A Snap Decision

A Snap Decision

Alice turned around slowly, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling with every movement she made. Alice scanned the table, the sink, and the doorway. It all seemed normal. But a creaking noise made her heart rate climb again. The pantry, Alice thought. She made her way to the counter, opened a drawer, and pulled out the first thing her hand touched. A spoon. Oh great, she said sarcastically, this is a good lethal weapon. She had her hand on the doorknob. Fear and exasperation bubbled uneasily in her stomach. She slowly, cautiously, turned the doorknob a fraction of an inch. Nothing jumped out at her. She turned in another fraction of an inch. Then, using all the courage she could gather in the few seconds she had, she flung the door open. Nothing. Not a thing. She flipped the light on and searched the shelves. Other than an old can of peaches, there was nothing out of the ordinary. She scanned the floor. A couple rolls of paper towels, dust, mom’s old recipe box, a piece of paper with my name on it…Wait. Alice bent down and snatched the paper from the ground. The curved handwriting jumped out at her, like she had seen it somewhere or something. Eager to read the note, she pushed the feeling out of her mind and pursued on:

Alice-

Think you have everything figured out? You’re nowhere close. Do not try to contact me. I will not take anymore “urgent messages from my daughter”. There will only be one available meeting with myself, and it is tonight. You want to talk, meet at the park on Center Street at 8:30. Come alone.

 

Alice couldn’t get her mind to work right. She had a bad feeling something was going to go wrong, but the note said there would only be one meeting, and that he would no longer fall for the charade she had used. There was only one way to find out, and she knew it would be dangerous. But the note said come alone, and she wasn’t about to put anyone in any danger by taking them with her. She put the spoon she had been brandishing back into the drawer, and plopped herself on the couch. She stared at the TV without really watching, only catching small bits of the reporter’s broadcast. She was arguing with herself about whether she should take someone, or not. So far, the only interesting thing was the fact that she was getting a big headache extremely quickly.

Alice considered her outcome. Alone in a battle, she did fairly well matched, depending on how experienced her partner was, and also how many there were. With someone else, she did better, though she was never really good at taking direction, and hadn’t practiced with someone else before. She weighed her chances. She would surely be toast if she went alone.

Alice stretched for the phone, knocking over a glass of water on her new note.

“Shoot!” She hissed and scrambled into the kitchen to get a towel. On her way she took a quick glance at the note. But what she saw surprised her. She snatched the note off the end table and sank to her knees beside the water. The neat, cursive handwriting on the note had disappeared completely, now leaving a new message. Alice studied it closer, only to reveal a business address:

432 E. Windlehown Street

85092

Alice, her knees now soaked, stared in amazement. Wasn’t this what she wanted? Why did she suddenly feel even more anxious than she had already been 30 seconds previously?

She was still staring at the note as she grabbed a towel from the kitchen and mopped up the rest of her drink that had not already saturated her jeans. She tossed the rag in the laundry room and peered around the corner of the hallway. Nope, no mom. Perfect, Alice smirked, now to make a phone call. She sneaked to the phone hook and dialed the number. Her grandfather answered on the second ring, thankfully.

“Hello?”

“We have a big, big, big problem.” Alice tried to keep her voice as steady as possible, but her voice cracked in the middle of her sentence.

“Alice? What is it? What happened?” He sounds terrified, Alice thought. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…Um…I…can’t find my math book. Did I leave it at your house, by chance?” She hoped her voice sounded convincing. She never was a good liar, and hating lying period.

“

“Oh….no. You haven’t been over today. Is that what all the panic is about?” He didn’t believe her, and she could tell.

“Yeah….I’ll talk to you later then. Bye.” Alice hung the phone up quickly before he could say anything else. She felt horrible, confused, tired, and worried at the same time. How the heck does Superman do it?Alice pulled her Fyra outfit out of her duffel bag stuffed under her bed and examined it. Was all this really worth it? She sighed and pulled the spandex on quickly, hoping the premonition of tonight would disappear. Her nerves wouldn’t go away.

* * * * *

 

She would have to sneak out, something she had never done before. She aligned the pillows underneath the blue and black checked quilt to look like a figure sleeping, and tip-toed to the window.

She peered out of it. Clearly, she could do it, but she still had the feeling in her gut that something, something, was going to go horribly wrong. She took a deep breath, and then jumped into the sudden darkness.

Her ability to be noiseless was uncanny. She landed with perfection on the balls of her feet, crouching in a defensive position before straightening up. Her car, parked across the street in front of a maple tree, gleamed in the moon light. She paused in front of her car, debating on whether or not it would make too much noise. She shook her head, and tucked the keys back into her jacket pocket. She was only 3 blocks away, and it was a nice night. She strolled around the corner, picking up speed with every step. Her watch said 8:28, and she didn’t want to be late, not for something as important as this. She was running out of breath as she paced into the parking lot of the park.

It was…deserted. No one was here. The swings fluttered in the light breeze of the summer night. She slid into the closest one, and checked her watch again. 8:30. Whoever it was apparently had a knack for being fashionably late. Alice was surrounded by her thoughts when the familiar black Mercedes pulled into the gravel beside the sandbox. Out of habit, Alice sprung to her feet and tensed, ready to fight at a moments notice. There were no headlights shining from the car, which made it impossible to see who was behind the wheel. Alice, still tensed, shuddered in the warm breeze. She was not cold, but worried. Worried about the fear bubbling in her stomach once again.

As the car door swung open, she stared into the eyes of...