We headed there at and arrived to Athol, ID at 11:30am. It was a hot day so we knew we were all going to swim. We decided to take one bag with our towels and phones, and keep our swim suits under our clothes so we wouldn’t have to be changing in and out of clothes.
The whole day we were riding roller coasters, eating carnival food, and swimming. We decided to stay until the park closed so we could get our money’s worth.
When the park closed we all headed to the parking area laughing and tired, talking about our sun burns. When we got to the car I told Pedro, “Hey open up the trunk so I can put the backpack there.”
He responded “Alright chill, let me get my keys out.”
He put his hands in his pockets and searched his swimming trunks he yelled “Guys! I put the keys in my pockets and they’re not here anymore! Check the backpack dude, maybe I forgot and put them in there!”
We all searched the bag for like five minutes and took everything out and nothing was found. We were getting anxious because most the cars were gone by then, so we rushed to the parking staff to ask if they found keys to the Durango.
The parking staff called all of their connections to see if anyone found any keys and just our luck, no keys were found. Pedro stayed quiet as he thought of a plan. We were all annoyed. I finally asked him “Dude, so what’s the move or what?”
Pedro quietly said “Ugh. I’m so sorry guys I think I have to call my mom to bring the spare keys that’s the only thing I can think of.”
Aggravated Adelina said, “Uhm it’s 10:02pm what are we going to do for two hours and a half hours?”
With a bothered tone Pedro said “Well if you want to ride with me you’re going to wait if not then start walking.”
Adelina rolled her eyes and we all stood there quietly. Pedro called his mom and she seemed really mad. She said she would get to Silverwood around 1am. We all called our parents to tell them we would be home around 4am.
For about thirty minutes we all sat in the empty parking lot reminiscing how our day had gone. At about 10:45 an old white man with a security guard uniform came up to us with a flashlight and interrogated us on what we were doing there. We explained to him how we lost the keys and Pedro’s mom was on the way with spare keys.
He said “Usually I would be required to tow you, but you guys seem like honest kids. Come on in to the sit in the security office as you wait for your keys. Come to the van and I’ll drive us there, it’s a long walk.”
We all followed the security to a black, old Dodge van with tinted windows. He asked us who we were and about our day and made small talk. In the van he opened up a bottle of sprite and began chugging it. He had a small cooler with more sprites in it and gave us all a bottle, which was the perfect timing because we all felt dehydrated.
After about two minutes we all began to get extremely drowsy. It began hard to open my eyes so I passed out in the back seat.
When I opened my eyes I woke and looked around and saw myself in a hospital bed. My whole body felt sore. Doctors rushed in to check on me when they saw they heard I opened my eyes, my mother was there crying, happy to see me awake.
They asked me to move, talk, see, and checked all my senses. They were all glad to see I moved and all my senses were okay. I was so confused on everything I asked, “Where am I? What am I doing here? Why am I not in Silverwood?”
My mom began to cry and said “Baby you’re in Spokane right now. You’ve been unconscious for three days. Some man kidnapped you and your friends in the Silverwood parking lot. He was on his way to who knows where, his back tires popped on the highway and he hit another car! Luckily the cops found you and your friends’ drugged bodies in the back of the van!”
I started crying and told my mom, “I really don’t remember this! I’m so sorry! How’s everyone else?”
My mom dolefully said “No, you have nothing to be sorry about. Miguel, Daniela, Adelina, and Pedro all woke up already and are fine. They already woke up and at home.”
Happy to hear that I added, “And my best friend Quyen too right?”
My mom began to cry and said, “Baby she didn’t make it. She had an allergic reaction to the drugs and was already dead when they found your bodies. Her funeral is tomorrow, and I’m afraid you can’t make it, doctors want to watch you for at least two more days.”
Tears of sadness and anger went down my face. This man we don’t know had intentions to hurt us, and killed my best friend, and took my right to attend her funeral from me. Losing my best friend was hard on me I was in so much pain and I had no one to go to for that.
My other friends, who were there, had good shoulders for me but it wasn’t the same without my best friend. I had so much anger inside of me and trust issues.
It took about two months for me to physically feel normal, I had a bad reaction to the drugs. I couldn’t walk much because I would get extremely exhausted quickly. The hardest part still is visiting Quyen’s family and seeing them torn apart by this tragedy.
Months after the tragedy, the man was still on trial which sickened me because he obviously committed the crimes. He would deny that he put drugs in our drinks and that he tried kidnapping us, he claimed we asked for a ride while we were already on drugs. Being in and out of court just made me feel worst, seeing his face would just bring more anger every time.
The last time I went to visit Quyen’s grave at the cemetery I got a strange vibe. Although I was the only one at the cemetery, I felt as if I was being watched.
Usually I would sit there and talk to her grave for about an hour, but this time after five minutes of sitting there I felt endangered. As I looked around I saw no one, but I still didn’t feel alone.
After a while there my anxiety began building up so I got up ran to my car which was parked on the other side of the cemetery. I ran for about a minute until felt out of breath. The cold November air felt like fire burning my lungs with every breath I took. When I stopped to catch my breath as I looked towards my car I saw the same van that kidnapped me and my friends driving off fast.
Immediately after seeing the van I sprinted to my car to leave as soon as possible with tears down my face. I locked my doors right after getting on my car and sped home crying. I thought he was after me again.
  After driving for about two miles, I noticed an envelope on the windshield wipers. On the side of the highway I pulled over, got out, and opened the envelope. Inside was a one hundred dollar bill and a letter. The letter said, “I can never repay you back for what I did to y’all and I know that. I’m sorry. Don’t worry you won’t hear from me again.”
When I got home I showed my mom, confused about what was going on and still frightened. My mom was angered and said, “This man has no right to follow you. I’m going to give this to the lawyer next week when I go see him.”
As scared as I was, curiosity took over me so I messaged my friends on the card. They all told me they got the same card on their car and they were also confused.
The following morning I got a call from the lawyer, he told me how the man committed suicide the night before. At the scene where he commited suicide he left a note stating how he couldn’t live with the guilt of what he did to us anymore.
During the trial I wanted that man to pay for all the pain he caused everyone because I thought he deserved it. The fact that he wasn’t alive didn’t fix the wounds, or bring my friend back to life. Maybe I would be at peace more if he had served years and learned from his mistakes, than have him dead.
An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.