It was a hot, humid summer day. I was driving to my grandparents’ house about 2 hours away. I was not looking forward to the drive nor going there because I was already not having a good day. You know how you have those days where nothing goes right, at all! Well, this day was one of those days.

On my way to my grandparents, my ’92 Ford 150 truck got a flat tire in a small town, Bunkersville. I got out of the car to check my tire and saw that I ran over something in the road and it popped my tire. I looked around to see if there was anyone that could help me and I saw absolutely no one. After about thirty minutes of waiting, an old man in his sixties drove by in a beat up Volkswagen. The man had grey hair and a long matted beard, which looked like he hadn’t taken care of it in years. I asked him if he could help me with my flat tire or if he knew of a place to go get a new tire from, but of course, the old man knew nothing. At this point, I was hot, sweaty, sticky, frustrated, and hungry. I asked the old man if he knew where the closest place was to get something to eat. He told me there was a place about 2 miles down the road called Moe’s Diner and he would give me a ride if I wanted. I hopped in his Volkswagen and in about 5 minutes we were at the diner.

From the outside, Moe’s diner looked like a nice place, but I was completely wrong. As I walked into the diner, instantly, I was in disgust. The floors were covered in dirt and looked like there was about a years worth of it on them. The wallpaper on the walls was peeling off and turning brown in color from age. The smell was a whole other story. It was a musty smell that made my nose cringe. It smelt of rotten food and the worst body odor I’ve ever smelt.

I sat down and ordered a hamburger hoping that it would be some-what decent. Before I even got my food, there was a big commotion going on in the kitchen. There were loud bangs that sounded like dishes hitting the walls and floors. I also heard people yelling at the top of their lungs, but could not make out what they were saying. All the workers out in the dining room rushed to the back to see what was going on. I got up to go look until I heard what sounded like a gun shot. I stopped right in my tracks. I went to turn around and run out the front door, but there was a man blocking my way. It was the old man that took me to the diner.

He looked at me and told me that I wasn’t going anywhere. He explained to me that I was a witness and there was no way that I was leaving. He grabbed me by the arm and started to the back. I went through the kitchen door and saw a person laying on the floor and two men standing up with guns in their hands. One man had a cook by the shirt against the wall. The old man spoke to one of the men in a different language. He started towards me and hit me with his gun.

I don’t remember anything until I woke up in the back of a car at some random house. This was no random house. This was a big house with workers everywhere out in the middle of nowhere. I saw the beat up Volkswagen and I saw another man standing on the steps. I sat and two other men proceeded to come out and get me out of the car. They snatched me out with my hands tied behind my back and put a cover over my head. They walked me somewhere in the house and when they took the hood off, I realized I was in a small room somewhere. The old man came in about two hours later. He looked at me and asked me if I knew what had happened. I looked at him with disgust on my face and said nothing. I kept to myself the entire time he was talking. He knew he couldn’t break me after thirty minutes of drilling me with questions. He left and I crawled up to the door to listen to what was going on outside the door. I could here the old man and another man speaking to each other, but couldn’t understand a thing they were saying because they were speaking in a foreign language.

After sitting in the room for a few hours, I didn’t know what time it was and what was going to happen to me. I started thinking to myself what if this man decides to kill me for doing nothing. I knew I wasn’t going to say anything to anyone, but I don’t believe he felt the same. He didn’t want me getting free and telling the authorities on him, but I couldn’t even do that. I didn’t know him nor did I know where I was. All I knew is what kind of car he had.

A few more hours passed and I decided to venture into the closet in the room. I heard someone come to the door and unlock it, so I ran straight back to the corner. The man left me with some food and drink and locked the door back up. I ate some of the food and I went back into the closet. There was an escape out the top of the closet, but it only went to the attic. I climbed through to the attic and closed the hatch behind me. I searched the attic and found a small window. I pondered for a few minutes if I should attempt to break out or not, and I came to the conclusion that I needed to escape.

I put these boxes I found on the hatch door so no one could lift it again and went over to the window. I opened the window to see outside and stared off in the distance. There was a big open field with a forest about a half a mile away. I grew the guts to jump out the window and started running. I got half way before I heard anything from the house. I started running faster and harder until I reached the forest. I knew once I got there I could lose whoever was behind me. I only had a few more yards to go when gun fire started zooming by me, but once I got into the forest I ran as hard as I ever had in my life. I was breathing hard and my side was killing me. Branches were hitting every part of my body. I finally turned around to see if they were still coming and sure enough, they were. I saw a road up ahead of me and picked up the pace.

Once I got to the road, I saw a car coming and I flagged it down. I was dirty, beaten, sore, and had torn up clothes. The car stopped for me and asked if I needed a ride. I said yes and got in the car. I looked back to see where the guys were and I saw that they had retreated after seeing me get into the car. I sighed with relief. I gave the guy directions to get back to my house and said nothing to the man. I kept to myself the entire time in the car. The man kept looking at me and staring at my clothes and face. He arrived at my house in no time. I said thank you and went inside. I changed my clothes and washed my body off. I was finally home and safe. Maybe going to my grandparents wasn’t a good idea after all.