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Post by Jane on Aug 10, 2006 22:25:00 GMT
Jane was scared something fierce.
Recently, her family frantically pulled up stakes and moved again - this time from Seoul. She was 15 now, and old enough to realize that it was far from normal to move as often and as abruptly as her family always did. Her family was unique in that way. And now they were relocated back to the states, out west in a remote mountain town in Montana.
Jane was always thankful glad she had John, though never more so than tonight. He was not only her twin in birth, but also her twin in circumstance. He was also the only friend she’d ever had. John was always there for her, took care of her. And, well, he was with her now, too. But she couldn’t see him.
They were both in the same truck being taken away. Some men had grabbed them from their beds, stuffed something in their mouths and pushed them outside at knife point. Once outside, it got worse as men with guns held them at bay while others tied their hands and put bags over their heads forcing them into the back of a farm truck.
Jane was crying but the sound of it was muffled against the cloth in her mouth. The bumps and turns the truck took helped her feel close to her brother. She could feel him sitting beside her at those moments when it jerked with the movement. And that was the only comfort she had.
((Time for a commercial break... ;D))
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Post by Jane on Aug 11, 2006 16:09:17 GMT
"Jane. Jane wake up." John was next to her, gently rocking her to draw her from her sleep.
"What is it?" Jane asked in a whisper.
"I think they're coming back."
Suddenly the groggy teen was alert. She could barely see the toes on her feet in the cave their captors had closed them into. Actually it was more like she imagined a cistern to be; like the one Joseph was thrown into before being sold into slavery. The trickle of light that did come from the small opening in the "roof" of the cave revealed only a small bit of moonlight. It was still night.
Jane's eyes widened to take in every little bit of light she could as she sat up against the wall.
"Johnny, why would they come back? I thought they left us here to die. It's been days," Jane whined quietly in case they were listening.
"I don't know. Maybe Papa paid them." John thought to give Jane some hope. "Maybe he's here to get us. In fact, I bet the cops are just swarming the place right now!"
"I hope so," Jane said as she snuggled against her brother. She had a feeling the police were no where near them at the moment, but she loved her brother all the more for trying to boost her hopes.
"We're running out of water." John said matter of factly. "If it is them then I hope they throw us a few more bottles." John laughed at himself. "Nice guys, our captors, making sure we can enjoy a few days in this secluded dream vacation spot."
Jane had to giggle a little at his joke. Then her thoughts went back to serious. "Have you figured out why they've taken us? Cause outside of Papa's money, I sure can't."
John sighed heavily. He was about to reveal something to Jane that he'd done a great job of keeping from her and he knew it wasn't going to be nice. But she deserves to know, he thought, because that's probably why we're here.
"Jane. Papa is not a good man. Oh, he's a great father, but to others not in our family... well, he's not so friendly."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Jane asked incredulously. But something in her heart rang true at his words and she made herself listen.
"Think about it. We travel all over the world and move from one place to the next all the time. When we're moved in to a new place, Papa is often gone for weeks at a time and we only see him for weeks at a time, sometimes even less. This last time we moved, it was such a fast departure we didn't even pack most of our stuff. Papa said he wanted us to get rid of the old and have new stuff in our new home, but I think when we were in Korea he made some one really mad at him. Someone with a lot of power."
"Like who? Who in Korea has a lot of power, Johnny? I mean, really - it's Korea! It's not even a world player."
"I don't know, Jane." John paused, not sure how much to say. He'd overheard a conversation once between his father and someone and he'd overheard words like target and mafia. He didn't know for sure what their father did for a living, and he didn't think right now was a good time to speculate.
"All I know," John said as he lowered his voice further and began to stand up, "is we're here in a cave that's dark and musty and some thugs who were hired by someone else come once in a while to make sure we haven't left. And I think I can hear them talking to each other up there, so let's listen."
((Another commercial!))
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Post by Jane on Aug 15, 2006 16:55:15 GMT
John and Jane stood huddled in the shadows of the cave. Above them, they could hear at least two men talking to each other.
"Why do we have to do this? I thought their old man gave himself up." "He did, but the boss doesn't want him to think he got off easy. It 'a matter of honor'," the second guy sneered. "I don't like it. Nobody said nothin' 'bout killin' no kids." "Look. The plan is for their folks to find the bodies of the kids in the mornin'. Chester is deliverin' their mail right now. We have to get this done now and get out of here." "I don't like it." "Damn it! Just do the damn job." "I think I'll pass. You can keep the money."
A scuffle could be heard as one man hit another and nasty words were exchanged. John knew in his heart that even if they fought for hours, in the end the plan was to kill him and Jane. But for the life of him, he couldn't think of a thing to do.
"Jane, no matter what happens, stay with me," John whispered into her ear.
"Johnny, what's going to happen? Why are they fighting? Are they really going to kill us?" Jane was a bundle of tears at this point. She was doing a good job of staying quiet, but her body was still racked with sobs.
"Shh, Jane. I'll protect you. Everything's going to be fine." John tried to console her, but he was pretty sure it wasn't going to be fine. "Remember in Rome when that little Italian brat tried to beat you up? Who came to your rescue?"
"You did," Jane mumbled.
"Right, and that time when you got lost in Jerusalem - who found you?" John was trying to ease her mind. If they were going to die, he didn't want her having to think much about it beforehand.
"You."
"See, Jane? And that was only two of the thousands of times I've helped you," John tried to sound teasing and light-hearted. He tried to smile against Jane's forehead so she could feel him grinning since it was quite dark in the cavern.
John was hoping that the people above wouldn't really hurt them. It sounded like one of them didn't want to. He suspected it all depended on who won the battle up there.
"Just stay with me, no matter what Janey. No matter what." John whispered again. He could tell they were through fighting as it had grown very quiet outside.
Then he heard it. Click.
John threw Jane against the wall. He hugged her tightly as a barrage of bullets rained down on them, covering her even as his body jerked. The cavern was being sprayed methodically from one side to the other, making sure to leave no area untouched.
Jane fell backward into a shallow crevasse in the wall. John was holding onto her and stayed there all through the deafening noise of the gunfire. His body jerking occasionally, Jane knew he was getting hit. She felt pain in her leg and then in her side. She never screamed. She somehow knew it would be worse if she did.
The gunfire stopped and a flare was thrown down into the cave. It lit them up, but Jane stayed still. Eventually, the man at the top moved away leaving them for dead.
"Johnny?" Jane desperately needed to hear his voice to know he was alive. She heard gurgling as he attempted to answer. John wheezed out softly something only for her ears, then he stopped breathing at all.
Jane couldn't move. All she could do was hug his lifeless body. And she continued to hug him until sleep claimed her, allowing him to be moved only when they were found many hours later.
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