My parents were driving me crazy and I was grounded. I was supposed to meet Jeff at the park at 7:00 he had said he wanted to tell me something. My heart was beating. I put my tennis on and made sure my door was locked. My parents were still asleep and wouldn’t get up till later, but once they got up we would all be going on our weekly grocery trip. I had to make sure I took precautions. I opened my window and climbed out grabbing, for the branch of the oak tree that grew close to my bedroom window. I made my way down the tree looking around to make sure I wasn’t going to be spotted by any of our neighbors because they would tell my parents as soon as they saw me. The morning air was cool on my bare shoulders and I wished that I had brought my sweatshirt. The sun was beginning to rise and there was a light fog that covered the dewy morning grass. I jumped over my back yard fence and went on my way to the park. I slightly jogged because of all of my excitement. I thought of Jeff’s smooth muscles and his beautifully formed body, his rusty blond hair and don’t get me started on how he shakes his head when he talks. The sun makes his hair shine like the sun on the ocean in the middle of the day. Finally the deepness of his voice when he talks to you and the way he pretends to be shy. I mean he is like a god at our school and every girl wants to talk to him but he chose to talk to me. Granted he is like 18 but still being 16 isn’t that far apart is it? Jeff is a good, guy he doesn’t do drugs he’s not a known rapist, and it’s not like he has a murder record. Luckily he’s not the murderer I thought he could possibly be or else he would have been able to catch me in his web easily. I began to see the park in my view the white bench that sat close to the path and the trees that sat behind it. I knew this place well maybe a little to well. I used to come on walks with my mom when I was little and then as I grew I began to take my morning walks here alone. I approached the bench, but once I arrived Jeff wasn’t in sight. I took a seat on the bench and crossed my legs. I had been absolutely sure this is where he had asked me to meet him. I waited another short minute before I thought I saw someone’s silhouette and I was sure that it was his. He began to come closer and I could see his hard muscles under his tight black Adidas shirt. I smiled as he walked close enough so that I could see his beautiful hazel eyes. At that point the sun was at the perfect point in the sky and outlined him making him look like a god. I stayed sitting but then stood so I could be even closer to him and even closer to his perfect face. As I stood I mumbled his name under my breath. It felt so good to say it. “Hey Jeff,” but man, saying it out loud felt like heaven. I gave a smile as I waited to see what he had wanted to ask me.

“Oh hey Katrina, I thought I had beaten you here.” I gave a shy smile and turned my head from him

“No, I guess not, I guess I beat you here.” I took in a deep breath “I kind of had to sneak out a little early.”

“Oh, I see, do you uh want to go on a walk?”

“Sure.”
“Soo, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out some time.” He asked shyly. I hadn’t had a clue that he was so shy. He had seemed like the loud out-going type, but looks can be deceiving.
“Yeah I’d love to”

“Well do you want to meet at the same place tonight and we can go to a movie and dinner?”

“Yeah but could we meet at 10:30 ‘cause my parents usually go to bed at 10:00?”

“Sure that would be fine actually, that would work best for me.” I smiled shyly, I couldn’t believe I was going to go out with Jeff. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. It was getting late and my parents were probably getting ready to get up and start the morning. I had to go but I couldn't stand to leave him. Finally I said
“Uh, hey Jeff I need to be getting back home or I'm going to get caught and not be able to go out tonight.”
“Ok, I’ll see you later” he waved to me and I waved back. Then I began to dash away in excitement. I turned around to wave again but he was gone just like that “snaps” As swift as a fox escaping from human eyes. I found myself wondering where he could have gotten off to in such a hurry and escaped to so quickly. But deep down I really didn’t care. I had to hurry and get home so I could decide what to wear. As I was climbing through my window I heard a knock at my door.
“Katrina are you there?” it was my mom. Thank good; I had gotten home just in time.
“Yeah I’m here I was just half asleep.” I said doing my fake, "I have been asleep, you just woke me up and I’m still tired" voice. My mom took the bait. She was the easiest to trick and I didn't have to work hard to trick her. But my dad, it was a different story with him, I had to try a lot harder.
“Ok well breakfast is ready if you’re hungry”
“Thanks mom” I said fooling her once again. I rushed to my closet in a hurry to find the dress I thought would be perfect for tonight. The dress I had in mind was a black velvety dress that brushed my knees. I had decided that I could wear that dress with the silver bracelet I had gotten from my grandmother. The bracelet had originally been my great-grand mothers. As shoes go I hadn’t had a clue I had a few really dressy shoes and some not so dressy. I decided to wear a pair of black 1 ½ inch heals that strapped at my ankles. They went perfectly and didn’t make the dress seem too dressy. The day passed quickly and just as I had suspected my parents went to bed at approximately 10:00. I hopped out of bed and grabbed my heels. I wasn’t going to put them on until I got down to the ground. Once I was on my way I knew Jeff would beat me because I couldn’t really run in heels, but as I approached the bench and it came into focus there was no one there. I waited and waited for what felt like hours. Just as I was getting ready to leave because I had decided that this was probably all just a hoax and he really wasn’t going to show up, a strong hand pushed me down back on the bench and put a hand on my mouth. My heart started to pound fast and I felt something next to my throat.
It was cool and felt like metal and it was pressing up against my neck. It hurt and I wanted to scream in pain. I was scared and didn’t know what was going to happen. Oh dear God I wished I had stayed home I thought. I knew this had been a bad idea from the start.
“Now, I’m going to bring you with me and you’re going to come without making a large ruckus do you understand?” A mans voice said as he made me stand up. I was trying to think back to all the visits that we got from the school counselor about what to do when a stranger has you. It wasn’t clicking in and I was about to give up until it clicked. You were supposed to kick, scream, yell, do whatever it took to catch attention. I nodded, then at that moment I bit his arm and threw my foot back so I could hit him somewhere, anywhere that might hurt, but he didn’t budge. He didn’t yell, he didn’t wither in pain, he just stood there holding me. His grip grew tighter and the silence that grew was excruciating. Then the most disturbing thing came from his mouth-he laughed.
“Hey, you think that hurt coming from a wee little b**** like you? You weakling, you’re lucky your little episode didn’t end up killing you. Do you remember or have you forgotten that I have a knife and you have nothing? That was a very stupid thing to do on your part. You’re seriously lucky I don’t just cut your throat right now.” I wanted to try again but I was scared out of my mind. He was right, I had forgotten he could cut my throat at any time. At that time I meant to do whatever he asked of me to do next. I became his prisoner. I looked out toward the moon as if to tell every one I loved good-bye but at that moment I saw a shadow in the distance. It was coming closer and closer. Before I knew it I was being pulled back and I heard his voice.
“Katrina is that you?” I tried to nod, I wanted to say yes, please go save yourself and get help I’ll be fine. But I couldn’t and when I did gather my voice to say yes it came out sounding strange beacuse of the large hand I had covering my mouth.
“Who are you?” Jeff asked.
“Who wants to know, and why the hell do you care?” asked the man behind me.

“Well, I’m Jeff and I’d like it if you would let go of Katrina.” The thug pulled me back a step, the knife still at my throat, before he answered Jeff.
“Back off and go away or else she’s as good as dead.”
“I’m not going any where.” Jeff said

He took a step closer; I felt the sharp blade press closer to my neck. I winced. Jeff looked at me. I couldn’t tell if he was pained or not but he began to turn around. Whether it was my face that made him turn around I feared would never know. I wanted to tell him to stay but also I wanted him to run.

“That’s a good boy, now don’t tell of anything you’ve seen here, okay?” Then before I knew it I was jolted forward as Jeff kicked the thug in the side. I felt a slight pain on my neck and was thrown to the ground. The next thing I knew Jeff was lying next to me. I heard a whisper of his voice.
“I’m sorry.” he whispered and that was the last thing Jeff said but I could hear his heavy breathing as I saw the other man become a shadow in the night. My eyelids began to feel heavy. What was the problem with a nap? Everything would be fine, this was just a nightmare I knew it.

“Two teenagers found dead this morning in Evergreen Park. We arrived on the scene early this morning to find the two with cut wounds to the neck. We believe these two teenagers are Katrina Bell and Jeff Marice. Their parents have been contacted and detectives are still searching for the criminal that could have possibly done this evil act. If you have any information that could help, please contact our hotline. This is Diana Rover from news at 8, thanks for joining us.”