Kidnapped By Johnnie and Jake

Blood on My Hands

Johnnie took a sharp turn and began speeding recklessly down a country lane into the middle of nowhere, the skin on his hands stretched and white from how hard he clenched the wheel. The ground was bumpy as the area was so remote; not many cars must have driven down it.

"What happened, Johnnie?" asked Jake.

"Why don't you tell him?" Johnnie yelled, glancing at us from the rear view mirror. We stayed silent; I was shaking. "Well?" he said.

"I, um...I signalled for help," I mumbled, my voice cracking with fear. "I'm sorry."

"You're lying," Johnnie yelled as he continued to speed down the road. "Tell the truth."

"Well, we signalled for help," I said.

"I SAID TELL THE FUCKING TRUTH," said Johnnie. "Who is we?"

"Okay, okay!" I cried. "Peppa did it. And I watched you to make sure you wouldn't notice."

"And whose idea was it?" he said calmly this time.

Peppa grabbed my hand and squeezed it to let me know it was okay to bait her out.

"Peppa's," I mumbled.

Johnnie braked the car harshly, stepped outside, and slammed the door. He walked over to Peppa's door, grabbed her by the collar, and dragged her outside with him. "The rest of you, get out as well," he commanded while he still had a hold of Peppa.

Kaycee and I did as he told us to and stood opposite Johnnie and Peppa. Jake exited the car too, standing behind us putting his hands on our shoulders to supervise.

Peppa shrunk under Johnnie's grasp, her shoulders hunched up, and tears streaming down her blotchy face.

"This is what happens when you try to leave," said Johnnie, and in an instant, he cocked his gun and shot Peppa in the head.

I screeched as I watched her brains explode, and Johnnie let go of her collar so that she fell to the floor.

I fell to my knees as well, kneeling opposite her dead body.

"OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD," said Kaycee.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" I screamed, looking up at Johnnie who showed no emotion.

I crawled nearer Peppa, and grabbed her blood-soaked face with my hands shaking it in a frenzy, trying to awaken any sort of life in her. It wasn't long until I started to hyperventilate, my ears ringing and my vision turning into bright electric colours. Then my senses, one by one, faded away.

*

When I awoke, and I opened my eyes, I still saw darkness. For a moment, I forgot everything that had happened during the last couple of days, and I blissfully assumed I had just woken up during the middle of the night or something back at home. It was only went I went to pull my blanket up on me that I realised there was none, and then I became aware of the vibrations of the car I was curled up in, the feeling of us driving along. The memories came flooding back: I'd been travelling in this car with two kidnappers and my two best friends for about a day. As my eyes adjusted, I realised that, from the looks of it, I was now in the boot of the car, and Kaycee was there with me.

And that was when I remembered.

The last thing I'd seen was Peppa, one of my two best friends, get shot and die.

All I could picture was the blood, her mangled head, her lifeless body.

The way she was crying beforehand. She'd been so scared. Even though she didn't know she was about to die, she'd known something bad was going to happen to her. She'd known she was about to be punished.

As I thought about this, as I replayed it all in my mind, I wailed so much that my stomach cramped up, and I felt like I gagged, nearly throwing up time and time again. I shook Kaycee as I screamed and cried, but she was completely passed out, probably drugged up again.

Peppa was so sweet, so innocent. She was the last person on the planet who deserved to be punished. And, even worse, she hadn't wanted any of this. I'd bought her tickets to the stupid concert. I'd selfishly begged her to come because I didn't want to deal with Kaycee's craziness alone, and she'd reluctantly agreed to please me. I'd helped her make the help signals to the lady in the car by watching Johnnie. I'd failed her by not being careful enough while watching him.

And, that reminded me. I wasn't just responsible for Peppa's murder, I was responsible for the lady in the car's, too. I had selfishly put her in danger by dragging her into this instead of just holding off a little longer until I might have had the chance to contact the police instead.

By this point, as I replayed the childhood I'd spent growing up with Peppa, my heart was racing a million miles an hour, I was sweating through my clothes, and my chest was beginning to feel tight.

'I must be having a heart attack,' I thought to myself. I clutched at my chest, feeling it beat harder and faster than it ever had before, and screamed out for help with all my might. Not just help from this kidnapping now, but help to save my life.

Less than a minute later, the boot opened up, and Johnnie stood outside of it.

"I think I'm having a heart attack," I breathed.