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Chapter Fifteen

(Pic of Emelise above.
P.s. I own no rights to this picture.)

Several days later...

Julian

The consistent sound of the a/c blasting filled my ears as I sat in my mustang, parked right across the street from the house I saw in the picture on Eric's profile. It's been two weeks since I have been monitoring the house where Eric's daughter supposedly lived. Every day specifically, around three o'clock, I'd see her outside playing with a hula hoop or a hopscotch, and other times when I'd arrive a little earlier than usual, I wouldn't see her at all, which I figured was because of school or something, but it was still unknown to me if this was a permanent residence of hers. 

There was something odd that I have noticed, so far, with the time I've been watching. Eric hasn't shown up, not once, and you would think so because, well, doesn't his daughter live here? I mean, he could just be a bad father, which would be common, but from that photo... he seems to care about her, so I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I might have missed him, but instead I saw an old woman, who looked as if she was in her mid-50s from time to time. She would come out and water her flowers or sit out in the yard on a lawn chair and would watch Emelise play. Over time, I have come to the conclusion that she could be the girl's grandmother and maybe this was the older woman's home. Whatever the case may be. What I do know is that I have waited long enough and today, I will successfully take his daughter. I didn't have time to wait and follow up. It was now or never. Right before making a move, I needed to replay this out in my head as smoothly as possible. After all, I was about to kidnap a kid, but how smooth does someone do something like this? I could walk up and take her before anyone notices, but what if she screams, cause a scene? Might even bite me if I try to cover her mouth. Alright, scratch that. New idea, I could approach her and threaten her to come with me or else, but what if she runs from me or worse, tries to fight back?
 

In the amount of time I was taking to think through my plan, I was caught off guard when I noticed out of the corner of my eye, the little girl had come outside by herself like usual. She was wearing a blue summer dress with white, open-toed sandals, and her long curls pinned up in two high pigtails with blue ribbons attached to each. In her hands is a small, clear plastic tub of different colored chalk. She walked to the middle of the driveway, then placed her tub of chalk on the white concrete and began to draw. An unsettling feeling erupted in the pit of my stomach. This is it. I unbuckled my seatbelt and withdrew the key from the ignition. I got out of my car, stepping out into the humid air of Los Angeles. The beams of the sun hit me almost immediately in the face, blinding me in the process. I retrieved my sunglasses from the inside of my black leather jacket pocket and slid them on. I took a look around, scoping the area as I Casually walked crossed the street to the little girl. There were a few other kids outside, but they were a little way down the street from where I was. Too occupied to notice me. I sped walked a little. The closer I got to her, the more I could feel my heart pound. Is it normal to be nervous before a kidnapping? Why do people even do this? 

Anyway, I was just a couple of inches apart from her now, standing behind her. I could see the physical outline of my silhouette on the pavement. I could see she was drawing a picture, and that gave me an idea to try the friendly approach. We both have something in common after all. "Nice picture you're drawing there." I say. She didn't say anything, though, just sat there in a squatting position and continued to scrape the pink chalk stick against the concrete as if I wasn't even here. I furrowed my eyebrows. Maybe she just didn't hear me? Okay, let's try this again. I kneeled down to her level, now next to her, and examined the drawing she was sketching. It was a little hard to see due to the tints on my sunglasses so, I raised just a little above my eyebrows to get a better look. The drawing consisted of a house drawn in white chalk with pink flowers surrounding herself and what I think is her family in yellow chalk. In some way, the house bears resemblance to the one we were at. "Not bad." I complimented and pulled my glasses back over my eyes. I waited some seconds in hopes of hearing a response, but she just glanced up at me, then back at her drawing. Silence. My lips pressed together into a thin line. This may be more of a challenge than I thought. I eyed her curiously, speaking once more. "You don't talk much, huh? I used to be that way as a kid."
"Daddy says not to talk to strangers." Emelise replied in her light tone voice without looking at me. Instead, she dusted the green chalk stick off her hands, picked up a purple one, then began to color again. You're a daddy's girl then, huh? A small smirk appeared on my face. "Okay, I will give you that," I replied, "but what if I told you that I wasn't just some stranger? In fact, I do know your dad."
"You do, how?" She questioned, still drawing.

"Through another friend of mine. Eric, isn't it?"
"Mhm," she confirmed. "Did he send you? Sometimes daddy sends his friends to check on me," she informed me.
Well, that is odd. Why was that necessary? I'll dig into that later. If I wanted a chance for this to go right, it's best I play along with it. "Uh... yeah, something like that."
"Do you draw often?" I asked.
"Sometimes," she shrugged. "You're different." She says. Wait, what does that even mean?
"Different? Like different, how?" I ask.
"None of daddy's friends ever talked to me before, they just do their jobs."
Jobs? What the hell is this guy up to?
"... Huh, I see, well I'm a special kind of friend, so I get the cool benefits."
"Like what?"
"I get to hang out with you and take you to do fun activities." I lied.
Her little eyes lit up with excitement. "That's so awesome!" She beamed at me.
"I know. That's why I'm here to get you."
Emelise dusted off her hands and stood up. I, too, got up from the ground into a standing position. "Really?! Where are we going?!" she chirped.
"Anywhere you'd like." I lied again. I'm so close. "Can we get ice cream?" She questioned, looking up at me. I took a few quick glances out of the corner of my eyes, seeing if the coast was still clear. "Of... course, but we have to hurry now if we're gonna go." I say, grabbing her hand. Immediately, I began walking her back to my car, slightly in a rush, before she stopped abruptly, making me stop as well.
"Wait, shouldn't we tell grandma Cindy we're leaving?"
"No!–I mean no because she already knows. Your dad told her." I said in a panicky tone. "Now, come on." I urged, tugging on her arm. I just wanted to get the hell out of here before anyone sees it.
"Okay, okay." She says. We both began walking to my car again. Once we made it, I hurried to unlock the doors and opened the door to the backseat just as I took another look around. "Get in." I ordered, and she obeyed. As soon as she stepped in, I heard an old woman yell. He—Hey! What are you doing?! She's not yours!"
Shit, that must be grandma, Cindy. Time to go. I slammed her door shut in a hurry and got inside the car.
"I thought you said she knew?!" Emelise said, anxious and panicked.
"Emelise," I say, in a low and brooding tone, "you really shouldn't talk to strangers." And with that, I started the car and sped off. ×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

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