I watch him watching Jake and Graham and a knot the size of Wyoming grows in my stomach. I pray God will protect them.
“Get up,” I hear him say as he walks over to my boys. Their hands are tied behind them and they struggle to get up from their seated position. Daniel has a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. He slices the ropes tying their hands while keeping the gun directly at Graham’s head.
“Daniel, please leave them alone. They haven’t done anything wrong. They’re just boys. Children. It’s me you’re angry at. It’s me you want to hurt, not them.”
He looks at me and smiles. My blood runs cold.
“Precisely,” he says and pushes them toward the front door. “What better way to hurt you, than to hurt them?”
“No!” I scream and struggle to get up.
“Stay there!” he warns, grabbing Graham and leveling the barrel at his temple. “Or I’ll kill them both right here in front of you.”
I sit down, catching a sob in my throat.
“Where are you taking them?”
“Mama?” Kara cries. “Graham! Jake!”
I watch in horror as Daniel opens the front door and a blast of frigid air comes in, bringing with it the swirling snow. He pushes my sons outside and stands in the opening.
“Walk,” he commands. “And keep walking down your drive until I can’t see you anymore.”
“They’ll freeze to death,” I scream. “You’re killing them.”
I watch him finger a cross I keep hanging next to our front door.
“You believe in God,” he taunts. “Maybe He’ll save them.”
I close my eyes in torment, before looking toward heaven. Why has this evil found me? Why has it come for my children?
“They don’t even have coats on,” I whisper as the tears fall freely down my cheeks. “You’ve sent them to their deaths.”
“What’s the matter, Sarah? Your faith seems to be failing you. If your God is real, your sons will be okay.” He laughs then, and it makes him look insane. “Or you’ll find out that he’s just a fantasy figure drummed up to keep all you suckers in line.”
I lean over to Kara and lay my head on hers.
“We need to pray for your brothers,” I whisper. “Pray like we’ve never prayed before.”
I hear her sniffle and give a slight nod.
“Lord, watch over Jake and Graham as they enter this storm. Be with them and keep them safe. Be with them and keep them under your protection. Help them. Give them strength to endure and watch over every step they take. Bring them to safety, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
“Amen,” I hear her whisper, then, “Mama?”
“Yes, my angel girl.”
I hear her choke back a sob. “Can you pray for us too?”
I take in a shaky breath. “I have been doing hardly anything else since this nightmare began, but yes. Let’s pray for us too.”
Jake
“Keep walking, Graham,” I tell my little brother who is faltering because he’s crying. “He’s watching us. If he sees us stop, he may shoot us, or Mom or Kara.”
“We’re gonna die, Jake. We can’t survive out here in this blizzard. It was so bad Dad was making mom take us to Florida to avoid it and that’s when we had a house to stay in.”
“We’re not gonna die,” I tell him. “We’re not gonna die. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to get us to safety. Just don’t give up.”
“I’m already freezing, Jake. I’m not like you. I’m just a skinny kid. I can’t go on for a long time.”
I reach over and pull him close to me, keeping my arm around his shoulders.
“You listen to me Graham and you listen good. You’re my brother and we are going to get through this together. Do you hear me?”
I feel him nod against my shoulder.
“Where are we going to go?”
I think of the only place that is close enough to shelter us. We can’t get to the stables, because he’ll know. The only place I can think of is Aunt Ava’s.
“We’re going to our aunt’s house,” I say. “They’ve got supplies and they can help us.”
“But that’s three miles away!” he shivers. “We’ll never make it.”
“We’re going to make it. Three miles isn’t that far,” I tell him. “Heck, I run to the other edge of their property and back every day with Mom when we run. It only takes us about thirty minutes. Thirty minutes isn’t that bad.”
“But we’re not running,” he says. “And we’re in the middle of a blizzard.”
“No,” I agree. “Not in a blizzard, but we can do this. We’ll get to Aunt Ava’s and she’ll call the police and let them know what’s going on and send help.”
“No one’s coming out in this blizzard. Not even to save Mama and Kara.”
I take a deep breath and hold him tighter to try and give him some warmth.
“Keep putting one foot in front of the other, Graham. We’ll get there one step at a time. Just keep walking.”
I look ahead seeing nothing but darkness and pouring snow in front of me. I’m not even certain we’re walking in the right direction. My toes are already numb.
Just then I hear shots fired and the sound of bullets as they whirl past us. I can feel a sting as something hits my arm, but I keep walking.
“Lord, I know Mama says You’re always with us, I need You now. We all need You.”
Matt
The dark descends over the hills as we sit down to eat our dinner. Faith made a ton of food and tonight, we all decided to heat up her famous Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole.
Josh volunteered to make the mashed potatoes while I grabbed a couple of bags of frozen broccoli. Truthfully, we all could have done without the frozen broccoli, but I promised Faith and the kids I’d take care of myself and the men, so we’re going to eat a green vegetable whether we like it or not.
I call everyone to the table and we bow our heads. I give thanks for the food and the safety of the men, before praying for the safety of all of our families.
I still have a twinge of uneasiness in my stomach and it’s gotten worse over the last two hours. I feel so sick with worry I can barely touch my food.
“Worry’s a sin,” Caleb comments as he takes another helping of casserole. “And I thought that casserole was one of your favorites? Faith wouldn’t like it if you didn’t eat.”
“I know,” I manage a smile, thinking about what she’d say if she could see me sitting here so worried I couldn’t eat.
“But you’re still worried.”
“I can’t shake this feeling of doom,” I admit.
“Why don’t you pull out your cellphone and see if you can get a signal?” He suggests. “Who knows? Maybe a miracle will happen, and you’ll find there’s a signal.”
I excuse myself from the table and walk into the next room where I’ve left my phone. I turn it on and find that I have one bar and four missed calls and voicemails from Faith’s mom.
My joy at having a signal fades as I listen to the message.
“Did you get a signal?”
Caleb can see by the look on my face that something is wrong.
“What happened? Are Faith and the kids okay?”
I shake my head and call Faith’s number before trying Kara, Jake and Graham’s numbers. They all go straight to voicemail.
“What’s wrong?”
“They never got off the plane in Miami,” I tell him.
“What do you mean they never got off the plane?”
“The voicemail I was listening to was Faith’s parents. They were at the airport waiting for Faith and the kids, but they never showed up and she can’t get hold of them. They never got off the plane, which means they never got on the plane.”