The Birthday Kidnap


“Boom, Fantastic Baby” My alarm clock went off. I was listening to a really popular korean song that was blaring throughout my whole room. Most of my friends think that I am really weird to listen to korean music even though I am Indian. They expect me to be home cooking curry or taking Indian dance lessons. Most of my friends are Korean though so that is where I get my influence. I was really tired and ready to get back into bed and sleep a little more when I heard my mom call my name really loud.


“ Kajal, it’s your brother’s birthday today! Get up and do something!” I groan and started to wake up. As much as I love my brother, I hated that his birthday ended up on a Saturday. My brother Kiran is 16 and goes to Peter High School. He’s really tall for an indian and works out a lot. He’s so popular that he even gets strange letters in his locker from other girls. He’s also a really bad student failing in almost all subjects. When we get our report cards, Kiran always shredded them before my dad had the chance to look at them. We get along really well for siblings. I slowly walk sluggishly to the bathroom and start brushing my teeth. When I finished that and bathed I look at myself.

“ Ehh, I look presentable enough.” I went downstairs and look for the invitation list. A bunch of his friends and family are coming. The list went on and on and on.


“Uggh,” I think to myself. I checked my phone for any text messages from my best friend, Josh. He said he was coming today for Kiran’s birthday to give me company, but by the looks of our house I knew we needed a lot of help with the decor. My mom and I start hanging up the streamers and the balloons.


“ Mom, what’s for breakfast?” I heard a voice come from upstairs. It’s my annoying brother coming downstairs. His devilish hair is messier than usual. He saw me and started laughing. I had paint all over myself and on my hair because I was in charge of painting these stupid banners. I started to go at him and try to punch him but I remembered that it was his birthday.


“Honey, are you sure you want the birthday today?” My dad asks my mom.


“Of course, what’s the problem?” My dad told us that there was a kidnapper rumored to be living in our county. Even though my mom hired a bunch of bodyguards, the thought made me shiver. My family is one of the richest families in our county and there were many cases of robbers trying to come in to our house. We have many bodyguards now after those incidents around our house. I wanted to text my Josh about this kidnapper if he knew anything about it. Just then I heard the doorbell ring. I ran to the door expecting one of Kiran’s friends to come but it was Josh. I felt relief seeing him.



“Hey, did you hear about that kidnapper! Oh, and do you have breakfast leftovers?” He said when he first came in. I couldn’t help but laugh. He was in all honors and plays a lot of sports yet he acts as weird as he did now. He always has breakfast over at my house because his mom has to go to work early and his dad passed away two years ago in the army. We’ve been best friends since kindergarten.


“Yeah, no dip, we saved some breakfast for you,” I said. Josh and Kiran immediately started talking about last night’s ball game. All my fear washed away about the kidnapper. Soon it was time for the party to start. One by one all his friends started coming. By five, about seventy people were there. I could hear Kiran’s friends shooting hoops and playing video games inside. The bodyguards took care of the invite list and all the other stuff. When me and Josh started to call for Kiran he wasn’t found anywhere. Apparently we weren’t the only people to notice that he was missing. A bunch of his friends started to worry about him too. Josh and I started to head back to my parents to inform them.


“Wait, we should search for him. Let’s ask the bodyguards if they saw him. “ Josh said. I took my phone and texted my mom about the situation. She sounded really worried and called the police. In the mean time we were supposed to stick together and search for him. Josh and I searched for the bodyguards and found the leader, who was in charge of the invite list, missing! Things went haywire after that. Josh and I started to go around the town to look for clues. Josh asked the other bodyguards if they saw Kiran but everyone of them replied that they haven't seen him. We went back to my house to tell my mom we needed some more help but when we got there, everyone left! My mom and dad were missing too! I started to panic and started to cry. Josh looked helpless in this situation. Then I saw a note left on top of the table which said:


“If you want your family,
the search for someplace where you go for the holidays
but bring 1,000 dollars with you.
If you want your family to live
You get one call.”
-Anonymous



I started to freak out about the situation but Josh was really calm about it. Josh was part of the family so he has been with us on all our vacations and I his.



“Ok, so you get one call. Call your dad and ask him for his bank account number to get 1,000 dollars. We need to figure out though where we go.” Josh figured out. I remembered now where we went for our holidays. We went to Las Vegas, India, California, and Miami. Our closest place that we decided to go was Miami since we lived in North Carolina. Then I started to call my dad. I swallowed all my tears and pushed the numbers. After two rings he picked up.


“ Dad, are you ok?”



“ Yes we’re fine but try to come here soon. It’s really hot here” he said. I stared at the phone weirdly. It sounded as if he had a deeper meaning to it.


“ Dad, we need you bank account number.” He told us in a hurried whisper and ended our conversation saying to come quickly like tomorrow.I got more confused as ever. How could we go somewhere by tomorrow without knowing where to start!

“Hot here, come by tomorrow, he’s talking about Miami!” Josh exclaimed. Thank god. If it were elsewhere then it would be a very long travel. Then I started to get it, the only vacation we could reach by tomorrow is Miami. Josh and I went to the bank and took out 5,000 dollars for travel and 1,000 for the price of the kidnappers. Josh got the tickets for the next train to Florida. We had to wait a while before the train started. The silence was killing me. Josh was busy buying snacks when some kid a couple years older than me sat next to me. He had piercing blue eyes and short spiky brown hair with built tan muscles. I tried to move to the edge of the bench thinking how I could make a run for it making it seem like I wasn’t scared.


“I can help you, the kidnapper is my uncle and he doesn’t know that I’m here.” The boy whispered. I felt a bit suspicious and I was wishing that Josh would hurry up. How long does it take to buy snacks?


“How do I know that you would help me and wouldn’t betray us? You haven’t even told me your name.” I said. He stared off into the distance and lifted up his shirt sleeve. I saw deep scars that haven’t been healed yet all over his built arms. They looked unrealistic but the wound was so deep that you could almost see the bones.


“My uncle caused this. He did that because I wouldn’t agree to help in the kidnapping of your family.” he said. Tears slipped from my eyes without unknowingly. Later he told me his name was Todd and he knew I was here because he followed me. Just then Josh came back. After I explained to Josh why Todd was here the train came. Surprisingly Todd had his own ticket. Riding the train with two guys next to me was kind of weird. Many people would stare at us. Most of the snacks were gone and there was an awkward silence. Now and then Josh would talk to me about our plan to escape and how to calm down but the rest of the trip was awkward. Todd finally broke the silence and asked what hotel we would be staying at. We gave him a confused look because we thought we would be there immediately.



“My uncle’s warehouse is a little far so we would have to stay at a hotel overnight.” He said sympathetically. Me and Josh looked at each other. We had money but we didn’t know which hotel we would have to stay at. We would just have to sightsee. When the train stopped, we were the only ones getting of the train. After that, we took a rental car because Todd could drive, and left to find some place to sleep. We soon fell across a dingy motel where the rates were cheap. Apparently, Todd knew the owner and got our prices lower. We had dinner at the hotel's restaurant and got ready for bed. Josh and I shared a double bed room and Todd had a room. Neither one of them wanted to leave me by myself in a room. I started to cry when I got to the room. I turned on the TV so Josh wouldn’t notice my crying.


“What happened to my family? Why did this happen to us?” I thought. Why couldn’t it happen to any other family? I felt relieved that Josh was here. If I didn’t have him then my family would have been lost forever. I cried myself to sleep. It only seemed like minutes when Josh told me to wake up. Josh and Todd were in my room discussing the escape plans in hushed tones. When I finished cleaning up and had my breakfast, we left for the warehouse. It took us one hour to get there. I had the 1000 dollars secured to my bag and my phone in my hand in case the kidnappers cheat us. I started to doubt Todd but I remembered his scars on his arm. I wondered who his parents were.


“Hey Todd, who are your parents?” I asked.


“They were terrible people who abandoned me and left me with my uncle and his idiot son.” He replied with a bitter tone. With that I just sank into the chair deeper. He soon pulled over to what seemed like an empty farm land. He then took his gun from his tool belt and led us to the back door. I couldn’t see anything in that pitch dark atmosphere. He opened the door carefully so it wouldn’t creek. We had to go up two story of stairs until I heard a muffle and a cry. It sounded like my mom. At that moment I wanted to barge in and rescue my whole family while killing the kidnappers with Todd’s gun. The fury in my heart wouldn’t burn down. I clutched Josh’s hand hard that I was sure that I would be leaving finger marks. Right then, Todd kicked the door with such force that it fell to the ground. Dust hit our faces and blurred our eyes. He took his gun and searched for the light. Suddenly, the light turned on and it wasn’t Todd who turned it on.


“So you were really stupid that you actually came.” the masked kidnapper snorted. Todd pointed his gun at him.


“Oh and my failure of a nephew has come with you too huh?” he laughed. I spotted Kiran looking weaker than ever with scratches and scars all over his body. He was shriveled up in the corner of the room. My mom and dad were at another side barely conscious. I saw a bottle of poison right next to them.


“What are you trying to do to my parents? What is that poison doing over there? We got the 1000 dollars. Now hand them over!” I screamed not able to contain my anger. I took the 1000 dollars out of my bag to show them proof. Todd was just standing there looking at his uncle’s hand. There was a whip like the one in Indiana Jones movies laying carelessly on his hand. Seeing the fear in Todd’s eyes, I knew that was the whip that caused all the scars on Todd’s body.


“Your idiotic dad was my colleague at my office. We were best friends until the layoff came. He just abandoned me and let me leave the company. This is payback. I could have been as rich as him, but he betrayed me.” The kidnapper said with anger. I couldn’t think for a moment.


“You were careless. You could have found another job but you lemented on the situation. You were waiting for the birthday to kidnap all of them. What a fool you are.” Todd spoke up. I was surprised. All the fear left his eyes and was replaced by anger. He pointed the gun at his uncle and got ready to pull the trigger. Before I could realize, Josh slapped the gun from Todd’s wavering hand.


“Violence doesn’t help any situation. Nothing good will come out of you shooting your uncle. I already called the cops and they’re coming over. Calm down.” Josh whispered to Todd so the kidnapper wouldn’t hear. We heard the sirens blaring outside of the barn house and Josh ran to inform the police. The police soon came in and tied up the kidnappers.


“I will get you next time and my stupid nephew. I’m not gonna be in jail forever.” vowed Todd’s uncle. Todd disappeared in the middle of all the commotion. I spotted him at the edge of the field near our car. He looked troubled. I thought he would be happy and jumping up and down.


“I know you’re there. You know, I feel good and all about my uncle being in jail, but I got nowhere to live. No one would accept me. I can’t just sleep in cars and bus stands. I was housed by my uncle. My parents left me in his care. I’ve never seen them since then” The whole time he was saying this, he was looking at his scars. The scars may be able to fade away but the memories would be branded in him. I felt really bad for him. He helped me so much and I have nothing to give him in return.


“I got an idea, why don’t you live with me and my family? You helped me and now it’s my turn to help you.” I don’t know how that came out of my mouth but I was happy I said it.


One Year Later

“Mom what’s for lunch?” Kiran seemed back to normal after the kidnapping. His scars are healed and he’s back to his normal, annoying self. He’s even happier that he get’s to share a room with Todd. After I asked Todd if he could live in our house he said he would really like to. He’s almost a part of our family other than the fact that he isn’t Indian. My mom adores him and immediately accepted him because he helped me and all that. He’s another big shot in school. There are more letters in both of their lockers. The only difference is that Todd is way smarter and he’s in all honors with all A’s. He’s almost like another Kiran to me. His uncle has a life sentence after what he did to Todd and my family. He will surely not escape prison and torture us. We have been getting more death threats for us but we got more bodyguards to take care of us. We still don’t know what happened to that one bodyguard who went missing. The police think that he may have been apart of the kidnapping.


“Ding Dong” the doorbell rang. I opened the door and saw Josh standing with his bookbag. After the kidnapping his mother became a stay at home mom to take care of him. He still comes to our house for breakfast though stating that it was a tradition. Now I’ve got two people embarrassing him when he gets in the house, Kiran and Todd. Josh and I became the town heroes. I didn’t like the fame as much as Josh did but I certainly did enjoy the free frozen yogurt and the pizza that comes to us. At school, we get free lunch and royalty treatment. Josh and I became more popular and we’ve been idolized by everyone at school.Turns out that the poison was never fed to my parents and they were ok after one month in the hospital. My dad did remember Todd’s uncle but he remembered the reason why he never helped him. It seemed that Todd’s uncle was evil even before he became a kidnapper. He tried to steal money from the company and that’s why he got laid off. Now my family has expanded and my best friend and I have gotten closer. We live a perfect life with the people that we love and cherish. What more could I ask for?