I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I knew that I had to. I gave myself a little pep talk, then decided it was time to get it over with. What I saw surprised me.

The room was nothing like I expected it to be. It seemed like it belonged in a royal palace instead of a cabin in Colorado.

From where I was laying on my queen bed, there was a walk-in closet to the right of me full of clothes; in front of me was an archway that led to a sitting room equipped with a red couch and two recliner chairs all facing a flat screen TV mounted on the wall above a fireplace; and to the left of the fireplace was a door that led to the bathroom.

Occupying the walls of the sitting room were bookshelves that went up to the ceiling. The majority of them were filled with books and the rest held board games and movies. I guess people get bored around here a lot.

I took a shower and dressed myself in skinny jeans and a plain light blue t-shirt with a grey cardigan over top. I was just tying some Converse on my feet when I heard a knock at the door, standing on the other side of it was Collin.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Fine, I guess, but I’ve got a headache.”

“Top drawer on the right in the bathroom has some Advil,” he said as he entered my room. I went to take some and as I walked back into the sitting room he asked, “Are you ready for today?”

“What’s today?”

“Today, we get to meet with Alec again and then you get to start your training. Hopefully you catch on quick in there so that we can get you and a few others out trying to defeat…”

“Defeat who?”

“That’s not for me to share.”

“You know, Alec said yesterday that you were going to tell me what was going on and why I was brought here.”

“Well, after you passed out yesterday, Alec decided it he should be the one to explain it all. So, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

He led me down a couple of hallways until we stood outside the same door as we did yesterday. Collin knocked twice and then just let himself in.

Alec was waiting for us on the other side and standing next to him was the girl that was going to show me to my

room when I passed out.

“Good morning, Erin. We missed you at the feast last night; did you get enough rest?”

“I think so, but why did I pass out? I’ve never done that before and I’m perfectly healthy.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, avoiding my question, “I bet you’re ready to find out why we brought you here. You see, I was going to have Collin tell you about it but I think it would be better if it came from me. That way I can answer any questions you have and Collin and Mackenzie Taylor can fill in any missing pieces.

“You see, everyone in this room has some sort of magical power to them. Collin can see people’s auras and can heal them with one touch. And he can heal both mental and physical pain.

“Now, Mackenzie Taylor can manipulate and read people’s brains. She’s the reason you passed out yesterday when she came to take you to your room.”

“And what do your powers consist of?”

“That is none of your concern. Now, you have the greatest gift of all. You see, everyone here just has a power that’s like Mackenzie Taylor and Collin; they can only do one thing to one part of someone, like a brain or healing an injury.

But, you can manipulate all four elements and make them do your bidding. Everyone can manipulate a person; you can control nature. And that is why you are so special. You are so much more powerful than the other people here and that’s why we had to get you before the others do.”

“What do you mean by “others’?”

“We’re not the only people out there. There are those who like to use their gifts to seek revenge on those who they believe have wronged them in anyway. But, their biggest plot is to eventually take over the world. Mainly so the people who have hurt them in the past will see them rise up above them, and will then feel the pain that they inflicted upon them.”

He paused for a moment and then continued.

“And that’s where we come in. We’ve been hunting them down for years, trying to stop them from executing their plan. We are weeks away from them making one of their biggest moves yet. And we want you to train so that we can send you out with Collin, Mackenzie Taylor, and Andrew, whom you will meet today. You four will try to stop them before they reach the end of their plan. Now, that’s all I can tell you for now. Collin and Mackenzie Taylor will take you to the training room so you can start practicing.”

Then with that, Collin and Mackenzie Taylor, whom I forgot were still in the room with us, started for the door. Mackenzie Taylor walked out and Collin waited for me to follow, then we made our way to the training room.

The post Ordinary Doing the Extraordinary-Part Four appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Well, you know what? Life isn’t always about taking things for granted. If I used powers willy-nilly then I wouldn’t appreciate them as much as I did that day.

Collin drove us to a remote camp in Colorado. It was in the middle of nowhere; just trees and mountains surrounding it with a lake on the far west side. There was one main building in the center, which was bigger than the others, and surrounding it were other cabins, just four in all.

It didn’t seem like much at the time, but after I was there for a few days it was everything you could want in a place.

Collin led us into the main building. He must be popular around here because everyone kept calling out to him as we were walking.

The main building, I guess, is called The Union. Why they call it that I’m not entirely sure. I decided it might be best to not question why things were the way they were.

The Union greets every of its visitors with a spectacular foyer. From the outside, it doesn’t look like it would be as tall as it was, but really, you could fit a giant in there and it could still have room to jumping jacks. The foyer was lined with hallways that led to many different rooms, and some of those might have more hidden surprises.

This whole building is like Hogwarts, big and always changing.

We stopped outside a door, I think it’s on the third floor but I can’t remember. Collin knocked and entered without waiting for an answer.

“Sir, she’s here,” Collin said as the man sitting in the chair behind the desk turned around, giving a Godfather effect to the situation.

“Good work, Collin,” he said, “You may leave the two of us alone now.” Collin left and after the door closed the man continued, “I bet you are wondering what you are doing here.”

He got up and went to lean on the front of the desk. I was able to get a better view of him after he did this and he wasn’t as old as I thought he would be. He looked to be about in his late thirties with a lean build to him. He was dressed in kakis with a navy-blue sweater over a colorful plaid button down; it was very sophisticated.

“Yeah, Collin wasn’t too chatty on the way here,” I replied.

“He’s not supposed to tell you. It’s part of his job. We’ve been watching you for quite some time now, Erin. You have some extraordinary talent.”

“Well, I don’t really think it’s extraordinary, but thank you, I guess. But, if you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

“Oh, sorry, my name is Alec Johnson and I’ve been running this camp for about ten years now. So, you’re in capable hands.”

“What made you start this?”

“I’m just like you, Erin. And like you, I’ve also been an outsider. Society didn’t accept me because I was a little different.

“So, after I graduated college, I decided to start this camp, . I knew there were others out there like me and I didn’t want them to suffer the same way I did. I found Collin first and he’s been with me ever since.”

“What do you mean by what you said earlier? That you’ve been watching me for a while?”

“You were a tricky one to track down. Usually it’s not difficult for Collin and the rest to bring them in. But I got to hand it to you, it was very difficult to find you. And once we did find you, we wanted to make sure it was the right person.”

“Why was it so difficult to find me?”

“There are other people out there that are hunting you, too. Some have already gotten to you and they did something to erase you from our tracking systems.”

“Why are there people hunting me?”

“Your power is ten times stronger than the others. You’ll see that when you start your training. But, you’re different and you’re valuable. Everyone wants you on their side.”

“What do you mean by side? And what exactly is going on? Why do I need to be here?”

“Collin will fill you in on the details tomorrow. Right now, you should get some rest. Dinner will be starting in about an hour and there will be a celebration tonight in your honor. Mackenzie Taylor will show you to your room.”

A girl about my age entered the room. I didn’t see much of her before everything went dark.

The post Ordinary Doing the Extraordinary-Part Three appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I was sitting in the park on one of the giant hills the town has trying to read my book, when I was approached by a stranger.

He was tall and muscular. Not like Hulk muscular, no, he wasn’t like that. You couldn’t see his veins. It was a kind of muscular that was nice to look at. Especially in the arms.

But, that’s not the point. The point is, he was walking towards me. Me. Of all people. Usually I get to see the backs of people, not the fronts.

I sat there casually reading my book, pretending not to notice him because that is what I do in awkward situations, when he said, “Are you Kyra?”

“Depends on who’s asking.”

He chuckled, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Now that’s just creepy.”

“I’m going to need you to come with me.”

“Now, why would I do that?”

“I know about your powers.” My head snapped up from my book. He was staring intently at me. His green eyes were hard to look away from. It gave the appearance that there was something more going on than his face was saying.

“There are others like you, Kyra. You’re not alone in this.”

“I have powers?”

“Don’t play dumb, Kyra.”

“So, if you’re telling me that I’m special and can do anything I want to, you should be a counselor. They’re great at trying to get me to believe in myself.”

“I’m not trying to get you to believe anything. It’s inside you. You can’t ignore it.”

“You know, that’s exactly what the counselor says.”

“Look, I can’t leave until you agree to come with me.”

“Oh, so I’m just supposed to go with someone I don’t even know just because

he told me I’m special? Haven’t you ever heard of ‘stranger danger’?”

“My name is Collin. I’m a junior at the University of Utah. I work for the place that wants to protect you and I’ve been

there for three years trying to make sure people like you are safe.”

“People like me? You think you can just label us like freaks? What are you going to do? Put us in cages and let people stare at us while we use our powers?”

“I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Oh really? I find that hard to believe.”

“Will you just come with me? They can explain it better at headquarters.”

“You know, I don’t think so. I’ve got to be to work in twenty minutes.” And with that I got up and left. He didn’t even try to follow. I wish I would’ve known that was not the last time I was going to see him.

****

Usually, work isn’t that bad. The job itself is horrible, since, you know, it’s my high school job. But the people aren’t that bad; even though they are all high schoolers and they think they’re life is so complicated right now.

All night I got to hear about their problems when all I could think about was that Collin guy. I didn’t believe anything the guy said, but what if it was true? What if there were other people out there like me?

I didn’t fit in anywhere. I had no friends throughout high school and I didn’t make even one during my first year of college.

Maybe his offer doesn’t seem so bad.

I didn’t know anything about it. Would I be able to see my parents yet? Can I continue with my schooling? Or do I have to restart my life?

Well, he was gone and hopefully never coming back, so why did I feel like I was missing out on something?

My curiosity didn’t have to last long. The next day I was sitting in one of the parks reading my book, again. But this time it was a different park and a different book.

I looked up and there he was. Walking toward me.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to take you with me.”

“Persuade me, then maybe I will come with you.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Do you want to continue hiding who you truly are? Or do you want to make a difference?”

“I just want to be normal.”

“And you can be. All you have to do is come with me.” His hand was outstretched, waiting to see what I’ll do.  And you know what, I took it.

Life has to start somewhere, right?

The post Ordinary Doing the Extraordinary- Part Two appeared first on KRUI Radio.

You must have the right skill set in order to excel in a certain area. And for some, you just need to have the right name. In the small town I’m from this is the case. All in order to be someone you need to be excellent in a sport and you can get everything and get away with anything.

It doesn’t matter if you’re the smartest kid in your class, since you don’t play a sport you’re overshadowed and the kid that does play one gets the title of the smartest. The only thing you had going for you is gone.

You can be active in your community as well as the surrounding communities but that doesn’t matter to people because you don’t have the right last name.

Let’s say you work thirty hours a week at your part-time job and are on high honor roll every semester. You aren’t considered hard-working because you don’t play a sport for one season on top of all that.

Just face it, if you are ordinary, you don’t get anything in life. People don’t remember you or care about what you do with your life. You’re just there one day, doing the best that you can do, and then you’re gone the next, forgotten like a piece of cheese at the back of your refrigerator.

But, let me tell you something, just because you’re ordinary doesn’t mean you can’t be extraordinary. You just have to work harder to achieve it.

Those sports kids from high school are struggling to make it. They don’t have the teachers to hold their hands and give them answers to the problems. They don’t have their group of friends to catch them if they fall. And they don’t have a town that absolutely loves them.

No, they are brought down to your level. They actually have to work for something for once in their life.

You may not want to read my story. You know, just because I’m an ordinary person. I don’t really do anything with my life.

I don’t play a sport. I’m not in any clubs. I don’t have any interests besides books. I don’t do anything besides work

and school. My own friends don’t like to hang out with me.

My life is boring. So, I’m warning you now, just stop reading.

Do it.

Stop.

You’re still there, aren’t you? Well, I guess if you’re going to stick around you might as well get comfortable. This is going to be one long and boring story.

It was summer. The one after my freshman year of college.

All of my classmates that I graduated with are back, and all they do is party. Every weekend. With each other.

And I’m not saying underage drinking is bad. Like you do you. It’s not my life. You go do whatever you want to do to yourself.

It’s just that it is literally the exact same people that they party with every weekend; I mean wouldn’t you get sick of each other?

Anyway, this story isn’t about them. Well, they will probably pop up occasionally but for once they aren’t in the limelight. They get to steal the show in every other situation; it’s my turn to shine!

I’m guessing you’re expecting something extraordinary to happen to me, right?

Well, you’re going to need more background information to understand the next part.

You see, I was kidnapped when I was young. I couldn’t tell you the year since I don’t remember much about it. I only know what my parents told me and what I could find in news articles.

My parents didn’t tell me much and the newspapers only reported the bare minimum due to my parents’ wishes to keep things on the down-low. But as the years went on, I figured out the real reason why I was kidnapped in the first place.

I have magic. I can control the elements around me: earth, water, wind, and fire.

For the longest time, I didn’t know about it. I just thought the things happening around me was coincidental. But eventually, I started to notice that I had the ability to control it. Well, it came when I found out I could breathe underwater. Boy, was that a fun time!

That’s a story for another time. Anyway, nobody knows this about me. I’m an only child and my parents are really cool about it. They help me practice using my magic and keeping it controlled.

And that’s why I was kidnapped. Someone wanted to use my powers for evil. I know, it sounds like Tangled and it really is. Only, I didn’t get a man out of it. The police came and got me out of there within six months of when I was kidnapped.

Like I said, nobody knows this about me. They all just think I’m a nerd. A loner. But, don’t worry, they’ll soon find out.

I told you this would be boring.

But now you’re invested in this. You need to know what happened to me. I mean, I’m just a boring book nerd. Nothing great happens to me.

Well, this is the summer everything changes.

This is the summer where my life becomes extraordinary.

The post Ordinary Doing the Extraordinary appeared first on KRUI Radio.

But what if the sun doesn’t brighten someone’s day like it did the person next to them? Doesn’t that change the definition? How does one find something that would make them happy for life if the simplest things can change your view on the day?

They’ve been country hopping for past couple of months now. While they were in Africa, Martha and Esteban met with a couple of people to get the drugs they needed to start their own business.

Even though they just entered into one of the riskiest businesses this world has to offer them, they killed the people who gave them the drugs and fled; now they are selling it to other clients around the world, making bank, and are always one step ahead of the police.

By now they’ve been to Australia and New Zealand and are currently wandering around Europe, buying houses, in whatever country that pleases them, to store all the books and guitars they keep buying. Since they don’t really need the airplane right now, they let Ginger fly himself to Japan where he has ditched the plane. How he did it they didn’t ask, and he has started his own life there.

“Now what?” Esteban asks.

“You know you’ve asked that every day for the past couple of months now?” Martha replies, as she walks into the room with a book in hand. They are relaxing in one of their houses in the countryside of England. Esteban was lounging in the living room listening to his music on Spotify, because that is the only thing he’ll listen to.

“Well, we’ve accomplished everything on our list now. We stole and burned down the Pig, then robbed Six Flags, took all the money and bought a plane to fly to Africa where we started to become drug lords.

“Then, we flew around the world selling drugs to people, while hiring our own staff just to push them off the plane while we were in the air when they started to ask too many questions. And we’ve managed to pin this all on your sister, who happens to look like you. Now that we’ve done everything we set out to do, what are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know. What do you want to do? The sky’s the limit now.”

“I hate it when people say that.”

“You say it all the time!”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I like it!”

“Well, what do you want me to say? I don’t know what we’re going to do! We’ve been to all the countries I’ve wanted to go to. Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t really have any place I want to be right now. Don’t you always have a list of things you want to do?”

“I do, but there is just one thing I really want to do right now…”

****

They find themselves on the road in front of their house in Italy, which of course is in the countryside. Esteban is in the driver seat of a red Ferrari convertible while Martha sits in the backseat with her back facing him. He turns to her and says, “You ready?”

“I’m ready!” she nods. Esteban steps on the gas and they take off down the road. Martha starts laughing uncontrollably; she has finally crossed off the one thing on her bucket list that has been on there for years, she is flying a kite from a convertible.

They drive like this for a while and then they switch places so that Esteban can fly the kite too. But, with Martha behind the wheel, they get lost because whenever they came to a stop, she would just pick a direction and followed it.

So, Esteban kicks Martha out from behind the wheel and tries to get them back to the house, which takes them until nightfall. But that’s okay with them because they talk the entire way back.

****

You’d think they would live happily ever after, right? They seem content at this moment. Living life to the fullest. Taking advantage of the opportunities that are now open to them. But, there is still something Esteban wants to do.

He heads back to the states alone. There he joins CTI Ministries and spends a year travelling with them, playing music at different churches, schools, and prisons around the world. After he finished that, he heads to Colorado to build a mansion of his dreams.

Now, you may be wondering why Colorado? He has the whole world at his fingertips and he goes to Colorado. Well, to him, Colorado is paradise. And it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. That place makes him happy.

Ginger is still in Japan, but he travels a lot around the world yet too. He comes back occasionally to the United States to see his family and his cats.

And as for Martha, well, once Esteban left for the states, she was finally hit by that car. Martha got to do everything she wanted before her untimely death. She got to travel the world with her friend and cousin, and she got to fly that kite.

Happiness comes in many different forms, so how does one define it? Different things bring people joy. Now you may think these three didn’t find it, but you are just judging them based on your idea of happiness. Even though they did some big things, and some small childish things, everything they have accomplished has crossed off items on their bucket list; and for Martha, she was able to do the things she loves.

The post Escape to Africa-Part Three appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s the middle of the night. Ginger has put the plane on auto pilot while he gets some sleep, and Esteban is passed out on one side of the plane. Since Martha had that little nap earlier in the car, she is wide awake, thinking about the day’s events.

Things haven’t been going so great for her. Anytime she takes a step forward, somehow she is always taking two giant steps back. Escaping the police after robbing Six Flags worries her. Getting away from them was easy. Too easy. Something has to go terribly wrong now and whatever that unknown wrong is, it frightens her.

To try to get her mind out of a pessimistic place, she decides to read one of her favorite books, The Gift by Richard Paul Evans.

Before they blew up the store in their hometown, they gathered up the items they truly needed to get them through the plan and gave it to Ginger to put in the plane right away. Esteban packed up his guitars and Martha gathered up all of her books and her buddy, Kevin.

Kevin is a stuffed Minion given to Martha by her friend for her birthday one year when they knew they wouldn’t see each other as often as they did. All of her friends know how much she loves Kevin and would never leave him behind, so judge her all you want, but Kevin had to come.

When they awake the next morning, Martha is a little tired from not getting enough sleep the night before but once she has some breakfast and juice in her she is ready to go. Esteban has been up for a couple of hours already, waiting for her to wake. He has already had his morning chocolate milk fix and is waiting for her to get settled.

Martha moves Kevin next to her, has a plate of cookies for breakfast balanced on her knee and a glass of Mountain Berry, and says, “Now what?”

“You’re eating cookies? For breakfast?”

“No shame, Esteban. No shame.”

“You should eat Poptarts. Poptarts are amazing!”

“What are we doing now?” She tries to get back on topic.

“You should eat the brown sugar ones .They’re the best!”

“Esteban, stop talking about poptarts and focus on the situation.”

“Well, we can’t do anything in the air. We’ll have to wait until we land in Africa. Where are we landing again?”

“Johannesburg.”

“Well, we’ve got a lot of time on our hands before we land so, what are we going to do?”

“That’s what I wanted to know!”

“I’m going to get myself some more chocolate milk. If we’re doing anything productive, then I’m going to need a little boost.”

Esteban goes to refill his glass of chocolate milk and comes back with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and hands it to Martha saying, “Here. Apparently it’s happiness in a cup.”

“First you judge me on my cookies and now you are giving me ice cream? You make no sense,” she says as she eagerly takes the ice cream from him, “So, what are we going to do today?”

“I planned on watching some New Girl and maybe playing some guitar.”

“Wow, you’re boring.”

“What else do you expect me to do? We’re a thousand miles above ground. It’s not like I can go outside!”

“Nothing’s stopping you,” she laughs, “but seriously, this is like your twentieth time watching that show, how can it still be entertaining?”

“New Girl changes lives! It’s the best show around!”

“No, Friends is the best show around! Have you even tried watching it like I told you to?”

“I did! I just can’t do it! It’s like an older version of New Girl and I don’t like old shows!”

“It’s not that old!”

“Whatever, I’m still not going to watch it. What are you going to do today?”

“Probably read. I haven’t had much time to do that recently and I’ve got a lot of books to start.”

“How is reading any better than what I’m doing? If anything, it’s worse!”

“It’s not! You just haven’t found the right book; if you had one that interested you, you would actually like to read!”

“Reading is boring.”

“Read The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans. I really think you’re going to like it.”

“I’m not going to read it.”

“It’s not that long! It’s only like 125 pages! That’s nothing!”

“It’ll still take me a year to finish. I’ll read the first page and never continue.”

They continue arguing about this for some time. Eventually, the conversation turns back them arguing about Friends and New Girl. Time passes quickly as they move through conversation after conversation, just talking away. They haven’t seen each other for a couple of weeks, and all they’ve talked about was the plan, so they had a lot of catching up to do.

****

They land in Johannesburg and head to a hotel in the middle of the city, thinking that it’s best to be in the middle of a large crowd than stand out among them. Once they got settled into their hotel rooms, Martha asked, “Now what?”

“Now it’s time to meet with our dealer.”

The post Escape to Africa-Part Two appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Esteban, a tall male with brown hair and glasses, and Martha, a girl of average height with long dark hair and bangs, didn’t know each other very well before this point in life. Martha was in her second year at college.  Last year she still worked at her high school job, Piggly Wiggly, on weekends. It happens to be the same place Esteban got a job at while Martha was at school. He was a senior in high school. This is where these two met.

Now it didn’t seem like something special at first. The whole summer Martha thought Esteban hated her and in return, she sort of didn’t really care for him. But really, he didn’t mind her at all and just hated her older sister, Erica, who had a job at the same place as them.

When she left for college things started to fall into place. They started talking to each other a lot more and would hang out whenever she came back for weekends. She quit her high school job at the end of summer and found one down at school, so now her visits home were less frequent, spanning from once a month to once every two; but that didn’t stop them from talking and doing the thing that they are doing.

The plan has been set for months. They both really hate everything going on. Martha hasn’t been having the best of luck right now. Her job sucks, classes aren’t the greatest, and she keeps almost getting hit by cars daily. And Esteban isn’t doing so well either. He hates the job he’s at too, but needs to find another one before he can quit and

school isn’t his strong suit, so he’d do anything to just quit that.

So, they decided to rob the place where they met. Martha was going to drop out of school and they both were going to quit their jobs. Then, to get extra money, they were going to rob Six Flags amusement park, and eventually fly to Africa to start the next step.

People didn’t think they had the guts to do this. When you first look at this pair, you would think of them as very goody-two-shoes like. They were both active in their communities and had a good image going for them. People really didn’t think they would do it; and that is what gave them the perfect cover.

“Where are we running to?” Martha asks.

“I’ve got a car waiting a couple of blocks away from here,” Esteban responds. They keep running away from the scene, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. Nobody notices these two running with a bag full of money. They are too worried about the explosion to care.

“Do you think they’ll tie this back to us?” Martha asks.

“Stop worrying. We’ll be fine! No one will put two and two together.  Anyway, we’ll be out of the country before they catch on to us and then we’ll be moving around so much that they can’t get us. We’ll be fine!”

They make it to the car, a silver Dodge Intrepid, which belongs to Esteban thanks to the discounts at the sellers original site.

“This is your car! Why would we use your car to escape in?”

“Would you calm down? We’re going to ditch the car after we rob Six Flags and buy the plane. We won’t need it after that anyway.”

“Let’s hope you’re right. We’re already on the run from the police; we don’t need any more traces to link back to us.”

“Have some faith will you? Everything will be fine!” Esteban puts the bag of money in the backseat of the car with a blanket over it, and then he gets behind the wheel while Martha gets in the passenger seat.

They take off towards Six Flags, about three hours from where they live. So far nobody suspects them, but everyone is too busy trying to calm down the explosion.

These two robbed and then blew up the only grocery store in their town. When combined with what they took from the customers and the store itself, they had about two-hundred thousand dollars sitting in the backseat of Esteban’s car.

“Your cousin’s getting our plane, right?” Esteban asks.

“Yeah, he should be getting it as we speak,” Martha replies.

They sat in silence for a few moments, letting the adrenaline from the recent events die out from their systems. Martha breaks the silence with her laughter.

“What are you laughing about now?” he asks while looking at her with a peculiar expression. She just continues to laugh and when she sees his face, she just laughs harder. “What is it?”

Martha reaches down and picks up a white bag at her feet. When he sees the bag, Esteban knows exactly what it is and he joins in to her laughter.

“You stole donuts? While I was setting up the bomb, you were busy getting donuts?” he laughs.

She laughs, “What’s wrong with donuts? Why should we blow up perfectly good donuts?”

“Nothing’s wrong with donuts. Donuts are the bomb!” Martha laughs even harder. “What’s so funny now?”

“The bomb! We just blew up a place and donuts are the bomb!” Esteban shakes his head as he, once again, joins in with filling the car with laughter.

When she is finally able to speak, Martha passes him a caramel pretzel donut and says, “Here, all I got are caramel pretzel ones because those are my favorite and I’ve been deprived of them, so you better like it.”

“As long as it’s not jelly filled, I’ll eat it.”

From the bag, Martha also pulls out a carton of Welch’s Mountain Berry juice and a half gallon of chocolate milk. Esteban glances over at her, trying to keep his eyes on the road at the same him, and says, “How did I not notice you carrying this?”

“It’s because I can make things invisible.” He gives her a look. “I was wondering how you didn’t notice. But I guess, when you’re carrying a bag of money out of building that just exploded, your mind is elsewhere.”

“True.”

****

They try to keep their cool as they stroll out of Six Flags. Well, in their dreams they were.

They were sprinting back to the car; cash in every available hand, they finally make it. Esteban throws the money he has at Martha, who miraculously catches it, as he gets behind the wheel and Martha gets into the passenger seat once again. As they speed off, Martha throws the cash into the back seat next to the other bag and she looks out the back window.

“We’ve got company, “she informs him. He picks up the pace and tries to lose them. And after hours of driving around, you would think that the police cars would grow in number, but luck was in their favor that day and they ended up losing them.

“Where are we meeting your cousin?” Esteban asks.

“Bloomington, IL. He should be there so we can ditch this car and then he’ll drive us to where the plane is. From there we fly out to Africa.”

They make it Bloomington just before dark. Ginger, Martha’s cousin, gets out of his black Chevy Cruise and pops open the trunk. Within, there is a hidden compartment that Martha and Esteban didn’t even know about; he opens it and motions for them to transfer the money into it.

Ginger isn’t his real name. That’s just what Martha has called him for years. His hair is, of course, ginger and stops at his chin and he towers over Martha. Ginger is only a couple of months older than Martha, and even though they are cousins, they’re like brother and sister.

They start driving towards the place where Ginger has the plane. With fractional aircraft ownership, you can customize how much of the aircraft you own to match your private flying needs and spread costs among other owners. The location of it is unknown to all but Ginger. Its midnight by the time they arrive and Martha, tired from the day’s events, has fallen asleep in the front of the car.

Ginger shuts the car off, grabs the bags of money from the trunk, and heads towards the plane to get it ready for takeoff. Esteban shakes Martha to wake her up, and when she does, she asks him, “Is it time?”

“Yeah, it’s time.”

The post Pieces of the Puzzle: Escape to Africa appeared first on KRUI Radio.

There were flyers posted in the entryway of the restaurant and all over this side of Waupun. We even gave

Piggly Wiggly, the only grocery store in town, flyers to place in all the bags and there are posters on both sets of doors.

Logan never showed up at my place once we left End of the Trail two weeks ago. Olivia and I waited an hour for her, calling and texting her with no responses. Eventually, we went back to the coffee shop to see if she was still there, but all we found was her car with the door thrown open.

The minute we saw this, we called the police. We went in for questioning right away but ever since they let us go, we’ve been kept in the dark.

Our food arrives and we try to eat it, but everyone keeps staring at us. People always look at us with pity in their eyes. We are the friends of the missing girl. And for a small town, you can’t escape it. Once the word is out, it’s out. Nothing can get it back in.

Everyone thinks we have something to do with her disappearance–that we helped her run away and this is all a hoax. But, let me tell you, it’s not. This is real. This actually happened. One of my best friends is missing and all anyone can do is stare.

It doesn’t help that we are at the restaurant she worked at. The waitresses are all acting differently towards us. They think we know everything that is happening within the investigation, even though that’s not the case.

Olivia and I can’t take the staring anymore, so we ask one of the waitresses for the check and some boxes and we head back to Olivia’s place. I’m pretty sure everyone in Helen’s Kitchen was happy to see us leave.

Her kitchen is painted light yellow with white cabinets and wood flooring throughout. There is an island with bar stools and a little table in the corner of the room that is surrounded by windows, which is where we always sit. Her mom walks in just as we finish our dinner.

Mrs. Bennett looks just like Olivia, with her long ginger hair and green eyes. They are even of the same height. She teaches chemistry at the high school, while Mr. Bennett works for the city in the Parks and Recreation department. Even though they don’t seem like they would know much about what’s happening within the town, they usually know the most gossip. And today is no different.

“It’s a Friday night; don’t you guys want to go out? Isn’t there a hockey game you can go to?” she asks us while taking her coat off.

“Now why would we go to that? I have never been to a hockey game in my life, why would I start now?” Olivia replies.

“Maybe you should try it. Get a change of scenery. You can’t keep waiting by the phone for news about Logan. I know how important she is to you, but the police have it handled.”

“Handled? They haven’t given a single update since she’s gone missing! It seems like she low priority or something! And I’m not hanging out by the phone. I just don’t like sports.” Just then, Mr. Bennett enters the kitchen from the living room.

“Are you talking about Logan?” he joins the conversation.

“Yeah, have you heard anything yet?” Olivia asks him.

“The police are bringing in Travis Reynolds for questioning. Apparently those two have been texting and he might know something about her whereabouts. Did you guys know that they’ve been talking?”

“We knew that they’ve been talking for a while, but we don’t know what their conversations consisted of. Do you think he had something to do with her disappearance?” I ask him.

“I don’t know. But I do think he could know something that you guys didn’t. Even if it’s something basic, at this point anything will help.”

“So they haven’t found out anything else? Like possible suspects or possible whereabouts of where she is being kept?” Olivia asks her parents.

“So far, they only have Travis Reynolds. But at least that’s something right? Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure the police will have some hard evidence soon,” Mrs. Bennett says.

“Why hasn’t any of this been in the news? You’d think the news casters would be all over it,” I ask.

“I think they want to get some proof before they tell the world what they have found,” Mrs. Bennett replies.

“Or it’s just because Waupun sucks and they don’t want to try to ruin a reputation of the city which wasn’t that high in the first place,” Olivia snaps back.

“Olivia, it’s not that. They just don’t want everyone to worry about something until they can give them definite answers,” Mr. Bennett says, “Now, stop worrying. You’ll hear of something soon.”

Olivia and I relocate to her bedroom to watch The Godfather. Her parents are going out with some friends for dinner and have already left. She was chilling on her bed and I was at her desk, when I looked out the window and saw an envelope stuck to it.

“Hey, Liv, how long has that been there?”

“How long has what been where?”

“That envelope in your window, was it there when we came up here?”

“I’m not sure.” She rolls off her bed and opens the window to grab the envelope. Written on it, in black sharpie, was her name. She opens it and pulls out a scrap of paper. Written in the same black sharpie as the front, and in all caps, were the words: She’s Alive.

The post Pieces of the Puzzle- Prison City Keeps Quiet appeared first on KRUI Radio.

drinks, thinking they are the bomb. It’s a place where elders get together with their friends every morning for their cup of coffee and chat for hours on end. It’s a place where kids get their ice cream treats in the sticky summer months and hot chocolate in the frigid winter season after an evening of sledding. It’s a place where people buy chocolate for their honeys around the holidays and for their fathers for Father’s day. A coffeehouse is a place for all.

The small town of Waupun, Wisconsin doesn’t have a lot to offer its teenagers. In order for them to do anything remotely fun they have to go to their neighboring cities, Beaver Dam and Fond du Lac, and even then there isn’t much for them to do. The one good thing Waupun has to offer is End of the Trail. This place brings

happiness and joy to all who enter it. Well, I may be a little partial to it just because I’m a coffee addict. I live and breathe the stuff.  I can’t function throughout the day without having coffee to get me to the end of it. The people who work here know my name and my order when they see me walk through the door. An iced white chocolate mocha. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. They finish making my drink and I go to sit down in the corner table of the shop to wait for my friends to show.

They are always running late. Olivia has to pick Cole up because his parents have the car for the day and Cole usually takes his time picking out his outfit. He has to be fashionable at every moment of the day. Even on days like today, when he is just meeting us for coffee, he still has to look his best. And if he happens to figure out his outfit on time, it’s Olivia who is behind schedule. She believes that by being late to everything, it will make you take those opportunities you wouldn’t have had if you were one minute earlier.

But, that’s okay with me. I like sitting by myself, listening to my music, and people watching. It’s my happy place. After five minutes, and in the middle of Ships in the Night by Mat Kearney, Olivia walks in with cheeks rosy from the winter chill, and her long ginger hair is hanging down under her white knit hat and over her navy blue pea coat. She’s wearing her favorite comfy outfit: a flannel with dark blue jeans and boots. Cole walks in right behind her sporting a grey sweater with a blue plaid button down underneath it, so you can just see the collar of it, with blue jeans and converses. His ensemble goes perfectly with his light brown hair that is swooped up to give him the typical white guy haircut.

They find me at our usual corner table, put their stuff down, and they go to the counter to order. In a couple of minutes they return, with drinks in hand, discussing a book they are reading for AP English. Cole is the only one of us who likes coffee black. He says it makes him more of a man, even though he is far from it. Olivia can’t stand the taste of coffee and always gets a hot chocolate, even in summer.

“Nathan Price just needs to stop. He is getting in the way of everyone living in the Congo,” Olivia says.

“Like I get the whole trying to feel better about being the only survivor and all, but dragging your whole family there and wanting to arrange a marriage for one of your daughters to the head of the village just to gain peace is a bit ridiculous. And while they are all suffering, Nathan just turns his back. He can’t get his mind out of the bubble that he has created and I hate it,” Cole replies.

“What book is this?” I interject.

“The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver,” Olivia answers.

“It’s an awful book. Truly horrendous,” Cole adds, just as my phone lights up with a message, “Ooo, is that your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I blush.

“Oh, come on! You guys have been talking for months! You’re practically dating!” Olivia exclaims.

“We are not dating.” They both give me a look that tells me otherwise, but I ignore them like I always do.

“Aren’t you going to answer him?”

“No, he can wait.”

“OMG. You guys! Guess who’s pregnant this year?” Cole interrupts.

“Who?” Olivia and I say in unison.

“That junior, Madi Holden, and the baby daddy isn’t her boyfriend! It’s her boyfriend’s best friend!”

“Yes! It’s about time she got a wakeup call!” I say.

“Let’s hope this will teach her not to fool around with every guy in the entire school behind her boyfriend’s back,” Olivia says.

“How did he honestly not know that she was messing around behind his back?” I ask.

“Uh, because he was screwing every girl in the school, too,” Cole chuckles.

“Wow, are they perfect for each other or what?” Olivia laughs.

Just then a man walks into End of the Trail.  I recognize him from work. He usually comes into Hellen’s Kitchen on Thursday evenings and sits by himself. Even

though he harasses the waitresses, including me, while he ponders what to order, he usually gets the same thing: a cheeseburger without lettuce, fries and a chocolate shake. At work, we refer to this guy as Creepy Paul. He is of average height, short brown hair with a mustache and glasses, and he has a beer belly. For a small town, this guy is hard to avoid. He remembers my name and always asks my boss where I am when I’m not working. I’ve even seen him around the high school a couple of times too. He is the definition of creepy.

Cole and Olivia notice him too and we all fall quiet. We try to carry on a normal conversation for another half hour, but I notice Creepy Paul watching us the entire time. Eventually, we decided to leave and head to Cole’s house to hang out.

They leave before me, taking Main Street to Highway 49 to get to the small town of Alto where Cole lives. I had to quickly look at the message I received from Travis, the guy I’ve been talking to, before I met up with them again, and then I plugged my phone into my aux cord and continued playing Ships in the Night.

I wish I would’ve known that was the last time I would hear that song. And drink my favorite coffee beverage. And gossip about the people in my school. And see my friends again.

I wish I would have known that this was my last day here.

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