text: As the constant drip burrowed itself further into his mind, Andrew had only one thought: I’m gonna die here. He had every reason to believe that. He had watched enough of those crime shows his mom liked to know that hostages hardly ever had a happy ending, regardless of if the ransom was paid or not. More likely than not, he would be found in a ditch somewhere, or worse, by some drunk dude who had to piss in a park. The park stuck out to Andrew. That’s where he had been taken. His mom would be pissed when she found out, she made him promise not to take that shortcut. This was the first year he was allowed to walk home alone (his parents were really overprotective), and he found that he got home at 4:15. That was a problem, because Spongebob started at 4 (if you ever told anyone he still watched it, he would deny it), but he had promised his mom that he wouldn’t take the shortcut, so he ended up only watching half of the episode. The day he was taken was different though. It was a special episode, one where Patchy the Pirate would be part of the adventure. He couldn’t miss that! So, he figured that just this once it would be fine to take the shortcut. It’s not like anything bad would happen, he was 12 years old and invincible! That had been 2 weeks ago. Since then he’s been stuck in this tiny room, which was just about twice as long as him and about that wide too. There has been nothing for him to do. No books, no tv, no music, not even any action figures (which, very importantly, are not toys). The only things he’s had to help pass the time are his ‘meals’--if you call plain mashed potatoes in the evening and plain porridge in the morning meals--that were shoved through the slot at the bottom of the door and the constant dripping coming from his bathroom hole in the corner. He’d already made beats off it, counted to 1000 with the drips, and sarcastically said “drip, drip, drip, drip...” along with the now obnoxious sound. It was this dripping he was listening to when he drifted off to sleep. -------------------------- It was some time later, he had no way of knowing how long when he was woken up by the sound of a girl screaming... no, not screaming, yelling. “Get your fucking hands off me you creep! Let me go! I swear to god if you don’t get your hands off me I’ll fucking kill you you dumb fuck!” Andrew wasn’t allowed to use those words, he tried once and his mom grounded him for three whole weeks, but he knew how the girl felt. The shouting was right outside the door now. “I know Ju-Jitsu and I’ll break every bone in your body before I choke you and don’t let go!” Well that sounded fake. The door opened and for the first time in weeks, Andrew saw another person. Two of them, actually. One girl, around his age, many a bit older, and a big man wearing a ski mask and black hoodie. The man threw the girl to the floor and quickly shut the door. “Get the fuck back here you asshole,” he girl was already back on her feet, pounding on the door. “Fight me like a man rather than sneaking up behind me like a fucking coward!” “Don’t bother, it’s not going to work,” Andrew said from his bed. The girl must not have noticed him because she jumped at the sound of his voice and turned towards him ready to fight. “Who the hell are you? Why are you here? You better stay over there and answer my question-- hold on...” she got right in his face, “you’re the kid from Highlands! Andrew, wasn’t it?” “How do you know me?” “Kid you’re famous! Anderson Cooper even took time off yelling at the president to talk about your case!” “My case?” Andrew asked. “Yeah your case! You’ve been gone for like a month,” Andrew realized that they weren’t breakfast and dinner, but daily meals, “you’re family has been going nuts, they’ve organized like 20 search parties, they’ve knocked on every door in town, they’ve been on every news network, hell I don’t think they’ve slept!” “They... they’re actually looking for me?” “Oh come on Andy, is it ok if I call you Andy? Might as well get used to it, that’s your name now. But come on! Of course they’re looking for you! Why wouldn’t they be?” “I dunno...” “Exactly! So what have you been working on? What’s your plan?” “What do you mean?” “What’s our way out? You’ve been down here long enough, you must have thought of at least a rough plan!” Andrew looked at the ground. He hadn’t thought of anything. He figured that there was no point, his kidnapper was going to become his murderer soon enough, plus he was in a tiny room with one steel door and no windows, how was he supposed to get out? “Come on Andy don’t tell me you never thought of anything. What about that hole over there? The one with the smell... that’s shit. That’s your shit hole. This is an actual shit hole cell,” The girl started laughing. “But can’t you get out through that?” “I don’t think so... I’ve never seen the... poop go down. Just slowly higher and higher.” “Well... fuck! Ok how do you get food? Does Meatloaf out there bring it in?” “No... he slides it under the door. I’ve never seen him until he brought you in, even when I was taken. I was walking through the park, I felt a needle in my arm, and then I woke up here.” “Jesus Christ Andy stop being so defeated! What else is there in here?” “You can see it all. I’ve got a bed and a bathroom hole--” “Shit hole, Andy. From now on it’s called a shit hole. Gotta take my laughs where I can get them.” “Okay... but that’s it. That’s all that’s here.” “What are you wearing?” “What?” “God dammit Andy we probably don’t have a bunch of time!” “Jeans and a tee-shirt! That’s it!” “Jeans...” the girl said contemplatively, rubbing the wall. “By any chance, are those jeans too big for you?” “A bit, but I wear a belt so I don’t have plumbers crack!” “That’s perfect Andy! Are you wearing your belt now?” “Yeah...” “Then we can escape! Andy, I’m a genius!” “Okay...” “Give me your belt,” the girl said, holding out her hand. “Hurry!” Andrew reluctantly took off his belt. He had joked about girls asking him for this before with his friends, but this wasn’t what he had pictured. “What’s your name?” Andrew asked hesitantly. “What does it matter? Hurry up and give me your belt!” “No name, no belt.” “You’re fucking impossible! Fine, my names Andrea. Happy now? Give me your damn belt!” Andrew passed her the piece of cloth from around his waist. She greedily grabbed it from him and smiled looking at the metal clasp at the end. “We’re getting out of here! Today! I know we are, Andy!” “Sure we are, Andrea... you keep believing that. Maybe it’ll help you when you’re lying dead in a ditch.” “If you’re not going to help, just sit over there and shut the fuck up.” Andrew went to the bed, still tired from his interrupted nap. He sat propped against the wall, crossed his arms across his chest, clenched his fists, and tried to shut out the new scraping sound coming from beside the door. -------------------------------- “Andy! Come on Andy, I’m almost through! Come help!” Andrew opened his eyes and stretched, making the mental note to not sleep with his arms crossed ever again. His arms and hands were more stiff than they ever had been in his life. “Hurry! I need you over here!” He groggily made his way to the side of the room where Andrea had been scraping. On his way there, he saw the discarded remains of the belt he had gotten for his birthday. Mom would be mad... if he ever saw her again. Looking up to the hole where Andrea had been working, that possibility seemed more realistic. “Holy crap Andrea!” “Yeah I’m awesome, I know, now help me with this!” “What do you need?” “This part is thin, but I cant break it on my own. It’ll take both of us. Come on. We’ll start about... here,” she walked halfway across the room, “and get a running start. You're right-handed, yeah? Ok than lead with your left shoulder. This will probably hurt it and we might need to do some other stuff so it'll be good to have your right arm ready.” “I’m not sure--” “Oh shut up and quit being a pussy! Come on, count of three.” Andrew didn’t know what “being a pussy” was, but he didn’t think it was a good thing. He got ready with Andrea. “Three!” she shouted immediately. They both ran full speed into the wall, making sure to lead with the left shoulder. Andrew felt a crunch and his arm went numb. “God damn motherfucker holy shit what the everloving fuck that hurt!” Andrea shouted from beside him. Good to know she was okay. Andrew looked toward the wall and felt butterflies. It was small, but there was a hole. “We did it Andy! We’re free!” The hole was just wide enough for Andrew to fit through, and he was scared that Andrea might not fit. “You go first.” “Aww look at that, chivalry isn’t dead. Alright I guess I’m up.” Andrea started toward the hole and put her head through, but got stuck at her shoulders. “Fuck... Okay Andy you have to go. Go alone and get the cops. Remember where we are. Bring the cops back here.” “Andrea I can’t!” “Come on Andy, I need you to do this. It’s okay, just make sure you get out and bring the cops back here. I’ll be fine. But you’ve gotta go quick.” Andrew fought back tears and threw the arm he could still move around Andrea. “Alright kid, you gotta go. Be safe. Grab a piece of cement in case you see that big fuck again, bash his head in for me.” Andrew nodded and made his way to the hole. It was tight and caused him to nearly cry because of his shoulder, but he made it. Grabbing a piece of cement, he looked around to gather his bearings. The only thing he saw in this new, bigger square room was a staircase. He quietly made his way up, pausing at the top to see if he could hear the man in black. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he entered the area at the top of the stairs and realized that he was in a house. A nice house. To his left, he saw it. The door. He saw the houses across the street and started running. Pulling the door open, he started yelling. “Help! Help! Call the police! This man kidnapped us! Help!” ------------------------------ The cops didn’t find Andrea. The man in black, James, said he had only ever kidnapped Andrew. It turns out he had made ransom demands, and when his parents met them, he had made new ones. Andrew had been right, he was just going to see how far he could push the parents before they couldn’t meet his demands and then he was going to kill the kid. But he had only ever taken the one kid. He was adamant about that. He confessed to everything else and plead guilty. The judge sentenced him to seventeen years in prison. The police and psychologists said that, because he had been alone for so long, Andrew had probably hallucinated Andrea. It’s a common occurrence. But Andrew knew that they were wrong. He looked toward his desk in his room and saw another sticky note: Clean your damn room, Andy. It’s disgusting. The shit hole smelled better.