painted monarchs on the doors. Above each door Amire saw numbers....1....2....3....5. Why did they skip room number 4 she thought. Between rooms 3 and 5, was an empty space as if there had been a door there before but someone had removed it, fixed the wall, and painted over it. She and the Doctor walked...