Audrey’s Second Chance at Life

“Mark, I am ready to grab her at your signal.” A dark haired woman in her mid-thirties sat on a bench in the public park near her victim. It was a beautiful Sunday morning with cloudless skies, a delightful fresh breeze and a radiant sun. Children played with each other around the park. Parent’s and nannies sat on the benches scattered around the concrete road and green grass. Tall trees protected certain park areas from the sun. “Give me one more minute, Scarlet.” The masculine voice answered from her phone. “I am going to set the diversion bomb and I will let you know…”

The victim in question sat alone on the grass; her dark hair moved gracefully as she played with her Barbie doll. Her nanny sat on a bench farther from her, furiously typing on her phone. The child’s name was Jessica White, the daughter of one of the most powerful and incredible rich business man in Arkana City; He owned practically half of the city. Scarlet and Mark had been following the child and her activities long enough to know it by heart. They already knew she took piano classes, went to the movies at Friday afternoon and, on Sundays, went to the park. Her constant companions only seem to be the cellphone addict nanny and the limousine chauffer.

A very heated argument broke at the distance, and suddenly, one guy opened fire to another. Chaos set up immediately and ran away from the disturbance. Scarlet moved quickly between the barricade of people, grab Jessica and ran away from the crown hidden herself and the child within some bushes. She opened her phone and called Mark. “What happened? I heard some shooting; are you alright? I haven’t finish setting the bomb…”

“I am alright; some dude chooses to open fire to finish an argument in a public area… Don’t finish the bomb and get back to the car… I already have the child.” Scarlet closed the phone and looked at Jessica; she hadn’t uttered a word or even protest when Scarlet kidnapped her, her big blue eyes looking at Scarlet with surprise and something akin to hope. “Let’s go home, Jessica.” Jessica held her hands up in complete compliance; Scarlet reluctantly pick her up and ran to the car parking lot. When she reached her car, Mark was already seated in the driver side. Worried green eyes searched her body for any indication that she had been hurt in any way. She opened the backseat quickly and sat Jessica on a children seat, and went to seat at the passenger seat. “Let’s get out of here.” Scarlet commanded and within minutes they hit the road.

“Mark, stop driving over the speed limit! What if the police...?” Scarlet didn’t finish her words, when the police siren roared, and Mark had to pull over the road. The police officer looked inside the car and his eyes locked on Jessica, who was safely secured in her back seat. “You shouldn’t be speeding, even less with your daughter and wife…” The police officer said gravely as he cheeked Mark’s driver license. Mark ended with a speeding ticked but thankfully, the police officer didn’t notice Jessica wasn’t their child.
They reached their home and offered Jessica food, clothes and a place to stay. Jessica learned that her captors had a daughter named Audrey, who had the same age as Jessica and was at the hospital with cancer. Mark and Scarlet needed money to be able to continue with the treatment, and captured her to make her dad pay the ransom and use it to save Audrey.

Mark and Scarlet called Jessica’s father several times, but they never got a hold of him. Apparently his business was more important than the life of his daughter, so they decided to keep Jessica and find a way to be with their daughter at the hospital at the same time. Scarlet kept looking at the news to see if Jessica’s father reported her absence, but there were no mentions of Jessica at all. Later on, Scarlet helped Jessica with her bath and discovered a lot of bruises in her body; Jessica was mistreated in her home.

When Mark and Scarlet manage to get hold on Jessica’s father, he practically told them to keep the child. At that moment, they understood that it didn’t matter what they did, they weren’t getting the money to save their child. Mark and Scarlet had to bring their daughter Audrey home and let her die with them. Audrey and Jessica became new best friends. They did everything together and, when Scarlet had to bath and give Audrey her food, Jessica even help. Happy laughter was a common sound around the house but, as the days passed, it became less frequent until one day Audrey didn’t awake at all. The trio cried and grief together until they fell asleep.

Later that day, Scarlet and Mark found themselves talking in the kitchen about the things they will need to do for Audrey and what should they do about Jessica. “We cannot keep Jessica captured anymore.” Scarlet murmured with sadness. “Her father hits her…” Mark pointed out, hand brushing out a tear from his already red puffy eyes. But the conversation died away when Jessica entered the room. “I want to stay with you!” Jessica cried hugging Scarlet’s pajama clad leg. “Please, don’t leave me with my daddy like mommy did…”

Scarlet and Mark learned that Jessica’s mother died when she was five and since then her father had been mistreating her; Her nanny and the rest of the servants were too scared to call the cops. At the end, they choose to keep Jessica under Audrey’s name and they buried Audrey under Jessica’s name. Jessica touched Audrey’s tombstone. “Thanks Audrey for giving me new parents, a new name and a new life… I will always be thankful to you for that.”