I glanced at Korin. She was staring straight ahead, lost in another world. I tried to read the look on her face. It wasn't the dreamy look she got when she was thinking about AJ, nor the sad look she got when we talked about our good friend that had died a couple years ago. This look was of pure fear.
I took my eyes off of her and looked across the room. It was Don's shift. I had learned to treasure the hours when he was watching us, because though they were both bad, Joe was clearly worse. Don would verbally abuse us and threaten to shoot us, but Joe actually physically abused us, and I knew he really would shoot us. He beat us for hours at a time during his shift, and Korin and I had painful scars all over us now. But the physical pain could not compare to the emotional pain we were feeling at this point.
My eyes focused and I suddenly realized that Don was asleep. Gasping a little, I quietly tapped Korin on her shoulder, waking her from her trance. She jerked, coming back to reality. I put my finger over my lips to tell her to be quiet, then pointed to Don. She looked at him and gasped slightly, just like I had. Then she turned back to me, and I saw something I hadn't seen in her eyes at all in the last 3 days - hope.
Without saying a word, we both stood up. God had given us a chance to escape, and we had to take it, because we knew it would be our only one. We walked out of the room, praying with every step we took. We managed to find the door that led to the street, and when we got to it, we stood there, just for less than a second, but it seemed like more. The events of the past 3 days flashed through my mind, and I knew it was time to go. With one last look and a final prayer, we stepped out of the door and started hurrying away from the warehouse we could now easily call hell.
When we were no further than a few yards away, we realized it wasn't over yet. Joe had just gotten back. He quickly pulled his gun out and started shooting. We broke into a run, praying harder than ever before. I heard the shots being fired at us, and all I could think about was getting away. I suddenly had more energy than ever before - I could run faster than any track star alive. We continued to run, until the shots stopped, and I heard him curse loudly when he ran out of ammunition. Escape was still possible.
We turned a corner, try desperately to get away from him. I ran into an alley, and Korin followed. There, we stopped running, catching our breath. We sat on the ground and, once again, we prayed.
After about an a hour, I spoke.
"I think it's safe now." It was strange to hear my own voice, because I had barely used it at all in the past few days.
"Yeah, I hope so. Let's go. Now all I want more than anything is to be AJ's arms, surrounded by my friends. So let's get out of here," she replied.
I nodded as we stood up and walked towards the street. We walked along the sidewalk for awhile, not exactly sure what we were looking for it. Then we saw it - a police car. That car was the most beautiful sight I'd seen in a long time. After exchanging grins, we walked up to it. It was all over.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hello?" Brian said as he answered the phone. The hope that had been in his voice earlier into the kidnapping was no longer there.
"Yes, is this Mr. Littrell?"
"Yes it is."
"Well, we have some excellent news for you. The girls were found. They're here at the station right now. After we're done with questioning we'll take them down to the hospital."
"OH MY GOD!!!! YES!!!! We'll be at the station in a few minutes!"
Brian hung up the phone and started yelled and jumping up and down. Everyone came running into his hotel room. They saw the happiness on his face and immediately knew what had happened.
"They found them?" Elissa asked, though she knew the answer.
"YES!!!" Brian exclaimed.
Everyone screamed and jumped up and down, hugging each other at the same time. After a few seconds of celebrating, they piled into a car and drove down to the police station.