text: Valerie Ziegler Life of a Reformed Wild Child Dedicated to my sisters Jenn and Julia. 
   
   
     
   Introduction 
  By some miracle or by some means of fate, Elaina Maracle finally caught a break. When Elaina was growing up, she had always been different from other girls her age. She was extraordinarily outgoing and always spoke her mind, she got into trouble constantly, and she really did not care what people thought of her. Most that ever took the chance to get to know her thought she was incredibly straight forward and obnoxious. For example, when Elaina was only two years old, she got herself band from the YMCA for demanding a new swim instructor. By the age of four, she could not hold her tongue to save her life. While shopping at a grocery store with her mother, Elaina informed a worker that his bald head was shinier then her father’s new car. By the age of six, Elaina’s mother began seeing shrink to calm her nerves due to Elaina’s poor behavior.  
  	As Elaina grew older, she changed very little; literally. While all the other girls at the age of thirteen began to look like adults, Elaina maintained the appearance of an eight year old girl. For this reason, she had a hard time fitting in. No guys were interested in her, and most girls didn’t even bother getting to know her. All though it was rough, Elaina always managed to get by. Her favorite pass time was inflicting torment on the snobby girls in her class. Worms in their food, ketchup on their seats, resetting their locker combination, and anything else that bothered them never ceased to amuse her.  
  This behavior continued until she was around sixteen. At that point, she had entirely stopped caring. She paid no attention to her colleagues but channeled all of her energy into studying, writing, acting, reading, or anything else that blocked out reality. No one cared for her, and she cared for no one. Or at least she thought she was incapable of caring for someone, but that was before she met Jason. 
  Chapter one 
  	‘Storming again’, Elaina thought as she grabbed her keys and prepared to make a run for her car. Her day just kept getting worse. First the library was closed, then she got called into work the late shift at her job, and now it was pouring down rain. At twenty-two, Elaina currently worked at a small deli. Ironically, there was nothing more foul to her then meat raw or cooked. Touching it and smelling it all day was her personal hell, but she needed the money and refused to complain.  
  	As she pulled up to the deli called Munchies, she felt around her purse for her perfume which she always dabbed on her nose to bloke out any nauseating smells. Opening the car door, she stepped out. She looked around slowly because she did not want to have any more encounters with the man she referred to as “the creeper”. The creeper stalked her at least twice a week. At first she thought that she was coincidentally bumping into this creepy man, but it just didn’t make any sense. When she went to the library he was there, when she got a cup of coffee, he did too, and he was always sitting outside of the deli. She didn’t see him today, however, so she felt more at ease, but her ease slithered away when he popped out from his hiding place.  
  	“Hey girl! Come for a ride with me. I can show you things you ain’t ever seen before!”  
  	Reassuring herself that she could handle this, Elaina replied, “I’m sure you could, but I’m not into trash like you.” 
  	“Feisty! But baby, you’re gonna wish you hadn’t said that,” the disgusting man shrieked back as he slowly approached her. 
  ‘Don’t panic. Don’t panic. The deli is only a few feet away. I can make a run for it, or at least choke out a scream,’ she assured herself. But just then she felt the man grab her wrist. She gathered up every ounce of courage that she had and let out the loudest screech. Apparently, no one was at the deli because no one came to her rescue. Ignoring the man’s loud laughter, she thought of every possible way of distracting him. As she struggled with him, she came up with two options: she could flash him because that would surely distract him, or she could kick him and run for it. She decided on option two because she had no intentions of losing her dignity to this pig. She gathered up all her strength and kicked him as hard as she could and was quite satisfied with herself when the man groaned in pain and staggered back. But her plan did not go as smoothly as she had hoped because it became suddenly very dark. Her head was spinning, and Elaina felt that her end was near.  
  Suddenly, Elaina heard two men talking in the distance, and then she felt two strong arms close around her. She felt herself being flung over the man’s shoulder as she finally realized what was happening: she was being kidnapped.  
  As the man placed her unmoving body into his car, Elaina tried her hardest to come back to reality, but she was out cold. It was so frustrating. She was completely aware of her surroundings, but she could not make herself respond to any sound. She listened carefully searching for any means of escape. Just then she heard the sound of a phone.  
  ‘Perfect!’ she thought, ‘He’ll pick it up, and I will start screaming.’ 
  As she wrestled with herself, she heard the man answer the phone. To her surprise, the voice she heard sounded nothing like the voice of her stalker. This man sounded sober and his voice was attractive. Elaina began thinking that she had hit her head a little too hard. It didn’t matter who her kidnapper was; she still needed to get away.  
  While the man continued his conversation, she managed to open her eyes. Everything came rushing back at her all at one. She remembered the man swinging his fist at her and connecting with her face. Then she recalled being slammed into the wall of the deli. As her memories flooded back, so did the pain. Her head was sore, and she smelled blood. There was no way she was going to let someone get away with treating her like that. She flung open her eyes and then choked out a scream.  
  The man looked at her with eyes full of pity and began trying to calm her. To his surprise, this only annoyed her even more.  How dare he try to calm her! She became so furious. Her head was swimming with pain, confusion, and now pure outrage.  
  “Snap out of it!” she heard him demand, “Look at me. Do I look like the man that hurt you?” 
  Actually, now that she looked at him, she realized that he did not look like the man that tried to hurt her. In fact, he was incredibly handsome and apparently, he had rescued her. Before she could even question him to figure out if his story was true, she began to daydream about the fairytale life she would have with her hero. Once again though, he interrupted her train of thought.  
  “What’s your name? How old are you? Do you remember what happened? Do you know the name of your attacker?” asked her concerned hero. 
  “My name is Elaina Maracle. I am twenty-two years old. I remember being attacked, and sadly, I don’t know the name of my attacker. However, I have seen him before. He’s been stalking me for at least a month,” Elaina answered, “I tried to avoid him, but he just kept following me.” 
  “Alright, well I’m gonna take you to the police station, and we can tell the police what happened.” 
  “Wait! What’s your name?” Elaina asked. 
  “My name is Jason Claymore, and I believe you are forever in my debt,” he replied with a sly smile. 
  “Thank you Jason. I’m forever in your gratitude. However will I repay you?” she jokingly answered. 
  “Well, you could start by giving me your phone number, and then you could join me for dinner on Friday,” he said while flashing her one of the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. 
  Her heart almost stopped beating. She had never been asked out before, but she had gotten a lot prettier over the years. She was now average sized for a woman with big, blue eyes, freckles, creamy, white skin, and sandy blonde hair, and this super gorgeous man obviously thought she was pretty. Oh, and she thought he was too. He stood at over six feet tall with pensive, grey eyes that sparkled when he smiled, dark hair, and a dark complexion.  
  Getting completely lost in his smile, she forgot his question. He stared back at her and repeated, “Well, what’s your number?” 
  “Oh! It’s 369-6828,” she answered with a startled look plastered on her face. 
  That was the beginning of their relationship. They became inseparable from that point on. After two months, they were head over heels in love with each other. No one had ever understood Elaina, but for some reason, Jason could. He was Elaina’s other half. After six months, Jason purposed to Elaina, and of course, she excepted. Three months later, she became Mrs. Elaina Claymore.  
  Chapter Two 
  Smiling down at the beautiful baby girl she held in her arms, Elaina was filled with happiness. It had been four years since she and Jason had gotten married. She now had two beautiful children. Avery, her son, was almost three years old now, and Delanie, her daughter, was only two months old. She had been unemployed for the last three years much to her enjoyment. Jason made quite a fortune for he owned his own company; thus, Elaina was able to spend all day with her children. But that was a job in itself. Managing a family was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do. It was hard work to keep her house clean, her children supervised, maintain a good environment for her children, and manage to spend time with Jason, but she managed.  
  Looking up at the clock, she realized that it was time for Avery and Delanie to go for a nap. Kissing them both, she tucked them into their beds. Of course, Delanie cried and Avery whined and squirmed, but soon they were both asleep. She then headed down to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner. To the Claymores, eating dinner together was the most important part of the day.  It was the only time when all of them could be together because Jason worked until seven o’clock and the kids went to bed at eight. Cooking was also one of Elaina’s favorite pass times. It was like edible art. For tonight’s meal, she was preparing a pork roast with onions and mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. It was everyone’s favorite dish. Even baby Delanie enjoyed a few bites of the mashed potatoes with her baby food. 
  Deeply in thought, Elaina placed the roast in the slow cooker. She began wondering about her stalker. Was he still in jail? Did he ever turn his life around? She knew that he was the last person she should be thinking about, but she couldn’t help but wonder. she decided to push those thoughts to the back of her head and began focusing on more important things like enrolling Avery in the perfect pre-school. She was always worrying about him because little Avery mimicked his mother’s behavior as a child. She admired him for that but also worried that he would have trouble fitting in like she did.  
  While she was in mid-thought, Elaina heard the door slam open. Panicking, she grabbed a knife for the kitchen and ran to the door. To her surprise, it was Jason standing in front of her and not some psychopathic criminal. 
  “God, Jason! You scared me. Don’t ever do that to me again. Wait why did you do that? What’s wrong, and why are you home so early?” she questioned completely puzzled. 
  “Pack your bags! There is no time to explain,” he shouted. 
  “What do you mean ‘there is no time to explain.’ I’m not doing anything or going anywhere until you give me an explanation!” she stated. 
  “He’s back. Elaina, Kyle Bucher is back.” 
  “Who is Kyle Bucher?” she asked her husband. But then the realization hit her; Kyle Bucher must be the name of her stalker. “Wait. You’re talking about my attacker. Okay, I understand why this might upset you, but maybe he’s changed. Just calm down.” 
  “No, I can’t calm down. This is serious. I saw him. I saw him outside of the deli that you use to work at! He’s looking for you, Elaina. He wasn’t innocently buying lunch meat. He still wants you, and now, he wants revenge too.  
  "Alright, you have a point. It is a bit disturbing that he was back at the deli, but I don't work there anymore, and he doesn't know where we live. If worse comes to worse, we can take out a restraining order. Right?" she asked her husband. 
  "Wrong. There is only one flaw in your arguement. He does know where we live. When I saw him at the deli, he saw me too. At the time, I was panicking and couldn't think properly so I foolishly got in the car and rushed home. When I pulled into the neighborhood, I felt like I was being followed. I tried to lose him, and I think I did, but he still knows that we live in this neighborhood. Now it will be a piece of cake for him to locate us," Jason informed his wife.  
  "But he doesn't know that we're married," she replied. 
  "It won't be that hard for him to figure it out. What are we going to do?" he asked. 
  "I think we shouldn't react to quickly. Let's just be extra careful. I'll keep an extra close eye on the kids and stay indoors as much as possible. You can swing by the deli every once and a while and see if he's lurking," Elaina suggested. 
  "I don't like it, but I guess it's all we can do. Don't say anything to Avery. I don't want him to be scared," he agreed. "But if i see that scumbag anywhere near here, I'm calling the police immediatlely." 
  "And I'll call you if I see him around here," his wife answered. 
  So it was agreed. They would be extra careful, and everything would be okay. A few weeks went by, and everything seemed quiet. In fact, they only saw Kyle once by the deli. Things began to loosen up again.                              
                                                              Chapter 3 
  It had been two months since the Claymores had caught sight of Kyle. It was also the beginning of September: Avery's first day of pre-school for two and three year olds. Elaina panicked as she dropped her oldest baby at the door of his school. She was so worried that he wouldn't like it, or even worse, the other kids wouldn't like him. He was a little scared to go in at first, but once he met Miss Gina, his teacher, he seemed alright.  
  After kissing him goodbye at least three times, Elaina returned to her car where she had left little Delanie fast asleep. She climbed into the front seat and sat down. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she peered back at her baby. Panic filled the atmosphere as she realized that the car seat in which Delanie had been sleeping was empty. She looked around the back seat frantically. Where was she? Tears sprang to her eyes as she dialed 911. This could not be happening to her. After informing the police of her whereabouts, she immediatly called Jason. She went completely hysterical on the phone as she informed Jason of their daughter's disappearance. Ten minutes later, the police arrived. They questioned her and Miss Gina, but neither could tell the police anything useful.  
  While the police interviewed all of the parents who had dropped their children off that day, Jason took action. He told the police all about Kyle Bucher, and his description of Kyle matched the description that one of the other parents had given. Claudia Simmons, who had also been dropping her son off at preschool, claimed that she saw a white man with brown hair scooping the baby from the car. Kyle was the most likey suspect, but no one new of his whereabouts.  
  The police had cars throughout the area running survalince, but after three hours, there was still no sign of Kyle. Sobbing and clinging to Jason, Elaina was informed by the police that she and her family should return to their home. The police would do their best to find Delanie. Jason thanked the cops and helped his wife into the car.  
  After a silent car ride (except for the sound of Elaina crying), the heart broken family arrived at their home. When they walked in the door, Elaina crumpled to the ground. She couldn't bare to see the baby toys on the floor. Jason tried to comfort her, but he was just as upset.  
  A few hours passed, and there was still no sign of Kyle or the baby. There wasn't even a ransom note.  All was quiet in the house. A few minutes after Jason had put Avery to bed, he toddled into the room with tears streaming down his face. 
  "When will da man dat borrowed Lanie  give her back to us Mama? I miss her," Avery told his parents. 
  As hard as it was, Elaina had to be strong for her son. She looked into his sad little eyes and said, "Delanie will be safe in her own bed soon. Don't worry Sweety. It will all be okay," she assured her son. She wanted those words to be true, but what if they weren't? What if she never saw her baby again. As the tears flowed out like a river, so did all of the memories. Like the was Delanie kicked and squealed when Avery would come into the room and the little smile she always gave to her father when he came home from work. But the memory that hit home the most was Delanie's absolute dependance on Elaina. She couldn't be without her mother. Who would nurse her, rock her to sleep, comfort her when she cried, video tape every new trick she learned, and bathe her. And what would happen if she got hurt? Elaina knew what would happen deep down. Her child-like-self came back to her. If her baby was hurt in anyway, she would hunt Kyle Bucher down and kill him. 
  As Elaina thought and worried about her baby in the hands of that psychopath, she managed to cry herself to sleep. She slipped into an unreal realm and began dreaming. In her dream, she found herself sitting at the dinner table with her entire family safe and sound. She asked her husband how his day was and then her son. As her eyes moved around the table, she realized that something was terribly wrong. Why wasn't Delanie moving? In a panic, she dashed around the table to pick up her baby, but as she approached her, a nauseating smell hit her. Just then, her baby took on a blueish color. As tears rushed to her eyes, she heard a man laughing maniaclly. That's when she started hypervenalating. 
  Jason heard his wife's terrible scream and thought that she was being harmed. Leaping out of his seat, he raced down the stares and rushed to her rescue only to find her shaking on the floor screaming, "No. Delanie, wake up!" 
  Panicking, Jason shook his wife back to reality. He looked at her sternly and said, "What happened to the strong woman that I married- the woman who was ready to fight a man twice the size of you? Huh? Now I know you're worried, and I am too, but if we're gonna get her back, we gotta be strong and fight. We have to be a team; a family. Can you do that for Delanie?" 
  Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked up at her husband and replied, "I am ready to do anything for this family. Screw the police. We do this our way." 
  "Now that sounds like a plan," her husband said while helping her to her feet. 
  The two finally went to bed. Tomorrow they would start on their search for their daughter. 
                                                         Chapter Four 
  It started with a knock on the door. Jason ran to the door to see who or what it was. When he opened it, all he saw was a small, brown package. He grabbed it and brought it inside. When Elaina saw it, her heart skipped a beat. What if it was a clue to her daughter's whereabouts? She dove on the package and began devouring it. Finally, she came across the content of the package. There were three things inside: an envelope, a crumpled photo, and a baby doll.  
  As she stared blankly at the objects in the package, her husband began to tear the envelope open. He then read out loud these words: 
  Elaina: drive to the deli at 3 a.m. tonight if you ever want to see you precious daughter again. From there, I will provide transportation to your final destination. Please come alone.  
  P.S. If you choose not to comply, your baby's fate will be that of the babydoll's. 
  "Oh my God!" Elaina exclaimed as she saw the babydoll. The babydoll was missing an arm! How could someone even think of inflicting that much suffering on a baby? Elaina now knew what she had to do. She wasn't going to let that horrible person tear her family apart at the seams. Elaina had never loved or cared about something as much as she loved and cared about her family. Her maternal instincts took over, and she looked her husband dead in the eyes and said, "I have to go to that deli tonight. It's our only hope." 
  "There's no way in Hell am I going to let you do that! Do you know how dangerous it is? We have to call the police," he stated flatly. 
  "We can't do that. If we don't follow all of his orders, and he finds out, he's gonna hurt Delanie. How could you risk her life like that?" Elain shouted. 
  "I can't risk your life like that," Jason answered in a broken voice. 
  Elaina had never seen him so defenseless before. Before she could even get control of herself, he was kissing her. As her head spinned from the intensety of the kiss, Elaina realized that this may be the last kiss they ever shared. After Jason pulled away, she grabbed his face, and gazed deep into his eyes saying, "I have to do this. You were right. I have to fight for her. I'm not an idiot though. I'm gonna need some kind of defense. Maybe we could strap a gun to my ankle or something, and I could wair a recording device so you could listen in." 
  "Those are good ideas, but where are we gonna get a gun. We'd have to get a liscence first, and we don't have the time." 
  "That's not an issue. For God's sake, we can steal one, and a recorder shouldn't be too hard to find. We have thirteen hours to do this," she responded. 
  "Honey, this isn't one of your CSI episodes. It's real life. We can't do this by ourselves. We really should go to the police." 
  "No!" she cut him off, "I told you that I can't do that. I am going to meet Kyle tonight, and I don't care what you think." 
  "Alright, but we're doing this my way. You will wair a gun strapped to your ankle, and we need to have some way to comunicate. Also, I'm going to follow you in my car," he told his wife. 
  "Well, you can't use your car because he might recognize it. Ask your brother if you can borrow his. I'm sure he'll let you. We only have one problem left," she informed him. 
  "What that?" Jason asked. 
  "What are we gonna do with Avery? I don't want him out of our sight, but it's too dangerous for him to come with us," she dispared. 
  "We could leave him with my brother," he suggested. 
  "Good idea. You go take him to your brother's and trade cars with him, and I'm gonna go steal a gun." 
  Elaina got situated in her car and braced herself for the pain. This was the last place she had seen her daughter. The realization that that last car ride might have the last time she ever got the chance to see her baby was mind-numbingly painful. But she got control of herself. She could handle it. She then put her hand on the wheels and sped off.  
  As she pulled into the parking lot of some random, little hunting store, she began panicking again. If she got caught stealing a gun, she would never be able to go to the deli tonight. And if that happened, God knows what that crazy man would do. Again, she got control off herself and began walking into the store. She smiled at one of the workers and slowly wandered to the back of the store. Much to her dismay, she discovered that the guns, for the most part, were all locked up behind the counter in the front. Her mind instintly began devicing a plan. Assault was the only thing she could come up with. Calculating that there were only three people in the store, she concluded that she could knock them all out if she had to. 
  Nervously, she approached the front of the store. She really didn't want to hurt any of these people, but there was no other was. Interupting her sinful plan, she heard the man standing behind the counter say, "How can I help you little lady?" 
  "Well, actually, my car broke down, and I was wondering if you could jump it for me," she lied smoothly. 
  "You came to the right guy. I'd be happy to jump your car for ya. Which one is your's?" he asked. 
  After Elaina had managed to get the manager out of the store, she looked around. To her satisfaction, she only saw one other person in the store. She figured that the other person that she had seen earlier had already left so now, she only had to knock out one person. Grabbing a fire extinguisher, she walked up slowly behind the man in the store. Shutting her eyes, she knocked him over the head forcefully. He fell to the floor in a heap, and Elaina dropped down to check his pulse. He was still breathing so she felt a little better. Wasting no time, she took of running to the front of the store and began searching for a key that would unlock the cabinet. 
  After thirty seconds of searching, she found the key. She pressed it into the lock and prayed to God it would fit. Luckly, the cabinet swung open. She grabbed the smallest gun that she could find and rushed to the back of the store to find bullets. After stocking up on everything that she needed, she tore open the box containing the gun and loaded it. Just then, she heard the manager swing the front door open.  
  Before the manager could get a word in, Elaina thanked him and ran out to her car. She hopped into the driver's seat and reached into her pocket for her keys. As she quickly sped away, she looked into her rearview mirror. She almost fainted when she saw her baby sitting there. Before she could even question how she had gotten there, Elaina pulled the car over. She had to hold her baby. She couldn't believe that this nightmare was coming to an end. 
  'Wait," she thought, "How did Delanie get here.' Just then she heard the trunk door slam open. Out walked Kyle Bucher. 
  Smiling at her with a smile that sent shivers down her back, Kyle darted at her. Trying to remain calm, she held on to her baby and ran. She had to get back to the hunting store. She ran as fast as she could, but he was gaining on her. Suddenly, Elaina remembered the loaded gun she had in her pocket. As she reached for her gun, Kyle leapt at her. She then heard the gun fire, and after that, everything went blank. 
                                                           Chapter 5 
  Elaina opened her eyes. Where was she? Where was Delanie? As she looked around the room, she saw Jason sitting in the corner of the room. He smiled at her and hollered for a nurse.  
  "Finally! Your awake. You've been out for a week. I was so worried about you!" he told his confuse wife. 
  "What happened?" she asked, "And where's Delanie?" 
  "She's with her grandpa. Everything's alright now, thanks to you. This is what happened. You shut Kyle in the leg, but before you fired, he managed to shove you down. You hit your head pretty hard. By the time someone found the two of you, you were both out cold. Now, Kyle's rotting away in jail, and he's never gonna hurt you again. 
  "It's over. For real?" 
  "Yup. You saved Delanie," he informed her with a tone of pride. 
  After that, Elaina was released from the hospital and was allowed to return to her home. When she walked in the door of her house, Avery ran to her and Delanie's little face lit up. Never in her life had she been so happy. Her and her family lived happily for the rest of their days. The end. 
   
   
   Publication Date: January 3rd 2010 https://www.bookrix.com/-voozmama7