“Brian, you have to go man, it’s our last summer together. Come on.”
“I don’t know, dude. I have a lot of work to do to get ready for college. Plus my mom prolly won’t let me go anyway.”
“Just ask her. You never know.”
My name is Brian Stouck and my friends and I have just graduated from high school. My friend Kenny Lee had a great idea to go on a vacation before we never see each other again. I didn’t get accepted into the college I wanted so I just have to go to the community college for the time being. Two of my friends wanted me to join them on their “summer of a lifetime” as they have so eagerly named it.
“So where are we gonna go for this trip, Kenny?” I ask.
“Well, it has to be somewhere awesome!”
“How about Miami?” John says from the corner, almost falling over from leaning too far back in his chair.
“Miami would be pretty cool,” I agree.
“Then let’s do it! We just have to go somewhere before we all leave for college!” Kenny is now standing up he is so excited. “All right, John you ask your parents, I’ll ask mine, and Brian, just ask your mom, you never know, she might say yes.”
“Sounds cool to me,” John calmly agreed, like usual.
“Wait, how are we gonna get the money?” I ask running to the door. But it was too late they had already left.
Later that night when my mom came home I told her about the vacation and surprisingly she thought it would be a good idea for me to go along and get my mind off of college for a while. She even offered to pay for half of the costs. After my conversation with my mom, I went into my room to think about the trip. I plopped myself down on my bed and looked up at my ceiling that has glow in the dark stickers of stars and planets from when I was a little kid. It makes me sad to think about how fast it has all gone. Yesterday I was in the third grade throwing sand at girls and now I’m graduated from high school planning the rest of my life. As I reminisced about my past I drifted off into a coma like sleep.
The next morning my phone rang waking me up from my deep sleep. Sure enough it was Kenny, as excited as can be. He very quickly told me the plan for the vacation.
“We leave on Friday around 7 a.m. You owe me one hundred and forty dollars for the plane ticket and the Hotel we will be at is called the Buenas Dias. So start packing.”
I hang up the phone and was barely able to comprehend what Kenny just told me. Then it hit me, today is Wednesday and we leave on Friday! I jumped out of bed and started packing. Wednesday was devoted to packing, and double and triple checking to make sure that I have everything I need for the trip.
Friday came quicker than ever and Kenny came to pick me up around 6:30 am. We arrived at the Airport around 7:00am and walked in fumbling with our bags. A very nice lady pointed us in the right direction. It took us a while to get to our line for the plane, weaving in and out of all the people and finally we filed onto the plane.
Once on the plane we realized that we were surrounded by mainly older people and only a few of the younger generation. We found our seats, which were luckily near each other, and the plane soon took off. I was the only one to fall asleep on the plane. My friends and I found our luggage and headed off to rent a car. Kenny paid for the car and we all climbed into the green Chevy Impala that smelled of Old Spice and puke. It was just a short drive to the hotel that we had reservations for. I was the first one to the check in and the lady handed me the door key card. All three of us shared a room, so I called a bed as soon as possible and Kenny won the other one. We walked up to the second floor, found our room and situated our luggage.

“So what do you guys want to do for the rest of the day?” Kenny asks as he falls down onto the bed.
“I don’t know, wanna just walk around, and maybe hit the beach?” John suggested.
“Sure that sounds fine,” I answer.
We all changed into our swim suits and exited the hotel room for the beach. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon and as we were walking along the street, we heard someone screaming from a balcony just over our heads. I turned to look and when I did I saw a man dressed in all black holding another man by the shirt pushing him up against the ledge of the balcony. The man in all black reached into his pocket and pulled out a lustrous blade. The other man’s body sank to the floor. The man in all black snapped his head back and forth to see if anyone saw him, and dumb ole me was standing there wide eyed staring at the scene that I had just witnessed. Mr. Black Suit glared at the three of us standing there looking at him and his cold eyes pierced right through me. He pointed down to us and ran back into the apartment. I didn’t know what to do so I started to run. I didn’t even look back to see if the others were following me, I just kept running. I ran and ran with no destination in my head, just the thought of running for my life. I finally came to a stop to catch my breath near a restaurant. My friends caught up to me and the three of us were out of breath and scared to death.
“What should we do, Kenny?” I asked between breaths.
“Let’s go to the police.”
“No! We can’t do that. That man saw our faces. He will know who turned him in and he will hunt us down!” John pants, just now catching up to us.
“Well, what should we do then, John?”
“Let’s go back to the hotel room and stay there until we can think of something better.”
I led the way back to Buenas Dias and we entered the room, closed and locked the door, shut the blinds, and brainstormed ideas.
“Well, I think that the safest thing to do would be to just go home.”
“No. Brian, we just got here. We can’t leave already,” Kenny frowns.
“We can if we might get killed!”
As the three of us argued about the best thing to do, we noticed the sun coming up. The next morning with our situation still not solved we began to argue again. This time I made it clear that I just wanted to go home before that man found us. Kenny was less determined with the idea of staying this time and he agreed to pack up our stuff and head for home. I started packing up my things and so did the other two guys. We left the hotel and headed for the rental car.
The three of us slither through the parking lot making sure not to be seen by anyone let alone our newest enemy. Kenny climbs into the drivers side, John in the back and me in the passenger seat. The familiar smell of Old Spice and vomit funnels up my nostrils causing me to cough. The engine revs up and I immediately roll down the window. Kenny turns out of the parking lot and onto the highly clogged main road. Just as we complete the turn a black van is speeding straight at us out of the parking lot we had just left.
“Kenny! GO GO. Hurry up!”
“I can’t!”
Just as the van is about to smash into our poor little rental car I close my eyes hoping to wake up. I don’t.
The van tosses our car away like a dirty rag. The van had smashed right into the passenger side door. I couldn’t move, the pain was so anguishing. I tried to move my eyes to check on the other two and I couldn’t really see much it was really blurry. All I could make out was two men in black ski masks pulling Kenny out of the car and shoving him into the van. I heard my door yanked open and felt the strong grip on my arm pull me out of the car and onto the ground. He picked me up dragging my feet and legs along the shattered glass that lay on the street cutting me open. He then tossed me into the back of the van like a toy that a child is done playing with.
It’s dark, but I try to see who else is in here with me. I notice movement out of the corner. That was Kenny, I could tell because of the bright blonde hair. John was groaning out of the far corner, so we all were together a least. The van stops and the back door is thrown open, the light blinding me for a moment. We are all thrown into a room tied together with rope as men circle around us.
End Part 1