asked where she wanted me to take her. Amanda wouldn’t wake up. The light turned green. I drove through the intersection and pulled over. I grabbed Amanda by the shoulders and tried to wake her up. I’m not sure why I tried to check her pulse. I don’t even know what a pulse is. I debated on where to take her. If I took her to the hospital, she might get in trouble for underage drinking. We were only 17. I couldn’t do that to her. Her mom was a nurse so I decided to take her home. Lucy would know what to do.
I drove around the block and got back on Main Street. I drove like a crazy person, praying I wouldn’t get pulled over. We arrived at her house 3 minutes later. I got out of the truck and walked to the other side. Amanda was a short skinny girl. She only weighed 90 pounds at most. I picked her up and carried her to the door the best I could. I rang the bell with my elbow and waited for her mom to answer. Lucy answered the door with a huge smile which disappeared as soon as she realized what was going on. She went pale and invited me inside.

I put Amanda on the couch and sat down. I explained to Lucy that Amanda had a lot of alcohol in her system and I didn’t know what to do.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her. Thank you so much for bringing her home safely. I can't imagine what would have happened if someone else would have found her. Be safe honey.” Lucy said.

“Have her text me when she wakes up.” I said. I walked out and got back in my truck. I went straight home. The snow was falling a lot faster when I arrived at my house. I pulled in the driveway and turned the truck off. I got out and noticed a car parked out front. One I’d never seen before. I walked in as quietly as possible.

Since the divorce, I decided to live with my dad. He had a huge house, and pool out back. I really loved the pool. I wandered around the giant house looking for my dad. I peered through the window in the living room attempting to recognize the license plate number. It was too dark, and the snow was falling too heavily for me to see anything. I gave up and resumed my search for my father. I ran up the first flight of stairs to check his office. I cautiously walked up to the door. I could hear people talking. I went in and saw my dad sitting at his desk. Across from him was a woman I hoped I would never see again. She was sitting next to a man with black curly hair, and thick rimmed glasses.

“Hello Karlie,” said my mother. “It’s great to see you again.” I cringed at the sound of my first name.

“I’ve been going by Faye ever since I moved, Linda. It would be much appreciated if you would never use the name Karlie again.” I made sure to emphasize her name. She hated it when I called her anything other than mom, and I loved making her angry.

“Well Faye,” she said my name in a disgusted tone. “I’d like you to meet Joshua. He’s my boyfriend.” She smiled. I studied their faces. He looked familiar. I couldn’t figure out who he looked like. He had a young face and looked like he was only in his thirty’s. My mom just looked old.

“So whose car is outside?” I asked. I ignored the fact that she had brought someone to meet me. I really didn’t care.

“It’s Josh’s. Do you like it?” She sounded happy. I knew he was rich. That was the only reason she was with him. Maybe I had seen him in the paper for being rich or something. I gave her a blank look. “We are here because I’m talking about custody with your dad. I would like you to come visit me every other weekend. It will be tons of fun. Josh is a lawyer so he brought papers for you to sign.” She smiled a sickly sweet smiled. It was fake.

“No. There is no way you could ever get me to come visit you, you disgusting alcoholic.” I was repulsed by the thought of living with her every other weekend.

“I’ve been clean ever since the divorce!” She exclaimed in mock surprise. I knew it was a lie. She always had a smoke after she drank. I could smell cigarettes when I walked in. She was a filthy liar. She gave Josh a weird look. Something weird was going on.

“She has been doing very well ever since she and your father split up. I think that it would be very good for you to bond with your mother.” Said Josh. The line sounded so rehearsed I laughed. It had looked like my mom had control over him, but maybe it was the other way around. An awkward silence filled the room. After what seemed like forever, my father spoke up.

“I think this is a good idea Faye. It’s only twice a month, and it will give you a chance to bond with your mother and Josh.” My dad sounded like he was being forced to say these things. “We have all of the legal things in order. We just need your signature here.” He slid a paper across the desk and put his finger under the line I was supposed to put my signature on. He seemed different. Scared.

“Fine. I’ll sign your stupid little paper. Just know that I hate you all right now.” Everyone was looking at me. Expecting me to change my mind. I grabbed a pen and scribbled the most vulgar things I could think of as fast as I could. I glanced at everyone before I threw the pen down and walked out the door. Josh looked like he was stoned; my mom was shocked that I knew such words and my dad laughed quietly to himself. I made sure to slam the door as loud as possible behind me.

I ran down the stairs and out the door. I got in my truck and backed out of my driveway as fast as I could. I wanted nothing to do with any of them. I wondered why my dad would do this to me. I wished he would have at least warned me about this. Then again, he did look like something was wrong. It was probably nothing. I pulled up to the stop light and waited for it to turn green. It seemed to take ages to change colors. I slammed on the gas the second it was green. I stopped at the bank and cashed my paycheck. I had been working at Subway for a year and got a decent check every other week. Soon I would be sitting in a room with my mother every other week.

After driving for two hours, I had no idea where I was. I pulled into the first gas station I saw. I needed gas before I could continue driving. I went inside the gas station and picked up a bag of Cheddar Sun Chips, and a Dr. Pepper. I paid the man at the register and walked outside. Standing next to my truck was a man. As I got closer, I realized who it was.

“Josh!” I exclaimed. “Why are you here?” Before he could speak I kept talking. “I’m not going back home, you know. And I refuse to live with my mom every other weekend. I hate her, and I probably hate you too. Go away.” I got in my truck and slammed the door. Josh wouldn’t move. I cracked the window so I could talk to him.

“You will come home now.” He had a serious look on his face. “There will be consequences if you don’t go to your rich dad’s house within the next three hours.” He talked weird. I was about to say something sarcastic and profane when he lifted the edge of his shirt enough for me to see a black handle in his belt. I gasped. He had a gun! What if he had killed my mom and dad? I had to get home as fast as I could. I nodded at him and rolled up the window. I pulled out of the gas station and got on the freeway. How had he gotten there right after me and why did he have a gun? I was terrified. I grabbed my iPhone from the cup holder and slid the bar over. I had sixteen missed calls, two voicemails, and ten text messages. They were all from my parents. I called my dad back.

“Hello?” I was so happy that he answered.

“Dad! What’s going on?” He cut me off before I could explain what was happening or ask any more questions.

“Where are you? I need you to drive as far away from home as you can. Josh is out looking for you right now. He has a gun and is willing to use it.” He sounded really scared. I could hear other voices in the background.

“I know. He found me at a gas station two hours away from town. He showed me the gun and told me to get home as fast as I could. What’s going on? How do you know all of this? Is mom there? Is everyone safe?”

“That’s bad. Josh is not who we think he is. He killed his wife and children three years ago. He was never found until recently. He tied us all up here and told us to stay put until he got back with you. Your mother is here and we are safe until he gets back. I have no idea what’s going to happen. Your mother is shocked. Don’t be mad at her. She had no idea he was like this. If she would’ve known, she would have told us. At the house he was holding a gun to me under the table. The paper he wanted you to sign was not really a custody related thing. If you signed it, he would have access to all of the money we own. I need you to get him away from the house so we can get out and help you. I’m going to call the police right now. I need to know where you are, and if he’s following you.” He sounded serious. I was scared for my fate. I had no idea where I was and I couldn’t tell if he was following me or not. I didn’t want to distract him because he had a gun.

I realized why he had seemed so familiar earlier. I had seen pictures of the man who had killed his wife and kids in the paper. I felt stupid that I didn’t realize it earlier. “I don’t know where I am. I’m not sure if he’s following me. I can’t see because it’s dark and snowing. Even if I could, I don’t know what he’s driving. I’m really scared dad.” I was starting to tear up. I sniffed and tried to blink away the tears. “What do you want me to do?” I was determined to help them get out of this situation.

“At the next exit I want you to signal like you’re getting off the freeway. If he’s following you, you’ll know. He’ll be right behind you wondering what you’re doing. If he comes to the door, tell him you thought it was the exit to get home. After that, I need you to take every exit until you get the right one. It should give us some time to get out. I’m going to hang up now because I have to get the police on the line as soon as I can. Good luck. I love you.” The line went dead. I plugged my phone into the charger and signaled to exit.
I slowed down and stopped at the sign. I took a deep breath. There were no cars behind me. My dad didn’t tell me what to do if he wasn’t there! I stayed at the stop sign for as long as I dared. After two minutes, the car that was outside the house when I got home pulled up behind me. I pulled through and got back on the freeway. A few minutes later, I hit the next exit. He was following me at a distance so I wouldn’t notice.

My phone chimed once. I had a text. I slid the arrow over and opened the text message. It was from my dad. Can’t get a hold of police. Line is busy. Weird. Come home now please. We will work this out together. I was really confused. Why did he want me to come home? Wasn’t josh just going to kill us all anyway? At least we could be a big “happy” family one last time before we were all violently murdered.

I pulled in the driveway and turned the truck off. I sat and waited for Josh to pull in behind me. Five minutes later, he tapped on my window. I opened the door and got out. The warmth of the truck lingered for half a second before the icy cold bit my skin. Josh grabbed my arm and walked me in the front door. My parents were in the brightly lit living room sitting on the teal couch. One hand was tied to the arm of the couch with a scary looking rope, and the other was tied to the hand of the ex-spouse. It was frayed from one end to the other and appeared to be so tight, it was cutting into their skin. My dad was holding his phone in his left hand and was leaned over so he could talk in the receiver. The sound of the door shutting frightened him. He jumped and dropped his phone.

“Well, making phone calls are we?” Said Josh. I felt like I was in a cheesy movie. This was all so ridiculous. All of my fear went away. It had to be a fake. Josh sat me down in the teal chair across from the teal couch my parents were sitting on. I rubbed my arm. He had a tight grip. The rope he tied my arms to the chair with hurt even worse. He walked to the teal couch and picked up my dad’s phone. I realized how tacky this living room was. We needed new furniture.
“Hello,” Josh said in a weird calm serial killer voice. He was quiet for a minute before he spoke again. “Okay. I will wait here.” He hung up. He set the phone on the coffee table and turned to my mom. She looked terrified. Her deep set eyes were watery and bloodshot.

I looked at the fluorescent, shiny screen of the phone while he went on about how he was going to kill us all before the police could get here. The last call made was to the local police station. The call had lasted five minutes and twenty-seven seconds. That was long enough for the cops to get to our house. Josh was still ranting about how he was going to kill us and take our money. This felt more and more like a cheesy movie. He pulled his gun out and aimed at my father’s head. Bang! I screamed and then passed out.

When I woke up, I saw Josh on the ground, and a cop untying my parents from the couch. I was confused as to what had happened. “Excuse me, but what’s going on?” I asked the man helping my parents.

“Oh good, you’re okay.” He said. He was a stout man with big pudgy fingers. “We came in at the right time and got him before he could get you!” He chuckled. I was confused. This was all a big mess in my mind. I think I hit my head when I passed out.

After the whole incident was over, my parents got back together. They got happily remarried a year after that. Josh was not killed when the cop shot him. He was knocked out, and taken to prison for life. I convinced my parents to redecorate our tacky living room and now we are living happily ever after.