Meet Me at the Top

The bright, yellow sun rose over the mountains, casting a long, dark shadow into Lena’s room, turning her body golden and her mind into a hazy blur. She could hear the small children playing outside in the cul-de-sac and her little sister’s flawless face gleaming in the light. Why can’t my life be that undemanding, easy, and effortless, Lena thought to herself. The day’s events had put her in a careless mood. She didn’t feel like doing anything, but yet she did. Her stomach begged for food, but nothing sounded good. She would go talk to her parents, but they were the reason she was locked up in her boring room with nothing but a bad attitude. All her friends were out climbing various Mountains to get in shape for their final adventure, the hike up Mount Ceader. Mount Ceader is the tallest Mountain in North Dakota, and Lena and her friends had been preparing for the trek since they were ten years old. It was almost as if Lena, Zach, Rebecca, Hudson, and Peter were born with a seed of passion in their souls that had grown to be something close to an obsession. Just as Lena was about to leave the house this morning, her parents summoned her into the sunroom.

“Honey, can we talk with you about something.”
This was Lena’s mom’s was of sweet talking her way into a deep, unreasonable, smothering conversation with her. What now, Lena thought, what more could they want to talk to me about? Ever since Lena’s older sister committed suicide three years before, her parents had been on to her about everything. She had to keep a written log of her activities throughout the day, meet once a week with her parents to talk about her “feelings”, and her books from the library had to be approved, just to make sure she wasn’t reading about worldly things that could potentially depress her.

“Yes mommy dear.” Lena said as fake as she could.

“Lena don’t talk to you mother like that.” Her father said. “We are worried about you and the sport you have chosen to take on. We don’t think it’s safe for you to climb Mount Ceader.”

“Dad,” replied Lena, “You cannot tell me that. Not now, not after I have trained my whole life for that climb.”

“I’m sorry Lena, but it’s what we think is best. You could die out there, or someone could hurt you. Climbing that Mountain is dangerous and you are not allowed to go.”

The words from her dad hit her like a brick wall. She felt like her life had been a waste of time and there was nothing left to do now but cry. She stared into her parents eyes with fury.

“I hate you.” She said as she ran from the room.
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears as her father embraced her in his arms.

“Everything will be okay Margie. She will come around just like she always does,” said her father in a comforting tone.






***
“Great, just great.” The man’s car wouldn’t start and he needed to leave. He could hear the children coming up from the backyard and through the window he could see the parents were coming to retrieve their energetic daughter, Lizzie. Always outside, always in the way, the man thought to himself. Footsteps, they’re coming. He kicked the old, white, Camry one last time and turned the silver key. The car’s ignition rumbled then sped into motion. She’ll go, he thought, I can feel it.





***

“Lena, come downstairs, the Nelsons are here!” Her father yelled from below.
The Nelsons were the rich family from across the street. Mr. Nelson co-owns the largest business in town with Lena’s father, and the two couples often went on lots of getaways together.

“Coming,” She called.
She pounded down the steps with glee, her parents were leaving for the weekend and she was free of their wrath. She could have mint chocolate chip ice cream, stay up till 12:00 pm every night, and turn up her music as loud as she possibly could.

“Be safe, okay. The food schedule is on the pantry door, Sparky’s dog food is in the cubbies, and oh, don’t forget to fill out your activities chart. We will be back soon.”

“I got it mom! See you soon,” replied Lena.

“Hey Lena,” her dad said just as they were about to get in the car, promise me you won’t climb Mount Ceader, it’s this weekend right?”

“Dad, I would never. Trust me.”

“Okay, thank you sweetie. We appreciate how well you handled this situation. See you on Monday.”

The night was coming to an end and Lena and her sister had just finished up their chicken nuggets and fries. Lena laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, her dad’s words rang in her ears like a siren. How would they ever know if she climbed the mountain, she thought to herself. She would be back before they got home and she could drop her sister off at Jenny’s house for the weekend. As she contemplated the options, she heard a car pull into the neighborhood and park on the curb. It was 11:47; it wasn’t like any of her neighbors to be out this late. She silently crept over to the window and peeked through the curtain. She saw a small white car with an unfamiliar man inside. He wrote something on a notepad, and almost as if he sensed Lena’s presence, he turned his head and stared intently into her deep, blue eyes. Immediately Lena dropped to the ground, heart pounding, mind frantic, she reached up and closed the blinds, trying to forget the image that lingered in her head.

The next morning, Lena decided she was going to climb Mount Ceader. She called Rebecca and told her and the gang to wait up for her, and she would be there as soon as she dropped her sister off at her best friend’s house. Close to an hour later, she met her friends at the base of the Mountain. The wind blew ever so slightly, causing the tall, dry grass from where they were standing to wave in the wind. They stood in awe for what seemed like eternity before they started the hike up. The sun beams trickled over the ground and everything seemed to be perfect. What a wonderful life I have, thought Lena, as she glided through the dream of her life.







***

“Dude what’s with all the gear. You can’t climb the tallest Mountain in North Dakota without any previous practice. What are you planning to do, meet someone up there?”
Owen’s right hand man laughed as he talked to his manager. Owen Sanders was a chiseled, fit, brown haired man who moved to Valley Bay when he was 20 years of age to start a successful lawn mowing business. His daily routine involved stopping by the post office to send letters to his grandparents, getting his daily cup of coffee at Kendrick’s pet store, and greeting all the townsfolk along the way. He had taken up this sport of climbing so suddenly, that people were startled, but no one thought anything of it. Why should they?

“I saw it on TV man, thought I should try it out, and surprisingly it’s my passion. I’ll be back in a couple weeks; I am going down to Iowa to stay with my grandparents for a week after the climb. Hold down the fort while I’m gone, I’m counting on you!”

Owen slapped his friends back as he walked out the door. The mountain was in sight and he was prepared to tackle his newly found obsession.







***

“The top at last,” said Hudson as the gang slowly helped each other up. This is so surreal; I can’t believe we are actually here,” said Peter.
Lena could not fathom that she made it. Her guilt of disobeying her parents was washed over with a feeling of pride. Slowly the six of them separated to explore various parts of the Mountain. Lena ventured near and far, she stood on the edge and overlooked the beautiful town of Valley Bay. Just as the sun was getting ready to set, Lena heard a voice behind her.

“Come with me or I will kill you.” It said.
Lena’s body filled with dread and her heart beats began to accelerate. A large hand griped her shoulder and pushed her body till she was one movement away from plummeting to her death.

“Who are you?” Lena asked.

“That is none of your concern. If you want your life to be spared follow me silently down this mountain. I know where you live and if at any point you decide to leave my side, I will come for your family. That is when they get back of course.”

Lena stopped breathing. The car, the man, the way he looked at me, in that split second, everything made sense. She knew what she had to do.

“Okay, I’ll come.”

The seat of the car was sticky and smelled of dirty leather. The man’s voice was deep, and his breath was heavy. The ride was bumpy and Lena heard crow’s chirping and tires crunching branches. Giant hands picked her up, set her on a hard wood floor, and took off her blind fold. She looked around at once and realized she was in a cabin in the woods.

“What do you want from me?” Lena asked.

“It’s not you that I want something from, it’s your family’s money I want,” said the man.
“Now get over here and plead for your parents. Tell them the only way for you to be free is if they give me 100,000 dollars. That shouldn’t be too hard since your father is the C.E.O of Grand Central”

He set up a video camera in front of her, and she did as she was told. He was going to send the videos to her parents via email as a bribe to get what he desired. What an awful day it turned out to be.

A week had passed and still no sign of her parents, or anyone for that matter. Every night she got locked up in the basement to ensure her legs could carry her nowhere. She continued to make videos to her mom and dad begging for them to rescue her, each video the torture would get worse and her face became dry with tears. This had to stop, thought Lena.






***

“Jim!” Margie called from the hotel room.

“What Marge?” he replied.

“Come look at this.”

“Get in the car, we are going home now,” said Lena’s father, Jim.






***
Run, run, run, run, run, run, Lena repeated this in her mind till she could stand it no longer. Her body hurt all over and she felt faint. She saw a road in the distance and followed it till she was back in Valley Bay. She ran to her house, locked the door behind her, and sat against it. Knocking, she heard knocking. Terror filled her mind and she stood completely still. Could it be him, she thought. Could he have survived, she asked herself.

“Lizzie, it’s us, mom and dad, open the door now!”
Mom and dad, Lena whispered to herself. “MOM AND DAD”, she yelled. She thrusts open the door and fell into their arms.

“You’re alive.” Her mom said.

“Tell us what happened now!” yelled her father. “And where is your sister?”
Lena’s words could not escape her mouth fast enough. She told her parents everything that had happened, and that Lizzie was safe. Tears splashed the ground and her body and mind became feeble with exhaustion. She told them she loved them and would never do anything like this again. She told them how much she appreciated their standards and through this experience she learned to respect them. Her parents hugged her and a feeling of relief washed over them knowing that their beloved daughter was okay.

The next morning, the doorbell rang at 6:00 am. Lena was groggy from her lack of sleep that night. Dreams of the man, dreams of what she did haunted her, making it hard for her to fall asleep. Who would possibly ring the doorbell this early in the morning? Lena thought. Her father went to the door and was shocked at the sight.

“Can we come in Mr. Davidson?

“Sure,” her dad replied, is there a problem?”
We are police investigators, and your daughter has been charged with second degree murder of Owen Sanders.”