Chapter 21

"Samantha, you are grounded! How many times must I tell you to stay out of my things?! Look at my closet! Lord, help me with patience! This child of mine is going to steer me into the loony bin!"

Mom is livid! She throws her hands in the air in annoyance while sucking her teeth. She starts picking up her expensive clothes and shoes from the floor.

She looks at me, appalled when she bends over and sees I had been playing in her makeup also.

"Do you know how expensive...wait, why the hell am I picking this up?! Sharon!! Please clean this mess up!"

Sharon, the maid, walks into Mom's closet and starts picking up the mess I have made.

"I'm so disappointed in you, Sammy! And you ruined the dress that Hilary Clinton got you for your birthday!"

I look down at my new, white dress. Mommy is right! I got makeup on it.

"I am going to get Daddy and tell him what you just did to my things!" She turns and storms off, walking rather quickly.

I have a smile on my face as I begin to help Sharon clean the closet.

Daddy never punishes me. Mommy always threatens me with him, knowing he won't do anything.

"Samantha, come here," Sharon whispers, making sure Mommy can't hear her.

Sharon is the head maid in the house. She's extremely tall and fair skin. Besides Mommy and Grandma, Sharon is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

I get away with murder around here!

She always lets me play in Mommy's things, and when it's time for bed, she will always sneak a treat for me. I always find it under my pillow.

I think she does it because she doesn't like Mommy. All the maids don't.

I don't care because I love them all! And they love me!

Putting my arms up, Sharon picks me up.

"Sam, why did you make this mess?!" Sharon continues to whisper. I can tell she's upset with me.

"Why couldn't you wait until she left? We always play 'Princess.' We have our fun, but what is the most important rule about playing our games?"

I take her face in my hands, feeling bad. "We have to put everything back where it belongs." I trace her eyebrows with my pinky.

She sighs and nudges me on the nose. "All right, next time you wait for Nancy or me, okay? We don't like to see you get into trouble."

I smile, covering my mouth, so Sharon doesn't see it.

"You spoiled, little angel," Sharon says, smiling.

I nod, and she puts me down. She kisses the top of my head as she continues to clean the closet.

"Sammy, come here!" Mom shouts from the hallway. I walk out of the closet and head to her, with my head down.

She grabs my hand roughly and walks me to my room.

"You know I don't like doing this, but you have to learn! It's not nice to play with Mommy's thing, and Daddy always defends you! I don't want to raise someone that doesn't have any discipline. Grandpa and Grandma will surely hear about this! Go sit on your bed and think about what you've done!"

She opens the door to my room and ushers me in. I do as I'm told.

"You're acting like a baby, Samantha LouAna Hallowell! I don't understand you! You're a big girl now! You just turned five years old!"

As soon as the door slams and locks, I run to it. I put my ear on the door and smile. Mommy is heading downstairs. I can always tell by the sound her shoes make. The ones that make her real tall.

I turn and run to my bed. Between my mattresses lay Miss Flee. She is actually a butter knife with a purple bow glued onto her.

Nancy caught me once trying to break out of my room one day with the butter knife. She found it very funny that I was actually able to do so. She grabbed the knife and decided my new friend should wear something nice. I decided on a hair bow. It was one of my favorite things to wear.

Sharon named it Miss Flee. I didn't understand, at that time, the meaning, but I really liked the name.

All I have to do is pry the door open with Miss Flee and run to the basement. No one will look for me there!

Trying to pick the mattress up is always hard. I am small, so I have to push the mattress to the side to get to the knife. I reach for it and grab it.

The door has always been easy to open. I just have to place Miss Flee between the door and the latch.

Once it opens, I run and put Miss Flee back, fixing the bed. Every time I do this, I make sure to tell Grandpa before bedtime. He always laughs.

Grandpa is the one who actually showed me how to do this. He never likes it when Mom punishes me. They always argue about it.

Once I'm downstairs, I don't have to hide so much. I can hear Mom's laughter from anywhere in the house, so I know what rooms to avoid. All the maids and butlers always help me navigate away from her also.

I enter the kitchen and find no one there. The basement door is wide open, so I decide to head down there.

Mom is making the house bigger, so all the cool tools are kept down there. I want to go and search, so I turn on the lights and make my way down.

There are walls on both sides of the stairs. I find it weird that the yellow paint is falling off. I rip a piece off and place it in the pocket of my dress.

It's kind of scary looking, though. I live in a princess' palace, but the basement reminds me of a scary dungeon.

I shrug it off and continue down the stairs. When I make it down to the bottom step, I notice a maid. One I've never seen before.

She has a pile of black clothes in her hands, and she's standing in front of a big, scary fiery box. Opening it up, she throws everything into it and shuts the door.

I hear the fire crackle and pop!

I wonder whose clothes are on fire?

She turns, grabs a large, wooden box, walks down the hallway, and passes a ton of doors. I've never seen these doors before.

I continue to follow her as she makes a right into the last room down the hall.

Why does this seem familiar? There's another voice coming from that room.

A man.

I get close enough and peek through the slightly open door. The older man is putting gloves on while the maid opens the box.

"So what part does he need?"

The maid turns and grabs a paper. "It says the foot."

The man shakes his head. "All right!"

I hear a noise behind me and freeze! Mommy and Daddy won't like me playing down here. They call it being nosy.

Turning around, I don't see anyone.

I turn back to them, but the maid and the older man are suddenly gone!

I'm scared to move. I swallow and push the door open slowly. Where did they go? Maybe I should go upstairs. Mommy will be looking for me soon.

As I turn to leave, someone whispers my name.

"Samantha..."

I stop. "Yes? Is someone there?" I answer, turning back to the room. I walk back in and head for the table. The lights flicker, and I stop. My heart beings to beat fast as I continue to the table in the middle of the room. It looks like someone is lying on it. Sleeping. The person's body is covered with a black sheet.

I get closer to the table. The door to the room suddenly slams shut, and the lights flicker again!

I jump and hide underneath the table, wanting Mommy and Daddy! This isn't fun anymore!

Sneaking around the house, hiding from Mommy is always fun. Just not now.

"Samantha."

I hear the whisper again. This time it's coming from above me. Slowly crawling out from under the table, I get up.

I turn and look at the person lying on the table. It's a woman!

She is sleeping. Her skin is white as snow, her lips look blue, and her hair is the same color as mine.

Dark brown.

"Hello? Are you okay?" I whisper to her.

The woman doesn't move. I slowly reach up and touch her. She feels colder than ice cream.

"Hello?" I repeat. "Do you need help?"

Nothing.

Suddenly she jerks and opens her eyes! She moves her head slowly toward me.

I know who she is!

It's me!

"Run," she breathes.

I scream!

"Samantha!! Please, honey, wake up!!"

I jump up and cover my eyes. The sun is blinding. I shake my head and rub my eyes. A massive headache explodes in the front of my head as I try to figure out what happened.

I place my hand on my chest. My heart is going a mile a minute!

It was only a nightmare; I tell myself trying to calm down.

"Sammy! Baby?" A gentle voice cries next to me.

I still.

Wait! Mom?! I look up slowly.

Mom and Dad are standing next to me. They both look disheveled and worried.

"How did-"

"Oh, my baby!" Daddy grabs and hugs me tightly. I look towards Mom, who is running out of the room, screaming for a nurse.

I scan the entire room. A hospital room?

I look down at myself. I am lying on a bed in a hospital gown. Other than that, I feel fine.

"Daddy, where am I?" I ask in confusion. Where is Ryder? Is he hurt? Am I still in New Jersey?

He lets go of me, tears in his eyes. "You're at Cedars-Sinai Hospital." He grabs my head and kisses my forehead.

I look around. "When did I-"

"You were found last night! At a motel not far from here. Tied. Oh, honey!" Daddy starts sobbing.

How did I end up there?! What did he mean by tied up?!

"Who tied me up? Was I alone?" My head starts to hurt. Am I the only patient in the room?

"Yes! The police got an anonymous tip that you were there! Those scumbags that kidnapped you left you there to rot! Are you okay, honey?!"

I open my mouth, but words fail me. Wasn't I just at the amusement park in New Jersey? How did I end up back here?

"What's the date?" I look up at Daddy. He hands me a cup of water. I shake my head.

"October 2nd."

What?! Two days have gone by?!

Just then, Mom walks in with a doctor behind her. I look up at the clock above the door—8 pm. Ryder is probably hurt. What if he's here? I can't tell them about him. They would know something is up.

"Sammy, are you okay?" Mom starts to cry. "Did they hurt you? Tell me. Please!"

I look up at her and shake my head no as the doctor begins checking me. My eyes glaze over as she bends over and hugs me.

I wrap my arms around her. "No, I'm okay. I promise." I move my head away to look at her again, and I'm surprised. I have never seen her step out of the mansion without makeup.

I've forgotten how breathtakingly beautiful she is without the pounds of makeup she wears every day. I sigh as she wraps me in her arms again, telling the doctor to shoo!

Dad pulls out his phone. "I'm going to call detective Ramos now. Let him know she's awake."

Mom holds me tighter and nods.

The next day came, and I'm back at Hallo Mansion being interviewed. I don't know what's going on, but I don't feel like going to my home.

We are in the living room, and it feels like the detective keeps asking the same questions, just in different ways. I am looking out of the window with my arms crossed.

"Listen, I told you everything! I never saw their faces! They kept referring to themselves as numbers! I don't know anything else," I lie.

No way will I tell them that an animal kidnapped me. I turned around and fell in love with him.

"It's just that you were gone a long time, and you look great. Usually, when people are kidnapped, they end up dead or severely malnourished. That's not the case with you," the detective says suspiciously.

"What are you implying?!" Mom yells as she throws her arms around me. "That she staged this?! Seriously?! Do you know how much she's worth? She's never gotten into any trouble in her life!"

I can tell Ramos isn't buying any of what I'm selling. He sighs annoyingly as he scribbles something on his pad. I don't care, though! I'd rather die than tell him about Ryder and Freddie.

"No, of course not!" Ramos says, looking at Mom. "It's just that they let her go, and now that Maxwell is missing-"

"Hold on, what!?" I sit on the closest chair slowly as his words sink in.

Did I hear the detective correctly?

With everything that happened, I completely forgot about Max. I look at Dad in shock. He's standing next to the detective.

"Sweetie, we didn't want to say anything yet. You hadn't asked about him, so we just left it alone."

That piqued the detective's interest.

"You haven't bothered to ask where your fiancé is?" Detective Ramos asks as he takes a step toward me. He's very intrigued now.

"I don't understand! When?! Have you heard anything?!" I stand and walk towards the detective. I am so confused.

This should've been the first thing out of anyone's mouth after I woke up in the hospital!

The detective looks at my parents.

"Honey." Mom stands and comes towards me. "He disappeared about a week ago. He was with Mr. and Mrs. Crawford when a couple of men hit him over the head and threw him into a car. They had guns to his parents' heads. The kidnappers called the Crawfords the next day and asked for money. They were instructed not to involve the police. They tried to give them as much as they could."

Dad clears his throat and gestures for Mom not to say anything else.

"What? What is it?!" I ask, looking from Daddy to Mom.

"Honey," Mom begins with tears in her eyes. "They cut off one of Max's fingers and sent it to his parents."

"Oh my god!" I scream, putting my hands to my face.

He is the last person to deserve that!

I look at everyone, suddenly feeling nauseous. My parents look like they want to cry while Ramos looks at me skeptically.

I've had enough of this! I walk backward, turn, and run to my room. I need to be alone!

"I'm not done asking questions," Ramos yells after me!

"Yes, you are!" I hear Daddy yell back. "Any further questions will be answered by our attorney. Please, go! She's been through enough."