In Desperation

31

Somewhere Near Phoenix, Arizona

H ail Mary, full of grace…pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death…

Can God hear me in my dark coffin? Tilly asked.

Drenched with sweat, almost drowning in fear- drowning, like when Lenny Griffin held her underwater. Her heart was pounding with the thump-thump rhythm of the wheels on the highway.

Where were they going? What were they going to do?

She was buried in darkness.

The creeps had moved so fast after some angry guy had banged on the door. Tilly’s first thought-her hope-was that real police had come to save her. The banging had surprised her kidnappers. Ruiz, the one whose English was good, told Alfredo, the dumb one, to hold her.

She had tried to claw off her gag, to scream for help to whoever was banging on the door, but Alfredo had one hand around her mouth and held a knife to her throat with the other one. The guy at the door sounded mad and from what she could glimpse through the crack, he had a bat or something.

Ruiz calmed him down.

But when Tilly saw the gun behind his back, she thought, “Oh no, he’s going to shoot the guy at the door, then kill me, too.” She got so scared she peed a little.

Ruiz gave the angry guy money and he went away.

Then- bam! They moved so fast.

They didn’t even put on the phony cop uniforms, staying in their jeans and T-shirts as they collected all their stuff in travel bags. Then they unlocked the chain from her leg, cut the tape on her wrists, making her get dressed, go to the bathroom with the door open, all the while barking: “Hurry up! Faster!” Then Alfredo tightened her gag and retaped her wrists. But he didn’t notice how she’d held them apart slightly, getting some play that allowed her to wriggle them a little.

Then she was forced back inside the big black suitcase.

My coffin.

They zipped it shut, rolled her to their car, hefted her into the trunk and drove. Tilly couldn’t make sense of her nightmare. Why were they doing this to her? She didn’t really understand why they were so mad at Lyle. He was nice to her, he worked so hard at his business and her mom was in love with him.

Tilly liked Lyle a lot and hoped that one day they’d be a real family.

Why can’t they just leave us alone?

Tilly missed her mom so much. She loved her so much and wanted to be home with her now, so much.

What if the creeps kill me?

What if I never see Mom again?

Tilly tasted the salt of her tears seeping into her gag and held her breath when she felt the car slow down. As the highway noise decreased she heard the muffled voices of the creeps. They were fighting. The car continued slowing until it stopped dead and the motor shut off.

Tilly heard a door open and the car dipped with the weight shift of someone getting out. She heard more arguing in Spanish. Then a small noise at the side of the car, the squeak of something twisting, the knock of metal against metal, the rush of liquid and smell of… they’d stopped for gas.

Yell. Scream. Make noise! Someone would hear and call police!

No!

What if no one heard? They were already angry.

Tilly did not move, except to brush her tears. That’s when she discovered that her sweat had dissolved some of the adhesiveness of the tape. She wriggled her wrists and felt her bindings slip ever so slightly.

She worked her wrists a bit more.

The tape remained secure, but little by little Tilly could feel her bindings loosening.