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.

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.