"Breaking news! The former doctor, Gary Einzer, has escaped from the Chicago mental Institute. Einzer has a record of both kidnapping and torturing people of all ages. Keep your kids indoors, and call your local police station if you see any suspicious activity,”

I hear from the TV as soon as I walk through the door. Not even halfway through the report, my phone explodes with messages and alerts warning me to watch out for this Gary dude.

“Oh! Anna get in here now! I’ve been worried sick. Why didn't you answer my texts? Gary Einzer escaped and until he is found, you are under house arrest except of school and work,” my mom panics.

She freaks out about everything, for example, if we have the slightest chance of snow, she makes me, cancel all of my plans for the week. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like until Gary is caught. My mom’s always worried about me, but I'm seventeen. I'm basically an adult, but she seems to think I'm still a helpless fourth grader. She's just paranoid, nothing’s gonna happen to me. I have plans to go to a party with Jessica and Jeremy tonight, and she's funny if she thinks I'm missing that.

“Mom, I've been telling you for weeks that I'm going to the party at Jessica's tonight, I'll be fine. House arrest seems extreme,” I argue.

“Honey, I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous. You’re not going to that party. End of discussion. Grab the rolls and come eat dinner.”

Sneaking out is hard since my mom’s such a light sleeper, but I’m not canceling my plans. I sit down next to my mom and put spaghetti and a roll to my plate. Our large house is quiet, but it hasn't always been like this. I used to have three half-siblings that lived here, too but I haven't seen them or my dad since they moved 1,000 miles away to Louisiana when I was eight. It's just me and my mom, nothing but dust and quietness fill the numerous rooms of the mansion we call home. Half the rooms are left empty and have been for years. After dinner, I climb the stairs to my room and work on my painting for art class until it's time for the party.

It’s already 10 pm and I’m realizing I should have started getting ready before now, Jeremy's going to be here in 30 minutes and I can’t find anything to wear. My floor is covered in at least 20 tops and Jeremy texts me that he’s here. Crap! I throw on my maroon crop top and skinny jeans and go downstairs. I walk through the kitchen almost to the back door, I freeze when I hear my mom behind me.

“Kayla what are you doing? It almost 11 pm, why are you dressed like that?”

“I'm just getting water and I was face timing Michaela she was helping me decide what to wear tomorrow, calm down,” I said quickly

“Alright but get to bed soon.”

Phew, I'm getting good at this lying thing. My mom goes back to bed and I wait a few minutes before I leave out the back door. I meet Jeremy down the road, we leave his car where we met and walk a couple houses down to Jessica's house. We push through the crowd to get drinks and find Jessica. There are about twelve of us hanging out in the basement and I hear people yelling upstairs. I walk to the speakers and turned them down.

“Cops! Go, go, go!” We can hear panicking upstairs. Everyone climbs through the basement windows, we run into her backyard and down the road. As soon as it looks safe, we stop running and all bust out laughing. Jeremy and I had only been at the party for not even an hour and it was already busted. I look around and it's just me, Jeremy, Eleyna, and Alexis. Jessica isn't with us, I hope she doesn't get arrested. I grab my phone and text her to see where she is.

“Did you guys see that? There is something by the truck” Alexis said. I look up from my phone but its pitch black out, I don't see anything.

“Nah, I think your trippin,” Eleyna replied.

“No, I just saw it again something just moved behind that truck,” Alexis insisted. I can see the faint outline of a truck in the dark but I don't see anything around it.

“I saw it too that time,” Jeremy sounded scared. Everyone looks around the truck but still didn’t see anything. We keep walking a couple feet past the truck and the headlights of the truck shine on us and the truck comes to life. I scream and it sounded like the others did too, we take off and race through backyards trying to escape until gates block anyway to escape. I could see the headlights brighten, the truck stops and three men step out of the truck trapping us against the gates.

As soon as I wake up I immediately start flipping out. Where am I? Why am I here? Eleyna and I are the only ones awake, the other two are still knocked out on the cold floor of the cellar like room we are in. Eleyna and I look at each other, I can see the terror in her eyes and begin to process what happen. I crawl to Alexis and Jeremy shaking them, trying to wake them up but they lay motionless. The only light came from the underneath of a  door on the other side of the room.

My eyes finally adjusted to the dark so I try to stand up, I can see a staircase across the room and make my way to it. On my way up the steps caved in, barely holding my weight, as if I could fall through at any moment. At the top of the stairs, there is a door but the knob won't twist, it’s locked. I go back downstairs Eleyna is still sitting in the same spot, she has no color in her face and Jeremy and Alexis are still knocked out. I'm shaking as if we are having a level four earthquake but I walk around the room and towards the far end searching for windows on my way to the door. I'm almost to the door that the light’s coming from and I can hear voices coming from the room.

“Jeffory, you find out where the blonde one lives.”

Why does he need to know where Jeremy lives? I continue listening. “The other three had IDs so their houses won't be a problem finding,” it's a rough man's voice speaking.

Why does he need our addresses? I'm starting to panic more than before. I shouldn't have gone to the party, I should have just stayed home like my mom said. I pause my thoughts when they start talking again.

I can only hear some of the conversation but it was evident there were three men, one older than the other with a rough voice, the other two sounded younger. As they talked I learn that the older man was named Gary and the other two were Jeffory and Sam. Gary seems to be the one in charge, he is the one talking while the other two mostly just listen. I can't hear all of the details, it sounds like they are discussing money amounts. I lean in closer, pressing my ear to the door.

“Look at the shadow under the door,” one of the younger ones say, “I think one of them’s awake,” I hear him whisper and I’m hit with a wave of shock.

I can’t move. The door opens and Gary Einzer, the one from the news alerts, is two inches from me. He’s so close I can smell his foul breath as he speaks.

“Hey, you know where the boy lives?” He leans in closer and points towards Jeremy, who is still in the same spot passed out. I'm still frozen and can't muster up anything to respond so I just stand there petrified at what might happen next.

“God dammit how is this going to work if you don't cooperate!” He yells, still only inches from my face.

I'm too scared to move. A few seconds passed and Gary backs away and makes a gesture for me to go into the room. I sit down at a white fold-up table that filled most of the tiny room and all three men sit down, too.

“Listen, sweety, we don't want to hurt you. We just want money and I saw what kind of neighborhood you kids live in and I'm sure your parents could spare at least a couple thousand each. So if you want to return home alive I suggest you corporate.” His voice is calmer now and he’s right, our parents could spare the money.

Either Sam or Jeffory, I don't know which is which, leaves the room but comes back a couple of minutes later with yellow packing envelopes, paper, and a black sharpie. They are making me address the envelopes and write a message, one to each of our parents. I start to write the letters, requesting $10,000 in exchange for us alive. My tears are dripping on the paper while I write, if our parents can’t come up with the $10,000 each by tomorrow night, he said to write that we would return home, but not alive.

Geoffrey, Sam, and Gary leave the room. I hear their heavy bodies go up the unstable, creaky stairs and through the door, I leave the room to find Jeremy and Alexis had both woken up while I was in the room. I explain to them what had happened and what I had found out but there wasn't much talk after that. We sit on the floor, mostly silent, all night. None of us hardly say a word.

“When you nod your head, yes but you wanna say no what do you mean? When you don't want me to move but you tell me to go what do you mean?” I hear my favorite song in the distance getting louder. What the actual heck? I listen and it gets louder until I shoot up, freaking out thinking I'm going insane, but I look around and realize I'm sitting up in my bed.

My phone next to me is vibrating and my Justin Bieber ringtone is playing loudly. I take a minute to slow my breathing but my heart is still racing from the realistic dream. I answer the call, It’s Jeremy. He’s asking if I'm almost ready for the party but there is no way I'm going to the party after that dream.

I tell him I decided not to go and walk downstairs to watch a movie, I don't think I'll be able to sleep very well. I search through Netflix for movies, I rule out any type of scary movie and watch Finding Dory with a couple fuzzy blankets tucked in around me and a bowl of popcorn, this is better than a party anyways.