Blinded
- Alternate Ending –

Michael, a 34 year old Chicago man with a high rise job, beautiful family and a gorgeous home the size of the Empire State Building could drive his life into the ground due to sharing a romantic evening, a glass of red wine and some live entertainment with a beautiful New York woman. He takes a business trip to New York and ends up spending the majority of it alone, until he ends up meeting a beautiful New York stranger with silken blonde hair, bold, green eyes, fancy clothes and a life that could lead Michael into a large amount of mess. Is this the trip that will allow him to go back to his ideal collage days or the trip that will end his perfect life?

“Mind if I join you?” were the words from a beautiful stranger that signaled the beginning of Michael’s end.



After a delightful evening with Jasmine and a belly full of booze, it became certain that this night was going to turn around real quick. Around midnight, you’re ready to leave with a bladder full of booze and then all of a sudden these too large, solid men come in and swipe your date, Jasmine, off her feet and take her away without any question, right in front of you. She tells you to stay here and wait for her reappearance and that she will only be one quick minute. You start to wonder where they’re taking her, if she really is coming back and if Jasmine is going to be alright.

After about two hours of waiting around, drinking way too many Long Island iced teas for your own good and the same lousy entertainment that keeps playing, that everybody couldn’t be bothered listening to. At that moment you realize Jasmine forgot her little black purse and the odds of her returning to your “date” are slim. You decide to go outside and look down the street to see if she’s wandering back. After looking around for a couple minutes you are just fed up and want to go back to the hotel room to dream about what this date could have led to. As you call for a cab, something sharp jabs into your back and before you can turn around a voice says, “Get in the car.” For a moment you don’t see it but then, down the street half a block, a black town car is waiting. Orange brake lights glow. You jerk your head to try to get a look at what is jabbing into you back, but the metal object presses hard against your spine. This has got to be a joke. The best Kodak camera moment ever. The voice tells you to get in the car. You sit in the car and watch the action of the gun in the man’s hand. “This isn’t for show,” he says. Now you’re in the moment, a big, solid man has a revolver pointed right down your throat and you’re in a car with tinted windows and now locked inside it, so you consider cooperating. “Where is she?” the man asks. He grabs the purse from your hand and the car accelerates down the street and the motion makes you feel a little queasy. “Who’d she leave with?” You probably know better than I do. The gun is now pointed right between your eyes, so you start to feel a little intimidated; you say in a threatened voice,
“I have no idea, two guys.”
“What did she tell you?”
“She knew them. Or at least one of them. Some guy named Clark. Said she was going to go outside and talk for a few minutes.”
“When was that?”
“What’s this all about?” you ask.
“When did she leave?”
“I don’t know. Half hour ago.”
For being at gun point you’re doing pretty good to not freak out, you ask bravely,
“What do you want from me?”
The Asian man looks at you with a cold and humourless expression.
“Just answer my questions and you may get out of this alive!”
“How do you know J?” questions the Asian man
“I just met her tonight.”




































The guy puts the gun down in his lap and starts to rummage through Jasmine’s purse. You are looking at him, at his expressions and wondering if he has found what he wants, but then you remember having her license with her address on it stuffed away in your pocket.
The car is picking up speed and the buildings are starting to fly by and disappear, you start to wonder where they are taking you. The man asks you one more time,
“Do you know any other information on J, if you do then now would be a good time to tell?”
You try to think but nothing is coming to you, then all of a sudden the car comes to an immediate halt. You look around; try to see if the doors have been unlocked but as you’re going to open the door the Asian man pushes you out with a powerful force.
You hit the cold, wet pavement hard, you think you cut yourself and there is blood pumping from your knee. You try to get up but you’re full of bruises, scraps and cuts. You then point your attention towards the car that is ripping away from you, and then there are gun shots being fired. Luckily you’re not hit and then you try to get a cab.

Finally you whistle down a cab, you slip your bruised body along the firm, patent leather. You think how you got yourself into this mess, how a once in a life time date, with a beautiful woman went down the dumps. All you want to do right now is just go back to the hotel and look forward to the plane ride home the next morning. Then you start to have second thoughts, you can’t leave Jasmine out there in the streets with some strangers, what if she gets hurt? Would they contact my family? Could they find out about my secret date? You can’t let this happen, you have to find her and figure out the truth about this beautiful stranger Jasmine, or whatever her name is. You have to find her and figure this out! You decide to ask the cab driver to take you to the address on the driver’s license to see if she decided to go back home.

By the time you get to Jasmine’s residence, you are all worn out. You walk in the front door and are greeted by the loyal doorman. When you are just about to get to room 345, Jasmine’s penthouse, your voicemail starts to beep. You pick it up and check your messages. You listen and hear the erratic voice of Jasmine asking for help, she says she doesn’t know where she is but she thinks on some street downtown. You drop your phone and start hustling down the street. Your heart is pumping, your palms are sweaty and your chest feels tight. You don’t know where this place is or what to expect when you get there.

You are tired, injured and just worn out mentally and physically, so you decide to chase down a cab. All you want to do is just close your eyes and rest. You decide you’re going to just close your eyes for a second. You seemed to have dozed off and when you awake your find yourself tied up and hanging next to Jasmine in what looks to be the cold, musty basement of a local dance club. You start to feel a little woozy; you look over at Jasmine and she didn’t look to good either. You try and struggle to get the ropes loose and then you hear moaning from Jasmine; she appeared to be waking up. You finally get your hands lose, and try to get down safely but you feel fear that one of the men might be coming back. You get down as quiet as possible and then help Jasmine, you begin to lift and carry her out. All of a sudden in the corner of your eye you see a clown like character on a motorcycle with two hand machine guns try to attack you. You run as fast as possible with Jasmine lying in your arms, you look into her eyes and begin to see Lisa. You know that the right thing to do right now is to save Jasmine, take out the bad guys and get back to your beautiful wife and family.

You walk down Wall Street and are surrounding by tall, lit buildings. The glow provides a halo around your head and over Jasmine which emphasizes her beauty. The guys with the machine guns are right behind you and gaining speed fast. Unexpectedly your friend DJ Danny revs up to the curb beside you with his hip, speedy sports car. You ask him to take you and Jasmine back to your hotel. You load Jasmine into the car and get in the passenger’s seat. The clowns on their motorcycles with guns have just turned the corner, you wonder if this is the chance to end it, take out these men like bowling pins with the fast, fired up car or let them finally take us out and kill us so that I would never see my wife and kids again. You look at the wheel, look back at Jasmine and then you wonder if you’re about to make the right decision … you turn to the wheel with determination lurking in your eyes, you grab the steering wheel and drive the car right into the path of the malicious kidnappers. It all becomes a blur right before your eyes; the car starts rolling, your head is pounding and within all the action you pull yourself and Jasmine out of the flaming vehicle. You’re standing in the middle of the street with shock and pride.

The nightmare is over; you can move on with your life and put a smile back on your face. You think to yourself how could you get into this mess? How could you have the urge to kill those men? What has happened to you? You are on the plane ride back and decide to tell your wife when you get home that the trip went good and try to forget the past and head for the future. Who knows maybe this was a life – lived lesson, who knows what will happen next trip?