Not So Happy Vacation

written for school

 

          

 

They stare at the computer screen, their eyes as wide as they get; “Honey, that’s it, that’s the place it has everything!”

He answered his wife, “Darling, I completely agree, the trees and the hills are gorgeous. I am booking this for next week.”

So the next week they count down the days ‘til they leave. Everyday Sarah and Evan get up and get ready for work, they both have the vacation marked on every kind of calendar from their homes to their offices and even in their cell phones. There is a picture of this place in their cars right behind the steering wheel. Everyday they get excited about the smell of the ocean breeze, the sun beating down on their skins, and the sweet taste of the tropical fruit drinks scroll through their minds the same way it did on the computer screen just a few days before. A smile flashes across their faces as they mark off one more day closer to vacation.

Evan was a wealthy lawyer and provided every need and want that came across his wife. He was about 6’0 even and weighted 150 lbs; he had short brown hair and the most gorgeous green eyes that often changed with his mood. Sarah was a tall lanky beautiful blonde with warm hazel eyes that often changed to green with her outfits. She was about 5’10 and she barely weighted 135 lbs; she had shoulder length dirty blonde hair with beautiful perfect curls. She works as a website creator for Northwest INC., and she is grand with computers. They had just gotten married a few months before in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and with a baby on the way.  

            The days flew by and the big red X’s soon filled up the entire week on all of their calendars. Both Sarah and Evan rush home and get packed and load the car for the next morning. They lay their heads on the pillow yet neither one of them could sleep for they were too excited about the trip that lay ahead. By the time they finally drift off to dream, they were quickly awakened by the usually annoying alarm clock screaming at them like a rooster at dawn. Then they quickly take a shower and get dressed and they both ran out of the house and jumped into the car. Evan said he would drive the first part of the trip; they both agreed that it was a good idea. So they set out on the trip not knowing what lay ahead.  

            So Sarah fell asleep as Evan drove half way to California but when she woke up she couldn’t figure out where on the map they were.

She asked, “Baby, where are we?”

He answered, “I took a little short cut.”

So she just shrugged it off and gazed out the window. It soon became her turn to drive; they pulled over at the gas station and they switched places. Sarah blankly stared at the map trying to figure out what land mark they were close to but she saw nothing. Evan is fast asleep in the passenger seat so he can’t aid her in anyway in finding the highway. Sarah drove until she came across a run down gas station with a small flickering light.

            She pulled over and woke her husband up and told him that they were completely lost so she stopped to ask directions. He decided to walk in with his wife so she didn’t have to go in alone. They both walk in, hand in hand to the counter. The husband rang the bell and no one came. Evan laid the map on the counter and waited for the man to come back. The wife decided to walk around the store but Evan refused. She pried her hand from his and began to roam.

            The TV was on and the news was explaining about an escape convict who has murdered a total of 50 people by hanging them in the most bizarre places. The husband turned around to find his wife; he heard her scream and everything went dark. He reached out for something to grab a hold of but he felt nothing. He remembered that he had grabbed matches from the counter for no reason; he reached in his pocket and pulled them out. He lit the match and he barely could see any more then he did before he lit the match. He let his eyes adjust to see if he could see and better; he soon heard the slightest moan and quickly thought about his wife. He ran toward the direction of the sound, he ran so hard even, though he couldn’t see, and ran straight into the wall. He hit the ground hard and dropped the match and it burned out. He slowly came too and he heard the one sound he never wanted to hear in his life; the sound of his wife screaming for her life.

            He turned to find her but he still couldn’t see he yelled her name as loud as he could and all he heard was her screams. He thought this cant be happening and he started to walk slowly towards the sound of his wife’s screams. Suddenly it got very quiet and he stood as still as he could. He could hear her soft slow shallow breaths and he slowly inched toward her. His eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness and he could see shadows of things around him.

            He saw the shadow of what he thought was his wife gentle frail figure in the corner with her hands tied above her head. He saw another figure in the darkness he was tall and muscular and probably stood around 6 feet tall. His mind quickly flashed back to the news story about the escape convict; he remembered they said he was 6’3” and was very built with big broad shoulders. Evan quickly threw that idea out of his mind and focused on his wife and how he was to save her. No matter how hard he fought the images and the words from the news kept coming back into his mind; he couldn’t understand why and if it was true or not. He tried fighting them harder and thinking of how he was to rescue his love.

            He decided he was going to try to get the guy away from his wife long enough to untie her and get her away from here. So he racked his brain on things that would get the convicts attention, he finally decided that he was going to cause the gas pumps outside to explode. He couldn’t exactly figure out how he was to do this so he thought of everyway possible to make that happen. He quickly ran outside and looked around, he saw that their car wasn’t the only one there so he ran to the other car and looked inside it. He saw that they had left the keys on the floorboard and he got the idea he was going to run the car into the gas pumps. He opened the door and turned the car on, he put it into drive.

            Evan left the door open and he hit the gas pedal as hard as he could and the car jolted forward and took off like a bat out of a cave. He jumped out of the car and let it hit the gas pump hard and there was a big explosion just as he wanted. He hid behind a tower of tires and waited for the guy to come running out. He finally saw him come out and Evan quickly ran in. He pulled out his trusty pocket knife and cut the ropes that bound his wife and gently picked her up and ran towards the back door with her over his shoulder.

            Before getting through the back door they heard a loud thumping, Evan looks to his left and sees nothing but Sarah looked to their right she screamed and Evan turned to look and there was the gas attendant hanging from the beams on the ceiling. The man let out a soft groan so Evan stopped and tried to cut him loose. He cut the rope as fast as he could and lowered the man to the ground.

He whispered “Run get far away from here this guy is the one the police are looking for.”

Evan answered him “What about you will you be okay?”

The man replied “I’ll be okay, don’t worry about me. Just go on and get out of here.”

So Evan and Sarah took off towards the woods behind the station to hide from the convict.

            Evan looked at his wife and said “Baby, stay here and I am going to go get the car. Okay?”

She simply nodded. He kissed her on the forehead and ran to go get the car. She sat there quietly and fidgeted with her hands and worried about the safety of her beloved husband. She stood in the woods and watched the trees dance like a couple in love, and she could see the flames of the fire reach towards the sky like a child wanting to be held. Almost thirty minutes had gone by and still no sign of Evan, so she took off after him.

            She snuck around the side of the gas station to find their car missing and the convict still trying to put out the fire. She knew deep down that her husband didn’t leave her there so she started back to the spot in the woods where he told her to stay. She saw him standing there looking for her, she ran to him and jumped on him and hugged him tight.

She whispered in his ear “I thought you left me.”

He told her that he had gone back and gotten the gas station attendant and he was in the car waiting on them. He also went to see if he could get the phone in the office to work but he had no luck. Sarah remembered that she had left her cell phone in the cup holder in the car and that they could use that to call the police. They ran back to the car and Evan found her cell and tried to call out but there was no signal.

            They sat there and tried to figure out how they were to get the police out here to save them and to capture the convict. The attendant said that Sarah and he could go just a few miles up the road to the nearest town and try to get help. While Evan stayed there and made sure the convict didn’t try to get away. Of course Evan agreed and Sarah and the attendant set out to find help.

            Sarah drove as fast as she could to the nearest town just a few minutes away from where the station was. They finally see the town and it looks completely deserted. They search and search for a phone of any kind and they come across a pay phone and called 911. They told them about the convict and that they needed help fast. The police were dispatched; Sarah and the attendant headed back to the station to get her husband for she worried of his safety more now then she ever had before.

            They arrived at the station and parked just far enough that they could hide the car still and Sarah went to find her husband. She gets closer to the station and notices that everything is calm and that the fire is no longer blazing. She was worried that something bad had happened while they were gone, so she slowly crept to the building and she saw two shadows in the dark room. She saw that one was tied up and the other stood over him making sure he didn’t go anywhere. She burst through the door to find that her husband had bound the convict and trapped him in a tire so he couldn’t get out.

            Not long after arriving there they could hear the sounds of the sirens wailing and they never felt safer. The convict was captured and the couple was awarded money for helping capture the escapee. The couple couldn’t be any happier. They were happy to be safe and alive that they couldn’t let each other go. The two hugged each other for a while and then headed towards the car, they both agreed that they should head back home and that they will try this vacation another time.